Discourse 341: Who KIlled General Shuwa?

  By Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde
 This article explores the possibility of another theory and calls for a panel of investigation into his death to be set up by the Federal Government. When the Nigerian Civil War veteran and hero, General Muhammadu Shuwa, was killed at his residence in Maiduguri on 2 November 2012, the official narrative implicated Boko Haram. Nobody expected a different version. Yet, many doubted the authenticity of the story. The truth, people believed, will unfold in the course of time. The doubt stemmed from a number of facts. First, General Shuwa did not have the credentials of would place him on the Boko Haram hit list. Not at all. He has distinguished himself by leading a quiet life among his people, far away from the Government Reserved Areas of Maiduguri, Kaduna, Lagos or Abuja. He lived in the neighbourhood of the less privileged where his relatives and commoners reside. This has enchanted him to everyone in the city. He does not comment on national issues or indulge in our corrupt and self-seeking politics. He does not go about begging Nigerian heads of state, presidents or governors. Like him or hate him, he was the quintessential elder statesman, a rare gem among his peers, many of whom returned from war to milk the country dry and sink it in the bloody sea of disintegrative politics after their enviable war records as champions of its unity. Even on the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency, Shuwa has not uttered a word in public. When all is considered, General Shuwa was one of the most ineligible victims of Boko Haram. The above could be dismissed as mere speculation by the authorities, but not after his brother shocked the public with graphic details of the scene of his assassination. What invites our minds to abandon the official tale of Boko Haram culpability is the unfortunate role the Nigerian military played - or failed to play - in aiding his assassination: its personnel failed to stop it when they were right there, on its spot. The assassins appeared, only two of them, before the armless old man, unexpectedly, when he was receiving a prayer from a passerby. Shouting Allahu Akbar, they gunned him down and kicked him to confirm that he was dead before walking away, laughing, not shouting Allahu Akbar anymore. His guards – some eight heavily armed soldiers – that were at the scene did not put up any resistance. They stayed put and watched the murder of the master they were sent to protect. Neither did they give the two assassins any chase. It is this dereliction of duty – a deliberate room for allow murder – that made the official narrative of ‘boko haram’ assassins an unpalatable pie to ingest.@@@ It did not take time before Boko Haram denied the charge of killing the General just as the Defence Headquarters was equally quick in denying the complicity of its agents. One question remains unanswered though: why did not the soldiers put any resistance? After following the activities of Boko Haram since it started its insurgency, I have learnt to concede it one thing: accepting its denial whenever it issues a disclaimer on any operation it did not undertake. Unfortunately, the world is reluctant to accord the Nigerian military the same veracity status because it has earned a notorious reputation of denying even the most obvious. Just last week when Reuters released a video of some Nigerian soldiers executing people on the street, the military spokesman instinctively denied the charge even before watching the video. Nigerian soldiers cannot do that, he said – that is all – and he expects the world to believe him. The people of Maiduguri, like those of Zaki Biam and Odi before them and, indeed, other Nigerians as well, will definitely find it difficult to swallow this claim. Horrendous things have been reported from Maiduguri in the last two years. Unarmed civilians are trapped in their neighbourhoods and killed by people wearing military uniforms. The military authorities denied carrying out the executions, as they denied the rapes that were reported by foreign media at the debut of their intervention in the conflict. Markets were burnt to ashes by armed men in uniforms. Ordinary citizens are subjected to a constant regime of harassment. Again and always, it is one denial after another from the Joint Task Force and the defence headquarters. Even where accounts were given by human right groups such as Human Rights Watch, the denial never ends. What the Nigerian military cannot deny is that these atrocities are happening in areas under its effective control and continuous surveillance. All roads leading to General Shuwa’s house have roadblocks manned by Nigerian soldiers. And so is his house to date. (One wonders what the soldiers are still doing there) Yet his assassins could comfortably scale through the roadblocks and kill the general right before the eyes of his military guards, unrestrained by their presence, unconstrained by their guns and superior demography of eight to two – and walk away laughing with impunity. I think the military authorities and the government should wake up and start exploring other possibilities that could be behind these atrocities, not least the possible involvement of some elements in the military in the death of General Shuwa. This is what many Nigerians are doing. The military can take exceptions to this inquisition only at the peril of totally losing the confidence of the Nigerian public. Given the variegated nature of its cultural composition and its factional history, it is naïve to think that every Nigerian soldier has shed off the garbage of ethnicity and history from his shoulders. They are human, after all. People are therefore asking whether Shuwa was a victim of some kind of vengeance. Does his civil war record leave an enduring bitterness in someone, for instance? They now ask these questions not only because of their sheer possibility but also because of the indifference that his guards showed during his murder. This strong speculation can only be dismissed after the government has carried out a thorough investigation into his murder, digging out the reasons for the nonchalance of his soldier guards and the identity of the real culprits. Anybody can shout Allahu Akbar as he shoots his victim to confuse his identity with that of Boko Haram, as did the Christian who attempted to burn his church in Calabar last year. Outright denial and pointing an accusing finger at Boko Haram alone will not suffice. It is either a rebuttal – denial backed with convincing evidence – or a revelation of the unalloyed truth. Anything short of that will continue to leave the gates of the rational mind open to all sorts of possibilities, including that of an attack from outside space. If the armed men that burn markets in Maiduguri, rape women, execute youths before the eyes of their parents in the middle of the night and kill war veterans like Shuwa are neither Nigerian soldiers nor Boko Haram, then could they be aliens from a neighbouring country – as Governor Jang often claim in his state – or some creatures from outside space? And who can save us from their wrath other than the Nigerian military? But the same military was at the spot where Shuwa was killed and its boys declined to put up any fight. It is not uncommon to find people expressing the view that Boko Haram or a part of its dimensions is nothing but an orchestration to destroy the North – its people and its economy. The circumstances of Shuwa’s death will definitely add fuel to the fire of this conspiracy theory. Only a full investigation by a body independent of the Nigerian military will discount it.
 Panel of Investigation.
 In view of the above, I would like to raise two points in the concluding part of this article. One, there is the need for the federal government to investigate the death of General Shuwa. A panel should be set up under the chairmanship of a prudent, unbiased personality. Its members should include, among others, officials of the Borno State government, Borno Emirate Council, Borno Council of Elders, a representative of civil society and a veteran of the Civil War. This is a call that should be heard loudly coming from other civil war veterans, members of the Borno Elders Forum, the Arewa Consultative Forum and every champion of social justice. This matter must not be left in the hands of the defence headquarters. The military has already given its outcome that many of us are not satisfied with. It is hard to see it revoking that verdict and issuing a new ruling on the case. Since its personnel were involved – through negligence or connivance – the military as an institution has a case to answer before the panel. Government must not allow it to be a judge in its own cause. This investigation will not be of benefit to the relations of Shuwa alone. It is likely to unravel the identity of the mysterious soldiers who commit other atrocities in Borno and Yobe States that involved many innocent but less privileged Nigerians than Shuwa. The Nigerian military may also find the report important to its operations against Boko Haram. General Shuwa is dead. May God forgive him! The other point is that I would not like to accuse him of naivety at this moment when our prayer is all he needs. But I will dare suggest so for the benefit of others. A war for a general does not end with peace but with his death. With the death of Shuwa under questionable circumstances, we are challenged to review his status vis-à-vis his military career: Was he a hero of the war for Nigerian unity or its latest victim or both? Some would say he lived as a war hero and might have died as its victim forty-four years later.@@@ The controversy may never end until the truth is told. And the truth will always surface no matter how long it takes. We remain patient.

