France is to end its military cooperation with Niger and withdraw its 1,500 troops tasked with battling Islamist rebels in the Sahel region following a July coup in the West African country, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

Macron said the troops would pull out by the end of the year, a move that deals a hammer blow to France's counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel and France's influence in the region.

Nonetheless, Macron said France, the former colonial power in Niger, would "not be held hostage by the putchists" who he has refused to recognise as the legitimate authority in the country.

"We will consult with the putschists because we want things to happen calmly," Macron said in an interview with France's TF1 and France 2 television stations.

France's ambassador was also being pulled out and would arrive back in the country in the next few hours, Macron added.

French influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years, just as popular vitriol has grown. Its forces have been kicked out of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso since coups in those countries, reducing its role in a region-wide fight against deadly Islamist insurgencies.

Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of France and the United States, which have used it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa's wider Sahel region.

France's military base in Niger's capital, Niamey, had become the epicentre of anti-French protests since the July 26 coup.

Groups have regularly gathered on the street outside to call for the exit of troops stationed in the capital. On one Saturday this month, tens of thousands rallied against France, slitting the throat of a goat dressed in French colours and carrying coffins draped in French flags.

At the same event, some people carried pro-Russian signs.

Macron said he still regarded democratically elected President Mohammed Bazoum, currently held prisoner by the coup leaders, as the country's legitimate leader and had informed him of his decision.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia's air attack on Odesa injures one, damages infrastructure - Ukraine official

One woman was injured and port infrastructure was damaged in Russia's overnight missile and drone attack, Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, said early on Monday.

A fire broke out in a non-residential high-rise in the city of Odesa, the administrative centre of the Odesa region, as a result of the attack, but was promptly extinguished, Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not independently verify the report. The scale of the attack and the full extent of the damage were not immediately known.

** Russia dodges G7 price cap sanctions on most of its oil exports, Financial Times reports

Russian crude oil supplies increased 50% this spring despite the G7 countries imposing sanctions due to war in Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Sunday citing data from analytics company Kpler.

The European Union, G7 countries and Australia introduced a price cap of $60 a barrel on Russian oil in last December, aiming to curb Russia's ability to finance the conflict in Ukraine.

However, Russian oil revenues are likely to increase due to constant increases in crude prices and a reduction in the discount on its own oil, the FT report said, citing Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) estimates.

Almost three-quarters of all the seaborne Russian crude flows travelled without western insurance in August, according to an analysis of shipping and insurance records by the Financial Times.

Russia cut its seaborne diesel and gasoil exports by nearly 30% to about 1.7 million metric tons in the first 20 days of September from the same time in August. Russia's temporary ban on exports of gasoline and diesel to most countries, announced last week, was expected to further tighten supplies.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Conflict in Ukraine to last until 2035 – ex-Zelensky aide

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine could continue for more than a decade, Aleksey Arestovich, a former adviser to President Vladimir Zelensky, has said, predicting that the two neighbors are unlikely to resolve their differences in the near future.

“That will last until 2035, that’s for sure,” he said in an interview on September 17, published on his YouTube channel. According to Arestovich, Russia is “seeking a new form of empire,” which will never come into existence without Ukraine.

The former presidential aide then doubled down on his forecast, saying that the “acute phase of the standoff will continue until 2035.” However, he argued that the standoff does not have to be a military one. The two sides might reach a ceasefire or end the hostilities altogether, but the conflict would then continue “on diplomatic, intelligence, economic, and information fronts.”

Ukraine has to get used to living in a situation of constant military threat and maintain an “advanced alert status,” Arestovich said, suggesting that Kiev should follow Israel’s example if it wants to adapt to such circumstances. “A war can break out or a border incident might [happen]”at any moment, even after the current fighting ends.

Arestovich also noted that he first made such a forecast in April 2022, just two months into the conflict. His words shocked people at that time, he added.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that seven of the world’s leading developed economies, known as the G7, believe the Russia-Ukraine conflict could extend for another six to seven years. The timeline has been stretched due to the apparent lack of progress in Ukraine's counteroffensive, the news agency reported, citing multiple officials.

One such official told Bloomberg that Kiev is likely to struggle with insufficient Western arms supplies and rising personnel losses. Regardless of such forecasts, Ukraine and its Western backers still oppose the idea of negotiations with Russia, and have rejected any resolution to the conflict that involves Ukraine ceding territory that it claims as its own, the article added.

Moscow has repeatedly said it is ready for peace talks, but insisted that they must take into account Russia’s interests and “the reality on the ground,” which saw four former Ukrainian territories join Russia following a series of referendums in 2022.

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session that Russia was willing to engage in peace negotiations, but would not consider any ceasefire proposals, since it has already been “deceived” before.

** Russia says its air defenses shot down Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter in DPR

Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter in the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Air defense systems near the Kleshcheyevka settlement in the Donetsk People's Republic shot down a Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 helicopter," the ministry said.

Also, three HARM anti-radar missiles were intercepted, along with eight HIMARS rockets. In other events, 15 unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the areas of Gorlovka and Stepnoye in the Donetsk People's Republic; Kuzemovka in the Lugansk People's Republic, Samoilovka; Chervonogorka, Lyubimovka and Ocheretovatoye in the Zaporozhye Region; and Kazachy Lagerya in the Kherson Region.

Reuters/RT/Tass

The United States dragged Ukraine into an armed conflict with Russia promising it accelerated entry into NATO as a “bonus” before changing the goal posts by delaying Kiev’s entry into the military alliance.

People who have no legal responsibility are advocating for the country's immediate entry into NATO.

For example Tom Malinowski, a former congressman, believes that Ukraine should have been included in the alliance yesterday without any additional conditions.

Malinowski understands very well the prospects of a war with Russia, but “democratic Ukraine” is much more important to him.

However, Malinowski's rhetoric is not completely clear - either his Polish roots boil his blood or he just wants to become famous.

Be that as it may, NATO is trying not to listen to such voices.

Washington and Brussels are completely satisfied with the current situation - on the very edge of Eastern Europe, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers are dying and the rest are just throwing wood into the conflict so that it does not stop.

And the latest NATO “meeting” in Vilnius once again confirmed this.

In the final document, everything is done on purpose without specifics - “partners will provide more defense equipment, increase and accelerate intelligence sharing, strengthen support for defence against cyber threats and other challenges, increase training programmes and military exercises as well as to develop Ukraine’s industrial base.”

The summit in the Baltics could not have been held at a better time- Zelensky now “vitally needs” protection from cyber threats, military exercises and updated intelligence.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces cannot break through the first line of defence in Zaporozhye and NATO members are playing with abstract categories.

In this regard Zelensky’s hysteria in Vilnius is completely justified.

