WHO IS RICHARD GRENELL?

Ex American Envoy Richard Grenell has said electing Buhari as President of Nigeria will be a disaster for Africa because of Buhari's sharia credentials according to him.
 The PDP press has been agog with this news since it came out on March 19.
 In their desperation to discredit Buhari, Jonathan and PDP will go to any depth to use even the lowliest of persons to attempt to achieve their objective.
 Who is Richard Grenell? According to Wikepedia, Richard Grenell (born September 18, 1966) is an American media commentator and former diplomat. He is the longest serving U.S. Spokesman at the United Nations and briefly served as national security spokesman for Mitt Romney in his 2012 campaign for president of the United States. HE BECAME THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SPOKESMAN FOR A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, after being hired by Mitt Romney. He resigned after pressure from social conservatives and gay liberals alike.
 The PDP that has accused Buhari of going abroad to say he will repeal the anti-gay law has now hired a gay consultant to attack Buhari. So Jonathan has set another record, HE IS THE FIRST NIGERIAN PRESIDENT TO HIRE A GAY CONSULTANT to promote his campaign.
 Richard Grenell lives in California with his partner of nine years, Matthew Lashey, a media and entertainment company executive. This gay man "married" to another man is the PDP consultant telling NIGERIANS not to vote Buhari because he is pro-sharia. I dey laff o!!
 Having hired a gay man, we await the lesbian adviser of President Jonathan! For all we care they can hire Lucifer to threaten fire and brimstone against NIGERIANS. We will still vote Buhari. PDP and Jonathan have lost this battle. Sai Buhari/Osinbajo.

Who Is Afraid of Card Readers?

 TELL MAGAZINE.

By Debo Adeniran
The forthcoming 2015 general elections have recently been throwing up series of interesting scenario which, by all estimation, marks it the most controversial, most contentious and in fact, the most chaotic in the history of electioneering in this country so far.
The two prominent gladiators i.e. the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the opposition All Progressives Congress have since been at each other’s jugular, trading accusations and brickbats.
Party campaigns, which should have been an issue-based exercise, have so far been reduced to mere mud-slinging, brickbats, name-calling, hate campaigns, innuendoes and in many cases, outright blackmailing. However, we cannot but allow all these to go on, on the excuse that, as some are quick to remind us, ours is still a nascent democracy. “We are still growing; we shall certainly get there someday.”
Granted that our over 50 years democratic experience is still considered young and that mistakes made are meant to serve as tools for getting better as we advance towards perfection, we cannot however help asking the question:  can we ever get any better in the face of apparent retrogression in our attitudes generally especially with the way we operate under our own peculiar, but absurd form of democracy? One would naturally have expected that an over 50-year-old person should be able to display some appreciable degree of maturity but when such a person now behaves like a toddler, something fundamentally nay pathologically is wrong and as such, a major, comprehensive surgical operation, cannot be substituted.
Excuse-makers, for series of abnormalities displayed by the major players in our political turf, are always quick to remind us of how the likes of the United States of America have had to grow steadily through decades and centuries before getting to where they are today. But the basic question these excuse-makers should have to provide answers to is; could America have been able to get to this enviable stage today if it had been a case of one-step-forward, five-steps-backward, as is seemed to be the case with Nigeria? Can growth be synonymous with retrogression?
Well, it is generally agreed that the very foundational bane of our society, has always been the issue of poor leadership. This being the case therefore, the only option left for Nigerians to effect the desired change is no other than to elect leaders of their choice and this could only be made possible through a free, fair and credible election.
Professor Attahiru Jega, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, today, has had, placed squarely on his shoulders, that onerous task of organizing elections that would be acceptable to Nigerians in particular and the international community that has expressed so much interest in what becomes of the world’s largest black nation as it files out to choose its leaders for the next four years.
Since making public his Commission’s time-table for the election, the afore-mentioned two leading gladiators have been having one issue after the other to contend with. Most pronounced of these contentious issues have centered on the appropriateness or otherwise of amendment in the set time-table, allegation of lopsidedness in the distribution method of the PVCs by INEC, the competence of the INEC as presently composed particularly Jega, the Chairman, as a section of agitators, mainly from the ruling party, the PDP, now calls for his removal and substitution ahead of the elections and most recently the issue of the appropriateness or otherwise of the use of the car reader in the process of voting at the polls.