Boko Haram Crisis: Where Were You When I Visited Maiduguri? – OBJ Fires Back At Gen. Gowon

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has fired back at his former boss, Gen. Yakubu Gowon for calling his comments on the Jonathan administration’s handling of Boko Haram insurgency as ‘highly irresponsible.’

It would be recalled that two weeks ago at a book launch in Warri, Delta state in honour of  Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s 40th year in ministry, Obasanjo had called on President Jonathan to show more firmness in his handling of Boko Haram.
A week after Obasanjo made his comments, Gen. Gowon while speaking at the sidelines during a book launch, responded to the comments, saying, “Obasanjo is highly irresponsible to have made such comments about the present government. Many people have condemned what he (Obasanjo) did in Odi and Zaki Biam. So, it was irresponsible for him to defend it or accuse the present administration.”
But in a statement released yesterday, Obasanjo, speaking through his media assistant, Malam Garba Deen Mohammed, said that he showed his commitment to peace by leaving Abeokuta to Maiduguri to mediate with Boko Haram and threw a poser asking “Where was Gowon?”.
Quoting further from the statement, Obasanjo said, “There’s nothing irresponsible about my comments on the insecurity in Nigeria. I was only interpreting the reality. I expressed an opinion on the way the Boko Haram crisis is being handled and said if the current strategy is not working, then there has to be a change of strategy to achieve results. If the strategy were working, Boko Haram would have become a thing of the past by now.”
The statement further read: “In expressing my opinion, I drew from my personal experience. General Gowon can disagree with me without being insultive. Gowon’s comment is unkind, unfair, and unguarded.”
Apparently displeased by Gowon’s response, OBJ as he is fondly called, added that, “Just two weeks ago, the government of Borno State came out in the open to declare that it had been abandoned by the Federal Government. Why didn’t Gowon convince the Federal Government to help Maiduguri?
“Where was Gowon? Why has he not visited Maiduguri to solicit for peace? Is he not a leader of the North? What effort has he made to ensure an end to the crisis?”
 InformationNigeria.org

Bishop flays Oritsejafor’s private jet

 by Tunde Odesola 

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

The Bishop of the Diocese of Ife, Anglican Communion, Rt. Rev. Oluwole Odubogun, has faulted the President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, for joining the league of private jet owners in the country.

