Nigeria: The rivalry among billionaire pastors to own private jets

By Jideofor Adibe,

It is no longer rumour. Hard-talking Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and founder of Word of Life Bible Church, has joined the elite league of Nigerians who own private jets.
According to reports, Oritsejafor’s jet, marked N431CB, was delivered to him on 10 November 2012 at the celebration of his 40th year of being on the pulpit. The jet, estimated to cost some US $4.9m (or roughly 769.3 million naira at the current official exchange rate), was manufactured in 1994 and previously belonged to two different owners in the US. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s anniversary, held at the Word of God Bible Church in Warri, Delta State, had eminent dignitaries in attendance, including President Goodluck Jonathan.
The rivalry among billionaire pastors to own private jets appears to be the current wave of the competition among Pentecostal churches and their leaders who often proclaim themselves ‘saved’ and have no qualms unleashing themselves on us as the intermediaries between God and us sinful mortals. First there was competition on the size of churches, the number of people who attended them and the weekly returns from sundry offertories, tithes, collections and several donations and levies for ‘doing God’s work’. Then the competition pushed them into going ‘world-wide’ – in search of hard currency, prestige or ‘winning souls for Christ’. Quite often they operate like franchises as they open offices across the world. As more money poured in, ‘doing God’s work’ transmuted to owning schools and universities, choice properties, farmlands and now aeroplanes. And as they compete on the material plane, competition to be seen as miracle workers, harbingers of prosperity and God’s chosen intermediaries also intensified. If your church neither performs miracles nor brings prosperity, then you are on your own. ‘Believers’ want a happening place, not time wasters.
I am not trying to come between anyone and his or her belief or ridicule any one’s faith. I know enough about faith to know it is a belief in things unseen – which means it has nothing to do with rationality or science. I am a firm believer in God, in the existence of an omnipotent and omniscience God who oversees the affairs of us little, sinful, mortals. However I believe that my relationship with God is a private matter, something between me and my Creator. Largely because of this, I have a morbid suspicion of people who flaunt their piety or who use what I will regard as subterfuges to prey on the gullibility and vulnerability of the underclass who often form the core of the followership of religious leaders. Pentecostal pastors are not the only culprits in this regard. Across the country and the religions, charlatans, rabble-rousers and conmen and women also use religion and phony pious ambience to mask their lust for money and power. And this creates image problem for the few who are truly called to the spiritual vocation.
The excuse often used by our ‘pastorprenuers’ – (apologies to the writer Eddie Iroh) to justify their morbid craving for the epitome of the things of the world always reminds me of the book Animal Farm – an allegorical novella by George Orwell published in England on 17 August 1945. In that book, after the animals had succeeded in overthrowing their human oppressors, the leaders of the new regime, essentially the pigs, began to re-make the rules to enable them corner all the good things in the Animal Farm for their exclusive use. For instance they banned all the other animals from eating the apples on the Farm. And their justification? They never really liked apples but scientists had found they were good for brain work – which they alone did in Animal Farm!
Re-wind to the congregation of the Word of God Bible Church in Warri, Delta State on 10 November 2012. When it was announced that the church had acquired a 10-seater Bombardier/ Challenger 601 aircraft , the announcement was greeted with “loud ovation and applause” (Punch, 11 November 2012). The Vanguard of 11 November 2012 reported that the “jubilant congregation spent over 15 minutes congratulating one another even as the recipient did not make any comment on the jet said to have been purchased for him by the church”. As far as the members (or most members) were concerned, it was not a piece of luxury for Pastor Oritsejafor. It was something to enable their Pastor maximize his time in ‘doing God’s work’.
Sometime in 2008, I found myself in a different area of London where I had to live briefly. One Sunday I was looking for a place to worship and by chance sauntered into a Pentecostal church – which had a Zambian as a Pastor. There were no more than 15 people in the congregation. The Pastor had apparently been having an issue with the landlord who wanted the church to vacate the place – a rather spacious lounge that could accommodate up to 200 people.
Just before the service ended, when people were giving testimonies of the good things the Lord had done for them during the week, the Pastor chose to be the last person to testify. “Many of you are aware of the issue the church has been having with our Landlord”, he began in a low tone and then paused for effect. The congregation was wrapped in attention. The Pastor continued. He was, he said, led by the spirit a few days before to the landlord to talk about the church’s tenancy. When he got to the landlord, he found him unusually friendly. He paused again amid shouts of “our Lord is good” and “Alleluiah”. The pastor claimed that as he discussed with the landlord he could see a halo over the landlord’s head and knew immediately that the Lord was about to do a great thing that day. More shouts of ‘Alleluiah’ and the ‘Lord is good all the time.’
Briefly, the landlord, who had all along insisted they should vacate the premise that day told the Pastor that he would not only allow them to continue with their tenancy but would also encourage the church to buy the place.
The small crowd was uncontrollable in its excitement and dabbled into several songs praising the Lord. From where I was, I began to wonder whether the landlord was not just being a smart businessman rather than someone who had come under the influence of the spirit of God .It was the height of the collapse of the property market when many landlords were having a hell of time because securing mortgages had become almost impossible for most potential property buyers. Landlords were happy if they had tenants who paid their rents as and when due.
From my wonderland I heard the pastor lower his voice, almost to a whisper, and said: “Even though the price is £1.2m, I know our good Lord will do it for us”. As be began a lengthy sermon of the benefits of the church having its own place where it can serve the Lord, I began to do a mental arithmetic of how this small congregation was ever going to raise the money to enable the pastor buy the building. Predictably, before the service ended, the Pastor said he would like to see all the men – about five or so were there – for a proper briefing on the plans about buying the building. I offered apologies that I had other engagements and left. I never went back. Admittedly not all ‘men of God’ are like the Zambian Pastor or Eddie Iroh’s ‘Pastoprenuers’ but my suspicion of them is truly deep.
For Pastor Oritsejafor’s 40th anniversary on the pulpit I consider it an error of judgement that the announcement of the purchase had to be made in the presence of President Jonathan as it could wrongly suggest that the President supported the purchase or had a foreknowledge of it. Given President Jonathan’s rather simple lifestyle and the level of poverty in the country, being associated with such ostentation could undermine his standing before many Nigerians.
I also consider it an error of judgement that the President had to attend the event at all. With all due respect, I find Pastor Oritsejafor’s hard line views on some political issues rather uncomfortable. By gracing the occasion, an impression could be created that the President supports those hard line views of the Pastor or that the Pastor was merely acting out the President’s script.

