A Note to Professor Yemi Osinbajo By Pius Adesanmi.

Now that a world-acclaimed Professor of Law is running the show in the land, you'd expect him to use this window to inject some strange notions into the system.

Strange notions such as actions and consequences, especially legal consequences a.k.a the sort of legal consequences that can land you in jail after due process.

Professor Osinbajo has been presiding over the distribution of tranches of the Paris Club Refund. As I said yesterday, the elephant is dead and all kinds of carnivorous state governors are out with glittering carving knives of various shapes and sizes.

Democracy, even a kwashiokored, emaciated pretext to democracy such as obtains in Nigeria, can be so inconvenient. Otherwise, it should even be a crime to give another tranche of the Paris Club Refund to ANY state Governor in this country, given their antecedents with earlier tranches.

What ought to be happening is a very busy EFCC and Federal Attorney-General preparing dossiers against all these current Governors so that they can all be arrested and made to face charges of criminal diversion of the Paris Club Refunds as soon as their term is over and they lose immunity.

None of them hasn't stolen from the funds. The difference is in the scale and manner of the stealing. The polished ones among them have stolen the funds with some finesse; the ponmo and eja shawa ones among them have stolen it with palm oil stains all over their chest. You cannot really argue with your background.
But I was talking about consequences and what Osinbajo ought to be doing by now. That part of my reflection has nothing to do with the Governors. Academic curiosity should make Professor Osinbajo want to know and understand how we got into a situation of Paris and London Club Refunds in the first instance.
He ought to be interested in the history and sinews of criminal negligence, corruption, and racketeering that led to the over-deductions in the first place. You dig and dig and dig and they say the problem started with the Debt Management Office and moved along the paths of Nigerian corruption to CBN and other places.
People were running the system in all those places. To this day, not a single explanation has been given to Nigerian citizens. I know that not many citizens understand that they are in fact owed explanations so not too many of them are asking for explanations.

I am.

I am also asking Professor Osinbajo: how do you live with a system that is never curious about criminality or really interested in finding the political will to prosecute it? Sir, how do you wake up every morning, look in the mirror, and not feel uncomfortable that the man looking back at you has not deemed it necessary to begin a process to make somebody or some people accountable for the over-deductions that got us here in the first place?

Nnamdi Kanu calls Nigeria a Zoo. Senator Shehu Sani and Mrs. Aisha Buhari are in agreement that Nigeria is metaphorically littered with lions, hyenas, and weaker animals. President Buhari also once metaphorically thought that there may be dogs and baboons all over the place.

Professor Osinbajo, your folks in the elite are wrong about all these animals they are throwing around. There are actions and consequences in the animal kingdom. In a pride of lions, among hyenas, baboons, meerkats, zebras, etc, there are always consequences if your actions are deleterious to the common interest of the group. Depending on the nature of the animals in question, you could get banished or killed for endangering the collective good and interest.

In essence, Professor Osinbajo, the only place where there are actions and consequences in Nigeria is among the residents of the Yankari Game Reserve.

You will recall that your boss promised to transfer the elementary values of the Yankari Game Reserve to governance so that we, the human owners of the animals in that park, can at least learn something. Then people padded his first budget. He promised consequences and shuffled them around in offices in Abuja.
To date, nobody has been punished for budget padding.

When you started distributing the Paris Club Funds, I said to myself, now, this is a Professor of Law. He is going to understand that things need to be done beyond mere distribution and sending Kemi Adeosun to howl for greater accountability. We need to understand how the over-deductions happened. People need to be investigated and punished.

Above all, the Nigerian citizen needs full explanations in a detailed national press conference by the concerned authorities. Professor Osinbajo, unlike majority of the ignorant and half-illiterate people in government, I am sure you fully understand that explaining these things to the Nigerian citizen is not a privilege you are bestowing on him and her?

It is your duty to explain.

It is their right to be explained to.
Pius Adesanmi 

On Biafra and Nnamdi Kanu by Eddie Iroh

Before glib thinkers and talkers start running loose, let me state my case. I was carrying ON ABURI WE STAND placards in Enugu in 1967 before today's Children of Biafra were born. Gowon unilaterally abrogated the Aburi Accord and launched his famous "Police Action". That led to full blown civil war.