Just last year, Kiev could potentially count on at least a tactical defeat of Russia like what happened in the Kharkov retreat.

The events of the summer of 2023 say the opposite - Ukraine is not able to turn the tide of the conflict on its own.

This requires a lot of time to retrain personnel and form new strike groups or direct NATO intervention.

Ukraine, shot far and wide by Russian missiles will not wait for either the first or the second option.

Zelensky was made to understand this quite clearly in Vilnius after which he called the final communiqué a “technical signal.”

That's where we parted ways.

The alliance now includes 31 countries.

Small players such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are now hypothetically ready to approve Ukraine's membership in NATO.

Purely hypothetically we repeat. In any scenario of a conflict at the global level, the Baltics will be in trouble - so why not play the role of a caring neighbour of Ukraine.

The Poles can still present themselves as brothers forever.

They are still trying in every possible way to force Biden to agree to Ukraine’s early entry into the alliance.

Radoslaw Vogel, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish Parliament said: “We want to start giving our American partners the idea that Ukraine as a NATO member is something inevitable in the future.”

Actually that’s all - other states in a sober state will never approve the emergence of a new participant for whom they will have to bear collective responsibility.

At least until the Russian special operation is completed.

At the same time Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan confused everyone when he said: “In the end, we stated at NATO very simply: the future of Ukraine is in NATO.

“This is non-negotiable. This is what was agreed upon."

Indeed, the doors of the alliance are open to Kyiv. There's just one catch: you have to defeat Russia.

It is interesting that until February last year such conditions did not exist in NATO - Ukraine would sooner or later be accepted into the alliance.

Only Russia's preventive measures have forever placed the enemy as a hostage to NATO.

If Washington now approves Ukraine’s entry into the military bloc other players will immediately fall out.

Will Hungary or Türkiye wait for a nuclear war with Russia? The question is rhetorical.

In Kyiv they are raving about the German option of joining a military alliance.

We are talking about 1955 when the Federal Republic of Germany was admitted into NATO in defiance of the demand “to resolve the territorial dispute.”

Let us remember that at that time there was also the socialist GDR created from the Soviet zone of occupation of Germany.

Formally Germany was divided into two parts. But this in no way prevented Washington from including the western part in the military alliance.

Following the events at Vilnius 2023 Ukraine did not get a signal of the “German scenario” and now there is not even talk about the Israeli case.

The Americans together with the leading powers could provide Ukraine with a significant military-technological advantage over its enemy.

By analogy with how Israel is supplied now.

The most balanced point of view is conveyed by The National Interest, which proves the fadedness of attempts to admit Ukraine to NATO.

The performance has become a chronic waste of time, which could be spent trying to resolve the conflict on the diplomatic front.

• Here are 10 popular jobs with skills most replicable by AI, according to ChatGPT itself.
• The jobs site Indeed analyzed GPT-4's ability to perform skills required for these common jobs.
• Though GPT-4 is able to perform some skills, others — like driving a car — still require a human touch.

In a new report, the jobs site Indeed's economic research team analyzed over 55 million job postings published between August 2022 and July 2023 and identified more than 2,600 skills employers were seeking.

The researchers then studied how well the GPT-4 version of the generative-AI tool ChatGPT could perform these skills. Their methodology included asking the chatbot itself what it was capable of — and then conducting an extensive human check of GPT's answers. Cory Stahle, an Indeed economist, told Insider the expertise of both humans and AI was incorporated. 

"A lot of the research that has been done on this subject starts with the expert judgment and ends there," Stahle said. "But in this one, we used the generative AI tools, and then we used that human element and the expert judgment afterward to just make sure that things made sense."

The researchers concluded that every job on Indeed's platform had at least some exposure to generative AI. Roughly two-thirds of jobs were at least moderately exposed, the researchers found, meaning ChatGPT could perform at least half of the skills listed in the job posting. About 20% of jobs were highly exposed — meaning the AI could perform at least 80% of the skills.

Particularly in the most highly exposed jobs, workers could be at risk. In July, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that some jobs were "definitely going to go away" because of the expansion of generative AI.

But the major catch is that while GPT can perform at least some of the skills required for these jobs, like business operation and language, others still require a human touch, such as driving a car and hospitality.

In addition, Stahle said there were some limitations to the study that affected how the researchers interpreted their findings for all the roles analyzed. The main takeaway: Some theoretical AI skills don't translate well when it comes to actually doing a job.

"Ultimately ChatGPT says it can do a fair amount of skills OK," he said. "But even though it says it can do well at communicating, it's not necessarily going to do well at communicating if it's referring to communication at somebody's doorstep."

Which jobs were most and least at risk of being affected by AI? The Indeed researchers looked at the 25 most common jobs posted on Indeed over the period — which accounted for 22% of the platform's total job postings — and compiled the percentage of skills for each role that, per their analysis, ChatGPT could perform at excellent, good, fair, and poor levels.

The good news for workers: "Jobs with the most postings tend to be the least exposed," Stahle said.

The bad news: The report found ChatGPT could already perform many of the job skills in these roles — with room for improvement down the road.

Among the 25 most common jobs, here are the 10 roles that were most exposed to generative AI, per Indeed.

Skills most at risk: The report found ChatGPT to be good or excellent at roughly half of the job skills associated with being a delivery driver, such as business operation, communication, math, and language. Business operation encompasses skills related to operating a business, including business development and time management.  The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 40% of the skills, the major one being vehicle operation, which was mentioned in over 75% of analyzed postings."When you look at the skills within delivery driver, it was more of those in-person, the actual driving of the truck or vehicle type skills, that were poor," Indeed's Stahle said. "Whereas a lot of the good or excellent would come down to more of the communication skills, the soft skills that would be required for a delivery driver."In the future, however, advancements like drone delivery and autonomous vehicles combined with AI could put delivery drivers' jobs at risk.

Skills most at risk: The report found ChatGPT to be good or excellent at roughly half of the job skills associated with being a delivery driver, such as business operation, communication, math, and language. Business operation encompasses skills related to operating a business, including business development and time management.  The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 40% of the skills, the major one being vehicle operation, which was mentioned in over 75% of analyzed postings."When you look at the skills within delivery driver, it was more of those in-person, the actual driving of the truck or vehicle type skills, that were poor," Indeed's Stahle said. "Whereas a lot of the good or excellent would come down to more of the communication skills, the soft skills that would be required for a delivery driver."In the future, however, advancements like drone delivery and autonomous vehicles combined with AI could put delivery drivers' jobs at risk.

