Benin, kingdom of the sky-kings

This piece is in response to Femi Fani-Kayode’s article,’ Who Are The Yoruba?’

By Ambrose Osawe

Benin, once known as Igodomigodo, was the kingdom of rulers who regarded themselves as sky-kings, those whose divine rule is derived from the sky – Ogiso. At the eclipse of this dynasty, there was still no authentic heir to the throne, Owodo; the last of the Ogisos was desperate for a successor. His only heir, Ekaladerhan, being the son of an unfavoured queen (Arukho), had little or no prospect of succeeding his father as he was entrapped in a web of palace intrigues with the sole aim of depriving him succeed his father.

A plot purported to be the wish of the gods was eventually hatched to eliminate him.

The executioners, sensing intrigue and betrayal, spared his life. He secretly sojourned westward into a community the Binis called Uhe (Ife).  At Uhe (Ife), he assumed the title of  Oduduwa (I have sought my path of prosperity).
Back home, the last of the Ogisos died without producing a heir to his throne. During the period of interregnum, a republican called Evian as administrator of the kingdom was succeeded by Ogiamien who became overzealous and ambitious. He wanted to perpetuate Evians hegemony in
Benin. In order to sustain the age old tradition of primogeniture, the elders resolved to set up a search party to trace the whereabouts of Ekaladerhan, the only surviving heir of Ogiso Owodo.

The elders, headed by Oliha, who were opposed to the overbearing nature of Ogiamien, were resolute to invite Ekaladerhan home to take over his rightful position as heir apparent. It became evident that the system of succession (father to son) had been the culture of the Binis since inception. It is therefore obvious there was an existing kingdom under the rule of the Ogisos before the establishment of Eweka I dynasty.

It is also beyond doubt that this practice had been with the Binis before the establishment of the present dynasty of which Erediauwa is the 38th Oba in an unbroken succession since Eweka I in 900AD.

A delegation of nobilities, under the leadership of Oliha, eventually arrived at Ile-Ife and implored Ekaladerhan to return to Benin. At the time the emissaries reached him, he yelled in excitement, ‘Ewore ka,’ meaning the nucleus or the source, heart or soul of the flow will never go dry. He was assured of his safety and the hope of making him the ruler of the kingdom. The aged prince refused the invitation and promised that he would rather delegate power to one of his sons.

*Oba of Benin

Ekaladerhan’s refusal to honour the elders’ invitation could be subject to many interpretations. Firstly, he must have become so old that  he felt it unreasonable to move to Benin. Secondly, he had adapted himself to the culture of his new environment that he would prefer to remain.

He was, in fact, the leader of the community as a result of his ingenuity and prowess in all aspects of community enterprise.

Thirdly, he probably wanted to abide by the pledge he made that he would not set his foot on the Benin soil again.

However, Ekaladerhan entrusted his son, Oranmiyan, into the care of Oliha who had promised to ensure his protection. Oranmiyan’s reign in Benin was short-lived. His departure from Benin was dictated by two factors. One, he was greatly embarrassed by the opposition of Ogiamien and his adherents.

Two, Oranmiyan’s cultural background was in conflict with the custom and tradition of Binis.

On his way back to Ile-Ife, Oranmiyan had a short stay at Ego where he impregnated Erhinmwinde, the daughter of the Enogie. This affair resulted in the birth of Eweka 1.

Femi Fani Kayode’s write up in Sunday Vanguard of May 26, 2013 at  pages 20-21 entitled, ‘Who are the Yoruba People?,’ was quite interesting.

But while discussing the Ife-Benin relationship, like some others before him, he too fell into a similar error by referring to old Benin Empire as one of the kingdoms established by Oduduwa’s progeny. He also wondered how the name Yoruba came about. Mr. Femi Fani Kayode, a lawyer and former minister, is probably influenced by a vengeful clique of revisionist theorists and court
jesters commissioned to deliberately rewrite the history of the Yoruba vis-à-vis Ife/Benin relationship to assuage the hurt ego of some monarchs in search of contemporary political relevance. History has today, therefore,  become an intellectual pawn in the pen and armour of ethnocentrics as forerunners of empire builders and irredentist adventurers.

I would, therefore, proceed by avoiding historical pitfalls which has become the lot of some bubbling Afrocentrics who seize every opportunity to re-invent myths as favourable facts of history.