We fought gallantly and lost. For me and most of my generation that was the end of the struggle. But here is where I vigorously disagree with the glib talkers. I fully concede to the Children of Biafra their right to make their own case and validate their own existence as they deem necessary out of their own perception and conviction. Nnamdi Kanu has risen to the challenge of his own generation.

Glibly calling him names -- idiot, mad man, etc etc - is an abysmally puerile resort of the intellectual scoundrel. Insult has never been a substitute for logical argument and indeed says more about the insulter than the insulted. Make your own case and leave us to judge and mutter our insults to whom deserves it.

In offering the surrender of Biafra in January 1970, the mortal General Philip Effiong also offered General Olusegun Obasanjo this immortal advice: TREAT THE SURRENDERING BIAFRANS WELL OR RISK THEIR CHILDREN RISING AGAIN. Before you deride Kanu, it is the duty of every thinking Igbo to determine for him or herself whether Effiong's advice was heeded.

Finally those who are unwilling to concede to Kanu and his generation their right to validate their own existence should stop to consider that their agitation for IPOB has put RESTRUCTURING front and centre of national debate.

From the rigid stand of NOT NEGOTIABLE nearly every group interest and individuals are talking about Restructuring. Before Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB upped the ante with their agitation the only voices were Atiku and Soyinka. Nigeria put an iconic hero's crown on Kanu by putting him in Kuje prison, with echoes of Mandela ringing in the ears of his supporters. A people have no greater hero than a political prisoner.

In other words, it is the FGN that made Kanu the overnight legend he has become in a very short time in his young life. And if and when Restructuring comes to be, I can wager that elements of the Aburi Accord will be part of it.

And that, fellow country men and women, would be a posthumous victory for General Emeka Ojukwu if not for Nnamdi Kanu.

So long a letter!
Eddie Iroh 

Slavery, Exploitation and Christianity (inspired by the works of Walter Rodney and Eric Williams) by Femi Owolade

John Hawkins, an Englishman, made three trips to West Africa in the 1560s, and stole Africans whom he sold to the Spanish in America. On returning to England after the first trip, his profit was so handsome that Queen Elizabeth (the first Queen Elizabeth) became interested in directly participating in his next venture: and she provided for that purpose a ship named ‘the Jesus’. Hawkins left with ‘the Jesus’ to steal some more Africans, and he returned to England with such dividends that Queen Elizabeth made him a knight. Hawkins chose as his coat of arms the representation of an African in chains.

The aforesaid, taking place in the 16th century, was to become the official commencement of the transatlantic slave trade, the European trade in African slaves that would go on to build the modern western world at the expense of west Africans. In subsequent centuries, the exploitation of Africa and African labour continued to be a source for the accumulation of capital to be reinvested in Western Europe; with the African contribution extending to European sectors such as shipping, insurance, the formation of companies, technology and the manufacture of machinery. While the Portuguese in Europe depended heavily on dye brought from Africa; the French fish industry was revived by the opening up of markets in the French slave plantation. Then there was the export from Africa, enriching many merchants in London’s Mincing Lane, ad providing the raw material for industries in England, France, Germany and North America- producing items ranging from knife handlers to piano keys.

Africa’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade also speed up technological development in Europe. The evolution of European shipbuilding, an important aspect of technological development in European, from the 16th century right up to the 19th century was a logical consequence of their monopoly of sea commerce in that period. During that time, the Europeans initially borrowed a great deal of nautical instrumentation from the North Africans, while the latter made no further advances. Where the original European advantage was not sufficient to assure supremacy, they deliberately undermined other people’s efforts. The Indian navy, for instance, suffered from the rigid enforcement of the English Navigation Laws.

The industrial revolution, an event that instigated the birth of capitalism to the benefit of Britain and Europe, equally benefited from the transatlantic trade. The African trade led to the rise of sea-port towns such as Bristol, Liverpool, Nantes, Bordeaux and Seville. In England, Lancashire became the first centre of the industrial revolution, and the economic advance in Lancashire depended first of all on the growth of the port of Liverpool through slave trading.

Us Africans often admire and try to emulate the banking sector in the Western world- especially in countries like Britain and the USA, not knowing that the trade of African slaves helped to build it. Outstanding examples are provided in the persons of David and Alexander Barclay, who were engaging in slave trade in 1756, later using the loot to set up Barclays’ Bank. The same is to be seen in the case of Lloyds- from being a small London Coffee house to being one of the world’s largest banking and insurance houses, after dipping into profits from slave trade and slavery.