Odubogun described the donation of the private jet to Oritsejafor as a show of wealth amid poverty, want and deprivation.

Speaking at a programme of the diocese, Carnival for Christ 2012, on Saturday, Odubogun said the action of the CAN president was against the doctrine of the gospel.

He said Oritsejafor does not need a private jet to preach the gospel.

He said, “Having a private jet in the midst of want, in the midst of poverty and in the midst of all kinds of deprivation is a show of wealth, which is not precisely in consonance with the gospel.

“According to the gospel, those who have should share with those who do not have. When you are riding in a jet, you don’t know what is happening to the other people on the street. You are on your own.

“Whether the public transportation system is adequately taken care of you don’t know, because you have cut yourself off from the people whom you are supposed to guide and emancipate.”

The bishop added, “Let us say you need the jet to get to places on time. But the gospel is not meant for one person. It is not meant for one leader. There is no reason why you are the only one to go everywhere. And if you don’t have to go everywhere, you don’t need a jet.

“You will need a jet when you are running your private business. You will need a jet if you are the only one to oversee what is happening. As far as the gospel is concerned, God is in control. And God, who is in control, is giving us a message to disciple all nations.

“If you are preaching salvation which the gospel is all about, I don’t think you need a jet.”
Punch

SECOND TERM: Northern leaders give Jonathan conditions •Replace Namadi Sambo •Create Arewa development fund •Remove onshore/offshore dichotomy

by Olawale Rasheed

A cutthroat power struggle is now ongoing in the North, as some leaders are said to have listed some conditions under which they would be ready to support President Goodluck Jonathan‘s second term bid in 2015.
This is coming as suspicion lingers among opposition political parties over their planned merger, due to what a source called the sudden interest of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) in the proposed grand opposition coalition.

Sunday Tribune was reliably told that some Northern leaders met in Kano, on Friday, after jumat to review the state of the North and the forthcoming 2015 presidential election with actors at the meeting said to be worried that the president‘s second term bid is almost a fait accompli, due to distrust among Northern political leaders.

A source close to the meeting who hails from Zaria, Kaduna State, said it was held at the residence of a Second Republic politician with about 11 top politicians from the core North in attendance.

It was gathered that the meeting discussed the increasing division in the North and concluded that the possibility of the region forging a common front before 2015 was becoming increasingly unattainable, thereby advancing a ‘Plan B’ which our source said included a conditional support for the president’s second term bid.

Actors at the meeting were said to have expressed worries that if the North should enter the 2015 race as it were, the president may secure his second term without any agreement or relationship with the core North.

“The fear is we are in trouble, if the man wins again without our organised support. We risk the top position going to the Igbo in 2019,“ the source noted.

Sunday Tribune was told that the meeting, which lasted for two and a half hours, agreed to link up with other Northern leaders, even as they agreed on some conditions the North should give the president, if the core North was to back him for the Presidency in 2015.

Our source narrated that the meeting listed three main conditions for the president, the most important of which is that he should change his vice presidential running mate.

The meeting was said to have advised that the president should pick his running mate from among one of the Northern governors as a way of rallying the Northern governors behind him.

Besides, the group is also said to be canvassing for a wholesale rebuilding of the Northern region through a federal Northern Development Fund, in view of the Boko Haram crisis and what the source called subsisting underdevelopment in the region.

The last of the conditions, according to the source,  is a request for presidential support for the clamour of the North for the review of the onshore/offshore dichotomy, a division  which the Northern states believe is depriving the region of close to N40 billion monthly.

An administration source, very close to the vice-president, who was contacted over the report, described the conditions as unrealistic, asserting that “Vice-President Namadi Sambo has remained a loyal and effective deputy  since he came on board.

“That is wishful thinking of a faceless group. The Jonathan/ Sambo ticket is a winning team anyday.“

The source added, however, that “the president has not even taken any decision on the second term issue.”

Meanwhile, there is still suspicion about intentions of partners over the ongoing merger talks among the main opposition parties in the country.

Checks within opposition circles showed that the eagerness of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to effect the merger is been hampered by unresolved issues with the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as well as fears over the real goal of the ANPP in the merger talks.

Sunday Tribune was told that both the CPC and the ACN were wary of the renewed interest of the ANPP in the merger with some chieftains of the CPC said to be afraid of a repeat of old ANPP feud within the planned party.

The ANPP was said to have directly written letters  to both the CPC and the ACN, expressing its total support of the merger plan as a way to defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015. The party also reportedly forawarded  a list of its team’s members for the merger talks with former Borno State governor,Ali Modu Sheriff, as the head.

