CBN, BoI to assist in production of high yield tomato

by Vincent A. Yusuf

Recently, stakeholders in the tomato industry converged at the Lagos hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotels Abuja, to chart the way forward in harnessing the country huge tomato resources to create a sustainable atmosphere of development in the area of vegetable production so as to make the nation one of the leading exporters of tomato in the world along with China, Italy, Israel and the United States.

The one-day workshop on Tomato Value Chain Development in Nigeria is organized by the Central Bank of Nigeria, with the theme: “Partnering to Build a Competitive Tomato Industry in Nigeria.”
Participants were drawn from private and public sectors of the economy. Present at the workshop were the Minister for Water Resources, Director-general of the Bank of Industry, Commissioners of Agriculture of Nasarawa, Kano, Kebbi, Gombe and representatives of other participating states. The Minister Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina whose presence would have boasted the moral of participants, was absent.
Other participants from the private sector included Dangote Farms Limited, Savannah Integrated Limited and Vegefresh Company Limited. Many investors with key interest in the tomato industry were also present.
The Central Bank said the objectives of the workshop are to: build a sustainable partnership between government and stakeholders in the tomato industry; proffer solutions to identified challenges in the tomato value chain; and promote global competitiveness of the Nigerian tomato industry.
In his address the Governor of Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi represented by the Deputy Governor Economic Policy Mrs. Sarah O. Alade explained to the stakeholders that “Nigeria is the 14th largest producer of tomatoes in the world and 2nd only to Egypt in Africa at 1.51 million metric tons valued at N87.0 billion (USD556.1million) with a cultivated area of 264,430 ha.” Yet the nation imports 65,809 tons of processed tomato worth N11.7 billion annually. This he said is as a result of dysfunctional agricultural value chain system culminating to about 50 per cent of our local produced being lost.
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi said the Central Bank of Nigeria had spent N200 billion on commercial agricultural Credit Scheme and Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, which will support the federal government Agricultural Transformation Agenda.
Professor E. B. Amans of the Institute for Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in his submission noted that Nigeria occupies 16th position in the world, 2nd in Africa and the 1st in West Africa in terms of tomato output, adding, “Despite these, the country’s tomato yield is disappointingly below what it could potentially achieve.
“For example, in 2011, while Nigeria produced 1,861,900 metric tons from cultivated areas of 264, 100 hectares, Egypt cultivated about the same land areas (216 400ha) to produce 8, 547,200 metric tons which is 4.6 times the Nigeria’s output. This is simply because the estimated annual average yield per hectare of tomato in Nigeria was very low at 7.1 tons per hectare compared with 39.5 tons per hectare for Egypt.”
According to Vegefresh Company Limited, tomato is the most prominent vegetable/fruits in the world with no known ethnic or religious consumption barrier. It is consumed across all ages, religion and social classes. The company said Nigeria produces about 2.1 million metric tons in 2012 compared to 1.701 million tons produced in 2008.
This is about 24 percent increase in output. More than 50 percent are lost to post-harvest spoilage annually. Nigeria imports an average of about 77.767 million Dollars worth of tomato every year, making the country one of the highest importer of the product in the world.
Amans noted  that the problems of tomato production in the country  include high cost of production during the irrigation period, post harvest losses due to lack of storage facilities. He said farmers consider farming tomato as a “curse” because they are forced to sell to the marketers at very low prices because they cannot keep the product for long. The marketers are the ones who now sell it at higher prices, thus making huge profit at the expense of the farmers.
Alhaji Abdu A. Ringim, Managing Director/CEO Savannah Integrated Farms Limited noted that, “The quality of tomato depends on its brix and colour. To achieve both and enhance yields, tomato must be produced under cultured method, starting from seed selection, water distribution, fertilizer type and quantity, spray method and period, mature, phased harvest and after harvest handling.
“The standard in Savannah and indeed internationally are 28 percent brix for canning and between 34-36 percent brix for drumming. Most imported paste into Nigeria however, are 26 percent canning, hence when you shake the can, it sounds watery. The standard colour is between 20-24.  Most imported paste contain food colour additive named Deerazine, to date NAFDAC does not effectively monitor food and cosmetics into the country,” he said.
Alhaji Ringim applauded the effort of Central Bank of Nigeria for creating the Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) within its Development Finance Department, to give incentives to out-growers and share agricultural risk amongst the participating stakeholders.
In his remarks, Alhaji Abdulkarim Lawal Kaita, General Manager, Dangote Group said the group intention was to partner with tomato growers in Kano project area and to see how the company will empower and encourage those who have abandoned the farming of tomatoes due to perennial losses. And also to see how the group can create self-sufficiency in tomato paste production in Nigeria so as to reduce the importation of paste into the country.
In her presentation, the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe said Nigeria is 13th largest producer of tomato in the world yet the nation is one the highest importer of tomato in the world. Sarah said her ministry is working closely with relevance agencies to provide water for irrigation farmers for vegetable production in most part of the north.
The Director Bank of Industry, Ms Eveln N. Oputu said the bank of industry got involved in the tomato production from the seed level, adding, “We got involved at that level because we want to be able to increase the yield. Many of our rural dwellers  were producing at the level we are no longer comfortable with…the  Bank of Industry is going to be involved along with the Central Bank of Nigeria at every level of the value chain from seed production, open cast rural production of tomato, to green house and to processing.”