Dissecting GEJ's Fraudulent Gospel of Continuity.

By Bunmi Awoyemi

 Some people are shouting continuity and am wondering if GEJ has achieved anything positive that makes him deserve another 4 years. Is the stock market better off today than it was 5 years ago? Is the exchange rate of the naira to the dollar better today than it was 5 years ago? Are interest rates offered by the banks in the money market today better than they were 5 years ago? Do we have a more robust excess crude account today than we had 5 years ago? Do we have a more robust foreign reserve than we had 5 years ago? Is the rate of unemployment today not worse than it was 5 years ago? Is the rate of insecurity and insurgency better than it was 5 years ago? Is the health care system better today than it was 4 years ago? Does the government of GEJ have better industrial relations today than previous governments before it? Has there been an improvement in the rate of students who pass WAEC and NECO today than it was 5 years ago? Do we have a more qualitative public tertiary educational system in Nigeria today compared to 5 years ago? I am not talking about a quantitative improvement in public tertiary education. I am taking about improvement in the quality of tertiary education. The list of things to consider is endless. So, is GEJ saying that we should let him repeat the class because he failed woefully by scoring Fs in all areas of the economy? What is this gospel of continuity all about? By Bunmi Awoyemi.

American Delegates And Nigerian Intelligence Clash.

American Delegates And Nigerian Intelligence Clash
Ajomole Helen,
 


An argument ensued on Wednesday at a special briefing in Washington DC when members of an American pre-election mission disputed claims by two Nigerian security chiefs that their delegation endorsed the postponement of the elections.
American Delegates And Nigerian Intelligence Clash
Giving updates on preparations for the re-scheduled elections, Ambassador Ayodele Oke, the director general of the National Intelligence Agency, and Rear-Admiral Gabriel E. Okoi, the director of Defence Intelligence, said the Nigerian government has overcome most of the security and logistic problems that led to the postponement of the elections.


Mr. Oke said the election delay was occasioned by incidences of criminal violence, widespread tension and Boko Haram insurgency, which were occurring in tandem with a considerable shortfall in the electoral calendar.
“INEC was having challenges with regards to the distribution of permanent voter cards (PVCs)”, he said, “While another important tool, the card reader machine were not fully yet tested and deployed (across the country).”
Speaking on the insurgency, Mr. Okoi confirmed that Boko Haram effectively controlled 14 local government areas in the run-up to February 14, the day elections were scheduled to commence.
The terrorists’ threat virtually prevented any form of electoral activity in the occupied areas, the intelligence chiefs said.
“Consequently INEC, after robust consultation with key stakeholders, deferred the elections by six weeks in accordance with constitutional provisions.”
 


Re-emphasizing the gravity of the conditions that led to the decision to postpone the elections, Mr. Oke said that “when the election was postponed, the NDI and IRI who are both on the ground issued a joint statement which corroborated and gave fuller explanation as to the reason why INEC took the decision it took,” adding that the statement is on their website.
But speaking after the security chiefs’ presentations, representatives of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), who were present at the event, took exception to the Nigerian officials’ representation of their statement.
The former US assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Ambassador George Moose, said “nothing in the statement justified postponement”.
Moose led the eight-person joint pre-election assessment mission that visited Nigeria from January 15-20, this year.
He said while the delegation’s statement recounted the prevailing conditions of the electoral process and specific challenges to the polls, it did not recommend any change to the electoral calendar.


On the contrary, the delegation expressed “concern that postponement would increase post-election risks”. Other members of the NDI, IRI delegation spoke in the same vein.
In another diplomatic scandal, President Goodluck Jonathan has admitted that he never spoke with the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, via telephone, as claimed last week by Nigeria’s foreign affairs ministry.

The Victim President.