The direct involvement of Sheriff, who is the ANPP Board of Trustees chairman, is said to have alarmed the CPC whose chieftains reportedly regard the former governor as a sympathiser of the ruling PDP.

A CPC chieftain, who expressed fear about the ANPP, said “we are wary and we are looking over our shoulders because of our previous experience with the old ANPP.“

Meanwhile, the CPC itself is battling with questions about who made up its negotiating team, with a group within the party canvassing that no member of the National Executive Committee or Board of Trustees should be part of the negotiating team.

This position did not, however, go down well with some entrenched interests within the party who believe doing that will hand over the negotiation to the Mallam Nasir el-Rufai-led Renewal Committee.
NigerianTribune

Why Edo ladies no longer go to Italy

by Uchechukwu Olisah

The search for the Golden Fleece which basically drove Edo youths, particularly those of Benin extraction, to Europe in the late 80s and early 90s, is today, no longer a fad. The mass movement to some of the countries of Europe namely Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium appears to have considerably dropped in the past few years. These migrants, a number of them illegal, especially the girls, ended up mainly in prostitution, while the men engaged in menial jobs and illegal drugs business.

The trades were a thing of pride for those plying them and members of their families. It was an era when dollars, and later, Euros, flowed in, and the senders of the foreign currencies and members of their families and, sometimes friends and well wishers, relished. Any family which did not have anyone – woman or man, especially young woman – abroad, had not started. That family was a laughing stock, a societal unit lagging behind in the fashion of the time.

This boom in sex trade got to a stage it became an organised business with worldwide network of sponsors and recruiters who with promises of better employment and opportunities of making quick money,  lured young women for reasons ranging from poverty, illiteracy, and bandwagon effect to greed, to Europe under slavish conditions.

In the first 20 years or so, it was tales of success, of quick money. The Italos, as the women are fondly referred to, and Jandos, as the men are called in local parlance, ‘made it’ and returned home with ‘triumph.’ They came back with, or sent home exotic cars, built modern houses, sank boreholes to provide water, and made lots of foreign currencies available for their people to have good life.  Indeed, these were the years a popular singer named Ohenhen came out with a hit song celebrating the wealth of a popular Italo whom he extolled for her generosity.

The consequences, some of which were insidious, did not matter then. What mattered was the success of that moment. Some people travelled with the consent of their families, just as others either by themselves or through collusion sold off some of their families’ properties, particularly parcels of land and buildings, to sponsor their trips. In fact, there was no stigma attached to the whole phenomenon. It was a case of if one came back with money, even if they were a prostitute or commercial sex worker as some people put it, they were honoured and respected. But if one came back poor, they were sex workers, they were failures and they were laughed at.

However, what was thought to be a success started taking its toll. Some of them got badly beaten up, others became diseased, yet others died without a trace. A number of them also came to the realisation of their slavish condition when they got to know about the thousands of dollars or Euros they had to pay as settlement or sponsorship fee when they got to their trafficked destination.

The image of the people of the state and indeed that of the state got bruised. Some of them were hit by deportation. Others ended up in jail. Some of them later got to know that whether deported or not, their families back home had fleeced them. It became a tale of woes, all of which, individually or collectively, left them in a tragic state, sometimes without the will to try again.

Observers attribute this declining trend to greater education, more public enlightenment and awareness regarding the dangers of illegal immigration, prostitution and illicit drugs trade and the continued global economic recession which left Europe as one of the most troubled continents.

This increase in the creation of awareness, education and enlightenment on the dangers of the then fashionable mass movement to Europe was mounted by the Oba of Benin,Idia Renaissance, churches, non-governmental organisations and concerned individuals, as well as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Offences Commission (NAPTIP), among others.

The combined efforts of these individuals, institutions and organisations have no doubt helped in stemming the tide of the craze for going abroad and led to the introduction of an anti-prostitution bill, its passage by the Edo State House of Assembly and the signing it into law by then Governor Lucky Igbinedion. The law, which was introduced as an executive bill, provides severe penalties for sex trade practitioners and their sponsors.

The law, cited as the “Criminal Code (Amendment) Law 2000,” amended some of the provisions of the criminal code law cap 48 laws of Bendel State 1976 as applicable to Edo State.

The law prohibits any person from sponsoring a girl or woman by giving her any financial, physical or material assistance to enable her travel out of Nigeria for the purpose of becoming a prostitute or to carry out any immoral act.

It stipulates that any person, who administers any oath on a woman or girl or performs any fetish ritual to enable her to travel out of Nigeria for the purpose of becoming a prostitute or to have unlawful carnal knowledge with any person is guilty of an offence. On conviction, such a person will be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment or to pay a fine of N500,000 or both.

The law also has it that any female person who knowingly offers herself for the purpose of prostitution or carry out any immoral act within or outside Nigeria, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to an imprisonment for two years or pay a fine of N20,000.

