Power Outage Disrupts Jonathan’s Easter Service In Lagos

President speech was interrupted as the power outage occurred while he was delivering his speech to the congregation.

He was talking about his administration’s restructuring of the Nigerian economy when the church was thrown into darkness as seen in the picture on a very sunny day in Lagos.

Laughing along with the cheering congregation, Dr Jonathan remarked that by the power outage, officials of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria are telling him not to sleep until the nation’s power crisis is fixed.

He however vowed that by next year the power in the church will be uninterrupted.

The Easter Sunday service also had in attendance, former Head of State General Yakubu Gowon.

TalkOfNaija

E-X-P-O-S-E-D Jonathan using SURE-P funds for 2015 campaign, ACN insists

The action of the Nigerian President resident is a very serious violation of the constitution, the ACN says.

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN has said that the crisis tearing the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Lagos apart over the sharing of SURE-P funds in the state has vindicated its stand that the funds, meant to cushion the effects of petrol subsidy removal, have now become a 2015 campaign war chest for President Jonathan.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said when it alerted the nation to the abuse of the SURE-P funds in a statement on February 3, the Nigerian Government as well as SURE-P managers rushed to deny any abuse of the funds and called the party unprintable names.

“Today, the truth has prevailed as the PDP members themselves have confirmed that the SURE-P funds are being shared among them across the federation.

”Thanks to the alleged hijacking of the SURE-P funds meant for the PDP members in Lagos State by the Bode George faction and the crisis that it has generated, the nation can now see that the Jonathan administration has willfully converted the money accruing from SURE-P to campaign funds,” Mr. Mohammed said.

The ACN spokesperson said the action of the president ”is a very serious violation of the constitution, because the State Implementation Committee, SIC, a body not recognized by law, has been set up to distribute the SURE-P largesse to PDP members in all the states”.

According to Mr. Mohammed, money being spent on fuel subsidies was in the past taken out of the Federation Account, hence its is money that would have been divided among the three tiers of government in accordance with the revenue allocation formula.

”But by virtue of the SURE-P arrangement, part of the funds are now available for the FG to share freely by approving contracts, programmes and activities in accordance with its whims and caprices,” he said, adding that the PDP-controlled FG has now seen the accruing huge funds as money which may well be spent with special favour for its cronies and party affiliates, without regard to the constitution.

“For President Jonathan, this is an impeachable offence,” ACN said.

The party said in order to buttress its point on the abuse of the SURE-P funds, most – if not all – state coordinators for President Jonathan’s campaign in 2011 are also the current state coordinators for SURE-P, adding that this is not a mere coincidence but a well-orchestrated attempt to give the Jonathan campaign an unfair head-start ahead of 2015 – with public funds.

It listed some of the coordinators as Bode Oyedele (Lagos); Joseph Ishekpa (Nasarawa); Garba A. Kurfi (Katsina): Aliyu Mamman (Niger); Adamu Yaro Gombe (Gombe); Femi Akinyemi (Ekiti); Jarigbe Agbom Jarigbe (Cross River); Abdullahi Ohioma (Kogi); Dare Adeleke (Oyo); Al-Kasim Madoka (Kano) and Kolo Bukar (Borno).

On the crisis in Lagos PDP over the SURE-P largesse, ACN said a public statement by a faction of the PDP in Lagos has let the cat out of the bag.

The PDP factional statement said, inter alia; ”Bode Oyedele cannot coordinate Sure-P in Lagos State. We reject him. He has packed all Bode George’s agents as Sure-P beneficiaries. Is this the objective of Sure-P? Some local governments like Eti-Osa, Ajeromi, Lagos Islands etc. Please, find out how they got the beneficiaries.

”In Eti-Osa there are names of criminals as beneficiaries, especially Ward HI. This is a waste of subsidy money and defeating the objective of the programme. There are responsible eminent citizens who should be contacted to verify and screen the submission of names for beneficiaries but Bode George’s loyalists are putting names of touts and miscreants for his own personal agenda. We won’t allow this to happen. We intend to go to court to obtain an order to dissolve the state exco if the Caretaker Committee won’t do it,” the statement by a faction of the Lagos PDP noted.

The ACN said that the statement by the Lagos PDP faction should leave no one should in any doubt that the SURE-P funds have now become campaign funds for President Jonathan and his party ahead of 2015.

”On the basis of this, we are now calling for an independent investigation into how the money accruing to SURE-P has been disbursed since the inception of the programme, with a view to establishing to what extent the funds have been abused, and in order to prescribe the appropriate sanctions for those found culpable,” it said.