DailyTrust

New PDP: New trouble for GEJ

By Rufa’i Ibrahim
Is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at last unravelling, as many across the country, and even within it, believe, or hope, it will?
Are what happened at the party’s Special Convention at Eagles Square last Saturday-the walk-out staged by the seven “rebellious” governors (of Kano, Jigawa, Adamawa, Sokoto, Niger, Kwara and Rivers states), supporters of former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar and a number of National Assembly legislators; their holding of a parallel convention at the Yar’Adua Centre; and their formation of what they christened the New PDP with its own new set of leaders-a sign or evidence of PDP’s irreversible break-up?
Was the drama in Eagle Square last Saturday a wind that sang the dirge of PDP, inviting all to the party’s burial, in a long procession which Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, will, as he told us, be all too willing to lead?
Or is it all a storm in a tea cup, a mere sound and fury that signifies little or nothing?
In their reactions, both the PDP chairman, Bamanga Tukur, and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ)’s leading campaigner, Chief Edwin Clark, were, or appeared, dismissive of the new development. Tukur said the New PDP is an illegality which will not be tolerated. Clark dismissed it as the antics of a few that will not in any way affect the chances of GEJ getting re-elected in 2015.
But the mood was different in Aso Villa. There, it appears, the message sank much faster. And there was, as a consequence, so much indignant spluttering along the corridors that the very next morning, Sunday, invitations were sent out to all the dissenting governors for an urgent meeting fixed for that day with the president, top PDP hierarchy and the National Security Advisor(NSA) in the Villa.
It is not exactly clear what the meeting, which continued up to Monday, achieved. Perhaps it was merely exploratory, meant to afford the two sides an opportunity to take the measure of each other. But the presence and participation of the NSA at such a meeting seems to me to be very instructive, more so that Sambo Dasuki is not known to be a PDP card carrying member, though there is hardly any doubt that he shares the instincts and policy orientation of the party’s top men.
Was it merely in keeping with the prevalent but narrow perception in official circles of national security as being primarily about cloak and dagger efforts aimed at ensuring the security of the leader and the regime he heads that the NSA was invited? Was it meant as a subtle message to the governors and their supporters that their actions have serious national security implications? Or was it an attempt to intimidate them into backing off?
Whatever is the case, what is clear now is that the PDP is in deep trouble, and GEJ even more so. The PDP tent is on fire. Whether it will burn to ashes or a significant part of it will be salvaged remains to be seen. But whatever it is, with the development last Saturday, things will never be the same again in the party.
Of course, there have been disquiet, tension and problems within the PDP long before now. The party, in control of the centre and over 20 states since return to civilian rule in 1999, has been unable to manage its “successes” well. It has failed to show leadership and give the country a clear direction. It has not managed our affairs with the level of commitment expected of a ruling party. It has mismanaged, squandered and stolen our resources in a way that progressively impoverishes rather than enriches and empowers the vast majority of Nigerians over the years. Since 1999, it has been one bad government being succeeded by a worse one at the centre and in many of the states under the PDP. Today, the party has given the nation a president whose abilities have proved no match to the complexities of the job he has.
The party’s record of handling its own internal affairs isn’t any better. It has little or no respect for internal democracy. It has a mortal fear, almost, for elections- and, in fact, for anything open and transparent, preferring always what it calls the “consensus” approach, but which in reality means conducting its business in darkness behind closed doors. This has largely been the cause of the tensions and divisions within the party. It is the main reason why many powerful forces and interests within the party have felt or actually become alienated and disaffected, with a strong sense of being hounded out of the PDP tent.
With the assumption of the leadership of the party by Tukur, this process of alienation and disaffection has been pushed, both deliberately and otherwise, to such new levels that many powerful forces with control of significant sections of the PDP membership have literally been pushed out of the tent – and not for lack of pleas and entreaties by these powerful forces to the party leadership and the presidency to address their genuine grievances. The result is that these powerful figures and forces have been operating from outside the tent and pissing into it, soiling those inside and weakening further the tent’s foundation. And, now, they have formed themselves into a new outfit – the New PDP.
In leadership and politics generally, it is sometimes difficult for those at the very top to gauge correctly, and in advance, the consequences of some of their policies and actions. But even when allowance is made for this fact, it is difficult to understand why the PDP top hierarchy, Tukur and GEJ in particular, couldn’t see that their policy of alienation and exclusion would inevitably, some day, lead to the kind of revolt that we saw last Saturday. It’s no rocket science to see that those you exclude or push out of your tent will either build their own tents somewhere, or seek accommodation in other peoples tents. And there’s no shortage of alternative tents, or space for erecting new ones in the country today.
It is clearly a mark of the lack of political acumen on the part of both GEJ and Tukur that they were caught unawares, and pants down, by what happened last Saturday. Why so? It is obvious that with all their enormous powers and years of being in control, GEJ and Tukur have not been able to find ways, or develop an antenna by which they can smell danger from miles away. It is even more obvious that the PDP itself, with all its years in power, does not have an intelligent network for picking up things and reading correctly the signals being flashed by events and people in the polity.
This must be why Tukur, GEJ and the PDP top hierarchy couldn’t pick up what was coming, even though it was something that was being planned in broad daylight. An intelligent analysis of the meeting between Sule Lamido and Atiku, hitherto sworn enemies, at the latter’s house last week; public statements by Governors Kwankwaso, Babangida Aliyu and Amaechi, and the goings and comings by these governors would have shown any intelligent analyst that something of the kind of what happened last Saturday was afoot.
Now, anyway, the question is the implication of the new development, for GEJ, for the PDP’ itself and for the country as a whole.
What is obvious is that a line has been drawn deeply and sharply on the sand. And it is difficult to see a quick withdrawal by the New PDP forces. Unless, of course, their grievances are addressed and they get what they want, or as much of it as political horse trading and give-and- take in such negotiations would allow. None of the governors, except that of Kwara, is looking for a second term, which the party can threaten to block. And for those with higher ambitions, there are alternative platforms for realising such. It is almost certain that attempts will be made to bribe them with money. But it is unlikely that this will have the desired effect.
But it is instructive that the New PDP men have said they are not leaving the party, and that they will stay in it and fight from within. They know that apart from losing face and credibility, they will be dead meat if they cave in so easily and give up the fight. The country is therefore likely to witness a long battle of attrition. At battle in which GEJ may have much more to lose than those in the New PDP. And it is easy why.
For one, Tukur is at the core of the problem. The New PDP wants him sacked. And it is difficult to conceive of any kind of reconciliation or agreement between the old and New PDP in which this demand is not met. But it is a demand that places GEJ in an absurd tangle: he will be damned if Tukur stays on, and damned if he goes. For, where will he find another chairman to do what Tukur is doing for him? And how will Tukur supporters and constituency take what they are certain to see as ingratitude if Jonathan is to give Tukur the sack?
Much more important, these governors control many of Nigeria’s biggest states, with the huge voting populations that GEJ must win if he is to realize his 2015 ambition. And so does the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC). And, clearly, an alliance between the New PDP and the APC is not an unlikely thing to happen. If it does, GEJ will be in an even more difficult situation. In fact, left with only a few, and insignificant states in terms of population to rely on, he’ll be left with only two options: to give up his 2015 ambition, or to face certain defeat if he insists on contesting.
In the coming weeks and months it will be clearer how things will go. The struggle is just beginning, but it is certain to keep exciting interest till the end.