The New World (America) would have been impossible to open and be used as a constant generator of wealth, had it not been for African labour. American economic development up to mid-19th century rested squarely on foreign commerce, of which slavery was a pivot. In the 1830s, slave-grown cotton accounted for about half the value of all exports from the United States of America. In the case of the American colonies of the 18th century, it can again be observed that Africa contributed in a variety of ways – one thing leading to another. In New England, the slave trade supplied cargo for the colony’s merchant marine, stimulated the growth of their ship building industry, while also building up their towns & cities. In addition, it was the slave trade which laid the foundation for the emancipation of American colonies from British rule. Profits from the slave trade went directly into developing early political parties in the United states. More so, till today, the struggles for American emancipation (from British rule) and the abolition of slavery (in the 1860s) continue to play an indirect, albeit immense, role in America’s politics.

In all of this, one must wonder what Africa and Africans gained from the trade. Some may say western enlightenment, while others will say Christianity, but certainly no material or mental benefit. Concerning the theological benefit, the typical African Christian will not hesitate to ignore the fact that this great suffering, on his race, which still exists till date, began when a ship named ‘the Jesus’ came to steal Africans, transporting them through the Atlantic, to work, in perpetual state of destitute, for the benefits of Europeans. How can any African Christian explain the epic hypocrisy of the Christian church, in participating fully in the maintenance of slavery (including modern slavery?), while at the same time talk about saving souls. How can an African Christian turn a blind eye to the glaring fact that many ships that came were blessed by key Christian figures, such as the Pope, before departing the western world. He will quote bible verses to justify this ignorance, and proudly affirm that material or mental gain is trivial, when compared with spiritual fulfillment. He may or may not realize how contradictory he is, to hold this position, while also going to church every Sunday to pray to God for material wealth - the sort of wealth his enslaved ancestors helped to create for the white man. He won’t even realize that in Europe, the continent that enslaved and brought the religion to him, Christianity has already been sidestepped and replaced with modernity.

FRAUD! 2017/2018 CURRENT NATIONAL COMMON ENTRANCE EXAMINATION CUT OFF MARKS OF EACH STATE IN NIGERIA.

*Male/Female*
Abia 65 65
Adamawa 40 40
Akwa-Ibom 63 63
Anambra 66 66
Bauchi 18 18
Benue 60 60
Borno 33 33
Cross-Rivers 54 54
Delta 65 65
Edo 63 63
Enugu. 65 65
Imo 66 66
Jigawa 37 37
Kaduna 52 52
Kano 34 34
Katsina 37 37
Kebbi 35 35
Kogi 61 61
Kwara 62 62
Lagos 65 65
Niger 49 49
Ogun 65 65
Ondo 64 system
Osun 64 64
Oyo 63 63
Plateau 52 52
Rivers 62 62
Sokoto 15 7
Taraba 19 19
Yobe 20 20
FCT-Abuja 57 57
Bayelsa 51 51
Ebonyi 60 60
Ekiti 62 62
Gombe 37 37
Nassarawa 42 42
Zamfara 14 12

This is fraud. Even if we are created in the image and likeness of God, we must be allowed to grow and develop at our own pace. Anything short of this, is not acceptable. In the spirit of fairness and equality, we must restructure Nigeria.

On Nigeria by Pius Adesanmi

Siren blaring indiscriminately. A three-vehicle convoy. Two white police Hilux Pickups are escorting a black Nissan Pathfinder. Gun - totting policemen in both escort vehicles. Three policemen in each escort vehicle.
I finally get to see the occupant of the black Nissan Pathfinder. A young Oyinbo girl, possibly a graduate researcher. It means that her Nigerian host organization is taking no chances. They have arranged police protection for her in a private arrangement.

Police as private contractor : I hear this is where the money is for the IG and the top police brass. However, six policemen protecting one person means that citizens are not protected. At this very moment, there are thousands of policemen in private arrangements all over this country.

Maybe Bob Marley was right. Maybe total destruction is the only solution. Maybe this is beyond restructuring. Maybe we should consider it a tear down. A tear down is when you buy a building, tear it down completely, and rebuild it from scratch.

