Nigeria of the 1950s and early 1960s had very many interesting personalities. Western Region had its fair share of such. One of them was a man named Suara Sobo Akande (Sobo is pronounced as Sorbor). He was a prominent transporter who held the transportation industry of the time by its jugular. An Ibadan man of the Opo Yeosa clan who lived in an area now known as Ring Road, Suara Sobo was wealthy and had a fleet of lorries in his pool. As a trade logo, Suara Sobo’s lorries always had monkeys chained to their entrance which excited and attracted passengers to them. However, his lorries soon acquired a notorious typecast. Any passenger who boarded them was literally embarking on a journey that had no certain time or terminal point of disembarkation. They could be arrested for having no particulars by the police. The inappropriate conducts of the drivers and conductors which led to road accidents were equally legendary. The otherwise pleasurable ride, with a monkey on board to marvel at its close resemblance of man, could turn awry for the passenger. It thus became a peculiar refrain in the Western Region to say a man had entered Suara Sobo’s lorry, equivalent to today’s One Chance lingo among youths.

Odolaye Aremu, then Ibadan-based Ilorin-born 

Dadakuada musician, in his Ayé Omo Ayé (Oh, this Wicked World!) Vol 2 album, did a dirge for the untimely passage of Suara Sobo, years after. At a loud celebration in his house in the 1970s, said Odolaye, Suara Sobo had hosted the crème de la crème of Ibadan where roast mutton and turkey flesh were feasted upon. People were shocked when, six days later, Suara Sobo’s sudden death was announced. Odolaye seemed to attribute his death to the wild celebration in his house and machination of a jealous world. In his own dirge for Suara in Volume 18 entitled Ikú l’òpin Ènìyàn (Death is the end of man) Sakara music genre lord, Yusuf Olatunji, sang that, with the death of his friend, Suara Sobo, when he remembered the audacity of death in killing the rich and the poor, he got discomforted. I will connect this presently.

Grammy Award nominee, David Adeleke, famously known as Davido, provided Nigerians a veritable escape from themselves last Tuesday. The social media literally imploded with beautiful photographs of him and Chioma. It was a day to see wealth, plenty and joy in a Nigeria where poverty, lack and anger line our sky. Harsh-tagged Chivido2024, the songster and his wife literally painted the sky red with fascinating ribbons of many colours. No one would know that the wedding was held in same Nigeria ravaged by the water-borne disease of cholera. The nuptial, decorated with such lavish show of wealth, was reminiscent of the July 29, 1981 wedding between then Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

For a moment in the same week, Nigeria provided both counterpoise and semblance to Kenya, its East African Safari destination brother. Whilst Kenyan youths were up in arms against their government for making life miserable for them, Nigerian government runners and youths were enveloped in a Davido wedding that erased class differentials and wiped away hunger optics. You would be pardoned if you thought our bellies were full. A-list guests like Olusegun Obasanjo, the hedonistic king of Ife, governors and the crème-de-la-crème of the Nigerian society were gathered at the wedding’s Victoria Island Harbour Point venue. But the class unity didn’t take too long to evaporate. Immediately its curtains were drawn, the crème-de-la-crème guests left into their wealth, Davido and his wife jetted abroad and the ordinary Nigerians celebrating the nuptials were left sharing Chivido2024 photographs on the social media. They have since been contending with their bellyful wahala of cholera, tomato, pepper scarcity and pestilential bad governance.

The wedding evoked some symbolisms in Ghanaian Efua T. Sutherland’s 1975 famous play, Marriage of Anansewa. It also put a final imprint on the transition of music and musicians from their perception by traditional Africa as beggars (alágbe). Today, musicians like Davido and Wizkid are mega-millionaires in dollars and mascots. So many Davidos, with greater grits and talent, never saw the light of the day. They were pushed into obscurity by societal stigmatization. They were typecast as talented scroungers and never-do-wells. For my book, Ayinla Omowura: Life and times of an Apala legend (2020), I interviewed the son of Fatai Baiyewumi, the man who murdered Omowura in a bar-room fight in Abeokuta in 1980. He told me that when Omowura began singing in Abeokuta in the 1960s, his father, one of the famous (Sànmònrí) of Abeokuta of the time, used to have Ayinla’s ragtag musical ensemble serenade him and his friends while they drank beer in the evenings. He claimed that Ayinla was so poor that the clothes he adorned on the front sleeve of his first musical album were a dash from his father. Late Uncle Charles Ariyibi of Ibadan also told me how, in the 1960s, Ilorin bard, Odolaye Aremu, serenaded his father, in company with his friends, in their Lagos compound. Excited, Ariyibi said, his father dashed the Dadakuada crooner clothes. In many of Odolaye’s songs, he sang of how wealthy fans dashed him clothes.