 PeoplesDaily

The Theory Of A Great By Hannatu Musawa

Hannatu Musawa

Columnist: 

Hannatu Musawa

The 19th century historian, Thomas Carlyle was a promoter of the Great man theory, the philosophical concept that the history of the world was primarily shaped by the individual decisions and orders of great men and personalities. His viewpoint was based on the premise that every event in history stems from the choices made and the acts done by influential individuals who used power in a manner that produced an important historical impression. While the majority of modern day philosophers diverge from this Great man theory with the idea that several world events emerge from a series of separate developments, it goes without saying that those separate developments must have been created by the decisions of individuals. Proponents of this chain of thought tend to attribute a character of inspirational personal attributes and almost a heroism to those individuals that may have shaped history. Among the men who shaped history, it is those that exhibit a sense of decency and struggle for the betterment of the majority that time will inevitably judge as heroes.
One man of such greatness was the late great Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, who died four year ago on the 5th of September 2009 at age 71. Only a handful of times in recent history was Nigeria thrust into the throws of great grief and mourning than with the passing of this great and wonderful beacon of truth. As we mark the four year anniversary of his passing, Nigerians are still united in despair and desire to pay utmost respect to this ordinary, yet extraordinary man who soared above his peers and dedicated his life to altruism and candour. Like very few in this country, Chief Fawehinmi stood as a brilliant, bright shinning light in a land literally and morally steeped in darkness. He was the very essence of duty, of compassion, of justice and selfless humanity. He represented hope to a people sinking deep in despondency and became the role model of what a good leader and a good Nigerian should be.
For much of his adult life, Chief Fawehinmi stood his ground on all that he believed in. He stood tall and confident against a decayed institution because he was one of the very few Nigerians who actually ‘came to equity with clean hands’. Oh and how solid the ground Chief Fawehinmi stood on was! His ground was his ethics, his knowledge was his power. And he used that power to do good, alot of good, to shun evil and take individual responsibility for his actions. Up till the time he faced death, he never abandoned any of the qualities that made him so great or the elements that were to become the basis of his life and legacy. In many respects, Chief Fawehinmi belonged to an exceptional, almost extinct few, such as Herbert Maculey, Aminu Kano and Micheal Imodu, whom had the creed and represented the remnant of an old specie of true nationalists that stood up for the marginalised and fought for the heart and soul of Nigeria.
There is an old saying that goes; ‘a person never misses the water till the well runs dry”. Whereas this may be the case in most situations where people do not appreciate what they have until it is gone, this wasn’t the case with Chief Fawehinmi. Through his work, from his struggles, due to his sacrifices, we have always known the gem we had in this precious Nigerian son. From the time he took up his first case in 1965, it was evident that he was aware of the need for social justice and he used the rule of law to advance this cause. He was an unrepentant democrat and an advocate of a better Nigeria for the greatest majority of the people. His whole life was given over to helping the poor, the needy, the downtrodden and standing for the truth.
Not only was he largely responsible for the mass registration of political parties in our system by taking INEC to court for failing to register smaller parties, he made giant strides in the legal practice, that was his mainstay in life. The greatest contribution arguably to have been made to Nigerian legal practice is the establishment of the Nigerian Weekly Law Reports, which he researched and developed for the enhancement of the jurisprudence of the practice. But for Chief Fawehinmi’s contribution in this respect, Nigerian court practice would still have been left at the mercy of foreign law reports, which he has always asserted as being not relevant or helpful to the development of our autochthonous case law. Without doubt, Chief Fawehinmi did spectacular things, wonderful things. One wonders what the story of Nigerian legal practice and sincere human rights development will eventually be now that he is gone and one hopes that his contributions to the practice of law and human rights will continue to endure.
This grand commander and defender of human rights did much to advance the cause of Nigerian students throughout his career; even having a rule in his chambers that no student would be charged fees when they came for help. Whenever a student was unjustly expelled for challenging certain policies in our universities, Chief Fawehinmi was always ready to face the institution and enforce the student’s right through the court of law. From the University of Nigeria, NSUKKA, to the the University of Lagos, to the University of Maiduguri, Chief Fawehinmi provided students in distress with the legal, financial and ethical support they needed, and even at a time he converted his chambers into the headquarters of the of National Union of Nigerian Students.
Of all the ironies about the life of Chief Fawehinmi, maybe the greatest was the fact that at the time he died those who disagreed with him ideologically and in principal were the first to position themselves as chief mourners. One can only imagine how Chief Fawehinmi would have felt at the flood of foes and friends that trooped to his residence to pay homage to his memory and eulogize him, especially those that were responisble for his incarceration, persecution and maltreatment while he was in the flesh.
Despite the fact that in his lifetime, he had on one occasion disagreed with the Nigerian Bar Association, he was a staunch and dedicated member of the goals of which the association was established for. The Nigerian Bar Association owes Chief Gani Fawehinmi a compelling obligation to ensure that all the good work he did in his lifetime would not become otiose. The history development and struggle of student unionism cannot be complete without mentioning his unrelenting and unflinching support for them. The leader and lone voice of opposition in Nigeria is well and truely gone! It is our hope that the community of the present day nationalists will not be dismembered due to the exit of this great humanist.
One of the greatest legacies left by Chief Fawehinmi was the path of truth, honesty, nobility, selflessness, patriotism and integrity that he laid for us; that he showed us.
Late chief Gani Fawehinmi belonged to the largest human family, his immediate biological family, the student unions, the Nigerian workers, the courageous voices of the genuine opposition in the political spectrum and the international human rights community that recognised him for his unaloid pursuits of the rights of every human being. As we mark the anniversary of his passing, we thank God for the life of this great Nigerian and it is our hope and prayer another Gani-like personality will continue his legacy. May his soul and the souls of all the faithfully departed rest in perfect peace.
“Chief Gani Fawehinmi, only now that you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without. The strength of the message you gave us through your struggles compels us to be grateful that you came along. Without your God-given sense of passion for your beliefs, Nigerians would likely be wrapped up in ignorance and unmitigated deception. Continue to rest in peace, Chief Gani Fawehinmi. You truely did the best you could. Those of us you touched will never forget you. May your friends and family continue to feel God's peace on them and may your legacy help Nigerians change their destiny. We give thanks for your life”.
The critics of Carlyle’s Great Man theory were staunch in their belief that reducing history to the decisions of individuals is utterly primitive reasoning because every man in history was a product of their social environment and before a man can remake his society, his society must make him. Perhaps this is a more likely notion, especially when one considers other aspects of life such as economic, societal and enviromental influences which are just as or more significant to historical change. However, despite one’s view as to what determines history, it is without question that once every so often humanity is blessed with the highest specimen of man. Without more reasoning Chief Gani was truely one of those men. While we don’t have to wait for history to tell us his effect on this country or the legacy he left us with, the general theory is most likely be that, “Chief Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi will simply always be one of the greatest men Nigeria has ever seen!”
Saharareporters