YORUBA is not originally a Yoruba word. Rather, it is a corruption of Iyoya rruoba (I have gone to pay my homage to the Oba). It is a Bini word corrupted into Yoruba which Fani Kayode queried. He wrote “yet the fact of the matter is that the word ‘Yoruba’ has no meaning in our language or any other language that is known to man.…  For all we know it could even be a deep and ancient insult….”

Ife sources are founded on a mythology of how Oduduwa descended by the use of a chain from the sky and, dispatched his seven  sons to found the various Yoruba kingdoms including that of Benin but they are not able to prove whether they are talking about Orunmila or Oduduwa (Ekaladerhan).Benin was never a kingdom created by Oduduwa; rather, the kingdom had existed long before the coming of Oranmiyan who impregnated ERINMWINDE, the daughter of Enogie of Egor, and gave birth to Eweka 1, the founder of the present dynasty in Benin.

On  Erediauwa, Professor Jacob Olupona,  in his book, ‘Ile-Ife: City of 201 gods’,  launched on Wednesday, December 12, 2012, at the Institute of

International Affairs, Lagos, wrote, in part: “The story established the sacred origin of Benin kingship …a kingship relationship between Benin and Ife kingdoms”. Benin later took on a more radical form of a sacred kingship than that which exists in Ile-Ife. Benin became an obsolete monarchy, with the first son of the reigning Oba named as the heir apparent.

This was not a later development, it was for this purpose a search party went to look for Oduduwa. Benin does not owe its origin to Oranmiyan.

Benin (Beny) is a Portuguese name after which was named the Bight of Benin in view of its political, economic influence and value by the Portuguese on trade missions.

“Ile-ibinu, the land of anger,” that  Prof. Olupona claimed had become Benin’s permanent name is in no way applicable.

Oranmiyan  was not taken to Benin  to change any of the existing traditions. He was in no position by any stretch of imagination to change the name of the kingdom from Igodomigodo to Ile-Ibinu.

However, no parent would abandon a dangerous and turbulent project and  request his son to take over.

A transplanted Bini/Yoruba origin in transit, whose grip on the social/cultural life of the people was fragile, could not suddenly assume the position of a magnificent ‘patron saint’ whose imprecate profanity becomes an insignia for a rooted kingdom that flourished centuries before. And what is the existing anthropological support for adaptation of a foreign name for an unconquered people of a different culture who speak a different language? The same concept is applicable in the choice of name by Oranmiyan’s son who later assumed the title of Eweka. Eweka I was now a product of Benin socio-cultural environment which means he was able to speak in his mother tongue. He was never brought up in the Yoruba environment. It was more likely his utterance was in Benin language, EWOREKA, which his father chose for him instead of a foreign word, Owo mika, adulterated as Eweka  that  is more relevant in meaning to the circumstances of his choice as Oba.

Nevertheless, the Yoruba influence in Benin is more in the areas of worship of deities, Shango, Ogun,  Sonpona, Orunmila which filtered into Benin over the years including Ogboni cult which is still very vibrant in Benin. Binis culturally practice ANCESTRAL worship. Worship of deities was borrowed from the Yoruba. Ancestors are the gods they serve.

During the reign of Ewuare the Great in the 13th century, the city was renamed Edo. The Portuguese, during the reign of Esigie in the 15th century, called the city Beny (Benin) (Papiva da Beny) which in Portuguese meant broad road of the city of Benin.

Papiva was corrupted to Akpakpava, the road that once housed the Catholic Cathedral established in the 15th century, now known as Aruosa Church where the Oba occasionally worships.

Professor Olupona raised a pertinent issue when he asserted that “…the institution of sacred kingship ….is part of the royal cult of Benin mysticisms, indeed more than any other kingship system in Nigeria. Benin rituals, art and ideology of kingship demonstrate the importance of sacred power for the preservation of kingship.”

He continued “…part of Benin’s continuing enigma is that the city’s centre cannot be unfolded, especially by outsiders, a dilemma that caused Oranmiyan (an outsider) to vacate the throne and replace himself with a son born of
a Benin woman (an insider).  The inherent tension in the “insider-outsider” conflict remains part of Benin’s identity today”.

The professor’s remark merely confirms the fact that at no time did the Binis  make the mistake of transplanting an outsider for such an important assignment after a long history of the practice of primogeniture (of a son succeeding his father). In actual fact, it was in sustenance of this tradition that a search team was dispatched in search of Ekaladerhan who later assumed the title of Oduduwa.