The victim president
 By Sam Omatseye 14/11/2011.
 It is not easy to defend Goodluck Jonathan. Even when he enjoys apparent advantage, he commits what tennis fans call unforced errors. He is the yanga that wakes up trouble.
 When I draped him in serpentine prose and called him His Excellency the Snake, readers’ reactions were mixed. Some said it was a felicitous metaphor, hitting the bull’s eye. But a few others endorsed the point while asking for milder animal metaphor. If the man said he was no lion, and no tiger, and one needed an appropriate animal metaphor, the sly ways of the serpent fit like a slough.
 Last week, I felt vindicated. When the shadowy religious group known as Boko Haram struck again and took down over a hundred lives, his reaction upset good conscience because of its cowardice. Rather than take responsibility, he acted the victim. He evinced the quality of the coward. He said most of the countries in the world were assailed with terrorists, so it was excusable.
 Not long after, the United States issued a warning over three hotels in Abuja as targets of terror. They included the Transcorp Hilton, the Sheraton and Nicon Luxury, which are frequented by the foreigners, including Americans, and well-heeled Nigerians.
 Rather than show gratitude, his government lashed out at the publication of the warning. They should have warned them in private, they insisted. It became obvious that the United States had shared information with them before in private and they probably pooh-poohed it. That was why the Federal Government said it was nothing new. If it was nothing new, why did they not respond when it was new, when they first received the intelligence? The Americans obviously did not want to play poker with the lives of their citizens. If the Nigerian government recoiled from action, they did not. What is wrong with making such augury public anyway? They learned from the United Nations building tragedy.
 The purpose of intelligence is not to make it secret. That would be intelligence for intelligence sake. The purpose is to save lives and hound down the culprits. In the United States, once there is an inkling of an attack, the public is alerted with a view to co-opting the cooperation of the civil society since security is a collective endeavour.
 But Jonathan’s men acted like Jonathan. They pushed the blame elsewhere, and wanted to smear the Americans as if there was a great breach of diplomatic behaviour for exposing the incompetence of Nigeria’s intelligence officers.
 Jonathan wanted to act the victim. It was not his fault, he went on; blame the hoodlums. Is that how the commander-in-chief should respond to such a matter? I forget that he claims he is not a general even though he is a commander in chief. Talk about farce!
 He has a police chief called Hafiz Ringim whose men reportedly mix with the Boko Haram folks, yet no helpful arrest has happened. How can Ringim handle this when he could not save his convoy from the infiltration and bombing by the group? It is obvious we have an incompetent police chief. Jonathan deployed soldiers all over the place. They went to war without intelligence. War without knowledge is a waste of brawn and calories. A day after a report that arms were recovered from day-to-day searches in Borno State, the sect struck. It made the security services look absurd, like jokers in a grand scale. We have an incompetent secret service.
 Jonathan has done nothing to ask from them a grand idea and strategy for dealing with the problem. How can he find that grand idea? He does not think grandly. No one can pick one grand idea he has espoused since he took over the country over a year ago. A coward has no bold ideas. A snake is one of the cowardly animals. It does not think big or strike far. It strikes as though it has not stricken. You feel the bite but you don’t see the assailant.