Pastor J Of God’s House, Abuja Accuses Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of Adultery

This article written – by a certain clergy who claims to be Pastor J of God’s house – is in response to the alleged scandal between Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of COZA and Ese Walter, the supposed victim.
Enjoy…
For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.”
Isaiah 9:16 . Let them alone: they be leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Matt 15:14
I was going to be silent on this sad, pathetic but true (in many shades) allegation against Pastor B and his popular and trendy ministry. My silence was borne out of respect for the kingdom of God and things that pertain to God. But all this changed when I heard the horrific tales of people who had been through the mess of this blind man, and the fact that he had no moral motivation to deny or accept the allegation; all he showed on Sunday was a demented swagger and perverse talk.
My sole purpose in writing this piece is to open the eyes of the world and believers to the hypocrisy and nonsense behind the pulpit, and to plea that these wolves and blind men stop deflating the faith of people who Christ died for. I am a Pastor, a full time minister at that, and I shall not sit back while
the name of my God, the ministry, and the works of other shepherds is brought to disrepute by the activities, action and inaction of a few blind men behind the pulpit.
I am tired of the nonsense of religion crying out, “touch not my anointed”; does this mean we cannot rebuke ourselves when we err, this much Paul did to Peter when he erred in Galatians 2:11 “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed”. It is therefore pertinent that I rebuke the wolves in shepherd’s clothing’s. It is time to set the record straight, and please don’t sell me the bullocks of judge not, I haven’t said anyone is going to hell, but of course if they don’t change, they have only one path.
It is high time we told the truth, which is plain, simple and without coloration. The stories of Franca and Ese is not only true but they are just a few tales of the tantalizing sex escapades of this clergy. This has been a recurring decimal in the ministry of the clergyman. This wasn’t the first time these stories will come forth, for those old COZA members, for those who were there when he was in Ilorin, when the church moved to Pipeline Road, Ilorin, having left Kwara Hotel, they will remember there was a time when the Pastor was suspended from ministering by his Father in the Lord, Rev Oset of Canaan Ministries. Rev. Oset sent guest ministers to the church every Sunday after that, but still Pastor B in his deceit will still minister in the pretence of introducing the guest minister, while he exhorts for minutes. I therefore laugh in mockery when He says his wife loves him, the woman has no choice. His core circle of Pastor Wole (Ilorin Chapter, the only man who maybe clean), and Pastor Flo (COZA, Lagos) knows of this fact, little wonder Ese said Pastor Flo said he knows about their adventures in that hotel room in London.
This is not the story of a hater; I don’t want or envy anything he has. He cannot ever have what I have and carry; neither do I crave for what he has. I am sure no one in the city of Ilorin, where this man started is bemused by these stories, no one who finished from the University of Ilorin during the period of 2003-2008, and was not a blinded COZA member can be mightily shocked at these revelations. I have heard tales of many more victims, I even heard from a woman who knows five friends who were victims, I saw it online the other day of a guy who said he formally works for him and he knows up to 130 people, outrageous as it may sound that too is true. Rev Oset in true conscience cannot deny the knowledge of these negatives. But we are a nation of hypocrites and religious folks; we ask no questions of leaders, so they can hide under the canopy of religion, even when they are filthy. Anyone who asks is rebuked by those who say, the bible says pray. It is sad that those who say pray themselves have not prayed. But Pastor B is just a decimal in an ever mounting number of wolves in the Church of Christ.
Someone told me yesterday that this can’t be the end of him and his tyranny, because even in Ilorin in those days, the allegation was rolled under the rug. On Sunday, August 25, 2013, the man leading certain blind men under the veil of religion and ‘spiritism’ said God told him not to say anything, he then said they are preparing a robust response. Who is fooling who? We must not keep quiet and watch the bride of Christ, the church, rubbed and undignified in mud and slime by a filthily rich pastor who thinks he can do anything and get away with it.
It is a pity that we run sensational press and media outfit in this country, and that our press is blinded by religion. If this were to be ‘saner’ climes the press would by now be researching, there would by now be investigative journalism. The truth would be dogged up and resurrected to life. For this is not about a mistake that a Pastor made, it is about a filthy man’s way of life.
And then about, “teaching a new level of grace’; please be reminded that Grace is not a license to sin, rather it empowers us to live above sin. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” In my years of being a Christian, studying God’s word, preaching the gospel, listening to sound teachers, I have not heard of a grace that gives permission to sin. Stop being deceived, grace is the new dispensation, according to Hebrew 8:6-12, and under grace we do not follow any written code, law or traditions. That is done away with. The tablet of Moses is over with. But we are not reckless sinners; we are under a new covenant based on better promises. God’s law is written in our minds and hearts. We live according to His dictates. The Holy Spirit and our conscience convicts and judges us respectively. This is the only way we live a holy life. God’s strength and empowerment is the grace to do according to that written by God in our hearts and minds.