Still, on the Ife/Benin relationship, the American-based professor of history wrote “…… a kingship relationship between Ife and Benin, although Benin later took on a more radical form of sacred kingship than that which exists in Ile-Ife. … Benin became an absolute monarchy with the son as the heir apparent whereas in Ile-Ife the kingship rotates among its ruling lineages…”

If in Ile-Ife the kingship rotates among its ruling lineages, it means it is still  passing through the traditional crucible to attain a later, more acceptable monarchical system where the throne passes from father to son as practiced in Benin and parts of Europe like Britain, Netherlands, Spain etc., as relics of absolute monarchy.

Every system has its checks and balances. Benin system, for example, allows the heir apparent to be one of the seven kingmakers, while the Ezomo is third in the hierarchy after the Oba, and the Iyase, with his kingdom at Uzebu, doubles as the general  officer commanding the Benin forces at Obadan. This was a form of a diarchy which Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first  president, was proposing in 1974 as a system to curb military incursion into political power.

In my rejoinder to Zik’s proposal for which he was grateful, I reminded him that  diarchy had been in our traditional system as far back as the 13th century during the reign of Ewuare and that it was not  an innovation. I also reminded him that military incursion had  been in our traditional system of governance. I told  him of how at the death of Atiba, Alafin of Oyo, in 1859 and was succeeded, contrary to custom, by his son Adelu, the crown prince, the powerful Are Onakankanfo of Ijaye, in defence of the tradition and  constitution, rose to defend the constitution as a war general.

In the true sense of it, this was the first attempted military coup in Africa and it was in Yoruba land. The powerful Are of Ijaye refused to recognize Adelu as Alafin for he ought to have committed suicide on the death of his father in accordance with tradition.

This eventually compounded the Yoruba wars similar to the 30 years of the war of Europe of the 17th century.

Africa, indeed the black race, has its history of origin, empires, kingdoms and nation-building before the coming of the white men.

Recently, Professor Wole Soyinka was at the palace of the Oba of Benin in pursuit of his project : The meeting of two empires (powers): Benin and Portugal,  in the early 15th century when the pope, by the Papal bull of demarcation, divided the world between Spain and Portugal, the then two world powers. This act enabled them discover other empires and founded new settlements in their imperial and mercantile quest to conquer the world of the astronomers.

Benin, which fell within the axis of the Portuguese, was the first place within what is now Nigeria, in Africa to be visited by any European in 1478.

Ukuakpolokpolo Erediauwa the Oba of Benin in his book: ‘I remain, Sir, Your Obedient Servant’, wrote in chapter 36, at page 205: “…Before the advent of Oranmiyan, the ‘kings’ that ruled the people who became known as Edo or Benin were called ‘Ogiso’ derived from the description Ogie n’ oriso (meaning king in heaven). This is to confirm that the old Benin Empire had long flourished ever before the recall of Ekaladerhan. This was the situation that led to the relationship between Ife and Benin in which Oduduwa a Benin prince once known as Ekaladerhan had to send his last son Oranmiyan as his successor to the Benin throne, having established fully his roots and tentacles in Ile-Ife … Ife people today perform a ritual festival that re-enacts the events that caused the original settlers including their village head to flee from Ife when Ekaladerhan (or Oduduwa) became the head of the community”.

In 1897, the British conquered Benin, dethroned the monarch and exiled him to Calabar. The monarch, Ovonramwen, later settled into normal life.
He had additional children partly of Efik descent. If back home there was probably no resilient traditional institution to recapture the past when he died in 1914 and a  team was dispatched to search for his children, though of Efik cultural background, would it be correct or proper to record that the Binis had asked the Obong of Calabar to send them a prince to rule over them? This analogy would draw a parallel in Ife/Benin relationship and assist contemporary historians of ethnocentric bias a more acceptable view of the origin of the Benin monarchy.

When Femi traced the Yoruba route of migration from Egypt/Saudi Arabia through Bornu to the present day Western Region of Nigeria, the abode of the Yoruba, little perhaps did he know about the recent discovery of  Igbale Aiye. This community, located in Akpotoku Ketu (commune de ketou), Republic of Benin, is said to be 450,000 years old.

It is also projected in significance to host the first inhabitants of the planet earth “where the builders of the pyramid of Egypt came from”.