For sure Pastor Oritsejafor is not the only religious preacher who takes inappropriate hard line views on national issues. Several Islamic preachers are also guilty of the same offence. But such views should be side-lined, not mainstreamed by the president inadvertently legitimising their purveyors.

Oshiomhole’s qualifications: Appeal court orders retrial of petition by Edo gov tribunal

Charles Airhiavbere and Adams Oshiomhole

The Court of Appeal in Benin on Thursday morning ordered the Edo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to retry an application challenging Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s eligibility to contest the July 14, 2012 poll based on his qualifications.
The application filed by PDP’s candidate, Gen. Charles Airhiavbere (retd.), is challenging Oshiomhole’s primary and modern school qualifications.
The appeal court said the PDP candidate’s application has merit and should be heard.
In his claims, the PDP candidate said Oshiomhole was not eligible to contest the election as a result of his academic qualification, as provided for in the Electoral Act and the 1999 Constitution.
However, on September 27, the tribunal said it had no jurisdiction to adjudicate in the matter.
The tribunal led by Justice Suleiman Ambrusa ruled that the issue of qualification was a pre-election matter.
The tribunal said the petitioner ought to have contested Oshiomhole’s academic qualifications in a court before the election held.
It stated that the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) mandated parties in an election to challenge the academic qualifications of candidates before an election.
The tribunal, which comprised Jusices Ambrusia, Esor Teetito and Danlami Senchi, was dissolved in late October based on a petition by lawyers representing Airhiavbere.
In the petition to the National Judicial Council, the lawyers expressed loss of confidence in the tribunal on the grounds that its members had been compromised.
A new panel was subsequently set up.
The PDP candidate headed to the appeal court, asking it to void the ruling of the tribunal on the governor’s academic qualifications.
More details.

Breaking News!

Breaking News! Appeal Court has affirmed that the election petition tribunal in Edo State has jurisdiction to hear the issue of Adams Oshiomhole's qualification! It has therefore sent case back to the tribunal! More to follow!

Secession petitions now filed for all 50 states

By Dylan Stableford

President Barack Obama delivers his victory speech in Chicago on Nov. 6, 2012. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty)