Also, any man who patronises any woman in an act capable of being called prostitution is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to two years’ imprisonment or to a fine of N10,000, just as “any woman who lures or induces any male with gratification for the purpose of having carnal knowledge with her is guilty of an offence and, if convicted is liable to two years’ imprisonment or a fine of N10,000 or both.”

The law provides for a prison term of 10 years or a fine of N500,000 for those who lure or induce women into prostitution if they are found guilty of the offence. In addition, they will forfeit any property acquired through prostitution to the state.

During the Igbinedion administration, some of sex trade practitioners and sponsors were arrested and charged to court. The Federal Government agency, NAPTIP, has also done a number of arrests and prosecutions of offenders, and has continued to do so. The agency has even secured a number of convictions, with many of the convicts jailed or asked to pay fines, or both.

Besides, with more and better formal education, acquisition of technical and vocational education, and greater entrepreneurial skills, young men and women of Edo origin, particularly Benin kingdom, started having, exploring and exploiting noble opportunities.
NigerianTribune

My private jet story, by Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

  By SAM EYOBOKA &  JOSEPH ERUNKE
The birthday gift of a private jet presented by a member of Word of Life Bible Church, Warri  and chairman of the committee of the procurement of the jet, Kevin Nwachukwu, to  Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsejafor, the head of  the church and the national president of Christian Association of Nigeria, on Saturday, November 10,  has generated a lot of controversy. In this interview, Oritsejafor tells the story of how the jet was acquired.
There is a huge gap between spirituality and actual faith in God. There is the belief that the love of money has taken over Christendom, rather than  the preaching of  undiluted gospel of salvation. Why do you think there is a shift towards prosperity?
First of all, as somebody who has preached the gospel for 40 years, I know that the gospel is a total package—it is for the spirit, mind and body. What has happened through the years is that in every dispensation, there is emphasis that becomes stronger than the others and such emphasis does not reduce the format but add to the format.
For example, Martin Luther was the one who searched the scripture to see how the Word of God could change the human being. But as time went on, we started seeing the Baptists. The reason why we call them Baptists is because the founder laid a lot of emphasis on water baptism; that is why today they are being called Baptists, not because they don’t believe that you need to accept Christ and be saved and go to heaven. What happened was that the founder had a revelation and a very deep understanding and conviction in the area of water baptism and he emphasized that.
Again, today, when you give your life to Christ, there is a big emphasis on salvation; that is accepting Christ and walking in the knowledge of Christ. Now, the revelation is progressing; as that went on, there are people who through inspiration and the study of the Word  have more understanding in the area of prosperity and so started emphasizing on prosperity.
The problem is that there are those who preach and their whole understanding is in the area of prosperity. I think that is not good. I believe there should be a balance. I don’t believe you should not preach prosperity, but I don’t think you should preach prosperity and neglect the preaching of salvation, because we are still going to heaven at the end of everything.
This world cannot be a permanent place. If you live very long, according to scripture, probably you will live for 120 years but, at the end of the day, you will still die and go, so where are you going? So it is important to emphasize on salvation, knowing Christ and going to heaven.
Now, what will eventually happen is that, with time, these things will level out and those who place   emphasis on prosperity will realize that prosperity cannot be the main thing. The main thing must still be holy living and going to heaven. So this is basically what is going to happen.
I will say what I have always said that we must emphasize on the area of living for God. That is why Nigeria has problem today. People who go to church, especially those who, one way or the other, are privileged to be in certain positions, forget the basic thing of God, which is the fear of God and all they want is money, they forget about really serving God.
They don’t take God to their work place, they don’t bring God to the positions where God has put them, but I believe that, eventually, these things will level out and the right thing will take its place.