Ethnomusicology, the study of music of different cultures, revealed that this beggarly perception of musicians was prevalent in several African cultures. Nigeria’s was massive. Musicians in pre and immediate post-colony’s talents were enjoyed but not respected as persons. They were mostly recruited from the world of the rejects of society. Borrowing from aviation lingo, they were the flotsam, jetsam and lagan of society. The musicians themselves acted this script very handsomely. They were weed smokers and community nuisances, Omo-ita. Yoruba also derogatively labeled them as drummers who sang and got compensated with rivulets of water removed from the top of cornmeal, (alù’lù gb’omi èko). A today musician who represents what they were then is Habeeb Okikiola, a.k.a. Portable. He was just like Omowura, a bus boy who engaged in street brawls and other malfeasances. One of Omowura’s band boys was nick-named Orífó’gò because, singing into the night and the band itching to honour another musical engagement, the folk would break bottles on own head, causing chaos so that the band could escape in the melee.

Haruna Ishola, big father of the Apala music genre, on the 30th anniversary of his music in the 1970s, sang that, at the beginning of his musical career, most of his colleagues, dissuaded by musicians’ profiling as lazy and indolent and who didn’t know it could bring wealth, ran away from the microphone. “Nígbà tí a bèrè l’áyé ojósí, àwon tí ‘ò mò pé isé olà ni nínú wa, ńse ni wón ye’ra ; ìgbà yen ni wón ńp’onílù l’óle…” he sang. Odolaye, in his Ayé Omo Ayé album also pleaded that musicians should not be looked down upon, “e món f’ojú tí ò dáa wò wá mó o!” In later years, Omowura and colleagues tried to stave off their scavenger perception by advertising their turnaround wealth and fame. In one of his live musical engagements, Omowura wore his material accomplishment on his lapel and sang, “You are the same society that calls us musicians beggars wedded to poverty. Our musical craft has however brought us wealth” – “Èyin l’e ńso’pé alágbe kìí l’ówó l’ówó… isé òle l’òle ńje, k’á lù’lù, k’á ko’rin, l’Haádjì Àyìnlá fi l’ówó l’ówó.”

This is why Adedeji Adeleke, Davido’s father, should be the hero of the mascot his son has turned out to be today. A Nigerian businessman and billionaire, Adeleke gave a fillip to his son’s musical talent, regardless of the ancient unflattering typecast of musicians. Other big society barons have also followed suit. Legal czar, Femi Falana’s son, Folarin, known by stage name Falz, and Florence, a.k.a. DJ Cuppy, daughter of boardroom billionaire Otedola, rank in this regard. In a world that belittled musical talents, one can imagine the initial shame and social pushback these musical talents’ parents must have faced in allowing them walk the route hitherto trodden by never-do-wells. Today, but for Davido, the mention of Adeleke’s name would have attracted “Adeleke who?” Davido seems to have successfully swallowed whatever name and wealth he owned.

A romantic comedy written in 1975 by Sutherland, a Ghanaian lady playwright who was born in 1924, The Marriage Of Anansewa says a lot, even if nothing, about last week’s Davido marriage. The book is a rehash of conventional Akan tribe of Ghana’s story-telling. With it, Sutherland successfully wove youthful romance, humour into greed and cunning to tell the story of a poor and ambitious widower called Ananse who used his beautiful daughter Anansewa as pawn. A student of Secretarial Studies, Ananse secures rich suitors –Chief-Who-ls-Chief, Chief of Sapaase, Chief of Akate (Togbe Klu IV) and Chief of the Mines – for his daughter, without any of them knowing the other. He then enters “Photograph engagement” between Anansewa and her suitors. Sutherland then showcases how marriage is deployed as tool for financial exploitation and money-making in African societies.