The success of this project, sooner or later, will reverse all existing Eurocentric views about Africa as the “Black continent”.

The kingdom of the sky-kings was Igodomigodo. During the era of the warrior kings, it became Edo and later Benin Empire expanding as far as Republic of Benin, Lagos to the west and across the Niger to Onitsha in the east. The Oba of Benin starting from Ogiso dynasty was known as Ukuakpolokpolo Omo n’ Ogie, i.e., the anointed, processed and purified.

The subsidiary kings were known simply as Ogie … of this or that.

After the amalgamation and the creation of provinces, the traditional rulers of Western Region generally were referred to as Obas for the administrative convenience of the colonial masters. Bight of Benin was descriptive of Benin’s political and economic influence in pre-colonial Africa. The Oba is still referred to as Omo. Benin pre-historic events are on display every year at the Oba’s yearly Ugie festivals. Since it is a yearly traditional ritual, it is a living history to which all are always invited.

*Osawe, a journalist and historian, was a member of the House of Representatives in the botched Third Republic.

Vanguard

Actor, Eddie Murphy’s daughters hit the beach in barely-there HOT bikinis (PHOTOS

He may be on a family holiday in Hawaii with his daughters Bria and Shayne Audra from his marriage to Nicole Mitchell – but Eddie Murphy has always got time for romance.

The comic actor showed his sensitive side as treated girlfriend Paige Butcher to a balcony serenade.

The 52-year-old was seen strumming along on a guitar during the impromptu performance while his daughters were off entertaining themselves on the beach.

Just like Romeo: Eddie Murphy was seen singing to girlfriend Paige Butcher during a family holiday in Hawaii

Play that tune: Eddie wore an all-white outfit as he messed about with his guitar on the balcony

Clearly feeling in the mood for a spot of romancing the comedian, who was dressed all in white, decided to pick up his guitar and start playing to Paige.

The pretty blonde didn’t however look particularly moved by the music and stood slightly defensively with her arms crossed.

Wearing a purple tank top and a pair of white shorts Australian Paige looked more ready to hit the beach than listen to music.

Meanwhile his daughters Bria, 23, and Shayne Audra, 18, were doing just that.

Fun in the sun: Bria, who has modeled for Maxim in the past, wore a very revealing bikini

Beach ready: Eddie’s daughters Bria (L) and Shayne Audra (R) both looked great in their bikinis

Covered: Shayne Audra wore a bikini with slightly more fabric and she covered her head with a large straw hat

Ready for action: The girls seemed eager to get into the water

Bria, who has modelled for Maxim in the past, looked delighted to be on the beach and showed off her enviable bikini body.

She wore a racy black patterned bikini with a number of cut-sections on the bottom and top which revealed plenty of skin.

Her natural beauty was evident as she went make-up free and let her long curly hair sway in the wind.

No chance of missing her in that: Shayne Audra’s bikini was so bright it was hard to miss

And they are off: The girls hit the water for a spot of paddle boarding together

Lounging around: The elder sister was seen taking some time out lying on her stomach on the board

Bria’s younger sister Shayne didn’t wear a bikini quite as risqué and instead opted for a pretty bandeau orange bikini.

Protecting herself from the sun she wore a large straw hat and covered her eyes with a pair of sunglasses.

Rather than lounging about on the beach all day they took to the waves for a spot of paddle boarding.

Confident: The younger sister stood tall on the board and displayed impressive balance

TON

How I Dated My Elder Brother’s Friend and Suffered For Love – Singer Omawumi

Popular songstress, Omawumi Megbele, speaks to Ademola Olonilua about the “bad” things she did as a teenage girl back in the day, she also dishes on her latest work and sundry issues:

Why it took me so long to launch my album
I just wanted to take out time and make good music. There are some people who do yearly albums, I try to do like two or three years. There are people whom I emulate. I feel that as music is a craft, you must try to make sure you put out good materials that can stand the test of time. It is not something that can be relevant for only two months or a year. You want something that is good.

My Lasso of Truth album
I’m very happy, I have got a lot of positive feedback. The sales in the first week was great. They made about 500,000 copies and it is almost sold out. The sales did very well because the demand is high. I did not even know that the demand was this high, even outside Nigeria, We have been working out platforms where we can sell the album. People outside the country ask whoever is travelling abroad to buy the CD in bulk for them. The demand is that high.