I write this with a heavy heart, though I wish I never had to write this, but I pray this madness stops. I know many who have stopped going to church, many whose faith has been derailed by the act of madness of this man, and many blind men like him. If they are not going to heaven, let them stop taking men out of the straight and narrow. No one understands the pain in meeting a man, whose faith has been derailed by a man who was supposed to help establish him. For such a man, words can’t bring him back, the best we can do is to pray and hope. I indulge the clergy to be of a higher moral standard.
My candid advice to the church at this end time is that the church must grow in knowledge; it’s high time we stopped bamboozling you. You must stop making idols of men. You must stop making men such as I, substitute for the Holy Ghost. Honour us; revere us… but that is where it ends. Without the Call, the Oil, and the Holy Spirit; we are mere mortal. But know for sure that this too shall pass; only the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom abides forever.
For Pastor B and his sense making COZA people, remember the word of Christ in Matthew 15:14. How many of you even live life bearing the fruit of righteousness. Stop being blind, the ditch is close by. Look into this case, ask your pastor questions, seek genuine answers and not emotional rhetorics, hold him responsible, and do not forget the word of God, “then shall they know if they follow to know…” I am sure evidence abound. Seek to know from some key PCU members (who may need to be deposited in Gods ICU). Its time you hear not only about grace, but HOLINESS without which no one will see the Lord.
Finally don’t bother praying against me, I can say like Paul, “For me to die is gain, to live is Christ”, but I cannot even go now, because I am yet to fully finish the task set before me. Don’t waste your time using misguided scriptural interpretation. This I write is true, and I am sorry if you don’t like it. Your Pastor, and every other wolf whose conscience is not seared knows it is the complete true.
God bless you.
God bless His Church.
God bless Nigeria
From
Pastor J
God’s House
NaijaUrban

PDP plunges into deeper crisis as peace effort fails

Sani Tukur

The party is to hold new talks on Tuesday

Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party plunged further into crisis on Monday after a reconciliation effort by President Goodluck Jonathan and the party brass failed to bring back to the party’s fold a splinter group that broke free on Saturday, and that now insists it is the legitimate PDP.

The Abubakar Baraje-led faction of the party, backed by seven governors, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and more than three dozen serving federal lawmakers, asked a Lagos court on Monday to dissolve the PDP executive led by Bamanga Tukur, and restrain its officials from parading themselves as leaders of the party’s national executive.

The new faction said it represented the legitimate PDP and announced plans to immediately inaugurate an office in Abuja, and brushing aside the Tukur-led party, recognized and backed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Coming amid intense efforts by Mr Jonathan and the party’s leadership to intervene in a crisis that has terribly humiliated the governing party, the measures by the Baraje-led breakaway faction signalled the party was up for even more turbulent days ahead as it struggled to mend its fractured ranks.

A meeting between the president and the aggrieved governors late Sunday, and a series of consultations that continued through Monday, ended without success, party officials said.

The governors have accused the president and Mr Tukur of “hijacking” the party machinery, imposing their candidates as officials, and going after dissenting members including governors such as Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers state. Mr. Amaechi was suspended by the party.

At the Sunday meeting at the presidential villa, the governors reportedly spoke “frankly” about those concerns. An expanded talk, which will include former heads of state, and former leaders of the party, is to hold on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the party, Olisa Metuh, who was re-elected on Monday told reporters the party’s crisis should be over by Tuesday after the meeting.

“Consultations on what happened on Saturday and all issues therein are ongoing at the highest level of the party in this country. We are going to take the decisions and the reasons behind the decision after tomorrow’s meeting,” Mr. Metuh said.

But indicative of how speculative that plan may turn out after all, the Baraje faction of the party on Monday instituted a case before a Lagos High court asking the court to sack the Bamanga Tukur-led executive of the  ruling party.

The faction said in a statement by the National Secretary of the new faction, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, that the case was a demonstration of the group’s determination “to effect a change and stem the slide of the PDP”.

Mr. Oyinlola named the plaintiffs in the case to include himself, factional chairman, Abubakar Kawu Baraje, and factional Deputy National Chairman, Sam Sam Jaja.