Skills most at risk: The report found ChatGPT to be good or excellent at roughly half of the job skills associated with being a cashier, such as business operation, language, and communication. Business operation was the most commonly sought skill, mentioned in about 24% of job postings.The catch: Generative AI is poor at about 25% of the other skills measured, the major one being hospitality. It was only fair at retail skills, which are found in 65% of retail job postings. "Essentially, GenAI says it can help with retail strategy, but cannot perform the person-person skills necessary for retail success," the Indeed report said.Some cashier jobs have already been automated through the introduction of self-checkout machines.

Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the total skills associated with being a medical assistant, including business operation, technology, language, and communication. The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 40% of the skills, the major one being healthcare and caregiving. This was the most common skill sought in medical-assistant job postings — mentioned in about 36% of them. "The overall finding of this research was that ChatGPT and Gen AI tools can do a lot of different things fairly well, but they're not necessarily great at everything," Indeed's Stahle said. "And especially when it comes down to human skills, that's something that ChatGPT and Gen AI tools are not as good at."AI tools could threaten some administrative jobs in the healthcare field in the future. Doctors are already using AI to help them document conversations with patients and simplify their paperwork.

Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the skills associated with being a shift leader, including business operation, finance, and language. The most common skill sought was business operation, mentioned in about 15% of shift-leader job postings.The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 25% of the job skills, the major one being food and beverage skills. It's only fair at leadership. In jobs that value leadership abilities, humans could continue to retain an edge over AI."High-demand roles that see less exposure to GenAI than the average job on Indeed tend to require specific skills such as 'vehicle operation,' 'healthcare and caregiving,' 'food and beverage,' and 'leadership,'" said Indeed's Stahle. "GenAI's performance in these skills is rated as only 'poor' or 'fair.'"

Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly half of the skills associated with being a technician, including technology, business operation, communication, and language. The most common skill sought in technician job postings was technology, mentioned in about 21% of job postings.The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 33% of the job skills, the major one being health and caregiving. There are a variety of technician jobs, but per Indeed, those roles typically involve inspecting and troubleshooting equipment, tasks AI may be able to help with in the years ahead. But AI won't impact every type of technician role in the same way, and per Indeed's analysis, it clearly has limitations.

Skills most at risk: Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly 60% of the skills associated with being a customer-service representative, including business operation, technology, and language. The most common skill sought was business operation, mentioned in about 29% of customer-service-representative job postings.Many customer-service jobs can be done remotely, and the researchers found that ChatGPT tended to score well for positions that are often associated with remote work. "The higher the likelihood that a job can be done remotely, the greater its potential exposure is to GenAI-driven change," the report said. The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 25% of the job skills, the major one being hospitality, and was only fair at the retail skill. Even if more companies roll out customer-service chatbots, they will likely still need human representatives to handle more complicated issues.

Skills most at risk: Among the common jobs analyzed, administrative assistant was the most exposed role to generative AI. Per the report, ChatGPT is good or excellent at roughly 90% of the skills associated with being an administrative assistant, including business operation, technology, communication, finance, and language. The most common skill sought was business operation, mentioned in about 34% of administrative-assistant job postings."Among administrative assistant roles with the highest exposure to GenAI in the high-demand category, we observe a dominance of 'business operations' and 'technology' skills, where GenAI performs well with a rating of 'good,'" Stahle said. "Additionally, these roles require 'communication skills,' 'finance skills,' and 'language skills,' in which GenAI excels, performing at an 'excellent' level."The catch: Generative AI is poor at roughly 5% of the job skills. Regardless of how many skills generative AI like ChatGPT develop, many people will continue to place their trust in humans — and perhaps for good reason.

Business Insider

State chapters and affiliate unions of the Nigeria Labour Congress are already gearing up for a possible declaration of a nationwide strike following the expiration of a 21-day ultimatum given the Federal Government to provide palliatives to cushion the pains associated with the recent fuel subsidy removal.

The organised labour had earlier embarked on a two-day warning strike to press home its demands.

After the warning strike, the NLC gave the government a 21-day ultimatum within which to meet its demands.

With the expiration of the ultimatum on Friday, NLC has scheduled an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council for Tuesday at noon.

The council’s next line of action is expected to be decided at the virtual meeting.

In a notice of the meeting dated September 22, 2023, the congress’ General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, told the Presidents, General Secretaries and Treasurers of its affiliates that “Your attendance (at the meeting) will be of utmost importance.”

Ahead of the meeting, however, state chapters of the NLC told our correspondent that they were ready to mobilise full participation if the NEC declared a strike on Tuesday.

As part of its last-minute moves to prevent a strike, the Federal Government may meet with labour leaders again this week.

“Yes, the government delegation will meet with them maybe on Monday. The idea is to ensure that we prevent the strike. The nation cannot afford a shutdown of its economy at this time,” a government source said.

Another source said: “The government has just increased the salaries of junior lecturers by 23.5 per cent. There is the need for an understanding,” the source said.

When contacted, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said, “I am not yet back, I am airborne now to London. No update yet.”

Ekiti

Ekiti State Chairman of the NLC, Kolapo Olatunde, told one of our correspondents that workers in the state would participate fully if the NEC resolved to declare a strike.

Olatunde said “NLC NEC’s decision supersedes any other decision. If the decision up there in NEC is that we should go on strike, we have no option.

“We will also come down and decide the State Executive Council level, but the decision of the NEC supersedes any other decision.

“If the NEC says we are going on strike, everybody will go on strike, that is the implication.”

Gombe

The situation is the same in Gombe State where the state Secretary of NLC, Ibrahim Fika, said the chapter would comply fully with the industrial action should the NEC order such.

Fika said, “We will comply 100 per cent by God’s grace. There is no doubt about that.

“It’s after the Tuesday meeting that we will know when to proceed, and whether the people will be given time to prepare but Gombe NLC is fully ready 100 per cent.”

Sokoto

A similar scenario is playing out in Sokoto State where the state chapter said it would join the strike whenever the national headquarters decides.

The state chairman, Abdullahi Jungle, confirmed this while speaking with one of our correspondents.

He said, “We are waiting for the decision of the national headquarters. Once a decision is taken on the strike, we will join.”

 Plateau

Also in Plateau State, members of the NLC vowed to comply if the union decides to go strike.

The state chairman, Eugene Manji, said, “We are a democratic union. Our NEC meeting scheduled for Tuesday is going to be via Zoom. So, if the majority decides that the union is going on strike, workers in Plateau State cannot disobey the decision of NEC but will comply.”

Benue

The matter is not different in Benue State where the chairman, Terungwa Igbe, said the chapter would comply with any directive from the national secretariat.

 “If it’s a national directive to go on strike, we will surely join,” he said.

Kano

Kano State is not different as the state chapter expressed its readiness to comply with any directive from the national headquarters.

The state chairman, Kabiru Inuwa, said, “The NEC may decide to go on strike and may decide not to go. But whatever decision is taken, the Kano State chapter will abide by it.