If not music, I would have loved to be a teacher
I might be fun to be with, but I’m not a comedian. My mother wanted me to practice law, but I wanted to teach. I have always wanted to teach, I would have been a teacher. I don’t know why I have the capacity to get people to listen to me. Right now, I’m part of an organisation that mentors young girls. You know when you sit with young girls and you are advising them, if it is someone else advising them, deep down they might not listen and think the person is spoiling their fun. But I come across as somebody who has been there, done that and got the T-shirt. So they listen. I think it would have been a beautiful challenge for me to be a teacher. I’m sure I would have been worried about the pay but it would have been flexible enough for me to have a family as well as enjoy what I’m doing if I was not into music.

My early days
I had many experiences but I’d like not to embarrass myself. I was very mischievous as a kid. I used to get into a lot of trouble. I had a lot of older ones, so they used to deal with me a lot. They would say, ‘Omawumi don commit again’. I was the sort of person that would steal my elder sister’s bra and put socks inside; that was when I was bare-chested. The sad thing is that when the thing now came out, it just came out at once. I did the usual things that children do. I can’t say most of it in print. If my older ones should read it, they would discover some things I did back then. I was pretty much a normal kid. I used to play a lot but my parents made us understand the value of education.

Year 2013 so far
I have got four endorsements this year. It has been fantastic. The thing about it is that I have been working towards things like this for a while. The way my work is, I have a healthy fan base. I have the kind of music I make and the kind of people who like it and it appeals to. When it comes to endorsements, I’m really grateful to God. It is a process, if you work and you put out good material and you are relatable, it’s a good thing. The fact that I can market so many products proves I’m a true Nigerian. Without blowing my horn and in trying to be as modest as I can, I am educated. Most parents want their children to be educated and even if they want to pursue their dreams, they use me as an example. I pursued my dream but at the end of the day, I got the basic education. Is she street wise? They use me as an example.

Even though you are educated, it doesn’t mean you should be dumb. There are some parts of my life I feel people make comments, like ‘she is a single mother’; it is not supposed to be celebrated. The plus side of it is that I have a beautiful daughter. I figured that it is better for me to keep a life that God has given me as opposed to killing. That it didn’t work the way it should work or that I am not married, it is still a process, I am still a human being. That is also relatable. It is not like they say that when you get to a stage and you don’t get someone to marry you, you go and get pregnant. Some of my friends, when they look at me and say they want to be like me or that they don’t have time for men, I tell them no. Circumstances and life brought it upon me, I would not regret one day of it. I am happy with my daughter, I am happy about the family that she has and the one I have. Nonetheless, it is not something someone should come out and say this is the way to go.Criticism
I’ll tell you the truth, I’m indifferent. I have developed a thick skin. I would not say that from the outset it never affected me. But it didn’t mean I put my hand under my cheek and started brooding. I was just worried why this sort of thing happened. I am a solutions kind of person and so I started looking for solutions. I found out that there was no solution. Whether you like it or not, people must talk about you. The more mysterious you are, the more stories would be woven around you. I figured that you win some and lose some, you cannot have it all. The day you are the focus of the press, you just say by God’s grace, this too shall pass. I don’t like it when people form an opinion about me out of negative publicity, especially when it is not true and it affects my career. That is the part I don’t like because I believe everybody puts a lot of hard work into their music. That’s why I always tell people, I’m not an angel. That is why I encourage people to just enjoy the music. It is the music I am giving you, not my personal life, not who I am.

My first crush and boyfriend
I can remember him. I think I ‘died’ for him so much I cannot remember how he toasted me. You know when you like a boy so much and you try to catch his attention. He was my elder brother’s very good friend and it was like a taboo to have anything to do with your elder brother’s friend. The elder brother would beat both the friend and the sister. That was the sort of position I was in. I still collected the beatings because when you are blinded with love, you would stick with the boy no matter what. Eventually, we were so in love for a long time.

What influences my fashion sense
I try to be comfortable and look good as much as I can. It is not easy but I try. I’m not much of a fashion icon. I just know you wear fine blouse or skirt. I find it difficult to accessorise or match colours. I don’t know all those type of things. I started hearing it when I came to Lagos. I am a Warri girl. Before now, I was all about my shirt and jeans. Some people say they like Omawumi but they wish I would dress better or that I need a stylist. I would tell you that it is fine. I wish I would have a stylist, but in a situation where I don’t have one, as I dress, take it like that. The most important thing is that I am putting out good music. The minute I become a 360 artiste – where I am selling my fashion as well as my music, then you can criticise but till then, accept me as I am.

