WHEAT AND TARES.

24-01-2017

I have written on some of the following before but I will do so again.

The only times I stepped into a typical church service/ Sunday school as a child were once at the Apostolic church pastored by my father's nephew and another time at a Deeper Life Bible church meeting.  My father only took us there once following an invitation from a neighbour but he never went back.  Well,  I must have attended church weddings with my parents but those do not quite count.

Sunday mornings were usually for spending time with my father.  I'd chase down newspaper vendors to buy the Daily Sketch of the day,  assist him to wash his Peugeot 504 car,  eat yam with garden egg sauce or fried egg and watch nature documentaries hosted by Sir David Attenborough. Church was not on the list of things to do and all the children in the house (we were regularly about 8 or 9 in total) went about our lives without much fuss.

We had exposure to some fairly regular house fellowship activities from 1990 but I knew more about Salvatore Schillaci and Walter Zenga than I knew the Bible. By the time I got into secondary school, I only made it to the school chapel on a few occasions.  My older cousin while living with us used to partake in a Bible correspondence course in the early 1990s and got a few Bibles and books mailed to him from America but that was it,  I never read a Bible until late 1990 at those house fellowships. My mother, though not religious encouraged me to visit the chapel while in boarding house but this was a mighty struggle. My father on the other hand was indifferent partly because he had been to several places in search of God.

I eventually took the conscious step to identify as a Christian in October 1994. An old student used to visit the school chapel regularly and a few of us took part in a short duration Bible course which we did only on Sundays. That was it,  no fanfare whatsoever. I attended church occasionally while in school but didn't do so during the holidays.

I stumbled upon a church in 1995 during one of the holidays.  Without having a bible, I walked into the Redeemed Christian Church of God parish which had just started at the National stadium in Surulere.  It was just a few minutes walk from home so getting there was no big deal. The church's population was just a handful,  they was no choir and there were no instruments save a modest sound system but it was clear to me that Pastor Ogundipe knew exactly why he was there.

By 1996, the church was home to several athletes who trained at the stadium.  They came in their track suits and running shoes all sweaty and drained but the pastor welcomed them and devoted time to them.  One of the services just before the Atlanta games was dedicated to them.  We watched the 1981 film "Chariots of fire" to encourage the athletes to do well at the games and everyone prayed for them and showed them love. It was not a surprise when they all returned after the games to thank the church irrespective of whether they got medals or not.  A couple of the power lifters did get medals and Duncan Dokiwari,  a former heavyweight boxer won bronze. 

These were the moments that struck me the most about faith. These simple things are what I look out for and this is why a lot of what I see in this day and age numbs the mind.  How can I explain a young graduate whose mission in the faith is to glory in the fact that his pastor wore an outfit which just left the fashion runways of Paris or London? How does basking in a pastor's private jet and the "effizee" of one's local assembly correlate with a faith based exclusively on sacrifice? I have seen and have been part of churches/ fellowships where genuine sacrifice exists.

I have seen more important matters in this day and age overtaken by hairstyles,  bags,  clothes, appearance and eloquence of the key characters.  Some assemblies are practically extensions of village meetings,  social clubs and societies.  How can a segregated gathering be classified as a church?  I don't want to mention those who ignore the state of one's heart and physical condition to concentrate on the paraphernalia of piety.

There is so much activity these days and more assemblies are hatching yet bigotry,  hate and tribalism is all over the place. There is definitely an identity crisis and the church has been practically hijacked by opportunists and politicians alike.  Many church leaders have taken government money and so have lost their voices,  a good number have no business as leaders despite having relatively many followers. It is sad indeed.

This is the reason why certain individuals have large crowds to mislead. How can people preach hate, tribalism, violence and greed and then say it's Christ speaking? This must be either insanity or sorcery! There is obviously a problem in need of urgent intervention but I see this as the parable of wheat and tares.

Whatever we do as Christians must come from genuine love and based on very sound doctrine. There will be struggles and failures but God's grace is there to help navigate the course.

"Love is patient..."

THE 45th.

20-01-2017

What began as a yuge joke a few months ago terminates today with the coronation.... I'm sorry the swearing in of arguably the most unpopular president in the history of the God's own country- the US of A.