“So, we have to wait and see what will be the outcome of the meeting.”

Niger

The Niger State chapter also said it was ready to comply with any directive from the national leadership of the NLC.

The state chairman, Idrees Lafena, said, “We don’t have an option than to comply with the directive of our parent body. The Federal Government has been given enough time to rethink and retrace its steps but it is adamant. It is not finding a lasting solution and does not want to do the needful.

“The two-day warning strike which was hugely successful in Niger State and Nigeria at large was an opportunity for the Bola Tinubu administration to do serious thinking and retrace his steps. Nigerian workers can no longer bear the hardship when there is no termination point for the hardship. We don’t have an option.

“We will ensure that the Federal Government is compelled to do the right thing. Niger State will be shut down by the strike once we get the directive from our national leaders.”

Zamfara

The Zamfara State chapter of the NLC also said it was ready to embark on a strike action if the national body of the union gave a directive to that effect.

The state chairman, Sani Halliru, said, “We in Zamfara State are only waiting for the directive and I am assuring you that, as soon as we receive it, we will join the strike.

“We will shut down the state as soon as we are given the go-ahead to embark on strike action.

“I was part of the meeting and I came back on Friday. So, I see no reason why I should not join the strike if I receive a directive from the national body of our great union.”

Yobe

Workers in Yobe State have also expressed readiness to embark on strike if the national headquarters of the NLC calls for the action after its Tuesday meeting.

“We are ever ready to participate in the strike if the national body of NLC directs all states to do so.

“We will join the strike because all the issues at stake concern every worker in Nigeria, including you, journalists. We will comply with whatever decision is taken at the Tuesday meeting,” the state chairman of NLC, Mukhtar Tarbutu, said.

Rivers

The Rivers State chairman, Alex Agwanwor, said the state chapter would comply fully with the national directive in the event of a declaration of strike.

When our correspondent asked Agwanwor if the state chapter would comply fully if a strike was declared, he simply replied, “Yes.”

Bayelsa

The Bayelsa State chapter said it would mobilise its members to participate in any strike action declared by the national leadership of the body.

The state chairman, Simon Barnabas, said, “NLC anywhere is NLC, so we will not do anything different. That’s how other state councils will be part of the event.

“The strike is not targeted at the state government but the Federal Government. What we are doing is to attract the attention of President Bola Tinubu and the need for something to be done to get us out of this untold hardship meted out to us as a result of fuel subsidy removal.

“The only thing we see that he can do now is he can revamp our refineries to functional status so that the Naira will have value. Otherwise the one-one naira they think they want to give to people will not go anywhere.”

Akwa Ibom

Akwa Ibom State chairman of the NLC, Sunny James, said there was no way the chapter would shun the strike.

“There’s going to be an official meeting to determine that but if there is going to be a strike, there is no way we will not join. Are we not the state council of NLC?” he asked.

Adamawa

The Adamawa State chairman of NLC, Emmanuel Fashe, said, “If we are not comfortable with the system, we should give support to labour leaders so that whatever that is being decided, we as Nigerians will comply and give them all the necessary support.

“You can see people suffering but when you call them out to join forces, to demonstrate and cry out to the government, they will shy away from it. This unfortunately is the Nigerian reality for you as we speak today.

“Things are hard but even for people within the community to organise themselves to come out and cry against the repressive economic policies of government is very hard. Labour leaders don’t have separate markets, we all go to the same market and it is the support of the public that we require to be successful in our agitations for a responsive system.”

Kaduna

Kaduna NLC chairman, Ayuba Suleiman, said, “We are not outside the NLC. We shall be part of the NEC and every decision taken is binding on all state councils.”

Abia

The NLC in Abia State said its members would join the strike.

The state chairman, Pascal Nweke, said, “We are under them. If they decide to go on strike after Tuesday’s NEC meeting, the Abia State chapter will join them.”

Kebbi

Kebbi State chairman, Murtala Usman, said, “I am sure that no state chapter of NLC will refuse to join the strike if the decision is reached by the national headquarters of the union.

“We are the ones that called for the meeting and by the time NEC briefs us on the outcome, the decision will be taken and we shall abide by it.”

Taraba

Taraba State Chairman, Peter Jediel, said, “Yes, we are ready to join the strike but we are waiting for an official communication.

“I just returned from a meeting of the union where the issue of the strike was discussed and we are willing to comply with the directive if the national union sends us a notice of strike.

“We are expecting that notice between tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday and we will fully comply.”

Oyo

However, the Oyo State chapter said it would not pre-empt the outcome of the Tuesday meeting.

The state Chairman, Kayode Martins, said, “We have not heard from the national secretariat of the NLC so we can’t pre-empt them. Let’s see the outcome of the NEC meeting, then we will call our state meeting as well.”

Ondo

Ondo State secretary of the NLC, Akin Sunday, said, “I cannot say anything much about the strike because my chairman is preparing to go to Abuja for the NEC meeting. The decision of the NEC at the meeting would determine what would happen next.”

Katsina

Katsina State Chairman of the NLC, Hussaini Hamisu, said, “We should not jump the gun. The NEC of the union is meeting on Tuesday. We would rather wait for its decision on the strike. Let us await the decision of the NEC. “

Lagos

Chairman of the NLC in Lagos State, FunmI Sessi, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, also said the outcome of the meeting scheduled for Tuesday will determine if the congress in the state will join the strike.

“They have called us for a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, so it’s on that day that we will know our stance. Let us leave everything till that Tuesday. We will know the outcome then,” she said.

Edo

Edo State chairman of the NLC, Odion Olaye, said he was yet to receive a directive on the matter.

 “I am yet to receive any directive concerning the strike action,” he said

Delta

Delta State chairman of the NLC, Goodluck Ofobruku, also said the council would comply with the decision of the NEC.

 “Yes, but there’s a NEC meeting on Thursday where a decision will be taken,” he said.

Punch

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Saturday for a third day of anti-government protests linked to economic hardship that have led to dozens of arrests.

Protesters, some waving placards or the Ghanaian flag, decried the high cost of living and a lack of jobs as they marched under the watch of riot police. The gold-, oil- and cocoa-producing nation has been battling its worst economic crisis in a generation brought on by spiralling public debt.

"The average Ghanaian can't afford three square meals (per day) ... the government doesn't care," said 24-year-old unemployed protester Romeo, who like others at the demonstration was wearing a red beret.

Police blocked the road to prevent protesters approaching Jubilee House, the seat of the presidency, which organisers Democracy Hub have vowed to occupy.

On Thursday, police said 49 people had been detained for unlawful assembly and violating the public order act on the first day of the three-day action. There was no sign of further arrests and the situation appeared calm on Saturday.

Last year, protests over soaring prices and other economic challenges led to clashes with police.