Culled from Premium Times

Abortion Laws In Arkansas, North Dakota Set Stage For Legal Battle

By DAVID CRARY

Rival legal teams, well-financed and highly motivated, are girding for court battles over the coming months on laws enacted in Arkansas and North Dakota that would impose the nation's toughest bans on abortion.

For all their differences, attorneys for the two states and the abortion-rights supporters opposing them agree on this: The laws represent an unprecedented frontal assault on the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a nationwide right to abortion.

The Arkansas law, approved March 6 when legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, would ban most abortions from the 12th week of pregnancy onward. On March 26, North Dakota went further, with Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signing a measure that would ban abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, when a fetal heartbeat can first be detected and before some women even know they're pregnant.

Abortion-rights advocates plan to challenge both measures, contending they are unconstitutional violations of the Roe ruling that legalized abortion until a fetus could viably survive outside the womb. A fetus is generally considered viable at 22 to 24 weeks.

"I think they're going to be blocked immediately by the courts – they are so far outside the clear bounds of what the Supreme Court has said for 40 years," said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The center will be leading the North Dakota legal challenge and working in Arkansas alongside the American Civil Liberties Union's state and national offices. Both Northup and ACLU lawyers say they have ample resources to wage the battles, and they expect victories that would require their attorneys' fees to be paid by two states.

Dalrymple, in signing the ban, acknowledged that its chances of surviving a court challenge were questionable, but said it was worth the eventual price tag – at this point unknown – in order to test the boundaries of Roe.

North Dakota's attorney general, Wayne Stenehjem, initially said lawyers from his office would defend any lawsuits but is now considering hiring outside help. His office is working on a cost estimate for the litigation that could be presented to lawmakers soon.

"We're looking at a sufficient amount to adequately defend these enactments," Stenehjem said.

A lead sponsor of the Arkansas ban, Republican state Sen. Jason Rapert, said threats of lawsuits "should not prevent someone from doing what is right."

He contended that the ban had a chance of reaching the U.S. Supreme Court through the appeals process and suggested that the victory predictions made by abortion-rights lawyers amounted to "posturing" aimed at deterring other states from enacting similar bans.

In both Arkansas and North Dakota, the states' lawyers will be getting pro bono assistance from lawyers with Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group.

Mathew Staver, the group's chairman, said supporters of the bans were resolved to fight the legal battles to the end, and issued a caution to the rival side.

"They ought to hold off on their celebrations," he said. "The cases have a long way to go through the court system."

The North Dakota ban is scheduled to take effect Aug. 1, along with two other measures that have angered abortion-rights backers. One would require abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital, the other would make North Dakota the first state to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.

The Center for Reproductive Rights is reviewing its options regarding the latter two bills, but definitely plans to challenge the 6-week ban before Aug. 1. Northup said her team is pondering whether to file suit in state court or U.S. district court.

In Arkansas, where the 12-week ban would take effect 90 days after the end of the legislative session, abortion-rights lawyers plan to file their challenge in federal court within the next few weeks.

Bettina Brownstein, who will be representing the ACLU of Arkansas in the case, said the U.S. district court with jurisdiction over Little Rock had issued rulings in past abortion-related cases that gave her confidence of victory this time.

"Eventually it could go to U.S. Supreme Court on appeal, but that would take a while, and they may not want to hear it," she said. "It's a question of how much money the state wants to spend."

Northup chided officials in both Arkansas and North Dakota for their willingness to spend taxpayers' money on difficult and divisive legal cases.

"It's important that the citizens of those states realize that every dollar spent to defend blatantly unconstitutional laws is taxpayers' dollars wasted," she said.

Attorneys' fees for the upcoming cases are impossible to estimate at this stage, but Northup said her organization received $1.3 million in fees from Alaska after that state lost a recent case regarding an abortion-related law.

The last few years have been intensely busy for the Center for Reproductive Rights, the ACLU and other abortion-rights legal groups as Republican-controlled legislatures have enacted scores of laws seeking to restrict access to abortion. At least two dozen such measures are currently the target of lawsuits, said Northup, who vowed that her organization "will not let unconstitutional laws go unchallenged."

Some of the recent laws place new requirements on abortion clinics, others require abortion providers to perform certain procedures or offer state-mandated counseling before an abortion can take place.

At least 10 states have passed bills banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy on the disputed premise that a fetus can feel pain at that stage. One of those laws, in Idaho, was struck down by a U.S. district judge on March 6, while the laws in Georgia and Arizona have been temporarily blocked by judges pending further court proceedings.

Abortion-rights advocates, while eager to defeat the new bans in North Dakota and Arkansas, worry about the impact of the broader surge of restrictions.