I must reflect on the man's campaign, how he stuck to his 'agbero' tactics and rhetoric to outlast the 'anointed' Hilary dealing her a surprise left hook to the body like we have seen last round upsets in some boxing fights. He effectively ended Hilary Clinton's eight years quest for the oval office and her bid to make history.

Michelle Obama talked about mercury rising and falling but the reaction to the Donald has largely been opposite of a risen state. The bitterness is still so palpable, one could have thought that the a candidate winning the electoral college votes but losing the popular vote was a definite impossibility. There is also the alleged Russian hack angle, I'm not quite certain how that variable managed to affect early voting and made a mockery of just about every pre-election poll which had Mrs Clinton winning comfortable by sizeable margins.

The emergence of Ivanka's father exposes fundamental problems with the American union; these are issues which have been masked for many decades by layers of cosmetic. The Donald's coming has served to excavate that foundation, it is still a mystery to me what he will lay upon the raw areas his methods have created or unearthed. He may have run on the Republican ticket but he said many things he has since blatantly denied.

Some of his picks as secretaries have been described as sharks, racist or naive. The pick for education was grilled yesterday and one wonders if America's education wouldn't completely collapse with her in charge. The pick for Attorney General is 70 years old just like the incoming president is. It was fascinating to watch three African American men each testify for and against his choice. I was tempted to believe that sentiments and not facts were employed to take his screening to the stage of open testimonies. I was more convinced by the arguments of those men who spoke in the senator's defence.

Donald Trump's first action as president may just be to fiddle with the football and launch codes to America's nukes. He may just bomb North Korea and pull American troops out of Poland to please Vladamir- who knows. I doubt if he'd have such liberties and by the way, he's not fancied by both members of his party and the opposition so the ice-cold Pence has his odds for the oval already slashed massively.

Will Trump be a good president? Many are convinced he's already a tragedy and will fight with everything to constantly portray him in bad light or no light at all. A Trump presidency is not ideal but that's what the world has to deal with. His scorecard already reads 'FAILED,' I'm not sure there's any grade lower than that. Let's hope he does okay at least, the world will definitely be peaceful if the Donald can stay tanned and on his best behavior. Palor should not be allowed to set in, he may just need transfusion from all over the world to manage that.

Who says he's not made history? There'll only be one 45th and he'd be producing and directing the yugest reality TV show in history.

All hail the Donald!!!!!

The Airforce's Error and the Small matter of Gambia

18-01-2017

Many Nigerians are simply very funny.

An airforce jet was reported to have dropped missles on civilians instead of Boko Haram fighters yesterday morning. Preliminary reports suggest it was a mistake which is regrettable and very unfortunate. Some very cerebral Nigerians in a bid to probably appear more human have disagreed vehemently that a mistake couldn't have been possible and such 'excuses' aren't sound enough. One particular individual even talked about professionalism and ethics. A few others have either overtly or subtly suggested that the government was responsible for sanctioning air attacks of her own people.

I tried to explain the concept of collateral damage, friendly fire and other unfortunate incidents which characterize armed conflicts and wars but it appears some folks are impervious to such issues or are perhaps just mischievous. I mentioned that such events afflict the best militaries despite their advanced technologies and experience but what I got back was "why are we comparing ourselves with other countries" bla bla bla. I wonder at the number of times the US have reported casualties from friendlies and grave errors from their many drone strikes. One of such strikes took out over three score Syrian soldiers sometime in the second half of 2016. Fighter jets on routine practice have been reported to slam into residential areas in a few US states, I wonder if Americans imagine such happened on the orders of the president.

Being overly emotional and sentimental about casualty figures doesn't make one more human compared to those who opt to focus on the prevailing realities. If there was anything to hide, we'd never have heard about it or we would have heard after 4 months that something of this nature happened. I'm certain the tragedy will be investigated considering the variables involved and the different sources that errors could have emanated from. This is not the time to throw the military under the bus and conclude that the officers there are tools in the hands of government to crush Nigerians who are already trying ever so hard to survive.

So we learnt Nigeria has deployed NNS Unity to the coast of Gambia as part of an ECOWAS measure to defuse the jester there and all some very brilliant Nigerians can see is wasted money and a handicapped Nigeria that ought to lock herself up and desist from meddling in the affairs of other nations.

It's amazing how much of Nigeria's history is not known even by those privileged to get educated. Angola, South Africa, Rhodesia, Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, etc are among African nations Nigeria has spent money and hemoglobin on even if most of them repay with ingratitude. What is the small matter of Gambia?