NaijaUrban

Election crisis: Pro-Ameachi governors to boycott Monday’s NGF meeting

By Wale Odunsi 

DailyPost has gathered that governors who voted for Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, as chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, may stay away from tomorrow’s meeting called at the instance of the other faction.

The emergency meeting slated for Monday, June 17 and convened by the camp led by Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, was fixed some days ago.
The meeting, it was learnt was called to resolve the disagreement over the Federal Government’s non-payment of February arrears to states.

It would be recalled that Finance Commissioners of the 36 states of the federation had on June 13, staged a walk out on the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Lawan Ngama, over non-payment of February arrears, amounting to N160 billion.

Tomorrow’s meeting which seeks to resolve the impasse, was designed to drag the pro-Amaechi governors to Abuja, as they would want to have a say in the contentious matter.

However, most of them are already in the know of the politics behind the parley and have decided to either send their deputies or stay away outrightly.

Although, Amaechi had defeated Jang by 19 to 16 votes at the May 24 election, Jang had insisted that he won Amaechi in the controversial NGF election.

DailyPost

PDP: Wamakko, Amaechi’s Suspension A Blunder -Lamido

 by Abdulkadir Badsha Mukhtar & Ibraheem Hamza Muhammad

 

Gov. Sule Lamido

Jigawa State Governor and  founding member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Malam Sule Lamido, yesterday joined the long list of chieftains of the party who have taken exception to the suspension of Governors Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State and Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State by the National Secretariat over alleged anti-party activities. .Says: Amaechi is Authentic NGF Chairman

Governor Lamido made this view public in an interview he granted the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service, which was monitored by our correspondent in Abuja yesterday. The PDP suspended Governor Amaechi shortly after he was elected as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum last month, for disobeying an instruction by Rivers State Chapter of the PDP on an action taken by the House of Assembly on Obiakor  Local Government.    
On the other hand, Governor Wamakko was suspended a fortnight ago for alleged gross disrespect and act of insubordination for refusing to respond to some queries by the PDP’s National Chairman. 
According to Governor Lamido in the BBC interview, the PDP is actually a very strong political party with an equally strong leadership, but at the same time, the governor described it as being very weak legally.
“The present leadership of Bamanga Tukur is strong but it acts illegally,” Sule Lamido told BBC Hausa Service.
Governor Lamido claimed that the National Chairman had been running the party on the basis of illegality because, among other things, Alhaji Tukur had failed to convene the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting since he assumed the top position in the PDP.
The governor said that the “PDP Constitution directed that  NEC meeting must hold at least once in three months, but it is unfortunate that this has not been adhered to since Bamanga Tukur became the Chairman of the PDP.”
“It seems there is a failure of leadership in the PDP, but most importantly, members of the party know their rights, and they know what they are supposed to do in order to protect the interest of Nigerians,” Lamido said.
On the issue of suspension of the two governors by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party, Governor Lamido described the action as a blunder and a demonstration of the lack of knowledge of what the party needs.
“Since our party leadership doesn’t operate in the interest of the PDP,  to us, both Governors  Wamakko and Amaechi  are still members of the PDP, and we are supporting them.  At the local level, they have the support of their people. So, maybe the leaders at the national level would wake up one day and realise that they have committed a blunder.
“The party’s action sounds nonsensical, a blunder, because it doesn’t tally with what is the right and appropriate thing to do in the current circumstances,” the governor added.
Governor Lamido told the BBC that as far as he was concerned, there is no faction in the Nigerian Governors Forum because it is not a political group. “If PDP leadership says it doesn’t agree with our election of Governor Amaechi, that is its problem. It’s leadership should come to our forum and say why.”
The governor affirmed his faith in the party, however, by arguing that no matter the gravity of the crises facing the PDP, its members considered them as internal and would be tackled to its logical conclusion.