In Ananse persuading Anansewa to pretend to have died, leading to each chief’s response to her death, Sutherland demonstrates how love conquers mischief, cunning and privations. The suitors’ messengers then come with funeral gifts and condolence messages that spoke to the depth and colour of their love for Anansewa. While the Chief of the Mines regretted that her death forecloses her bringing up his children, Chief of Sapa regretted that she could have taken the place of his ‘bitchy, ugly’ wife and Togbe Klu’s happiness would have been for her to deploy her secretarial skills in his business. However, Chief-Who-Is-Chief, who Ananse eventually gives Anansewa to in marriage, bearing heavy gifts for Anansewa through his messengers, regretted that though she was already his wife, he would foot all the finances of her funeral.

Sutherland’s 49-year old play has a collage of themes that meshes with the Davido wedding. First theme was that of love. In spite of Davido’s highly-talked-about leashless libido, his choice of Chioma among many Baby Mamas, seems to have reigned supreme like the pick of Chief-Who-is-Who among Anansewa’s suitors. Davido, you will recall, has the notorious renown of picking his confetti of Baby Mamas by the sidewalks like a squirrel picks groundnuts in a plantation. Similarly in Sutherland’s play, before being helped to settle for Chief-Who-is-Who, Anansewa, like Davido, also had multiple liaisons, though she hadn’t met them. The huge material showers the various suitors rained on Anansewa is akin to the benumbing millions of dollars Davido showered on the Lagos marriage.

The Davido wedding and Sutherland’s Marriage of Anansewa, apart from depicting life as drama, also had the theme of African traditional marriage as tool for financial exploitation and money-making. This has led to, especially Igbo marriages, being a huge burden for every aspiring young man. Only God knows how much material demands Chioma’s Imo State family must have wrung off the well-heeled Adeleke family. While Anansewa’s wedding to Chief-Who-Is-Who probably held in Ananse’s village, the Davido Igba Nkwu wedding rites violated the traditional wedding code in Igbo society. Such weddings hold in the village of the bride but Chioma’s held in a ‘No Man’s Land’ of Lagos. The irritant Joe Igbokwe was to later claim it was for fear of ESN and IPOB which afflict Imo State like a pestilence. The unrivalled display of wealth by the Adelekes, at a time when hunger and anger have become stubborn guests that refuse to leave the Nigerian table, draws attention to the postcolonial vice of how we crown wealth as Emperor. It further reveals how materialism is a viper’s poison stinging the marriage institution in Africa.  

Sutherland’s craft is an allegory, a symbolism that speaks to the mis-policy of non-alignment adopted by Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. It also mocks Nkrumah’s money-centric relations with other countries after independence. While Ananse represents Ghana, the deceptive suitor with the cunning of the notorious trickster Spider in various Ashante folklores, (Spider is represented on the cover of the book) the suitor chiefs symbolize the international community which is a sucker for what it wanted. Notwithstanding that the Davido wedding was a private person’s way of expressing personal joy, accomplishment and social strides, the Harbour Point lavish wedding, like Sutherland’s play, may as well represent the present cunning and Janus faces of leaders of Nigeria and Kenya.

William Ruto clambered to the top of global disdain last week. He had earlier been at the zenith of attention when he became guest of American president, Joe Biden in May. In a letter penned to him on May 21, famous literary giant, Ngugi wa Thiongo, labeled Ruto’s diplomatic shuttle to America as cringing for crumbs and lickspittling. Ngugi also asked Ruto if he knew that, while he was enjoying White House’s hospitality, “Haitians were in the streets demonstrating, calling you a slave.” Literally calling Ruto a betrayer, Ngugi asked him if he knew that he had

“chosen to sell your country cheap.”

Like Ruto, Bola Tinubu also came to the presidential palace on the cusp of appealing to the common people. At campaign hustings, Ruto described himself as a “hustler”. He promised to relieve his people of their economic pain. The true test came last week. The tax hike bill waiting for his signature was bound to make life more painful for the offspring of Mau Mau warriors. So they embarked on a protest which, from Nairobi, spread like bushfire in harmattan. The protesters then stormed the parliament and set it on fire. Auma, Barack Obama’s step-sister and her daughter were tear-gassed in the process. In response, a visibly angry Ruto dispatched soldiers who then littered the streets with bodies of about 20 dead Kenyans. He also initially called the protesters “treasonous” criminals, but, seeing the slant into anarchy and a probable takeover of power from him by the youths, Ruto reversed himself.