I have never seen so much wickedness committed against oneself. Nigeria is so unjust. Nigeria is so unfair. Who leaves an entire citizenry unprotected? Who is protecting you right now?

The best trained policemen are in private homes and guest chalets of politicians; they are in convoys escorting their wives and concubines; they are in convoys, contracted out to individuals in private arrangements.

They then flog and harass you off the road instead of protecting you.
Total destruction is the only solution...
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WHY THE CHURCH IS EVOLVING AWAY FROM THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST….

We live in the AGE OF SELF. And SELF IS KING.
Seemingly, everything in the world today is responding and gravitating towards the GOD OF SELF.

Unfortunately, unscrupulous men at the helm of affairs in the church are also dragging the church down this ignoble path – the path that loves SELF and promotes SELF.

 The contrast between ‘what the church ought to be’ and ‘what she is becoming’ is truly alarming. And it is hinged on a simple spiritual truth – the Gospel of Christ is UNRELENTING AND UNYIELDING in its opposition to SELF, and to everything that SELF represents. For at the centre of the Gospel of Christ is the CROSS OF CHRIST. And the function of the cross is to CROSS OUT SELF.
Jesus Himself put the CROSS at the centre, making it an ABSOLUTE CONDITION FOR FOLLOWING HIM. “And he said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himSELF, AND TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23). On another occasion, He reiterated the same point in this stark manner, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, CANNOT BE MY DISCIPLE” (Luke 14:23). It is as critical as that.

Therefore, every man MUST choose to either follow the Gospel of Christ, or follow SELF – there is no middle course. This reality faces all men in the world, just as it faces all men in the church. And in making this choice, there is no doubt about where mankind prefers to pitch its tent. This should not come as a surprise to us, because the Bible has already prophesied that in the Last Days men will be LOVERS OF SELF (2 Timothy 3:1-2).

This is why the church system of today is becoming more and more focussed on satisfying and gratifying the SELF of her members. You hear words like:
“God will make YOU happy!”
“God will make YOU rich!”
 “God will put YOU ahead of everybody else!”
 “God will kill all the enemies that stand in the way of YOUR breakthrough!”
“Don’t worry, God has forgiven all YOUR sins – even before you commit them!” etc. 

Thus, church has become all about YOU!!!!

In this era, barely would you see churches that constantly affirm THE REALITY OF THE CROSS - as almost every single book of the New Testament does. That is, the suffering that the cross imposes on a believer. The pain of the cross. The shame of the cross. The separation of the cross. The loss that the cross precipitates and so on. All these crucial, integral elements of the Christian faith have been largely slaughtered on the altar of SELF – and, in exchange, we now have a ‘do-as-YOU-like’ Gospel of convenience. A ‘talk-as-YOU-like’ Gospel. A ‘dress-as-YOU-like’ Gospel.

In these days, believers no longer want to die in order to live as Jesus Christ prescribes in John12:24-25, Matthew 10:39, and similar passages. Today, believers want to live so that they will not have to die. That’s the irony of the Christian faith in the days we live in.

In the midst of all this unfolding spiritual disaster, anyman that genuinely wants to follow Jesus Christ would really need to RADICALLY turn his back on the church system of today, for it is designed to make believers lukewarm. Such a man must desire an earnest return to Jesus Christ Himself. A return to the cross. A return to the lonely, narrow path that Jesus told us would eventually lead us to life (Matthew 7:14).

In its raw form, this message will NOT resonate in the church today. For the Bible tells us that in the Last Days, many will NOT want to endure sound doctrines. Rather, 2 Timothy 3:3-4 helps us to understand that ‘AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS’ they’ll look for preachers that will tell them what THEY want to hear. SELF, SELF, SELF again. This strange spirit of SELF is dulling the ears of believers, preventing them from hearing the last warning before the curtain falls – the gentle knock of Jesus on the door of the hearts of all that still have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches (Revelation 3:20).

Friends, please DON’T BLEND IN! Stand out! Stand with Christ. For the time is getting shorter daily. And His heart of love awaits every pilgrim that TRULY wants to get back Home safely.

Thanks for reading. God bless you.

SONSHIP... The Goal! by Rexkennedy Saltlove

"But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all" - Galatians 4:1
The Christian faith is the most interesting and challenging in man-to-God, God-to-man relationship. It evolves and grows.