The Baraje-led faction, according to Mr.  Oyinlola, is asking the court to restrain chairman of the other faction, Bamanga Tukur, its Deputy Chairman, Uche Secondus, Women Leader, Kema Chikwe, and Publicity Secretary, Olisah Metuh and others from parading themselves as members of the national executive of the party.

They also sought a motion exparte asking for leave to serve the defendants outside the jurisdiction of the court. Parties are to return to court on September 9 for initial hearings.

The legal action represented a surprising twist for a party that has faced months of internal turmoil, suspended two of its governors, sacked its national executives, and is now tackled by two newly formed, but potentially formidable opposition parties.

Governors of the platform of the All Progressive Congress on Monday welcomed the new turn of events for the PDP, and praised the “courage and resilience” of the seven governors who staged a walk out from the PDP’s special convention on Saturday before naming a new parallel leadership for the party.

The 11 APC governors said the splitting of the PDP, and the emergence of a faction led by the party’s former acting chairman, Abubakar Baraje, was a “necessary and inevitable result of repressive rule of the PDP”.

“Recent events, first with the orchestrated crisis in the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), suspension and expulsion of PDP leaders, including serving governors without fair hearing and complete demonstration of lack of tolerance and respect for different opinions are signposts of crisis that should unavoidably result in the split of any organisation,” they said in a statement on Monday.

The Baraje group said it was encouraged by the “overwhelming support” from party faithful across the country on its mission to “salvage the party”, and pledged a sustained campaign that will enthrone “justice and fairness” in the troubled party.

“We also appreciate the efforts of leaders of the party, particularly President Goodluck Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who, we note, have scheduled a meeting of the party elders for this week,” the party said in a statement. “We respect the elders and will be guided by them, even as we stress that we will not abandon the ideals of justice and fairness that gave birth to the new party leadership under Alhaji Baraje.”

By late Monday, more members of the PDP had openly identified with the splinter PDP group. Twenty six senators said in statement they were part of the new initiative to “reposition” the party.

“By this decision that no doubt provides a soothing balm that will calm frail nerves in the party, you have written your names in gold and will be remembered in our political history as men that stood to save the party and Nigeria’s democracy,” the lawmakers said of the governors and Mr. Atiku.

Mr. Atiku had earlier come under attack from the presidency which accused him of failing to protect a party he was so “indebted” to.

“I was surprised because Atiku is supposed to know more than another person that there is no party like PDP. He left PDP and went to ACN and he came back to PDP, because he discovered that outside PDP there is no party, so he had to come back and he was even given the waiver to contest the primaries election in 2011,” Ahmed Gulak, special adviser to the president on political matters, said on Monday.

“Atiku should be grateful to PDP. Atiku is indebted to PDP and the best way to continue to pay the debt is to protect PDP,” he added.

In his response, sent by his media aide, Garba Shehu, Mr. Abubakar said he does not dispute the fact that he is indebted to the PDP; but that the best way to continue to pay that debt is to protect PDP.

“That is exactly what I am doing: Protecting the PDP,” the former vice president said.

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How to Become an Overnight Billionaire in Nigeria, By Femi Aribisala