Ruto and Tinubu, who are stupendously and fabulously wealthy, subscribe to the obtuse belief that, to bail their countries out of economic doldrums, taxation holds the ace. Kenyans mock Ruto in butt of jokes as “Zakayo,” a word taken out of the biblical tax collector, Zacchaeus’ name. They also believe that his aggressive tax evangelism is mini-dictatorship. Some even drew parallel between him and Arap Moi, the country’s dictatorial one-party state ruler. While Ruto was campaigning for the Kenyan presidency, just like Tinubu, who promised to make “corn, agbado, casafa” (pun intended) available to the people, Ruto also promised policies that would drop money in Kenyans’ pockets. Not long after being in office, the man who called himself an “anti-establishment” president and a “hustler” removed crucial fuel and maize flour subsidies. He was a Tinubu in the mirror.

As both Ruto and Tinubu, at every drop of a hat, preach belt-tightening, they and their families live in majestic splendor. On his recent visit to Biden, Ruto commuted to and fro in a chartered luxury private jet, abandoning the “old,” presidential jet. It is as though he and Tinubu compare notes in mindless spendthrift-ing. In Nigeria, the chartered jet Tinubu flew to South Africa recently was said to belong to his business friend, Chagoury, the Sani Abacha crony, who he recently awarded a N15 trillion highway contract to. In Kenya, Ruto also claimed the jet he flew to the US was paid for by his unnamed friends. A few days ago, we were told that, damming the pang and poverty in the land and most likely shouting, “let Sango, the god of thunder, strike the Bata drum and the jarring metals surrounding it!,” the Lagos Boy began bidding to buy two presidential jets so that he does not get killed in the air, a la Bayo Onanuga. One of the jets is a $600 million (almost a trillion Naira) Airbus A330 aircraft seized from an unnamed Arab prince and businessman. I told you awhile ago that Lagos Boys are heartlessly bold and daring. With Ruto and Tinubu, Kenyans and Nigerians may have entered the proverbial Suara Sobo lorry.

Anyway, we must congratulate Davido and Chioma for the joy they exuded on their wedding day. I am however surprised that the older Adeleke family didn’t apprise the talented musician of the eternal essence in a famous Yoruba counsel that teaches circumspection. Yoruba tell merrymakers desirous of flinging cymbals in celebration of achievements to be circumspect like a farmer whose yam plantation yields bountiful. Such a farmer envelopes the heaps from prying eyes with his hands. No matter the glitz of modernity, the Earth, indeed the World, has an eye, apologies to Niyi Osundare. And those eyes are mostly wicked. Like every great achiever, Davido is no doubt surrounded by a grumpy world beefing his supersonic strides.

Odolaye, in same Aye Omo Aye album, conceptualized the destructive inclination of the world even better. Apparently borne out of the inexplicable tiff that suddenly brewed between him and poet, Oladapo Olatubosun, his record label owner, Odolaye lamented a destructive world he gave the cognomen “Ayé omo ayé, èèyàn abiìdí yàńyàń.”

Of a truth, having gone through marital valleys and spousal challenges, it was Davido’s time to fling the cymbals. However, was an African’s, with its peculiar contours. It wasn’t that of Diana and Charles’ which had over 750 million people around the world watch how Diana, a former nursery school teacher, wore a dress that was said to have 10,000 pearls on it and a 25-foot train. Nor was it that of John and Jackie Kennedy which took place in 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island with over 800 guests of politicians and diplomats. Nor even that of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West held in 2014 in Florence, Italy, star-studded with guests like Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Steve McQueen, and Serena Williams in attendance. Most of those weddings ended badly anyway. Davido should have listened to Odolaye’s advice: “This world is wicked. Don’t underrate the wickedness of this world!” (Ayé yìí sòro o, ayé yìí sòro, k’é máse f’ènìyàn se’ré!).