"I don't believe these bans are going to take effect, but the danger is that they make the other laws look reasonable," said Talcott Camp, deputy director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project. "The ultimate goal is to take this decision away from a woman and her doctor and give it to the politicians."

One of the most frequent targets of the anti-abortion laws is the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which – in addition to providing a range of other health services – is the nation's leading provider of abortions.

Planned Parenthood's president, Cecile Richards, said she found it frustrating that women "continue to be a political punching bag." But she saw an upside to the wave of anti-abortion legislation: more members and more donations for her organization.

"These attacks have served to energize our supporters," she said. "We've gained 2 million members in the past two years."

There's new energy on the other side as well.

The tough North Dakota laws have been welcomed by the protesters who gather weekly in Fargo outside the state's lone abortion clinic.

Among those on hand for the latest protest at the Red River Women's Clinic was Scott Carew, 50, who had brought two anti-abortion posters nailed to pieces of wood.

"Certainly, we're proud of the governor standing up for life," Carew said. "We're going to keep standing up for life until we can't stand up anymore."

___HuffingtonPost

Kwara CP Assassination: We Have Recorded 90% Success On Investigation – AIG

The new Assistant Inspector General of Police [AIG], Zone 9, Umuahia, Abia State, Mr. Tambari Yabo Muhammad, has called on the governors in the zone to set up security trust fund to assist in providing logistics for security agencies in the zone.

Muhammad, who spoke to journalists shortly after meeting with police commissioners in the zone, urged the governors under his jurisdiction, comprising of Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo states, to emulate Lagos State by setting up security trust fund in the states.

He said the initiative to be funded by  corporate bodies, among others, would help the states as the governors may no longer dip their hands into state coffers to provides logistics for security agencies in their area.

The  AIG also disclosed that the police investigation into the murder of former Kwara State Police Commissioner, Chinwike Asadu, has recorded 90% success, and hinted that, before long, the investigation would be concluded.

According to him, he came to the zone with renewed vigour to fight crime, but would require the assistance of the people  to succeed. He said that the people could help by providing information on crime and assured of the protection and confidentiality of informants and the information.

“We really need their [governors] support in the area of  logistics. Police  are doing their best within the meager resources available to them, but I believe that with support from the  governors, we will do more,”Muhammad said.

“Almost everything is anchored on security, without security there will be investment. So we are appealing to the Governors of the zone to come the assistance of the security agencies to do more. I suggest that they set up security trust fund in their states like in Lagos so that money  can be raised to buy equipment for security agencies. Lagos State has up to 300 patrol vehicles and every place is covered”.

The AIG also promised to resuscitate Police Community Relations Committees across the zone to encourage the people to volunteer information.

Naij.com

Is Longevity A Curse – Mama HID Awolowo Laments After Learning Of Son’s Death

For four straight hours, Matriarch of the Awolowo family Chief HID Awolowo, bemoaned her fate when clergymen from Remo Diocese of the Anglican Communion broke the news of the death of her son, Oluwole, who passed on in a London hospital on March 27.

Mama, as she is fondly called, screamed as soon as she saw the clergymen from Remo Diocese in her compound and told them not to bother to break the bad news to her as she broke down and family members including Bishop Olusina Fape of the Anglican Diocese of Remo as well as the erstwhile governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and his wife, Olufunke were also moved to tears.

Amid sobs, she reeled out names of her own parents, saying, “Oh Wole, my dear son! Why now! Is it a sin to live long? My parents lived long, why should longevity become a curse in my own case?”

The matriarch repeatedly told one of the visiting clergymen: “Bishop, you said I would not witness any more unfortunate incident. Bishop, you said I would not witness any sorrow again. Bishop, you said I would not witness any more pain.”

It was learnt that breaking the sad news to the widow of the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, former Premier of Western Nigeria, was not an easy task with close members making sure that the tragedy was kept secret until the clergymen arrived.

It was learnt that when the news of the incident filtered into the country, all communication devices including telephone sets of Mama Awolowo were discreetly taken away from her. Her radio and television sets were said to have been switched off just to make sure that she did not get wind of the news unexpectedly.

Bishop Fape who had led other clerics to the house to condole Mama led the family in prayers and hymns.

Few minutes later, the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun arrived the house and also commiserated with the family and had a-tete-a-tete with Mama and prayed for the soul of Evangelist Wole.

 InformationNigeria

The God Who Does Not Exist

I feel very sorry for people like Douglas Anele who maintain God does not exist.