Petitions signed by hundreds of thousands of Americans seeking permission for their states to peacefully secede from the union have now been filed for all 50 states on the White House website.
The secession petition push began last week on the site's We The People section after a Slidell, La., man filed a petition on Nov. 7 to allow Louisiana to secede. Residents from other states followed suit.
As of Wednesday afternoon, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas—all states that voted for former Gov. Mitt Romney—as well as Florida each had accumulated more than 25,000 signatures, the threshold needed to trigger an official response from the Obama administration. Collectively, the secession petitions now have more than 700,000 digital signatures.
Texas is in the lead with more than 99,000, but Gov. Rick Perry said on Tuesday that he does not support secession.
"Gov. Perry believes in the greatness of our Union and nothing should be done to change it," a statement from the governor's office read. "But he also shares the frustrations many Americans have with our federal government."
Meanwhile, residents of Austin, Texas' stubbornly liberal stronghold, have petitioned the White House to allow the city to "withdraw from the state of Texas [and] remain part of the United States."
Of course, the petitions are little more than symbolic—and nothing new. Similar petitions were filed after the 2004 and 2008 elections. And at least one petition filed on the site asks that the president sign an executive order to strip U.S. citizenship from anyone who signed a petition to secede and requests that they are "peacefully deported."
Secession, though, is not the only thing people are petitioning the White House for. Included among the 140 petitions currently displayed on the site: two seeking federal legalization of marijuana, one asking for the halt of U.S. drone strikes and one demanding a recount of the election.
YahooNews!

Super Eagles Triumph Over Venezuela National Soccer Team in Florida

Photo Credit: REUTERS/Joe Skipper

By SR Sports

A swashbuckling Super Eagles team this evening in Miami, Florida, continued its build-up for the 2013 African Cup of Nations by thumping the Venezuela National team in a friendly, 3-1.
The gritty contest, which left the Super Eagles technical team hugging and smiling at the end, did not begin with a lot of promise.  The Venezuelan team was enjoying the upper hand, repeatedly exposing a hesitant and sluggish Eagles defence that sometimes played as though they were strangers to each other.
The first half ended with no goals, a situation that was dramatically changed in the 49th minute when the effervescent Brown Ideye swept a cross from the right into the net.
Then came the highlight of the match when Nosa Igiebor, controlling a ball 30 metres out, volleyed a blistering right footer over the goalkeeper for Nigeria’s second goal.  The few Nigerians all over Southern Florida rose in full voice in salute, those at the stadium waving the national flag as they danced.
The vociferous Venezuelan crowd at the match, in their thousands, took up their national cause, drumming, dancing and singing in an effort to rouse their national team.
It may have worked.  In the 70th minute, they exposed the Nigerian defence one more time and slotted a goal past Ejide, Nigeria’s captain.
But the Eagles would have the last word, following a flurry of substitutions by coach Stephen Keshi that included Shola Ameobi, who made his international debut along with Bright Dike, who plays his professional soccer in America’s Major League Soccer.
But it was Lazio youngster Ogenyi Onazi getting his first goal in the full national team in added time to end the match and send Nigerians to local pubs in merriment.
Saharareporters