Femi Aribisala

If you want to get rich quick, here is the Nigerian blueprint. But please, don’t tell anyone I “wiki-leaked” this highly-classified national secret to you.
With only some 50 years of independent national existence, Nigeria is a country reeking with “new money.” The overwhelming proportion of the millionaires and billionaires in the country are “nouveau-riche;” they became rich literally “overnight.”
We are talking of people whose wealth does not go beyond a generation. Indeed, the fantastic wealth of Nigerian billionaires like Femi Otedola scarcely goes beyond ten/fifteen years.
Not only does Nigeria’s wealthy few have a short history, they often have a short future as well. The money comes “miraculously” and goes just as “miraculously.”
In my youth, S.B. Bakare was the celebrated Nigerian tycoon. Highlife stars and juju musicians eulogised him in their records. But ask a young Nigerian today who S.B. Bakare is, and I can bet my bottom dollar he has never heard of him.
S.B. has fallen off the radar and so has his wealth.
It is not identifiable by any major industry or enterprise. His descendants may still be in litigation over the dregs of his estate, but undoubtedly it is nothing to write home about again. Certainly, nobody is singing about S.B. Bakare today.
There are now new pretenders to his throne.
New dawn
Time was when wealthy Nigerians built something, developed something, or made something. At that time, the rich were truly captains of industry.
Alhaji Sanusi Dantata made his fortune in the era of the groundnut pyramids in the North; buying and shipping them for export.
Sir Odumegwu Ojukwu had Nigeria’s largest fleet of inter-city “mammy-wagons.” He also imported “panla” (dried fish) on a large scale.
Sir Mobolaji Bank-Anthony had a tanker fleet and a pioneering charter airline.
Emmanuel Akwiwu, hauled oil-rigs and supplies for British Petroleum.
Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola produced bicycle tires for the growing army of Nigerian bike-riders.
But thanks to oil, much of Nigerian wealth is no longer the product of such ventures.
Yes, we have billionaires like Ibrahim Dasuki and Mike Adenuga who can still be rightfully described as highly enterprising. But even more significantly, we have tycoons who came into wealth through “wuru-wuru” and “mago-mago.”
These men are hardly Nigeria’s Bill Gates. On the contrary, they don’t have a clue what to do with their dubious wealth, and they are ignorant about wealth-creation.
As such, they add little of value to the Nigerian project. Their praises may be sung today by their horde of parasitical hangers-on, but they will not be remembered for good when they are gone. As mysteriously as their wealth materialized, so will it vanish.
These men became rich through some of the following tried and tested methods, which can be relied upon to lead to one’s inclusion in the Nigerian Book of Irrelevant Rich Men.
If you want to get rich quick, here is the Nigerian blueprint. But please, don’t tell anyone I “wiki-leaked” this highly-classified national secret to you.
1. Rob a bank
This strategy has gone through some transition. Bank-robbers used to be men of the underworld who held banks hostage at gunpoint and then made off with the cash.
However, it was soon recognised that this approach has distinct disadvantages. You might get arrested and jailed. Even worse, you might get shot. It also became apparent that banks carry limited amounts of cash.
Therefore, a successful bank robbery of this violent kind might only land you perhaps 50 million naira tops, which is not even enough to buy or build a house in Banana Island.
There is a better way to rob a bank with far limited risk. Simply establish a bank.
When you establish a bank, you can rob the bank every day without a gun. When people deposit money in your bank, they don’t know that they are handing over their life-savings to a thief.
You then rob the bank you establish in a number of imaginative ways.
For example, you can lend money to your bank and then charge it a very high interest-rate. Better still, you can borrow billions from your bank and simply forget to pay it back. Or, you can use the money deposited in your bank to buy houses and then rent them out as branches to your bank at exorbitant prices.
This approach is guaranteed to make you a few billion naira until the EFCC policemen come calling. When they do, you can quickly fall sick, spend a few months in Deluxe Hospital Hotel and then relocate to your village to enjoy your wealth, never to be heard of again.
2. Join the PDP
This one is a sure banker. As a member of the greatest party in the history of Africa, you will be given a credit-card to spend Nigeria’s oil wealth.
If you are not getting enough attention in the party, make a lot of noise. Abuse Tinubu on the pages of the newspapers and call Buhari an idiot. Insist that Goodluck Jonathan should not only run for re-election unopposed in 2015, there should be a constitutional amendment to make him a life-president.
This is a tell-tale sign that you are hungry; and the powers-that-be will soon invite you to “come and chop.”
As a distinguished member of this great party, the opportunities open for you to set yourself up for life are considerable. For example, you can start collecting billions for petroleum subsidy and simply not import any petrol whatsoever.
You can get the government to change all car license-plates nationwide; and then become the sole supplier of the new license-plates.
You can ask the president to make you the sole importer and distributor of diesel for the entire country. Of course, this might also entail that you become the chairman of his re-election campaign, to which you duly make a handsome contribution.
Alternatively, you can ask to be chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Nobody will bat an eyelid when, within a matter of months, you have a fleet of cars, have two or three houses in Asokoro, and own four hotels in Dubai.
You may even kick out your wife and marry a fourteen-year-old “Suzie” befitting your new status.
You have arrived as one of Nigeria’s celebrated rich men. But keep your eyes on the ball. Don’t get distracted or carried away. The enemies of Mr. President must always remain your enemies.
3. Start a mega-church
This one is pure genius. Peradventure you lose your job or fall on hard times. Don’t go into depression. Just start a church. Make it a purpose-built church.
Think of something that men need. Tell them you have the anointing to provide it. Tell them whoever wants to be a billionaire should come to your church.
Start a few of your messages with “Thus says the Lord.” Then teach your congregation the everlasting principles of sowing and reaping.
Make sure they understand that if they really want God to bless them financially, they first have to give you as much money as possible.
Create a special prayer group for millionaires and billionaires. That way, if they get any new government contract they will attribute it to the efficacy of your prayers and credit something big into your bank account.
Tell everybody to give you their “first-fruits.” That is a code word for their entire January salaries. Then come up with imaginative offerings to collect, such as “prophet’s offering,” (you, of course, being the prophet); “Father, Son and Holy Ghost offerings;” “Jesus will do it offering.”
Very soon, you will be flying your own private jet to preach your gospel in Ilesha; you will be wearing white Armani suits and jerry-curling your hair; you will be collecting gate-fees for new years’ eve services; billionaire thieves and robbers will be queuing up to see your private-secretary on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway; and you will be inviting Bill Clinton to open your multi-billion naira Tower of Babylon in Osapa-London.
In short, you will be living large. For good measure, you will also be slapping demons out of poor bewitched damsels with impunity.
4. Become a mule
There is high demand for this job. There are many politicians and men of timber and caliber looking for mules; men who can keep stolen money for them, or smuggle it to safe havens abroad.
This is a highly lucrative job because for every ten billion naira you smuggle, you can pocket one billion. Don’t get greedy and come to the conclusion that you can make off with the entire loot. That is a sure way to have assassins on your tail. Before they kill you, they will first break your legs.
If you are caught while smuggling money abroad, you can easily escape and come back home dressed as a woman. Then you can get a national merit award.
If you are a mule for a president or a governor, you are set up for life. You will get 24 hours military protection so that no petty thief can come near you.
You will get to travel all over the world. You will get free medical check-ups, so that you don’t just fall down one day and die. That would be disastrous, especially if your sponsor does not know exactly where you kept his loot, or if he does not have the password to the secret account you opened for it in the Bahamas in the name of Ali Baba.
Obituary
I remember the story of a former Nigerian Head of State who allegedly kept a billion dollars with a mule. Then the mule had a stroke. Every effort was made to get him to say just a few words, namely the number of the account where the loot was stashed; but to no avail.
After a few months, the man died. This “national” calamity has prompted the review of the conditions of service of mules. There are now two new, strictly prohibited, clauses. Mules must not have strokes, and under no circumstances should a mule presume to die. If he does, his generations yet unborn will suffer for it.
(P.S./N.B. If you have perfected other Nigerian approaches to quick wealth than these, don’t hesitate to let me know. I promise to keep the matter strictly confidential.)

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'SUNTAI SHOULD BE ALLOWED TAKE A DIGNIFIED EXIT FROM POWER' - by: Mary Wilson

Mary Wilson, a public affairs commentator and medical doctor in the United States, in this piece, argues that Taraba State Governor Danbaba Suntai deserves his rest outside of power

No greater disservice could have been done to Governor Danbaba Suntai than the poorly choreographed, C-rated movie of his return to work than what we saw at the weekend. First, let me commend the wife for a job well done. She must have been through emotional hell and back on account of the man’s air accident and of course the touch-and-go health crisis for a while. From Jalingo to Abuja to Germany and then the USA, Mrs Suntai ought to be commended.