DailyTrust

Femi Aribisala: Apostle Paul was a lying hypocritical Pharisee

Jesus warns his disciples: “Beware of these Pharisees and the way they pretend to be good when they aren’t. But such hypocrisy cannot be hidden forever.” (Luke 12:1).  This warning certainly applies to Paul.  Paul declares: “I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee.” (Acts 23:6).  Moreover, his hypocrisy, hidden in his days, is now evident to all in the Bible.
Paul is double-tongued in his epistles.  He says one thing here and another thing there.  He does the exact opposite of the righteousness he proclaims.  The discrepancies between his words and his actions belie his highfalutin pretensions to lofty Christian morality and values.
Double-standards
Paul warns the Galatians: “If you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.” (Galatians 5:2).  And yet, Paul himself personally circumcised Timothy. Luke reports that: “Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.” (Acts 16:3).
Paul counsels the Romans: “Do not be wise in your own opinion.” (Romans 12:16).  Then he says opinionatedly to the Galatians: “I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine.” (Galatians 5:10).  He declares in Galatia: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28). Then he contradicts himself in Corinth by proclaiming discrimination between men and women: “Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak.” (1 Corinthians 14:34).
Paul asked: “When one of you has a grievance against a brother, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?” (1 Corinthians 6:1).  But then, confronted by Christian antagonists, Paul chose to go to law before “the unrighteous:” “If there is nothing in their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” (Acts 25:11).  He says: “no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed.” (1 Corinthians 12:3).  Then he himself declares that Jesus was accursed: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” (Galatians 3:13).
Paul writes to the Romans: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (Romans 12:14).  But he then goes on to curse his opponents, even including angels from heaven: “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8).  When the high priest ordered someone to slap him, Paul replied angrily with a curse: “God shall slap you, you whitewashed pigpen.” (Acts 23:2-3).
Paul insists Christians should not boast: “What, then, can we boast about? Nothing!” (Romans 3:27). “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).  But he then boasts repeatedly; claiming he prays more, labours more, and suffers more than everybody else. (2 Corinthians 11:22-27).  He says it is unwise to compare oneself with others (2 Corinthians 10:12).  Then he declares that he is superior to the twelve apostles: “They say they serve Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder.” (2 Corinthians 11:23).  He says: “Christ is the end of the law.” (Romans 10:4).  Nevertheless, he performed Nazarite sacrifices according to the law even after Jesus’ resurrection. (Acts 21:26).
Congenital liar

Paul says to the Colossians: “Do not lie to one another.” (Colossians 3:9).  And yet, Paul himself is not committed to truth.  Instead, he justifies telling lies to the Philippians: “The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached.” (Philippians 1:18).  Paul claims his lies promote the gospel: “My dishonesty brought (God) glory by pointing up his honesty in contrast to my lies.” (Romans 3:7).  He even openly boasts of being a deceiver to the Corinthians: “Crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!” (2 Corinthians 12:16).
Paul is so unabashedly duplicitous, he admits to being guided by the shady principle of telling people whatever they want to hear: “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22).  Accusations that he was a liar trailed him everywhere, ensuring that he often resorted to swearing in self-defence: “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.” (2 Corinthians 11:31).  But Jesus expressly cautions against this: “Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:34/37).
Mean-spirited 
Paul is so malicious; he wishes those who persecute him would castrate themselves. (Galatians 5:12).  Responding to his critics, he insists their “mouths must be stopped.” (Titus 1:11).  Jesus delivers sinners from Satan (Luke 4:18); but Paul delivers them to Satan.  He says: “Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme.” (1 Timothy 1:20).  And yet, this same Paul moralises to the Galatians: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” (Galatians 6:1).
He counsels the Romans: “Repay no one evil for evil.” (Romans 12:17).  But instead of forgiving those who offended him, he asked God to punish them: “Alexander the coppersmith has done me much harm. The Lord will punish him.” (2 Timothy 4:14).  While Jesus advocates non-retaliation in Christian conduct: “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45); Paul preaches it for malevolent reasons: “for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” (Romans 12:20).
Paul says: “Each man’s work will become manifest; for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:13).  The “fire” Paul lit led to the burning of innocents at the stake. (1 Corinthians 5:5).  He was the father of the Inquisition, whereby hundreds of thousands were hanged, beheaded and stoned to death.  His tenets were used to validate slavery (Ephesians 6:5-6); discriminate against women (1 Corinthians 14:34-36); as well as provide biblical authority for anti-Semitism and the Nazi massacre of six million Jews. (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16).
Jesus expressly warns us not to be hypocritically pharisaic like Paul: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.” (Matthew 23:2-3).  But Paul contradicts Jesus by asking Christians to be hypocrites just like him: “I urge you to imitate me.” (1 Corinthians 4:16).
However, no Christian genuinely seeking the righteousness of God should imitate a man like Paul.  Paul’s spirit is a monstrous imposition on the Spirit of Jesus, and his word should never be mistaken for the word of God.
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Exclusive: How APC will share key positions

by Muideen Olaniyi

The leadership of the merging political parties under the auspices of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has agreed on the formula to be adopted in sharing key offices in the higher hierarchy of the party.