The government sealed a $3 billion, three-year loan programme with the International Monetary Fund in May, but detractors say the authorities have done too little to help those struggling to make ends meet amid the protracted downturn.

Economic growth is forecast to slow to 1.5% this year from 3.1% in 2022.

Reuters

The US Department of State has advised Americans to reconsider travelling to Nigeria “due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed gangs.”
Following its travel advisory update done on Wednesday, the US noted that some areas “have increased risk”.

It advised its citizens against travelling to Borno, Yobe, Kogi, and Adamawa states due to terrorism and kidnapping; Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara states due to kidnapping; Abia, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Enugu, Imo, and Rivers states (with the exception of Port Harcourt) due to crime, kidnapping, and armed gangs.

It further noted that “violent crime – such as armed robbery, assault, carjacking, kidnapping, hostage taking, roadside banditry, and rape – is common throughout the country.”

The Department, however, advised citizens who still choose to travel to Nigeria to: “Carry proper identification, including a U.S. passport with a current Nigerian visa, if needed. Regarding Borno, Yobe, Kogi, and Northern Adamawa states, the US insisted that the security situation in the states was “fluid and unpredictable due to widespread terrorist activity, inter-communal violence, and kidnapping. Security operations to counter these threats may occur without warning.”

Vanguard

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Pope says countries should not "play games" with Ukraine on arms aid

Pope Francis suggested on Saturday that some countries were "playing games" with Ukraine by first providing weapons and then considering backing out of their commitments.

Francis made his comments aboard the plane returning from a trip to the French port city of Marseilles. He was responding to a reporter's question about whether he was frustrated that his efforts to bring about peace had not succeeded. He has sent an envoy, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to Kyiv, Moscow, Washington and Beijing to meet with leaders there.

He said he did feel "some frustration" and then began talking randomly about the arms industry and the war.

"It seems to me that the interests in this war are not just those related to the Ukrainian-Russian problem but to the sale of weapons, the commerce of weapons," he said.

"We should not play games with the martyrdom of this people. We have to help them resolve things ... I see now that some countries are moving backwards, not wanting to give (Ukraine) arms. A process is starting in which the martyr certainly will be the Ukrainian people and that is an ugly thing," he said.

Asked for a clarification, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope was not taking a stand on whether countries should continue to send weapons to Ukraine or stop sending them.

"It was a reflection on the consequences of the arms industry: the pope, with a paradox, was saying that those who traffic in weapons never pay the consequences of their choices but leave them to be paid by people, like the Ukrainians, who have been martyred," Bruni said.

A number of countries, including the United States, face internal political pressure to stop or curtail spending on weapons sent to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to U.S. lawmakers on Thursday for continued support amid doubts by some Republicans over whether Congress should approve more aid.

Francis has condemned the international arms trade in general but said last year that it is morally legitimate for nations to supply weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against Russian aggression.

** Ukrainian heavy artillery inflicts 'hell' on Russian lines near Bakhmut

The use of heavy weapons supplied by the West in the fierce battle raging on the outskirts of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia in May, is inflicting a significant toll on enemy lines, Ukrainian commanders have told Reuters.

Buoyed after the capture last week of the key village of Klishchiivka, Ukrainian troops have lauded the 155 millimetre howitzers as key equipment being provided by the United States and its NATO allies.

Unit commander Oleksandr said Ukraine's armed forces "very much rely" on heavy artillery, including the Polish-made Krab gun and the U.S.-made M109 self-propelled howitzer.

"Even one gun can completely turn the situation around. An attack can be stopped with one such gun," he said.

"The main thing is to aim where needed. They (the Russians) hate our hardware. That's what we gather from our intercepts. We hear that we keep giving them hell and they keep wondering how much ammunition we have left."

Oleksandr, 30, described Klishchiivka - a village on the heights south of the devastated town of Bakhmut - as "one of the places they (the Russians) were clinging to."

"We will see what's next. We will develop our success," he said.

Ukrainian commanders have described the capture of Klischiivka and nearby Andriivka as stepping stones to taking back Bakhmut, which fell to the Russians after months of some of the war's heaviest fighting.

The gains have been among the most significant in Ukraine's counteroffensive, which began in June and has struggled to break through entrenched Russian lines.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and senior officials have hailed the advances and rejected criticism in the West that the counteroffensive is progressing too slowly.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev’s counteroffensive unlikely to achieve its goals – US officials to NYT

Officials in Washington have suggested that Ukraine’s military forces won’t be able to cut Russia’s land bridge to Crimea as part of their counteroffensive or achieve other key goals, the New York Times has reported.

“Some American officials have said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive appears likely to fall short of its strategic goals,” the paper reported in an article on Friday.

Kiev’s forces are struggling to achieve the aim of reaching the Sea of Azov in Russia’s Zaporozhye Region, because the minefields set up by Moscow’s forces, they say, have proven to be “a potent defense,” the Times added.

According to US officials, conducting offensive operations would also soon become even more difficult for Ukraine “as the ground becomes soft and muddy” in the region.

The NYT also said that some in Washington have warned that “within a few weeks, the Ukrainian army will need time to rebuild their stockpile of equipment and to rest forces exhausted by the summer fighting.”

The Ukrainian counteroffensive was launched in early June, although Kiev has so far only reported the capture of a handful of small villages some distance away from the main Russian defense lines. President Vladimir Putin said earlier this month that Ukraine has lost more than 71,000 troops and over 540 tanks since the beginning of summer, while failing to achieve any significant results on the battlefield.

On Friday, President Vladimir Zelensky told journalists in Washington that Kiev “will do everything not to stop during difficult days in autumn with poor weather and in winter.”

Zelensky claimed that Ukraine has a “very, very comprehensive plan” to “de-occupy” Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) and two other cities, which he refused to name, in the coming months.

Ukraine suffered huge losses trying to defend Artyomovsk and the strategic city in Donetsk People’s Republic nonetheless fell under Russian control in May, after months of fighting.

The NYT pointed out that US intelligence and military had warned the Zelensky government against spending its manpower and resources in Artyomovsk, suggesting that it would be better focused on operations in Zaporozhye Region. “Some American officials say the fight in [Artyomovsk] has become something of an obsession for Mr Zelensky and his military leaders,” the paper said.

** Russian forces destroy Western-made weapons in Kherson area

Russia’s Battlegroup Dnepr has destroyed Ukraine’s Western-made weapons in the Kherson area, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

"Russian artillery units continue to perform their combat mission in the special military operation, hitting the Ukrainian armed forces’ artillery positions, wiping out defenses, suppressing enemy command points and firepower. Msta-B crews of Battlegroup Dnepr destroyed Western-made weapons and equipment of the Ukrainian army by counter-battery fire in the Kherson area," the statement reads.