At university, I was a student of Philosophy. You had to be, if you studied Political Science. I therefore find it highly amusing that, in a discussion about the existence of God, Douglas Anele tries to dazzle me by dropping the names of philosophers like David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Bertrand Russell. But I need no such shenanigans in order to confound Douglas’ atheism. I will only present here a token of my relationship with the God Douglas foolishly says is non-existent.

“Non-existent” meeting

I was standing in the parking lot of the building where I lived in Lagos, talking to Bimbo Dada, now Director of Library, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, when a man walked through the gate and came to talk to me. He said he worked for an oil-company but had recently been posted out of town.

There was a lunch-hour fellowship meeting every week in his house and he was at a loss what to do about it now he was leaving. So he had been asking the God Douglas says does not exist for guidance.

On that particular day, the “non-existent” God told him to stop praying. He told him to go out of the house and walk down the road. When he got to our gate, the “non-existent” God told him to go in. Then he said to him: “You are to hand over the lunch-hour fellowship to that man talking to the lady over there.” So the man said to me: “The Lord says I should hand over the lunch-hour fellowship meeting in my house to you.”

After getting the confirmation I required from the God “who does not exist,” I agreed to take over the fellowship. That was how I inherited a 20-man lunch-hour fellowship in 1994.

Soon, I rented a flat in Victoria Island for the fellowship from Chief Olisah Metuh, now PDP National Publicity Secretary. Two years later, the God “who does not exist” told me he has given me an entire building. I jumped to the conclusion he had given me Olisah Metuh’s  building. As a Christian then schooled naively in the sacrificial system, I concluded God would sacrifice the landlord’s interests for my sake.

I got a prayer group to surround the building and quickly claimed it in the name of Jesus, according to the principles of Joshua: wherever the soles of my feet tread, I take possession. (Joshua 1:3). I don’t know if someone quickly alerted Olisah Metuh he was in danger of losing his building to a determined prayer-warrior.

Or perhaps he received a warning about me in a vision or a dream. But shortly after I embarked on these ungodly prayer-sessions, the landlord gave me summary quit notice and I had to move out.

Hand of God

When I started looking for alternative accommodation, my estate agents, Diya Fatimilehin, first took me to a big dilapidated building in the same Victoria Island. I did not like it and rejected it out of hand. But later that evening, the “non-existent” God told me the building I despised was the one he had given me.

Therefore, I went back the next day to take a second look. I discovered my “Promised Land” was formerly occupied by the Palestinian Embassy and, significantly, it has quite a number of fruit trees.

I moved into the building in 1997 and spent a small fortune renovating it, confident it belonged to me. In 1999, at the expiration of my lease, the landlady, Eniola Vanderpuye, offered to sell the building to me through her lawyers, Abiola Morgan & Associates; even though I never asked to buy it.

I later discovered she had never even seen it before. It had been willed to her by her late father. But she lives in Chicago with her American husband and has no desire to return to Nigeria.

The realtor she hired to value the building turned out to be Pastor Seinde Adegbonmire of RCCG, a good friend of mine. He asked me how much I could afford. We finally agreed on a price convenient to both the landlady and me. Moreover, I was allowed to pay unconventionally; in installments over four years. Nevertheless, after four years, I was still unable to complete the payment for the building.

God’s bailout

One day, Mrs. Nike Shonibare, a woman I had never met before came to see me. She was then Head of Commercial and Community Banking at MBC International Bank. She told me her bank would like to encourage me to buy a new car. I would deposit one-third of the cost in their bank and they would finance the rest. She told me to go to Coscharis Nigeria Limited to choose any car I liked.

I went there and chose a Land Rover Freelander. But while the deal was still being negotiated by my lawyer, Pastor Tokun Pedro of RCCG, the “non-existent” God told me he did not send Mrs. Shonibare so I could buy a car. He told me he sent her so I could secure a loan to pay off my outstanding debt to Eniola Vanderpuye.

Accordingly, I borrowed N10 million from MBCI (now First Bank) to pay off my former landlady. I serviced the debt and brought it down to N5 million. But then I fell on hard times and it grew back to N10 million. Then the “non-existent” God appeared to me in a dream and promised to send me money “from Canada.”

Within eight days, I received miraculously a number of unsolicited gifts totalling N11 million. One friend I had not seen for years, walked into my office and said: “The Lord says I should give this to you.” He placed a cheque on my table face-down. When I turned it over, it was for N6,300,000.

I asked for a meeting with MBCI and insisted they should knock N2.5 million off my debt since I was prepared to clear it outright. They agreed to knock off N2.1 million. Thus, I completed the payment for the building, while still leaving me with a generous balance of nearly N3 million.