 That is what Jonathan is trying to do, and we see this everywhere including in the handling of the PDP governorship screening in his home state of Bayelsa. It is all about the process. The governor was cleared by the only legal body with the power to do so. This was made clear by the lawmakers from the state. Even if the National Working Committee is to clear the group legally, it has turned what is a simple process into an abracadabra. Why can’t they clear Governor Sylva? If they have a reason, why can’t they come out with the reason?
 The president has received several groups, including the governors, and he says he is not involved and only the leadership of the party should handle this. Who is the leader of the party? In a democracy, once a party produces a president, he or she is the party leader. Can Jonathan say the NWC is not reporting to him? He should stop kidding us. That again is the quality of the snake, striking furtively, in the dark. Finally they disqualified him out of frustration from Saturday’s mammoth rally. They could not even wait till Monday. They did it on a Sunday as though it were an emergency.
 Look at the issue of oil subsidy, and you see President Goodluck Jonathan playing the victim again. Those who oppose him want to derail his government, topple him and bring him down. Would that also include the majority of Nigerians who do not want it? That would mean he understands that he is unpopular. He wanted to place the blame on somebody else. There was nothing wrong with subsidy, he wanted us to believe. It was just the case of some subversives who want him out, he Mr. Goodluck, the man with the most magical meteoric rise in the firmament of Nigeria’s political history. He went as far as to lie in the name of Muhammadu Buhari, saying the former general and rival in the presidential race wanted the removal of the so-called subsidy.
 Buhari responded promptly through his spokesman, Yinka Odumakin, and showed that Jonathan had again committed an unforced error. He wanted to hide under Buhari like a green snake in a shrubbery. But it did not work. Odumakin explained that Buhari only questioned the mathematics of the so-called oil subsidy claims, propounding questions such as how much do we produce and sell the oil per litre abroad, why endless demurrage charges, why round tripping, etc. How did questioning the logic become an endorsement?
 How do these legitimate acts of opposition amount to trying to topple his government? President Jonathan’s only antidote to such relentless pounding is performance. He has not put together any blueprint against terror. No silver bullet for power or for the economy. He pitches the removal of oil subsidy as a source of funds for infrastructure. Then he unveils a contract to build toll gates all over the country. Is he going to charge us for fuel and then for traveling in order to build roads? Haba!
 But the tragedy of Jonathan’s show of victimhood is that he is so Nigerian. Most Nigerians want to blame somebody else for their woes. If it is not their in-laws, it is their enemy in the village or the neighbour’s wife or the other ethnic group or the pagan, Christian or Muslim heretic. Jean Paul Sartre probably had Nigerians in mind when he quipped: “Hell is other people.”
If Jonathan embodies this flipside of the Nigerian character, how can he be transformational? He has not risen above the nether parts of the crowd. Herbert Spencer wrote about a cadre of leaders: “Before he can remake his society, the society must first make him.” The flipside of Nigeria made Jonathan, so how can he remake Nigeria? How can he be transformational?
 Transformational leaders rise above the times. Jonathan should.