Any woman, who has been through the hell of caring for a terminally or critically ill spouse, will be able to identify with this woman. The emotional toll is beyond description. The fear, the uncertainty, the trauma of watching one’s husband slip in and out of coma is not what anyone should trivialise. I am sure Mrs Turai Yar’adua knows what I am talking about.

It throws a woman into grief, fear of the unknown, pain of loss. Stages of grief are not what any sane or normal human being wants to deal with. I went through it five years ago when my husband was in stage 4 of congenital heart failure. I got stuck in stage 2, stage of denial. Even when I knew that we were counting down, when ejection fraction was less than 20 per cent, I still refused to accept it was over. I tried to play God. I was not willing to accept the inevitable. And guess what, I practise medicine in the best part of the world. It was just human!

So, in a way, I empathise with Mrs Suntai. However, that is where it ends. I was not and still not the spouse of a high profile public official, so when my spouse finally slipped away while I was not looking, I calmly walked away without playing Hercules. In my case, I walked into the Emergency room with a heart rate of more than 180/min. I ended up in ICU a few days later. I was inconsolable. I was afraid of being alone. I was distraught beyond words.

So, when I saw pictures of Suntai as he de-planed in Abuja, I knew someone was being mischievous, insane and indecent. The pictures of him as he alighted from the plane did more damage to him than whatever they meant to achieve. For four years, I was a trauma person. I cared for those boys from the fields of Iraq and Afghanistan, and those demons were awakened as I saw Suntai. His gaze into space, his look of a deer in a headlight, showed a man who was struggling with post-traumatic brain injury (PTBI) The fact that he needed two to three people to coordinate his gait was a damning evidence against him, evidence that he was not ready to be a state chief executive.

So, what is Post TBI? They are symptoms patients experience for weeks, months, years at times; post traumatic brain injury is secondary to brain injury. Simple. Some of these symptoms may have manifested, others will present over the years. Post-TBI causes a variety of symptoms beginning with cognitive deficiency as we saw in Suntai in Abuja. His handler was obviously whispering to him, as he de-planed, trying to re- orient him as to where he was.

The man was definitely not cognizant of his location. He stared into space, he looked surprised, and he had the look of a deer in a headlight. He was wondering where he was. He exhibited cognitive deficit. Indeed, if compelled to do more, he would not have been able to do so. Indeed, his wave was something that must have been practised severally while in rehab in preparation for the charade that they put up in Abuja. These people could not go lower than that even if they tried.

PTBI will present with sudden irritability, mood swings, sudden outburst of speech, sometimes inappropriate, memory loss, disjointed speech. Hopefully, this man, who is obviously not part of this caper, will not be subjected to public humiliation while his handlers are trying to prove a sick macabre point. He will be thoroughly embarrassed in public and will make him slide into deeper depression which is one of the signs of PTBI.

Mood swing, fatigue, seizure, incontinence of bladder and bowel is not uncommon in PTBI. Seizure, both grand and petit may present. Perceptual motor disorder, somatosensory disorder is not uncommon in PTBI patients. No matter how we may want to slice it, this man has no capacity to occupy the office of governor any longer. His pictures on arrival in Nigeria totally nailed him. Unfortunately, there is no established cure for PTBI.

There are treatments to alleviate some of the effects of PTBI. Because they are not able to articulate their own needs or symptoms, medicine has a tough time managing them sometimes. PTBI patients suffer confusion, they are tongue tied as Suntai is presenting. Because, the public does not have access to his medical profile, we can only safe guess that he is in the sub acute stage of his TBI. His neurologic presentation, gait, albeit unsteady and ocular motor presentation amongst other things, are the parameters used for putting him in the sub acute stage of PTBI.

Because of his extended hospital stay, it is obvious he suffered severe closed diffuse axonal injury. Symptomatology associated with such injuries was what we saw on his return drama to Nigeria. Needed rest, isolation from his welcoming crowd, close gait and speech monitoring indicated ataxia, (movement disorder) speech disorder (fluent and non fluent) which his handlers were trying to hide, Aphasia which he no doubt suffers will certainly prevent him from addressing his State House of Assembly and was why he did not address the press nor take questions from them at the airport. I feel like screaming stop this mess at his handlers.

The way it is, this man is being manipulated. He is like a puppet on a string manipulated by evil puppeteers. The right thing to do is to leave him alone to conclude or rather continue with his medical therapy. He has made history as a governor and until the end of the world, his name will be in our history books as being the governor of Taraba State at one time. There is no need forcing this unwilling, unconscious horse to the stream. Being alert with poor neuro score is not enough criterions to manage a state as the chief executive.

Hopefully, that will register with Prof. Jerry Gana. Suntai has no capacity or capability to rule a state anymore. It is painful, it is difficult, but it is the truth. His handlers and the evil people in the PDP can deny it all they like, but that is the truth.
It has nothing to do with politics. It does not matter who rules the state. What matters is probity. We have obviously not learnt anything from the Yar’adua debacle.

It is only in Nigeria where people are free to be off shore governors and presidents. The crude nature with which we lust for power is beyond human comprehension.

Power belongs to God alone, and it is given to people to hold in sacred trust. Nothing more.
But because access to power translates to grand scale theft of public funds in Nigeria, it becomes a do-or-die affair.

Suntai should be allowed to take a dignified exit from power for his sake, that of his family and most of all Taraba State.

This piece first appeared in The Nation newspaper on Wednesday, August 28, 2013