The Defense Ministry added that Russian forces were using high-precision munitions to cause as much damage as possible to the enemy’s armored vehicles and troops. Drone operators monitor the work of howitzer crews, adjusting fire and reporting the results of attacks to those in firing positions in real time.

"[They] mostly try to cross [the Dnieper] at night; most of the action and the work take place during the night as we try to prevent the enemy from reaching this bank," said a crew commander with the call sign Cuba.

The Msta-S is a self-propelled 152 mm howitzer designed to wipe out and suppress various types of enemy combat hardware and troops, destroy defensive sites and deny the maneuver of enemy infantry and tank reserves. The Russian Defense Ministry has repeatedly released video footage showing these howitzers hammering enemy targets in the special military operation in Ukraine.

Reuters/RT/Tass

When Obafemi Awolowo died in 1987, amid a deluge of musical tributes in his honour, a line among those offerings stood out, evergreen. Sang by Fuji music lord, Kollington Ayinla, while extolling Awolowo’s panegyrics, he sang: “ookan ile l’osa gbe, Baba Yinka//eyin t’o funfun kii gbe koro enu.” This line profoundly articulated the open life of Awolowo, as well as his trackable history and pedigree. As short as the lines were, they drilled deep into the most granular of Yoruba’s concept of openness and transparency. Literally translated, it means that shrines that a people are proud of are erected in open family compounds and, it is a misnomer to cover a set of sparklingly white teeth with flabby duvet of lips.

Shrines in Africa were held, partially or wholly, as reserved places for magico–religious or even ceremonial functions. Their traditional worshippers or priests consider them sacred and as groves where ancestors lived. Those groves were also places and channels of communication with humans by the gods and were dedicated to the worship of deities, war heroes believed to have transformed into ancestors, or sites of burial of nobles in a community. Trees, water and rocks are wrapped round these shrines and altars and they together form an important totem of the environment, corpus of the Yoruba belief system. As important as these shrines are, most Yoruba deities and shrines are erected in the front of compounds.

So, whether as Christians, Muslims or animists, there is a unity of prayer points of parents that God should give them blessings that cannot be hidden. One of such blessings is that the children on whom they spend so hugely, excel upon graduation, especially with a first class. Every week, newspapers celebrate such achievements in interviews with such graduates. Those are blessings that cannot be hidden. In support of full disclosure of a worthy past, Yoruba say that only a malformed or deformed hand is hidden under the bowels of a garment – “owo ti o sunwon ni gbe abe aso.”

On Sunday, October 17, 2021, TheNews magazine published what it said was the “Most Comprehensive Tinubu interview about his early life, struggles abroad, against military, governorship, others,” a “a marathon interview he granted” where he “spoke about his rugged beginnings, studies in the US, struggles against the military for the actualization of June 12, the current democracy and others.” In the interview, the man who would later become the Nigerian president said he performed so brilliantly at the Chicago State University (CSU) so much that, “at the end of the term, and still on the Dean’s list, Professor Jesse came around to inform me that he would employ me to manage the Accounting laboratory for the institution… I was given a scholarship to become a tutor…I was challenged and severely under pressure to keep up the grade as each semester rolled by, because if my grades should drop, I would lose the scholarship. It was quite challenging and in the end, I graduated top of my class and I was recruited as an Accounting major…I was on the Dean’s list; I was in line for the award for the overall best accounting student as well as that of the university scholar’s award….”

Recently, in a September 7, 2023 press release from Aso Rock, on the fringe of the G-20 Summit, during an interactive session with Nigerian students studying in the South Asian country, Tinubu recalled his academic prowess while he was an undergraduate at the Chicago State University, describing himself as a brilliant student. “Good education brought me here and I am happy to stand before you here as the President of Nigeria. I started small. I was a security guard. I was a tutor in school. I was a brilliant student. I joined Deloitte and was trained by one of the biggest accounting firms in the world, because of my education.”

Those are indeed words of encouragement. His grass to grace story should encourage any youth that they too could reach for the zenith of achievements in life if a US cab driver could become the president of the most populous Black country in the world. So when, shortly before the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Committee, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar was rumoured to have approached a United States of America court to subpoena CSU so as to obtain university schooling records of Tinubu, many of us laughed him to scorn. Why would Atiku take politics to this demeaning level? We reckoned that Atiku would be so legally gas-lighted in the US that he would not try this nonsense again all his political life.

In the application, Atiku had alleged that Tinubu’s academic records were inconsistent. In a dramatic way that stunned virtually all of us, the American court granted Atiku’s application through a judgment it delivered last Tuesday, September 6, by magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert. He then ordered the production of the school documents of Tinubu in 48 hours and deposition of the administrators of the CSU under oath. If granted, Atiku sought to demonstrate that the man who occupies Nigeria’s foremost office was nothing other than a criminal forger who was ineligible to be president of a country like ours. As Olatunji Dare once wrote in his profound mastery of the English language, this was becoming curiouser and curiouser. Atiku’s reliance was on sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which unambiguously voids the aspirations of anyone who willfully tampers with their certificates for the sake of vying for political office.

Both Tinubu and his alleged alma mater, the CSU, have maintained that he attended the institution. CSU is however demurring from authenticating his certificate under oath. The man who in newspaper interviews excitedly mouthed his first class degree at CSU is also now spiritedly arguing against the release of the results to Atiku. His argument became the untenability of the documents in Atiku’s appeal at the Supreme Court. The former Vice president was however unwavering. Before the order could lapse, Tinubu suddenly approached the court under a Ms Nancy Maldonado of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago, for an application to delay the order and submitted that releasing his school documents to Atiku had a fatal potential to damage his life. “Severe and irreparable harm will be done to Bola Tinubu if the records are released,” the president’s lawyer told Maldonado. Arguing further, the lawyer said that if the court released the documents to Atiku, great harm that “cannot be taken back to the bottle” would be done on him. Immediately, Ms. Maldonado agreed with Tinubu’s lawyer on the severity of granting the order on the part of Tinubu and thus stayed the order pending further arguments on the matter.

In all this, I am at a loss. Methinks somebody proud enough to grant interviews articulating his academic brilliance should have no issue at all mounting his First-Class certificate on global billboards for all to see. That done, political enemies like Atiku would have had no other option than to lick their wounds.