If these fellow Nigerians get the reins of the nation in the nearest future, how exactly are they going to run her affairs? With paranoia and nonchalance? Perhaps they have some secret formulae lodged somewhere in their cauda equina.

May the souls of the departed rest in peace and let the pressure on the government be to ensure the relocation, rehabilitation and protection of all internally displaced people across the country.

January 15: Respect.

15-01-2017

The Nigerian military is one institution that generates mixed emotions amongst Nigerians. The man who's been slapped before by an army corporal or the lady who has been beaten blue-black by Navy ratings won't give a rat's behind about today and what it signifies.

Some don't care about an institution that produced emperors and dictators; the volume of blood shed by some of these men over the years may just be the reason why Nigeria has struggled to make significant progress. The nation still bears the marks and scars of a needless civil war and the ethnoreligious complications which have arisen from it. Most of the blame has gone to the military and although the present officers have little or nothing to do with that era, they have to bear the transferred aggression, disdain and lack of support coming from many Nigerians.

What about the untold stories of valor and sacrifice? What about those spouses, siblings, parents and children who have over the years 'suffered' the effects of having a family member commit to defending the nation? Don't they deserve commendation?

There was a time the military held sway in the country and many parents hurled their kids to write entrance exams into military schools. It didn't work out for some of us, perhaps our lives would have gone on different tangents. Some went all the way and more than a few have paid the ultimate price.

It is technically just a day to remember the unknown soldier; unknown not just because they were missing in action but in my opinion, because their duties and sacrifices far outweigh all the medals we can award to them.

We should not forget the atrocities of the past, we cannot forget Asaba, Odi, Zaria, Tiv land and many other locations, even those outside Nigeria but we should support the efforts of the present crew and hail those who do good.

More good people should see reason to join the military, it is not an abomination to do so.

Respect to all my folks in the military, respect to those currently in training and those who will be joining soon.

Remembering fallen heroes is a big deal in other climes, let's make it a duty to honor ours.

Respect to all those currently serving: Akpan, J Yusuf, Bada, Oyeneyin, Adigun, Akinpelu, Osasuyi, A Yusuf, Chegwe etc.

Huge respect to all those staying awake and combing forests in the northeast and swamps while we sleep.

To all whose parents, siblings, spouses, relatives and friends sacrificed all for Nigeria; God bless and comfort you.

 

Army officers in Northeast Nigeria

Army-Airforce Training

Navy Special force

Navy combat officers

Airmen

NAF pilots

Late Lt. Col Abu Ali hoisted

AJIMOBI THE CONSTITUTED.

14-01-2017

Abiola Ajimobi attended schools in Nigeria and in the USA, he's not a 'stark illiterate.'

Some have blamed the recent outburst of the Oyo presiding officer on the people failing to elect someone who "went to school" but they don't realise that uttering such foolish statements as the man did doesn't really have much to do with anyone's level of education.

The man's uncle was a minister in the old western region while his father was a parliamentarian in the old western house. Does he suffer from delusions of grandeur or how can one explain talking down on students and ordering his security detail to apprehend one of the young men who dared to confront him?

"I am the constituted authority... " ó dà bí orí baba gbálè nínu batrum è ní ojó méje séyìn. I'm not sure he can tell his wife or children that he's the constituted authority over them.

I passed through Oyo state in December and wrote a piece on my phone about the abundance of filth and refuse which litter Ibadan but I opted not to post it. I think the stench from these has polluted the air from Bodija all the way through to Agodi, the man must surely be out of his mind and needs an evaluation.

"Go and do your worst... Is your school the first to be locked.. " lol, I'm surprised the students even let him continue. I thought he would have ended up girding his loins with his agbádá, abandoned his cap and his security detail and fled to whatever hole he crept out from.

He commissioned a 2 billion naira classroom project in the middle of 2016 which was donated by the Japanese government so I expect him to make good use of his finance qualifications and years of experience working in the oil sector and Nestle to make life better for his people. In the interim, he should be confronted with an impeachment notice for disrespecting the constituted authority of Oyo state and sent to see a shrink.

By the way, Ibadan people una town too dirty. Perhaps if you all had come out to clean and pressure the government to clean up, your sole administrator would not be dancing naked in public like this.