BUHARI AND THE BURDEN OF EXPECTATIONS

BUHARI AND THE BURDEN OF EXPECTATIONS
 PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
 Fellow Nigerians, let me confess that I do not envy General Muhammadu Buhari at this moment. I will explain what I mean very shortly and briefly. The People’s General, as I love to call him, is a victim of his own popularity. What ordinarily should have been an asset has almost become a liability, or put another way, a blessing turning to a curse. From all empirical data as well as mathematical calculations, General Buhari looks set to create a major upset on March 28, or whenever it pleases the gods of Abuja to hold the elections. A game of abracadabra is still playing out while the world is watching our shenanigans with pity or amusement or both.
 The ruling party has chosen to engage in a political Russian roulette while the country speeds dangerously towards the abyss. Who are we to challenge those who see power as the beginning and the end and are incorrigibly committed to fighting to retain what they got on a platter of gold. At any rate, I am one of those subscribing to the permutations of a General Buhari victory no matter how tall a dream it seems. As a matter of fact, I’m willing and ready to place a bet that the election is not going to be as closely and keenly contested as many people think. I foresee a landslide that would make it difficult for troublemakers to practise their trade. The Buhari Movement has finally ignited and spreading at the speed of sound.
 My simple and straight-forward projection is that both President Goodluck Jonathan and General Buhari would obtain and satisfy the mandatory 25% votes in two/thirds of the 36 states making up the Federal Republic of Nigeria (plus the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja, the ultimate seat of power). This translates to the fact that the two leading candidates must work assiduously at locking down 24 states each while battling hard to close the game with some blistering majority votes. I believe this is where Buhari would have a towering advantage.
 If you consider my optimism a mirage, please cool temper for the D-day is at hand. By this time next week all us would have fixed our gaze on Saturday May 28, 2015. How time flies! When the elections were postponed, from February 14, 2015, it was as if the new date would never come. But blessed are the patient at heart for they shall inherit the earth. The PDP no doubt has regained some momentum and they have now had ample opportunity to bulldoze their ways into earlier impregnable fortresses with the whiff of money. But the effect is not yet palpable.
 What is certain is that APC has sparked the panic mode in PDP. This seems to be their time. I’ve never seen President Jonathan work as frenetically as he’s being doing these past weeks. It is certain President Jonathan is under no illusion that this is going to be an easy task or mission. In fact, this is going to be a fiercer election than any we’ve ever seen in the past. The battlegrounds would most definitely be in the North Central and South West. General Buhari will lock down the North West and North East most categorically while President Jonathan will secure his traditional catchment areas, in the South South and South East. However, let me note that General Buhari is likely to make some incursion into President Jonathan’s territories than vice versa. The President today does not control a cult followership in any part of Nigeria while General Buhari enjoys some Rock star status in many parts of Nigeria where he has become the icon of change.
 This fact was revalidated only yesterday in the presence of no less a witness than the Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Mr Reno Omokri at the Transcorp Hilton hotel, in Abuja. I had entered a packed lift as the Hilton was teeming with activity as usual. As soon as I sauntered in, I was instantly hailed by most of the guys for supporting Buhari. The shout of “change” resonated and boomed in the lift. There was a white lady who appeared fascinated by the almost carnival-like atmosphere. Mr Omokri and I alighted from the lift same time and the gentleman of God requested for a selfie with me which I gladly obliged. I wished other Jonathians were as humble as Reno. I had always admired the man who had the incredibly difficult job of selling the image of an unpopular President. In recenbt time, he’s landed himself in trouble while trying so hard to make a success of a thankless job.
 Anyway, the Transcorp Hilton encounter was only one of so many others during my short visit to Abuja. Everywhere I turned, the talk was about change. I am very certain that most of those supporting Buhari today are not members of APC. I’m not even sure many of them are his rabid fans. What I found common to them is their personal frustrations with a party that has been in power for 16 years with little to show for the support garnered from Nigerians. Some have openly confessed that Buhari is a candidate of necessity forced on them by limited choices. This is the thrust of my epistle today.
 To whom much is given, much is expected. General Buhari is thus expected to be the Lamb of God who must be prepared to carry the sins of the world. He must possess the power of optical illusion in order to perform instant magic in a nation on its bent knees. First, Nigerians will hold him to the promise of killing corruption when the time comes. The cynics insist this is impossible and dismiss his most avowed credential as an anti-corruption crusader as a mere ruse and bloody hypocrisy. They point at the seemingly rampaging horde of politicians around him and wonder how he hopes to handle them.
 They are right and wrong. They are right in as much as there are no saints in government anywhere. It is virtually impossible to win elections in Nigeria without huge sums of money for logistical and practical purposes. Everyone knows that the General has loads of integrity but no money. How then does he hope to tackle some of his supporters who may have profited from the proceeds of crime and corruption? A tough nut to crack; or so it seems! But I have a fair answer.
 I have had the privilege of interacting a bit with General Buhari and his disciples and can safely confirm that he has what it takes to reduce corruption to its barest minimum allowed in decent societies. Trust me, the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom in his camp. He regularly tells them not to treat him as robot. The almost surreal respect they have for him helps to whip everyone in line. And no one wishes to test the sharpness of his double-edged sword.