Foolish atheists

In effect, the “non-existent” God gave me a lunch-hour fellowship. He then gave me a big building at 12 Babatunde Jose Street, Victoria Island, a prime location in Lagos, in which to have the fellowship. He then arranged a loan for me to finance the payment for the building. Then, he arranged for gifts to enable me clear my debts.

Today, barely nine years later, the value of the building given to me by the God who is “non-existent” is now over fifteen times the purchase price.

You can now see why I feel very sorry for people like Douglas Anele. They use Philosophy to negate the existence of God. People like Douglas are victims of their own conceit. Since they don’t know God, they conclude he does not exist instead of humbling themselves in prayer and asking God to reveal himself to them.

Jesus says: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.” (Matthew 11:25-26).

Femi Aribisala is the fellowship coordinator of Healing Wings. Healing Wings is a pentecostal Christian fellowship which meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Naij.com

Pope's Easter Mass Makes Plea For Peace

By FRANCES D'EMILIO 

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis delivered a plea for peace in his first Easter Sunday message to the world, decrying the seemingly endless conflicts in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula after celebrating Mass at an outdoor altar before more than 250,000 people in flower-bedecked St. Peter's Square.

Francis shared in his flock's exuberance as they celebrated Christianity's core belief that Jesus Christ rose from the dead following crucifixion. After Mass, he stepped aboard an open-topped white popemobile for a cheerful spin through the joyous crowd, kissing babies and patting children on the head.

One admirer of both the pope and of the pope's favorite soccer team, Argentina's Saints of San Lorenzo, insisted that Francis take a team jersey he was waving at the pontiff. A delighted Francis obliged, briefly holding up the shirt, and the crowd roared in approval.

Francis has repeatedly put concern for the poor and suffering at the center of his messages, and he pursued his promotion of the causes of peace and social justice in the Easter speech he delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, the same vantage point above the square where he was introduced to the world as the first Latin American pope on March 13.

The Roman Catholic leader aimed his Easter greetings at "every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons." Francis prayed that Jesus would inspire people to "change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace."

As popes before him have, he urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume peace talks and end a conflict that "has lasted all too long." And, in reflecting on the two-year-old Syrian crisis, Francis asked, "How much suffering must there still be before a political solution" can be found?

The pope also expressed desire for a "spirit of reconciliation" on the Korean peninsula, where North Korea says it has entered "a state of war" with South Korea. He also decried warfare and terrorism in Africa, as well as what he called the 21st century's most extensive form of slavery: human trafficking.

The first pontiff to come from the Jesuits, an order with special concern for the poor, and the first pope to name himself after St. Francis, a medieval figure who renounced wealth to preach to the down-and-out, Francis lamented that the world is `'still divided by greed looking for easy gain."

Earlier, wearing cream-colored vestments, Francis celebrated Mass on the esplanade in front of the basilica at an altar set up under a white canopy. He frequently bowed his head as if in silent reflection.

The sun competed with clouds in the sky Sunday, but the square was a riot of floral color in Rome, where chilly winter has postponed the blossoming of many flowers. Yellow forsythia and white lilies shone, along with bursts of lavender and pink, from potted azalea, rhododendron, wisteria and other plants.

Francis thanked florists from the Netherlands for donating the flowers. He also advised people to let love transform their lives, or as he put it, "let those desert places in our hearts bloom."

The Vatican had prepared a list of brief Easter greetings in 65 languages, but Francis didn't read them. The Vatican didn't say why not, but has said that the new pope, at least for now, feels at ease using Italian, the everyday language of the Holy See. Francis also has stressed his role as a pastor to his flock, and, as Bishop of Rome, Italian would be his language.

The pontiff improvised his parting words to the crowd. He repeated his Easter greeting to those "who have come from all over the world to this square at the heart of Christianity" as well as to those "linked by modern technology," a reference to TV and radio coverage as well as social media.

Francis added that he was especially remembering `'the weakest and the neediest" and praying that all of humanity be guided along `'the paths of justice, love and peace."

In another departure from Easter tradition, Francis won't be heading for some post-holiday relaxation at the Vatican's summer palace in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills southeast of Rome. That retreat is already occupied by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who went there in the last hours of his papacy on Feb. 28. Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to resign from the position, and eventually is to move back to the Vatican, after a convent there is readied for him.

Francis so far has declined to move into Benedict's former apartment in the Apostolic Palace, into the rooms whose studio overlooks St. Peter's Square. He is still in the Vatican hotel where earlier this month he was staying along with other cardinals participating in the secret conclave to choose Benedict's successor.

While Francis has just begun to make his mark on the church, it is plain he has little desire to embrace much of the pomp customarily associated with the office.

HuffingtonPost