I don't quite understand the rationale for privatising all Oyo state owned primary and secondary schools.

https://youtu.be/A8Wtha03Tag

THE LOUD AND EMPTY

12-01-2017

There are those who stick two fingers in the air like Pa Awolowo but don't understand the rudiments of politics.

There are those who wear skinny pants and burn paper like Felá but can't put themselves in the line of fire.

There are those who try to sound eloquent like Ojukwu but don't have the gonads to start a bush fire not to talk of starting a war.

There are those who look and swag like Barry but whose high sounding words are weightless.

Whatever you do, whoever you choose to admire and have as your sinoatrial node, be convinced that what/ who isn't an original cannot be the original even if the genes rhyme.

Some folks want you to live in this age with outdated thoughts, they want you to grub on grudges decades or centuries old and want you to die for their own ambitions. They may claim to have marched with MLK but may have never really known the man. They want you to fight your mother's battles and carry on your back perpetually like a baby the hurts and hate she may have actually let go.

If you follow Fela, MLK, Zik, Adaka Boro, Barry oko Michelle etc, make sure you actually comprehend what they stood/ stand for but still ensure it's devoid of toxins.

Not everything you read from supposed intellectual sources is solid, don't be easily swayed by anything. Ensure you ask questions and do your own studying.

Do not even take this or anything from me so serious, crosscheck things for yourself and cut down on the hero worship going on in real life and Cyberia.

A Molar for a Molar: No Monopoly in Kaduna

28-12-2016

There is no monopoly of violence in Nigeria. I have made some statements about the Southern Kaduna situation and I still stand by my opinion.

I was on the Facebook page of Governor Nasir El-Rufai and read a statement by the police which he posted there. The police cautioned the media to ensure they verify information before publishing or broadcasting. It had to do really with the figure of deceased people circulated in the media, although the Police in that statement didn't provide any figures, there was no endorsement of the number many have chosen to run with (over 800 dead) which I think is outrageous.

I decided to read through the comment section and couldn't help but wonder at the intensity of cyber threats and abuse. One fellow practically threatened the governor and warned him that he wouldn't be lucky to escape next time he visited Southern kaduna. There were accusations of past atrocities and justification of reprisals, more bloodshed was also promised from both camps.

One thing is clear if we assume that these virtual gladiators are representatives of the warring parties; the animosity is deep seated and dates back to many years ago. The gyri of these agitators have images of past conflicts printed upon them, I'm almost certain they sleep and have nightmares of armed conflicts of the past and future. I will repeat it here again, there is no guiltless party in this matter.

I don't think it's sufficient to simply gravitate towards any side because of political or religious reasons. We may just be helping to fan the embers when we do that. I see many have joined the arsonist Femi Fani-Kayode to call on Southern Kaduna people to arm themselves and fight to the death because they think it is the 'Christian' thing to do. Some just do so because they imagine that Southern Kaduna is the underdog in this conflict. I think it is dangerous to simply label only the Fulani implicated in this impasse as the aggressors when we may not have all the facts at hand. It wasn't Fulani herdsmen who burnt the house of the Jema'a local government chairman as well as shops and churches on the 21st of December.

It is difficult to ignore the chance of conspiracy when one observes the periodic upsurge in 'Fulani herdsmen' related violence. It appears that the social media in particular gets flooded with news of attacks in a particular region and this is followed by images of burnt property and/or dead people only for such to die down after a while and then another state begins to trend a few months later.

This conversation I read today still baffles me in a sense. I'm really curious about what fuels this, is it religious, political, ethnic or economic in origin? Is it a combination of some of all these factors?

I guess I don't know since I'm not from Kaduna.

 

These are screenshots of conversation on Governor El-Rufai's Facebook page.

On Southern Kaduna.

27-12-2016

I'm not from Kaduna and I don't live in Southern Kaduna but I can say a thing or two about the security situation there.

The current narrative in Cyberia is similar to how things went down when Agatu and Enugu were trending due to alleged attacks by gunmen described as Fulani herdsmen. Social media was littered with adopted images of armed herdsmen from Niger, Chad, Sudan as well as Kenya to represent herdsmen in Nigeria. The president in particular was accused like he is being accused now of carrying out his extermination of non-Fulanis and many have accused the Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai of supervising genocide.