Going by the arrangement, each of the merging parties which includes the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a group from the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha will have representation of seven persons in the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC).
Already, the position of National Chairman has been zoned to the ACN, National Secretary CPC, National Treasurer ANPP and National Organising Secretary; Okorocha-led group in the APC.
Out of the persons that will be nominated by the concerned parties, 11 members will control the APC National Working Committee.
Because of the peculiar nature of APGA, its seven representatives are not coming on board under the toga of a party due to lingering leadership tussle between Chief Victor Umeh and Barr.Maxi Okwu.
As part of procedure for registration, the APC had submitted the list that contained the names of the three National Chairmen, National Secretaries (3) and National Treasurers (3) of the merging parties because they are the signatories to the accounts of each of the parties.
They are not only the authorized persons that can sign legal documents representing their parties, but are also going to be signatories to register the new party because they are legal signatories.
Reliable sources said the Caretaker Leadership of the APC would be announced after the formal registration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). At present, there has not been any concrete decision on which party will take the chairmanship position of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the APC as it is still under consultation.
Last Tuesday, the leadership of the three merging political parties announced that they had finally approached INEC to merge into one, without announcing interim officers as speculated. Chief Tom Ikimi; spokesperson for the merger committee of the three political parties, who spoke after a meeting in Abuja, said the national chairmen, secretaries and treasurers of the three parties had submitted their letters of intent to merge to INEC penultimate Friday.
Ikimi, was flanked at the briefing by both the former Governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau ANPP and a former Deputy Governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Mohammed Gadi CPC, said they were satisfied with the submission of letters of intent to merge and that the request was already pending before the electoral body.
He said the final document for registration in accordance with INEC regulations has to be signed by the National Chairman, National Secretary and National Treasurer of each of the merging parties, dismissing the insinuations that the merging committee was unable to agree on who should lead the APC in the interim.
He said the names of prospective interim leaders were being discussed and that representatives of each merging party and some sections of APGA and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) had been mandated to report back to the leaders of their group on the matter.
Ikimi said, “That is being discussed and it is being worked out and we need to consult further with our various parties in order to agree with those names. “There are no disagreements and we as merging parties are working and we had a fruitful meeting this afternoon and we have made fundamental decisions. “One of the decisions is that we should now consult further with our various parties (on the names of those to lead the newly formed party).”
He voiced pleasure over the point that the Merging Committee had been able to conclude work on the choice of name, logo, slogan, symbol, constitution and a manifesto of the new party, saying this had made it possible for the merging parties to hold their conventions.
Ikimi also expressed satisfaction that Nigerians were waiting for the final registration of the party so that they could avail themselves the opportunity of joining the APC, assuring them that the new party would be broad-based, open and truly belong to all its members equally.
He said, “To this end, we have all subscribed to our new constitution (in the APC) and it defines, quite clearly, the leadership structure of the party. “This principle underscored equality and fair play among party members without prejudice. “We will therefore strive to guarantee transparency and internal party democracy, particularly at this stage of registration.
“We expect all of us involved in the process to also subscribe to and respect the fundamental principles.
“Everyone committed to providing our country this platform of change must be prepared to make the necessary sacrifice.” Spokespersons for the ACN and CPC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Mr Rotimi Fashakin also assured Nigerians that there was no crisis within the ranks of the members of the merging political parties.
Mohammed said the leaders of the new party were confident that INEC would soon issue them the letters of registration and that the non-submission of the interim leaders of the party to the electoral body would not have any negative effect on its registration.
Asked if the leaders of the merging political parties had agreed on the sharing formula of those that would make the list of the interim committee, Mohammed said, “You will know in due course.
“Let me tell you one thing, nobody would stampede us and no amount of pressure would make us do what we know is not proper.” He said the merger would be the first time such would happen in the country, adding that its promoters would not be distracted with criticisms because “we know we are on the right course.”
The meeting was attended by Imo State Governor Okorocha; former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa; and a former National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh.

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