 General Buhari recognises the fact that he has to carry saints and sinners along in party politics and a democratic setting. As a game of numbers, it would be foolhardy to be holier than the Pope. All the pontificating therefore must be measured and tested without rocking the boat entirely. He has learnt tremendous lessons and gained exceptional insight into how Nigeria works. He knows that as a civilian President, he will never be able to wield draconian powers like he did during his first coming as military dictator. History has a way of mellowing people down. The General Buhari that I see today is a man with a hard interior and a softer and more relaxed exterior. He would have to manage a delicate balance as a born again democrat. I’m sure he can do it.
 The second challenge ahead of the new government, if Buhari wins as many expect and anticipate, is how to handle and ameliorate the intractable problem of mass unemployment. The General himself has confessed to this daunting challenge repeatedly. He says the first step is to stop the leaking economic sewage and block the drain pipes of unbridled corruption. A new regime of disciplined fiscal planning would have to be introduced pronto. Vocational training would have to be encouraged and recommended for the multitude of naturally endowed Nigerian youths. Nigeria is in dire need of technical expertise. Many artisans currently indulge in trial by error. Their income would improve once they can gain the confidence of clients and consumers. Politicians, especially our elected representatives, would have to downgrade on their atrocious remunerations which have become so controversial and unsustainable. It is hoped that General Buhari would be able to convince our political office holders to have mercy on the rest of us. The era of over-inflated contracts would have to be jettisoned for a more reasonable and accountable process.
 The collapse of education is not less important. In fact, it must form the bedrock of all developmental dreams and goals. No nation can advance to a developed status without correcting the anomalous and embarrassing state of our institutions from primary to tertiary level. The modest achievements of the Obasanjo administration have been wasted and truncated by subsequent governments. What makes the situation terrible is not just the fact that we are producing glorified illiterates in many institutions but the fact that the exodus of our kids to foreign lands in pursuit of the proverbial Golden Fleece has now become a major waste of our foreign exchange reserves. It is sad that many of the smaller and poorer countries around us have taken advantage of our cruel and retrogressive attitude to education. How General Buhari reverses this debilitating trend remains to be seen.
 It is no longer a secret that our economy has been run aground by a most profligate government despite the pretentious grandstanding that ours is the largest economy in Africa. Many states are unable to pay salaries. The Naira has been in a free fall after nose-diving in a most cataclysmic manner. There is no way traders would not be wishing for a quick miracle before our businesses perish, especially those dependent on foreign exchange. The General and his crew must urgently tackle the over-dramatized issue of diversification of our resources to generate much needed income. We can no longer over-emphasise the importance of finding alternatives to oil which seems to have exterminated our thinking faculties. For a country reputed to be one of the largest oil producers, it is disgraceful that we are not able to refine most of our crude; we still flare our gas, and quite simply prefer the easy route to cheap money rather than invest in the creation of sustainable wealth.
 Another crucial area for General Buhari to deal with is power, the generation, transmission and distribution of which seems to have become an impossible mission. It is so bizarre and inexplicable how the more investment we pump into having stable electricity, the lesser the result. Even with the much privatisation of this sector, we have had no joy.
 The last and probably the most critical issue that the General will have to tackle and resolve quickly is that of the security of the nation. A nation may be rich, corruption free and peopled with citizens who are well educated and in suitably employment. However, this will count for naught when their lives and property are not secure. This is where the General’s military experience and his past antecedent as the scourge of another terrorist religious group, the Maitatsine Sect, will come into play. It is not just Boko Haram that we are worried about though. Although largely unspoken, because of the fear and support they are receiving, the country is being held to ransom by terrorists referred to as ‘militants’ simply because they come from the same area as the President. It is not just because there is open plundering of our wealth through the large-scale, unbridled stealing of the nation’s oil but the thieving buccaneering spirit they engender means that others feed into their frenzy. Hence, the spate of kidnappings and resort to use of sophisticated weapons and equipment by armed robbers remains largely unchecked. Our people, indeed our leaders as well, live in constant fear. But for now they dare not speak. I am convinced from what I have seen and heard that the People’s General will deal with this issue of security in a decisive, efficient and effective manner.
 I must add that it has been rightly observed by some people that General Buhari has not offered a solution to our apparently intractable security problem. The answer is simple! The right security policy in the hands of the wrong leader will lead to further disastrous consequences. I need say no more.
 You can now see why no one should envy General Buhari. The cross he would have to bear would be a heavy one. I believe he has what it takes to take on the demons plaguing our country. He would have to step on some fat toes. However, it won’t be strange act to a man known for his no-nonsense approach.
 With so much rancid rot refusing to leave us alone and in peace, we certainly need a General Buhari now more than ever.
 I can’t wait.