Like herdsmen-farmers clashes in most North-Central states, violence in Kaduna state especially Southern Kaduna didn't start last month or a year ago. Massive blood letting has characterized the region for many years now and it usually has a ethnoreligious coloration to it.

A 2014 account has it that a group of Muslims discovered that a portion of the fence to their abode was destroyed and accused Christians of the act leading to attacks and reprisals. Another account of El-Rufai's inquest has it that the current impasse stems from clashes which happened in 2011. The report has it that herdsmen who were foreign nationals got trapped in the region during the general elections and got attacked with many lives and cattle lost. They avenged their losses and the blood has not stopped gushing since.

Many have criticized El-Rufai's offer to compensate certain herdsmen for their losses and his plea to them to desist from attacking the Kaduna people. He pointed out that this was probably going to be the same method the late governor of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa would have utilized but for the unfortunate helicopter crash which claimed his life and that of the former national security adviser General Azazi. Those who see no reason with this method ask why the herdsmen receiving compensation cannot be prosecuted instead. I actually do not know how practicable this can be especially where there may be no direct evidence implicating them and that they may in fact all be foreign nationals who have returned to their bases. However, there are still those who don't agree with the foreign herdsmen theory while a few others believe whatever compensation they got was to restock hardware to commit further murderous acts against Southern Kaduna people.

The militants in the Niger Delta get huge payments to be on their best behavior. The scheme was first introduced irrespective of whatever their crimes had been, be it destruction of oil installations, kidnapping of expatriate workers or simply murder of civilians, policemen or soldiers. The government needed peace and oil to flow uninhibited so if a government thinks that settling a certain group of hotheads could do a trick, should such a move be outrightly condemned? I am not an advocate for governments issuing freebies to anyone especially violent people. I don't care whatever name they are called; militants, terrorists, aggrieved yoots, emancipation forum or supporters club. It only reinforces laziness and perpetuates violence. However, I must understand the realities on ground and realise that feeding and providing some stipend for area boys in one's locality can go a long way in ensuring tranquility in the short term. I want to believe that Governor El-Rufai has been working on long term peace solutions in the region.

Channels TV ran a story 6 days ago about El-Rufai's visit to Jema'a local government alongside his security team. That was said to have been his second visit and his security council was there. He also paid a visit to the Emir and requested for his and the people's assistance to ensure peace. Some reports have it that his convoy was pelted with objects by an angry mob not satisfied with the government's effort to curb murders in the villages there.

It was also reported that the house of the local council chairman was burnt down by angry youths who also set alight churches, shops, vehicles and a few other structures all to vent their frustration. It amazes me that a people who are angry with the government for its seeming failure to protect them could go ahead to raze buildings and cars while evading justice. This is the reason why a curfew was effected by the governor with the approval of the president considering the fact that holidays were approaching.

Some reports have it that over 100 armed herdsmen stormed villages in the early hours of Sunday 25th December 2016, shooting and burning down buildings. One online outfit pegged the dead at 808 while two other more reputable media outlets had 8 and 10 dead. Which figure should be believed? Could 100 armed people with the intent to kill and shooting indiscriminately account for just about 10 dead? I don't know but I chose to wait for the official reports of investigations. Nigeria is on a balance and nothing flimsy should be allowed to tip her over. Why would I believe an official report you may ask, I would because the report of the clash between the Army and members of the Islamic movement of Nigeria disclosed that hundreds were killed and buried. This could easily have been covered up.

I believe the discussion in Southern Kaduna should be about finding lasting peace instead of playing politics and looking for justification of one's fantasies about 2 Fulani men waging a holy war in Nigeria. I believe there are those desperate to reignite the fires which raged in Kafanchan in the 1990s. Such are not suing for peace, they only want to win some ethnoreligious contest and say "I no talk am"?

There are those Nigerians who want to become leaders tomorrow who have prayed that El-Rufai and Mr President would bury their children and others join them to say or type amen. If you are like this, you'd do yourself a lot of good if you try to focus on the facts and history of any matter regarding Nigeria. There's a lot of illusion happening and it only takes a few minutes of patience to see through the gimmicks.

There are too many hot heads in Kaduna and also in other parts of Nigeria who need to calm down. We may be biased towards one group or another but we should realize that there's no guiltless party in all that has happened. That should be the starting point to realize peace.

God bless Kaduna state.

Good bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Link to a crash course on Southern Kaduna I believe

http://books.openedition.org/ifra/761