Oritsejafor and wife

For 40 years, you have been in the pulpit preaching the gospel of God, during which there have been miracles, touching lives and all that. But there are certain things that some people don’t know about you and this has to do with your calling. How did you get the divine call?
I have shared it so many times but I don’t mind repeating it because it is the main thing about my life. My mother prayed to have a male child. She told God that if He gave her a male child, she would give him back to Him. That was my mother’s prayer at the First Baptist Church in Lagos.
That was how she conceived and I was born. I didn’t know this prayer and my mother forgot about the prayer just like any average human being will do.  So I grew up and went my own way and lived my own life and got into a lot of vices, a lot of things that were not right. I have told people that if there is any bad thing that anybody could do in this world, I did it.
Can you elaborate on this?
(Laughs) Well, at my age and at my level in life, these are things that we are not proud of and will not want to give these things  prominence, but I was into so many wrong things. I leave the rest to your imagination. Yes, this was the life I lived.
However, I remember one day, I was walking along Marina in Lagos, very sad, I couldn’t explain why. You know, when you live on the wrong side of life for a while, that  is how you feel. But even the worst human beings you see today on the street, no matter how bad they look, they still have soft spots.
That  night, around 9.00 p.m., I was walking along Marina then, Marina was Marina and not the one you have today. There have been a lot of changes. Tears started rolling down my cheeks and I started praying, well, should I really call it a prayer? It wasn’t a prayer as such.
I said, ‘God, if you are God, do something and change me, I cannot continue with this kind of life’. Three months later, I came home, to Sapele, because my mother was here and one night somebody gave me a handbill inviting me to a crusade.
I just didn’t think I was one of those that should be invited to a crusade because I wasn’t that kind. But I went to the crusade and I heard the Word of God preached by the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa and that turned around my life. For the first time, something touched me. That was when I gave my life to Christ, and my life changed 360 degrees.
It is difficult to comprehend this because the, very next day, I bought a Bible and began to preach. It was like I lost my mind, but I think what must have happened was; remember my mother’s prayer many years back. You may forget, but God doesn’t forget.
I think God just took what belonged to Him, because, the very next day, I started to preach. I went to a market place, people gathered and I started preaching. People gathered because they knew the person I was; certainly, they had gathered to see a mad man but it turned out that I was preaching the Word of God. The very next day, people came out and gave their lives to Christ, and the rest is history.
The issue of succession in Pentecostal churches has gotten to a worrisome dimension. Founders and their followers engage in crises on who takes over when the leaders are out. The development sometimes leads to physical fights and often breakaways as those who feel they contributed to the growth of the churches insist the next persons in leadership must either be the wives, children, brother or direct relatives of the founders. What do you have to say about this?
I think there must never be a stereotype. I don’t believe that the fact that the woman is married to a man therefore she has to take over. A man can be a pastor and the wife may not have the call. We must come to a place where we must believe and accept the fact that if you push a woman into something that God did not call her, that ministry will collapse.
It will die on its own. But the other side of the coin is that it could be that the woman is also called. So if the woman is called, what do you do? Do you say that because she is the founder’s wife, she should not take her place? You can’t say that, that is why I say that there must never be a stereotype.
It depends on the call, it depends  on God’s hands upon who ever. So, it could be the wife, it could be the son, it could be a brother in the church, it could be one of the pastors, it could be a total stranger. Sometimes, when we read the Bible, we don’t want to admit what we read in the Bible because we  already have a mindset.
When you read the Bible, you will discover some interesting things. For example, when Jesus was here on earth, you would always conclude that the leader of the disciples was Peter, because of certain statements, certain things, but if you study very closely, you will find out that Jesus never appointed anybody.
He never appointed anybody to take over from him. So, that is a big point right there. Now, it is interesting that when you go to the book of Acts and study it very closely, you will find out that the only time we see an authentic leader of the church, you discover that the man that became the leader was Jesus’ half brother.
That is a bit strange. You will find out that even Peter submitted himself to James. I am not talking of the James that was one of the disciples. I am talking about  James that was one of Jesus’ brothers; the same mother with Jesus. We know that Mary had other children, after Jesus. One of those children was James and when Jesus was physically alive, none of them believed in him.
They stayed away from him but, after he died, they accepted the gospel that he preached and,  interestingly, one of them, James, became the head of the Church. The Bible tells us that at a point, when there was a problem in the Church and there were two factions—one group was the Peter group and the other group was the Paul group.
Now, there was a contention and it was over whether Christians should accept Christ who was not  a  Jew. Should they circumcise themselves and all that? One group said no and the other said yes. It became a very big problem and it was James who stood up and said: “This is my decision.
You must go to the Gentiles and tell them they don’t have to do this and that. This is what they must do”. You see, that tells you vividly who the leader was. So my point is this, that Peter accepted the leadership of James; obviously, Peter was already a disciple before  James accepted Christ.
But he was humble enough to accept him as his leader. James did not make himself a leader; obviously, they all agreed that he should be the leader. That shows you the level of spirituality. If it is today, how would you interpret it? You will definitely say that the brother of the founder of the Church is now the leader of the Church.
There appears to be part-time and full-time pastors in the Church today, a development that has necessitated people to give conflicting reactions. Is it right to have part-time pastors in the service of God?
Look, I may say some things that are a bit different from what you have known or what you may have heard. I say things because I am convinced and you will have to find a way to digest it. Every Christian is in full-time ministry. Any other job you are doing is the one that is part-time.
If there was enough money, there would have been no need for one to work because our full-time job is to be Christians and win others to Christ. But a church must function and there are many things that must happen—life must go on, people must eat and live; if your wife is pregnant and goes to hospital, you have to pay the bills.
That is why 99 per cent of church members have jobs. If you study the Bible very carefully, you may see something that will shock you. Are you aware that Apostle Paul, everywhere he went to, to start a church, got a job? In fact, he went as far as explaining why, so that the gospel would not be abused or looked down upon; so that people will not think that he was preaching this gospel because he wanted the people’s money.
He was a lawyer by profession, but wherever he went to and couldn’t get a law job, he found something else to do and he was good at tent making. So he would start a tent making business wherever he started a church, he would go out to make tent, sell the tent and have enough money to feed everybody that was with him, and he would take care of himself and everything. So there is nothing wrong with a man who has a job and he is preaching the gospel.
Nigerian pastors are accused of prospering while their congregants continue to suffer in poverty. What is your take on this?