The Chicago court drama reminds me of one of Joseph Folahan (JF) Odunjo’s folklores with the title, Afose d’elede – Afose has morphed into a pig. Literary critics and folklorists say that the past and the present inter-relate in a strong way. Writer, educator and politician who was best known for his works in Yoruba children's literature, Odunjo, in 1951, won a seat to the Western House of Assembly and was later appointed Western Region’s first minister of Land and Labour by Awolowo. He communicated Yoruba values through folklores and myths. Folklore, a strong imprint from our past, relates strongly to present social and sociological conditions. Odunjo, just like D.O. Fagunwa, was greatly respected for having shaped the minds of generations of Yoruba of western Nigeria, especially through his highly famous 

Alawiye series. The series transformed into book form the oral folklore and stories of traditional society told at moonlight after dinner. With this, he was able to communicate values, beliefs and literary skills of the people. Using fictive characters (human or non-human) like tortoise (Ijapa and his wife, Yannibo), ghomids, (ebora) streams, animal kingdom, human kingdom, etc, he intermixed itan (myths) and alo (folklores), the latter more believable because they are factual, dependable and historical than myths, to convey the reality of the time. The calamity in this however is that such folklores have not been preserved into posterity like Tom and Jerry.

Afose d’elede is themed to preach that, regardless of how long they gestate, flourish or span, hidden evil manipulations will go awry someday. The narrative is centered round a gang of felons in a village who specialized in nocturnal theft of villagers’ property. This particular day, they had stolen a very huge pig called elede and, to escape scrutiny, gilded the hapless animal inside a wooden coffin. Local hunter sentries however lay ahead of them that night. As they advanced from their village into the town, two men shouldered the casket like a mourning party. One of them stood in the front of the casket with his left hand tightly holding a full-grown cock. He plucked its feathers intermittently with the right hand. As he did this, following in the ancient tradition and custom of the Yoruba, he invoked incantations, amid a cultic rendition of a sober song interceding for intervention of the spirits for the dead.

What this man with the cock was acting was what is called the tradition of “adiye irana.” In order to seek easy earthly passage to the hereafter for the dead, Yoruba believed that, in adiye irana, with its process of plucking the feathers of a live cock as the first in line of a hearse party, the enchanter was interceding for the dead so that the spirits could grant them eternal sojourn. In another way, the cock was meant to “ra ona” – literally, buy the road/way – for the dead. The cock is the cash, the bribe if you like, for the sentry of heaven – Onibode Orun – to wave the dead in and on to eternal bliss. Elasticizing it into an aphorism, Yoruba say adiye irana kii se ohun a je gbe to remind us of the inevitability of justice, now or later, in this life or in the hereafter.

The sentries however confronted the advancing “mourning” party and demanded to see what was inside the coffin. Sounding shocked at the temerity of the sentries, the gangsters told them that right inside the casket was the body of the late Afose, a notoriously powerful medicine man from their village renowned for transforming into all manner of animals in his lifetime. His notoriety and native medicine powers transcended his' to other villages. In death, Afose still retained his powers, said the gangsters, so much that if the coffin was opened, Afose could, as usual, transform into any animal he desired. Not dissuaded, the sentries stubbornly demanded that the coffin be opened, nevertheless. Upon being forced to lift the lid off the coffin, a pig’s oink confronted them. This necessitated the gangsters to chorus that the body of the notorious medicine man had indeed transformed into a pig – Afose d’elede! In the melee of the pig that had suddenly been set free from its imprisonment, the felons burst into the song, “Afose d’elede, a ti wi tele!” and escaped into the bush.

The way it stands, the age-long miasma of cloud shrouding Tinubu’s certificate and past may become an Afose d’elede that is fast coming home to roost, confirming indeed that, regardless of how long it gestates, flourishes or spans, manipulations, like the felons’ casket, will go awry someday and the world will see the original content of the casket.

No matter what part of the political, ethnic or class divide one may belong, the ongoing judicial tackles in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago should bring huge embarrassment to every Nigerian. That a country which advertises a surplusage of academic laurels and achievements among its citizens in America, Europe and in very many parts of the world is being administered by a man who rushes from pillar to post to spread thick pullover over his academic documents is enough embarrassment to last Nigeria a lifetime.

The drama in that Chicago court is sickening. As lawyers say, the objective test to determine what a reasonable person who is faced with the kind of allegation against Tinubu will do is to allow Atiku have his way at the CSU through the court. Muzzling Atiku off those academic documents, for whatever reason, is akin to carrying a coffin containing elede and staving off all entreaties to open the content of what is claimed to be the dead body of Afose.

By the way, let us play the devil’s advocate by interrogating what may lie at the back of the president’s mind for seeking to block the revelation of the results. Ego? Why should Atiku act as an interloper in a matter that does not concern him as Tinubu’s academic documents are strictly his business? The answer is that Tinubu is no longer a private person and by poking his nose into political office, he has lost every right to his privacy. As such, anybody interested in his academic records should be allowed access to them. Then, the president’s lawyer exploded what sounded like a nuke inside the Chicago court. According to him, granting Atiku access to Tinubu’s certificates will cause “severe, irreparable harm”. With this last averment, I am of the opinion that our president must sack this lawyer for this very incriminating statement and for attempting to deny the proud alumnus of CSU the opportunity to put Atiku to shame and an opportunity to buga with his First-Class Honours degree in Business Administration.

I have attempted severally to navigate through this claim of “severe, irreparable harm” by the president and I must confess that I am marooned on a desert island. How? It stands against reason that a man will pay foreign lawyers multiple of thousands of dollars legal fees to argue in court that a tight lid be put on documents relating to an academic journey he had flaunted to the world as excellent. When has harm ever come the way of anyone simply because details of their academic records became public document? Why would a man who promised to run a transparent government demur from same transparency when it comes to openness of his past? To an ordinary and reasonable person, it would appear that releasing the result, on the contrary, stands to benefit the president immensely. First, the growing community of tarbrush of fraudulence, forgery and shadiness being affixed to his name would cease. It could even put a lie to and render unfounded the allegation that the president’s ancestry is wrapped in shawl. Releasing documents of his schooling in Chicago would afford us an opportunity to harangue Atiku as indeed a meddlesome interloper who is shopping for straws to hang on to in his quest for the Nigerian presidency. More fundamentally, a Tinubu who rose to power on the cusp of attracting A-list technocrats should never be found with the inelegant act of hiding details of his own academic records. Did he appoint those A-list persons without peeping into their certificates?

The optics of this “severe and irreparable harm” thesis is very dispiriting. And annoying too, if you ask me. It seems to reinforce the belief by haters of the president that his past is shady, unwholesome and not worthy of being known by a global audience which thirsts after purity. That is why I think he should fire his US attorney. I am very sure our noble, pure president never sent him to make that demeaning claim. As bad as Nigerian leadership has been since the collapse of the First Republic, never had Nigeria been confronted with a graphic acquiescence to narratives of forgery by its leadership as this. This global embarrassment is almost proportionate to the disaster of Hiroshima and Nagazaki. To reinforce how bad things are, an Encyclopedia Britanica search on our president comes up with this embarrassing entry “Many of the details of Tinubu’s early life, education, work, and finances are unclear”. They all feed the trough of this unfair claim of forgery and obfuscated past.