Garba Shehu: This too, could hurt Buhari

Buhari

I am not at all surprised that controversy continues to trail the decision of the Boko Haram to nominate former Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari as one of their representatives in talks with the Nigerian government, and his not so a a surprising decision to spurn the invitation. I respect General Buhari’s decision not to represent the Boko Haram. That however does not make it the right decision on the matter. I don’t read crystal balls. But this unwise decision will return to hurt Buhari as leader and politician as did an earlier mistake he made in his reaction to a false and malicious news report.
In that report in question, a ThisDay reporter in Sokoto, Ahmed Oyerinde, now late, wrote a story wrongly translating the General’s speech delivered in Hausa. ThisDay had it that Buhari said Muslims must not vote for Christians in the elections coming up in 2003. Ahmed was a reckless reporter. May Allah forgive his soul. I had always thought that he was influenced by money to write his stories.
In 1990, the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), of which I was a member assigned me to go to Sokoto to investigate a complaint by the then Military Administrator, Colonel Yakubu Mu’azu that Ahmed Oyerinde’s reports were often false and mischievous. The government in Sokoto was concerned that those reports, if they continued that way, could cause a disruption of the public peace. My report to the commission was more or less a confirmation of those fears. To Ahmed, I left him with an important message: That journalism is already a dangerous profession, perhaps as dangerous as any minefield, but that it is made even more dangerous by malicious reporting. I was convinced, as I left him that he had listened to my counsel. I thus did not hear much of him until the Buhari’s “don’t-vote-for-Christians” story.
When I read that story, I felt upon instinct that Buhari would not have said that but that even if he did, it was by mistake. I thought at that time, that he needed to clarify or disown the statement. I reached a former aide of Buhari  who was in the United Kingdom (UK), at the time of his boss’s monumental gaffe. I told him that if this was left uncorrected, the statement will in future hurt Buhari. He agreed and met his boss in the coming weekend. The General’s reaction was more or less like, “Why bother? You know the media. Let them write whatever they want.” At the time of this incident, General Buhari had no plans to join politics and aspire to be President. At least, this was not to public knowledge even if he harboured any such aspiration. Looking at all of what happened from the time he chose to dive into the murky waters of politics to his repeated contest for the Presidency, this his issue continues to be the single most important threat to Buhari’s aspiration of becoming the elected President of this country.
The Boko Haram negotiation is a dirty job. I agree with his political associates in their party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), that the invitation to their leader was suspicious. One, it may have had the hand of government behind it. This government can at times be very unscrupulous. They can use this as a ploy to make a mockery of, and decapitate not only Buhari, politically speaking but the entire political leadership of Northern Nigeria. President Jonathan’s political associates, particularly their tribal leadership under Chief Edwin Clark have always seemed desperate to malign Northern political leaders. To add credence to these suspicions, the facebook and twitter had since gone haywire accusing Buhari of being a member of the Boko Haram. Some said with an air of false relief that Buhari had been exposed and the “mask has fallen off the face of the masquerade”.
Second assumption I make of this invitation to Buhari is that those politician (this does not exclude the government) opposed him wanted him to be tested, and to who possibly fail walking the tight rope. As negotiator for one of the two sides, Buhari must proceed very cautiously to avoid either of two equally bad situations. Personally, I don’t think the challenge of maintaining this balance should pose a problem that would make him reject the invitation to negotiate on behalf of one of the parties. Buhari should have thought of the people, not the opposition PDP. Of course, I lack the competence to question the patriotism of someone whose record is impeccable in that regard. Buhari joined the army to die for the nation. In addition, he joined coups-de-tat in their beliefs that they did so to save the country. His leadership of the military government may have been spurred by sheer patriotism since Buhari is not known to covet personal wealth.
Based on this, the former military leader should have answered the call of patriotism and accepted this invitation. My reason for saying this is simple. If, as he said, he can’t represent the Boko Haram because he didn’t know them; he didn’t believe in their cause and struggle and he did not know any member of the sect, how does our situation get better by his rejecting their overture? When faceless kidnappers take away a dear one as they commonly do, the police and security services always see an opportunity when they make demands. Many syndicates have been smashed as kidnappers come forward to take ransom money. Couldn’t Buhari have given them a bait or laid in ambush so that at least, the state can have the benefit of knowing who really is behind the vicious atrocities being carried daily against innocent Nigerians?
These daily attacks on security personnel, government officials, churches and even the mosques aren’t attacks against the government of Goodluck Jonathan, which Buhari swore he would not serve. Jonathan lives in a fortified mansion, the Aso Rock where the sounds of bomb blasts do not reach. Rather, the loss is all ours. In particular, the losses so far are more for the Northern population—Christian, Muslim and their economy—who together with the rest of the country are big time losers.
Opposition to views such as those represented by Buhari will continue to be negative and irresponsible. The Goodluck government will not stop associating him and other Northern leaders with violence, even now that he has declined to represent the Boko Haram. On television on Wednesday night, I watched the adviser to the President, Dr. Doyin Okupe saying Buhari cannot escape criticism for the Boko Haram because he (and others he didn’t mention) preached violence in our politics. The question the Buhari camp ought to ask Okupe is this: assuming that Buhari preached violence and the government Okupe works for is being accused by its officials and foreign observers of killing its own people. Which one is worse?
The dazzling new Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Professor Chidi Odinkalu who is a foremost human rights advocate on the continent, not just in Nigeria said to the government that police were killing thousands of Nigerians extra-judicially. For this reason, Chidi stole his way to the new office after his clearance by the Senate because neither the Secretary to the Federal Government nor the Attorney-General of the Federation was willing to inaugurate his commission. But the most serious indictment was made by the Amnesty International, which in their latest report indicted both the Nigerian security forces and the Boko Haram of the same crimes.
In terms of responsibility, where does Okupe and his government think this ends? Do they think the responsibility for these killings lies with police DPOs and Army field commanders, and leaves no implications for the Commander-in-Chief?
Tell me who is worse among the two: the one who preaches violence or the government that goes on killing its own people? Buhari should accept to serve. It is not late to change his position at this time. I am no prophet, but I see this one coming back to hurt him as did his other actions that were not properly thought through.
DailyPost

LASG Gives 48-hour Ultimatum to 1004 Estate Residents

The Lagos state government has given the residents of 1004 a 48 hr ultimatum before they shut  down the group of flats. This was due to the failure of the residents to pay outstanding Land Use charges. They have been ordered to pay within 48 hours. Several officials of the state Ministry of Finance sealed off the estate for about five hours on Monday, locking out residents and visitors from the estate.
In a letter to residents, the management have appealed to residents owing the Land Use charge for 2011 and 2012 to pay up so as to void a shutting down of the estate. “We wish to urgently demand all flats that are still owing 2011, 2012 Land Use charge, insurance and ground rent bills to please pay up, as the grace period granted the estate is just 48 hours.”
 BusinessNews