Well, let me begin like this, this is a major issue, especially now that I have just been presented with a gift of a jet. That makes it a major issue. Let me say here that every pastor must be conscious of the people he pastors. It is very important. I can tell you that as a pastor for 40 years now, if you talk to people that are genuinely my members, they will tell you the kind of pastor that am I.
If you watched me today, I was talking about a young man who has been trying to go to a university for three years now. I didn’t know him from Adam. One day, after a service here, one of my pastors brought him to me. As soon as he saw me, he held my legs and began to cry! He showed me all the papers, pleading that he had tried to gain admission to any university here, it never worked.
So he finally got admission to study in Cyprus. I paid his school fees, helped him with ticket and everything he needed, he’s gone. He has since resumed school and is there in Cyprus now. How many people will know that? In the last s
even to eight years now, I have paid school fees of over 100 people in different universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Some of them have graduated and have come here to share their testimonies, excitements and even their parents have come here to thank us. I don’t know them from anywhere. Every December 26, I do a very big thing here. We call it poverty alleviation.
This year, December 26, we will equally do it. Last December 26, I gave out about six brand new cars to people; your denomination means nothing. Whether you are a Muslim or a native doctor means nothing here. What qualifies you is if you are a human being. I gave out 25 tricycles, about 100 sewing machines, and grinding machines.
Some of these people come here to give testimonies; some are now married and have children. There was this young boy, a Moslem from Auchi. This young man, nothing good was coming out of his life, he was rejected, nobody wanted him and one of our pastors took him into a teaching centre and he was sleeping in the teaching centre. They were helping him. This boy had  driver’s  licence, I don’t know how he got it. He had no job and couldn’t do anything.
Last two years, when we were doing the poverty alleviation, he applied.  And they brought out a name which happened to be this boy’s and he won a brand new car. Today, that boy has rented his own house; in fact, his parents who are Muslims came to church on a Sunday and worshipped with me and danced all over the place and, after the service, they came to me and thanked me, saying ‘oh, this boy that you don’t even know from anywhere, you dashed him a car.’
They were very happy. Besides that, many lives have been transformed here. We have changed many lives. We have an orphanage here. As we are talking, an American couple has gotten in touch with me. They want to adopt a child from our orphanage. We have a clinic here that hopefully will develop into a full blown hospital. People go there and pay little something for treatment, but generally on Sundays people are treated free.
These are some of the things we do. Most people don’t know this and I don’t think I am the only pastor doing this. So a lot of people who are saying this against pastors are just being mischievous. They may have their reasons, some of them are bitter about something and they are not telling the full story about what is making them bitter.
But like I said, a good pastor must be concerned about his people. We have buses that we use in carrying people. If I tell you some of the things that we used to do, it will shock you. There is a woman in my church, when she came to this church, she had probably two blouses and a wrapper, no slippers, not even  bathroom slippers.
She had never entered a classroom before. I didn’t even know her. She is from one of these oil bearing communities. There was a time an oil company in their community wanted to do business with them and she was interested but had no money. She came to us for assistance. I don’t think, at that time, she had ever seen N10,000 in her life.
So she went to our micro-finance bank, Mama (my wife) runs it without salary, she and all our directors don’t earn one naira. She went to the bank and said she wanted to borrow money. My wife asked her; `how much do you have in your account’, and she said, I don’t even have an account’.
My wife looked at her, and she called me about it and I said, `look, leave me out of it’. We didn’t even have that kind of money at that time. She asked the woman again, `how much do you have now and the woman said N2,000′. She now advised her to use that money to open an account and she did. Mama now went round to source for the amount.
The short story here is that she got the money, did her business and in less than six months, she paid back the money she collected. As we speak now, she is one of the richest women in Warri. She bought me an incredible car that cost millions of naira some years ago.
Coming to the issue of jet, I had no single idea of how it came about. It is true that people like us have gotten to a point where we need to have means of movement that will help us. You may have heard me speak about my trip to Indonesia, to Jakarta.
In fact,  it wasn’t even Jakarta I was going to, but I had to stay inside an airport in Jakarta for five hours to wait for my flight, to get to the very city I was going. I was only going to preach for two hours there. I flew from Lagos to Dubai and I spent over three hours, changed flight to fly to Jakarta and then stayed five hours at the airport just to catch a flight to where I was going to, where I was to preach for just two hours.
And after everything, I got a flight from that place again to Jakarta, stayed at the airport again for another five hours, then flew into Dubai, stayed again at the airport for another three hours before I flew into Lagos. It took me four days to make a journey to preach for two hours. I’m a human being and I am not getting younger every day.
And locally, it is worse, for instance, the acting General Secretary of CAN lost his father in a place outside Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and I had to be there. I preached in a place in Lagos on a Friday and needed to be back to Warri on a Saturday, but at the end of the day, the plane that would have taken me was no where.
I had to charter a plane for N3.5 million to take me to Uyo, waited for me to finish and then take me back to Warri. Two weeks ago, a young pastor in Port Harcourt built a new church and had been on me all this while to come and dedicate the church and suddenly from no where, there was this flood that cut off the road to Port Harcourt.
There is no road now to Port Harcourt. If you want to go by road now, it takes you up to 12 hours to get to Port Harcourt and I had to preach in Port Harcourt, I had to preach in Lagos, I had to preach in Abuja and other places. Finally, I was able to find my way to Port Harcourt, it was on a Saturday.
I had to get to Warri that Saturday so as to be able to preach the next day, Sunday. Do you know what I had to finally do? I chartered a helicopter that cost me N2 million to drop me in Warri. When they dropped me here, ah, I can’t tell you how I felt that I had to part with that sum. But I had promised the young man and the church and if I had said  no, will it be right? I can go on and on and on.
So, sometimes, my schedule is so complicated. Now, with this plane, it changes everything about my movements. Now, I can move, I can even go and come back home. It is a bit more convenient for me and I suspect that this is one of the reasons a lot of these other preachers have planes.
Does your congregation understand all these engagements?
They do. They feel the pain I go through and they feel painful for not seeing me most of the time. They don’t like it, they are troubled.  I know some people buy planes, I can’t buy plane. I can’t afford it. I don’t have that kind of money, I still don’t know the people that bought this plane, but I know that there is a committee.
I hope you will get to meet with some of the people in that committee, I don’t  know them. My wife is more involved with them.  She (my wife) never talked to me, (about it) and she was acting strange. Well, I don’t want to get involved in this. This is my story about the plane. And I’m not ashamed to own a plane, I think it is a necessity and not a luxury for some of us deeply involved in the work of God to own planes.
Vanguard