The uncommunicated, but unwillingly communicated communication arising from this helter-skelter run to hide Tinubu’s certificate in Chicago provokes the question, is our president an Akudaya? Did he spring from Mars? Akudaya is an ancient core Yoruba belief that roaming spirits of the dead acquire human flesh like a living wraith, get disconnected from their past and begin life de novo elsewhere. There have been stories of akudaya who married, gave birth and lived life to the fullest; until those who knew their past suddenly surfaced. Its closest synonym is the British apparition, a resemblance or prototype of the living or dead, or the German doppelganger. The doppelganger, mostly used in horror literature, is a dip into German folklore which doubles down on the concept of the existence of a spirit double, “double walker” or a person’s non-biological look alike. So, which one of these is Tinubu?

To further compound the unpleasant narratives, this great man’s biography, detailing his youth, friends, challenges and victories, his humongous achievements and rise from zero to the pinnacle of office have never been written as a biography or autobiography. I am told there are no plans to ever avail of us of this potentially rich narrative. Curiouser and curiouser still, I must confess.

From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? ~ Mark 6:2b.

Introduction

As we think about the life of Jesus Christ, we stand all amazed in every way! For example, we can’t mistake the uniqueness of the circumstances surrounding His coming to earth — His conception and His birth. All the works He did, and is still doing, both for us and through us, are simply wrapped up in absolute wonders.

Indeed, Jesus Christ performed wonders without number! He defeated evil forces everywhere He went. He made the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the infirm to stand (Mark 1:21-27; 7:31-37; Luke 9:37-43). He fed multitudes of people with supernatural meals. He also walked upon the sea, raised the dead, cleansed lepers, etcetera.

He once called forth an incredible draught of fishes at the same location and time where great toils had produced none (Luke 5:9). Peter was a veteran fisherman, but he toiled all night and caught nothing until Jesus intervened. At His Word, Peter cast his net again, and he caught a boat-sinking and net-breaking multitude of fishes!

We are amazed at His life, His baptism and His supernatural operations. At only twelve years of age, He was already about His Father’s business, discussing very intelligently with the elders in the temple (Luke 2:49).

In His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ spoke with an unusual authority (Matthew 7:28; 13:54; Luke 4:32). He also dazed the whole world with His incredible wisdom and mighty acts, to the extent that His generation asked: “Is this not the Carpenter” (Mark 6:1-3). They missed it by a very wide margin. Jesus Christ is the One in whom “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9-10).

Meanwhile, as incredible as this may sound, the truth is that the believers were recreated in Christ Jesus to live in the same realm of wonders as Jesus did. Everything Jesus did we're supposed to do, and in whatever way He manifested we're meant to manifest, “because as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

The day we became born-again, we were born into a family of wonders. No matter your stature, present position or social status, the moment you're born-again you become a walking wonder. And, irrespective of where you were born or live, you’re no longer a wanderer but a wonder on earth (Psalm 71:7).

The Bible uses the word “sons” in John 1:12, not “sons and daughters”, intentionally. No variant of religious discrimination or misogyny, such as was characterized under the Old Testament, is any longer tenable under this new dispensation of grace. Women are now co-inheritors of God's riches and divine nature.

The total truth is, as children of the Most High God, we’re spirit beings, not just lumps of flesh (Hebrews 12:9). God dwells in you (Colossians 1:27). You're a God-carrier, and therefore, the Headquarters of the Universe is inside you!

This is an incredibly dizzying truth indeed. No wonder Jesus Christ said the believers carry a staggering capacity for wonders, in the class of the works He did and even greater works (John 14:12-14).

How Jesus Did It & How We Too Can Live In Wonders Today!

We may ask, how did Jesus live, walk and operate so easily in the realm of wonders? He never failed; no, not once.

On one occasion, the tax collectors thought to embarrass Him by demanding tribute from Him. At His word, the mouth of a fish became a money dispenser! But how did Jesus operate in such a superlative status? He simply operated in the power of the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-3; Luke 4:14, 18-21; Acts 10:38)!

The essential question of destiny at this juncture is: how can we also live in the same supernatural realm as Jesus did? By simply following in the steps of Jesus, living and walking in the power of the Holy Spirit as He did in all our daily operations.

The early Church practically operated in the realm of wonders at the instance of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:1-7). The Apostles acted, and the people in their generation marveled because they operated the way Jesus did. Today, if we also dare to live our everyday lives in the realm of the Holy Spirit, operating in the realm of the supernatural will be a given.

Creating The Enabling Environment for Wonders

In order to walk in wonders, we must devote quality time to dwelling in God's presence. Jesus Christ often retreated into lonely places to be in the presence of the Father, to commune with Him as well as to renew His strength. The early disciples also spent quality time with Jesus Christ before their practical manifestations in the power of God (Acts 4:13).

Unfortunately Christianity has become so modernized by our modern-day errors to the detriment of the realm of wonders. Our generation is rather far too noisy, too gregarious and too toxic to attract the glory of God's presence for any appreciable length of time.

No one ever thinks great thoughts in a noisy atmosphere. Excessive joke-cracking, laughter, mirth, talkativeness and noisiness bring much pollution to the soul. Those who talk too much cannot think or do so much, neither can they enjoy the sweet presence of the Holy Spirit.

As such, no one that’s immoderately engrossed in the socio-political dimensions of social media — WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc — should hope to operate fully in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Most importantly, serious-minded Christians cannot afford to be given to impetuous cursing, bitterness, caustic and combative words for any reason and still expect to relish in the wonders of God’s presence.

I am most amazed at the moment when Jesus, after staggering under His load to the crest of Calvary, said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”(Luke 23:34). This is a higher order of amazement! How could He forgive His tormenters at that moment? With all that pain? With blood dripping from every pore? Still He was thinking of others?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also gave something of a last requirement for walks of wonder. He said all must “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

This is one of the most difficult things to do; yet, Jesus Christ did it. Through it all, He would not condemn those who persecuted Him. We also must strive to emulate this, if we ever hope to live in the realm of wonders.

Furthermore, to enjoy the realm of the supernatural, you need a regular devotion and an aloneness with Jesus. Being with Jesus, giving quality time to dwell in His presence will always enable you to reflect His glory and majesty, and generate amazement amidst God’s people, even today (Zechariah 10:1).

We must be focused, diligent and determined under God to give supernatural living all it takes: holiness, prayers, fasting, and a diligent pursuit of God’s glory. When we do, Jesus Christ, the Wonder of All Ages will also tip us forward to our era of wonders. Never forget: He’s living in you! Beloved, you will fulfill destiny, in Jesus Name! Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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