Bishop Oyedepo’s Church Divided Over Prayer For President Jonathan

Attempts by Bishop David Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel, Ota, Ogun State, southwest Nigeria, to make members of his congregation pray for President Goodluck Jonathan to win the 14 February Presidential election backfired on Sunday when some members refused to stand up from their seats to pray for Jonathan.

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BY EROMOSELE EBHOMELEJAN 27, 2015

Attempts by Bishop David Oyedepo of the Winners Chapel, Ota, Ogun State, southwest Nigeria, to make members of his congregation pray for President Goodluck Jonathan to win the 14 February Presidential election backfired on Sunday when some members refused to stand up from their seats to pray for Jonathan.Chief of Staff to the President, Jones Oladehinde Arogbofa, John Kennedy and President Goodluck JonathanState House Photo

Bishop Oyedepo had asked members to stand up to pray for Jonathan who came to the church for prayers to win the election, but some members of the congregation who were not happy with Jonathan’s performance refused to stand up. They remained seated and refused to pray for Jonathan.

This did not however stop the prosperity preacher from praying for Jonathan.

Worshippers and clergymen got more than they expected with the visit of President Goodluck Jonathan to the headquarters of the church, located in Ota, Ogun State, western Nigeria on Sunday, when the church was hit with condemnations and criticisms from Nigerians.

President Jonathan, with some of his aides, the Chief of Staff to the President, Jones Arogbofa and the Executive Secretary, Christian Pilgrim Board, Mr. Kennedy Okpara, worshipped at the church during its third service after they arrived the church premises in a helicopter. 

A few minutes after his departure, however, the internet went buzzing with the news of his visit as bloggers latched on to whatever they could gather. Many of them ended up misquoting and misinforming the public thus resulting in the outrage that greeted the President’s visit.

Nigerians were provoked by the statement falsely credited to the General Overseer of the church, Bishop David Oyedepo, saying he would open the gates of hell upon anyone who opposed Jonathan’s re-election.

Some of the bloggers even claimed that he warned his church members against voting for the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammadu Buhari, and that anyone who went against this remains a candidate of hell.L-R: Faith Oyedepo, wife of the General Overseer of Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo and President Goodluck Jonathan after the President’s visit to the church on SundayState House Photo

The bloggers’ false interpretation of Oyedepo’s admonition irked Nigerians who saw this as an affront on their mentality and wondered if Oyedepo was God or if he actually had the keys to hell.

While some Nigerians said they were shocked that Oyedepo could make such a comment, others went comic calling him a man of “small gods.”

Unfortunately, however, many of these bloggers and news writers were not in the church during the President’s visit, but they all attributed their news to sources within the church.

Our correspondent who attended the third service of the church which was also attended by the President, his aides and politicians in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from Lagos and Ogun states, reports that the drama however began from the church.

Before his preaching during the service, Bishop Oyedepo had given President Jonathan the opportunity to address the congregation.

Spending very few minutes, Jonathan, who said he did not want to say much so that Nigerians would not think he only attended the church to campaign, urged the members to pray for the country ahead of the general elections.

He said his call for prayers was necessitated by the various predictions by leaders and clergymen about the elections and their outcome.
“There are various predictions concerning the election, but I trust God to take control of the situation,” Jonathan said.

He also commended Bishop Oyedepo for his commitment to God’s work and to education, adding that only through education of its citizens would a country develop and progress.

“I commend Bishop Oyedepo for his commitment to the work of God and education, without education we can’t achieve much,” he added.

While some of the church members were excited to see Jonathan, others grumbled, saying he had suddenly turned to the Winners Chapel after he discovered that he is no longer welcomed at the Redeemed Christian Church of God since a senior pastor of the church, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, is now the running mate to Buhari who is contesting against Jonathan in the election.

Some also whispered that the pastors in the country were not helping matters as they are not acting like prophets and leaders in the Bible who spoke truth to people in power.

After his speech, the Bishop asked that the church members stand up and pray for the President.

He asked that since God always answered prayers of the church members, they should pray for God to give the President the wisdom and strength to rule the country and the unusual grace to lead the nation.

Our correspondent noted that while many stood up and prayed fervently, some sat down, while some used the opportunity to pray for themselves.