Accepting Jesus Christ as your saviour and lord does not AUTOMATICALLY, confer on any Christian the sonship status. It ONLY gives you the Power to become the child of God. - John 1:12 and this the Spirit of God can testify to:
Romans 8:16
Children have their nuances, and God expect you to exhibit them, but does not want you to remain there.
"When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things." 1 Cor.13:11
Some characteristics of childishness are:
"Desire the 'milk' (ABC) of God's word" - 1 Peter 2:2
"Being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrines" - Eph.4:14
"Unskilled in biblical understanding and interpretations" - Heb. 5:13
As long as we remain in this states we can never enjoy the full benefits of Christian relationship in Christ Jesus. God wants us to grow up and be sons.
Natures of Sons:

"Though he was a son, he learnt obedience by the things he suffered" Heb. 5:8
"We are 'co-heirs' or 'joint-heirs' by our suffering with him - Romans 8:17

"Sons are given" - Isaiah 9:6. The reason is because they are gotten through processes of "sufferings". They are not produce by having ability to quote biblical verses or how long I have being a Christian stuff.
They are given or presented (shown) to the world for passing through the process y.
"THIS IS my beloved son" Matthew 3:17; 17:5
Sons are entrusted with Governance ability to enforce God's will on earth.
"The government shall be upon his shoulders" Isaiah 9:6
Sons have COMMANDING powers:
"IF you are the son of God, COMMAND..." Matt.4:3; Luke 4:3
Sons don't tempt fate in God's house and presence:
"IF you are the son of God, jump down from here" - Matt. 4:5-7
Sons do not look for shortcut to fame, glory, wealth and popularity:
"IF you are the son of God, bow and I will give you all the glory of the world" - Matthew 4:8-9
In summary, sons don't take suggestions and instructions from the enemy's camp or mouth.
Sons are produced through sufferings and "ye have not yet resisted temptation (sin) to the shedding of blood"
Extract from my upcoming book. SON-SHIP INHERITANCE.

On Biafra by Pere Omo'Lolu Omo Osifila

Writing and speaking for Biafra has pitched me against many of my friends here. But I want to ask what other option do you offer? If I have to choose between Biafra and Nigeria, I choose Biafra.What has Nigeria offered if not every day sorrow tears and blood,Poverty,drama,backwardness etc.

It will take a damaged psyche and a damaged sense of personal self worth to live in Nigeria and be satisfied with the situation of things.

It will take a crushed and defeated spirit or maybe a mentally unstable mind to believe that Nigeria as it is might be the best option for us.

We hope for a better day for ourselves and our children.Nigeria has proven that we can only keep Merry go rounding. Are we moving forward? We are only moving in circles! Biafra seems to be a ray of light in a very end of the tunnel where the light at the tunnel itself fails.

Biafra offers all the opportunity to once again get back our voices and speak.Biafra offers us the chance to start again afresh.The foundation of Nigeria is faulty.Even the Bible says if the foundation be destroyed good men become impotent and powerless. You may have great talents and great ideas and great visions but because the foundations of the Nigerian nation is faulty, your efforts is wasted and truncated.

Our youth are strong and intelligent but Nigeria incapacitates us.We are known and respected world over for individual feats and achievements but the nation is a joke and a laughing stock.

Biafra offers the Arewa nation a fresh start. See the Arewa people.Their elite lord it over them.Their elite class is rich and affluent but majority of the people are beggars.

Biafra offers the Odua people a fresh start.Odua people are well educated and intelligent. But Nigeria make a mockery of their potentials.

Biafra offers Igbo people salvation and life.Nigeria offers them death and nothing more. The enterprising nature of the Igbo man echoes loud over the heavens and the earth.Imagine how advanced these people would have been today if they gained independence 50 years ago?

Biafra represents hope for the common man. Only the elite class who profit from the illegal illegitimate entity called Nigeria would kick against such great potentials that Biafra offers and maybe their blind followers.
You hate Biafra because you don't understand what it truly stands for.

You say Biafra will fail because of this and that.These are mere assumptions. I say Nigeria is a failed state.It will take a gargantuan animal tendency to make Biafra fail.

You think Biafra stands for war.Biafra cannot cause a war except if Nigeria drags Biafra into a war.Biafra stands for hope. Biafra stands for freedom. Biafra stands for salvation of the common man.