Why Nigeria can’t break –Tinubu

Former Lagos State governor and national leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has called on all Nigerians to “utilize our diversity as a strength and rally to make a better country.” Tinubu made this call while receiving an honorary degree of Human Letters, Honoris Causa given to his mother, Alhaja Habibat Mogaji, the Iyaloja General by the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria during its 50th convocation yesterday. According to Tinubu, “We are one .
From north to south, we are one. In pursuit of a better future for our children, we are one. In our love for humanity, we are one. In our hatred of injustice, we are one. In our belief that Nigeria can guide its people out of poverty and into prosperity, we are one. As Nigerians, we are brothers and sisters. While others may try to pull us apart, let us lock our lives together in an effective union.
If we dedicate ourselves to this task, we shall survive the current storms to enter a new and brighter day”. While thanking the northern university for reaching across to the South West to honor his mother, he noted that the lesson is that in spite of our differences, we have a lot in common upon which we can leverage for a better future for youths and our country. “What stirs me today is that this northern university reached across hundreds of kilometers, across the so-called regional divide to honor a woman from Lagos.
By this, you demonstrated your firm belief that we are one. You shall not draw back your hand empty. As you have extended a hand to this woman of the southwest, she and all that she represents extend a hand to you in a familial embrace that cannot be broken by transient setback or idle chatter”, Tinubu said. Tinubu’s message was unmistakable as he said “…it is time for a new kind of consciousness across the broad political spectrum especially between the north and the south because their political future is inextricably tied together.
I am here to affirm that we are one. You have talents, skills and assets that will enrich my life. I have talents, skills and resources that will enrich yours. We must value each other. We have more in common than we have things that separate us”. Tinubu who expressed so much gratitude to his mother for his upbringing and political tutelage said this of his mother, Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, “I have to tell you that being the president general of the market women is a rewarding but tough position. It was probably the second toughest job she had.
So today, I stand here on behalf of my mother to say thank you for this esteemed honor. If not for her 96 years and the wear the years have put on her physical being, she would be standing here today to say these things for herself”. Speaking further, Tinubu said although his mother was not as physically strong as before, her mind and spirit are as agile and focused as ever. “My mother has been a patriot, a true believer in this joint enterprise we call Nigeria.
Her belief in the purpose and destiny of this nation has never been doused by the difficulties we have suffered on the road of nation building. This remarkable woman has always seen past the events of the day into the horizon of a better and greater future”, he said. He thanked his mother for propelling him into public life and declared that he owed her a debt that cannot be repaid.
“She instilled this same sense of patriotism and of Nigeria’s greatness in me”.
TheSun