 

Olajumoke at 80

Tomorrow, one of Providence’s priceless gifts to Ondo State and Nigeria, Bode Olajumoke, will be 80 years old. Born on Saturday, July 1, 1944, Olajumoke was Senator representing Ondo North from 2007 to 2011 and hails from Ose Local Government of the state. In 1999, he aspired to be Nigeria’s president. If Nigerians, especially the people of the Southwest, forget everything about Olajumoke, they will certainly remember the grey-bearded man who birthed the idea of a Yoruba unity under the umbrella of the Imeri Unity Group. Recognizing how fractious the Yoruba had been since the demise of Obafemi Awolowo, Olajumoke began a yeoman fence-mending effort which reconciled feuding groups and individuals in Yorubaland. He also redrew the map of his Imeri hometown, a town hitherto mis-contiguously placed under Mid-West and Bendel State, which he fought to bring back to its Ondo kith and kin on September 19, 1991.

The credentials above are almost insignificant when placed side by side Olajumoke’s philanthropy, unassuming nature and staunch religiosity. All these and far much more are contained in an autobiography he entitled, A Life of Grace: Courage, Vicissitudes and Legacies in the Journey of Bode Olajumoke which will be unveiled in a birthday ceremony tomorrow at Yoruba Tennis Club, Onikan, Lagos.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need ~ Hebrews 4:16.

Introduction

It has been shown over the ages that God’s mercy is a major all-time need of man. Why? Man doesn’t always get what he deserves, but what mercy delivers to him: “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Romans 9:16).

Naturally, the journey of life is too cumbersome and very difficult to predict. Sometimes, certain unwholesome events come calling, when they are least expected. Most certainly, it is not the strongest of the species that always survives in life, not the most intelligent, but those who are the most receptive to the mercies of God, “for by strength shall no man prevail” (1 Samuel 2:9).

Understanding the Subject of Mercy

In our day-to-day usage of the word, ‘mercy’ is that tenderness of heart which inclines a person to overlook injuries, or to treat an offender better than he/she deserves. It is the disposition of the mind that tempers justice, and induces an injured person to forgive trespasses. Mercy is that platform, which allows favor to flow towards a person or a thing.

In Biblical parlance, God’s mercy is a distinctive attribute of the Supreme God that does not allow Him to overlook the helpless in his miserable estate (Numbers 14:18). Mercy is God’s prerogative that makes Him to embrace the rejected. Certainly, Leah was in this catchment (Genesis 29:31).

Mercy is the outflow of God's compassion and forbearance that shuts the doors against harm, but conveys blessings to His people who have obtained mercy. God’s mercy is intrinsically connected to His covenant with man. Hence, the golden cover of the Ark of the Covenant was justly referred to as the ‘Mercy Seat’ (Ex.25:17-22; 26:34).

Mercy is a major requirement in the school of divine assistance and durable wonders (Titus 3:5). It is a ‘Certain Entity’ in the realm of the spirit that follows those who receive it on their journeys of life (Ps.23:6).

When Mercy Speaks!

From generation to generation, mankind continues to enjoy God's mercy one way or the other, only in varying degrees. For instance, the wonders of the Israeli nation is deeply etched in God’s mercy (Rom.9:13-18). It was God’s mercy that supernaturally turned their battles around, to make room for their inexplicable victories, as found in the battle of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:21).

Even today, it is His mercy we have received that saved us, keeps us, provides for us, heals us, forgives us and even gives us a hope of heaven.

When God deals with any man according to His mercy, don’t just write him off yet, because anything can still happen. Such destinies can still gain momentum and be propelled to great ascendence. For instance, by mercy, Esther, the common slave girl became the Queen in Shushan palace. How about that!

Among the several hundreds of other beautiful virgins across the 127 provinces of King Ahasuerus, God's mercy singled out Esther for coronation, and the King loved her "above all the women” (Esther 2:17).

When mercy speaks, the most disadvantaged becomes repositioned into a most advantageous estate. Mercy is all that’s needed to transit any man from prison to the palace.  If you’re in doubt, please ask Joseph, the erstwhile Egyptian Prime Minister (Genesis 39:21). May mercy locate you and speak for you today in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

In situations where God’s mercy is on the front burner, incurable diseases can vanish miraculously in the twinkling of an eye. The father of the lunatic boy in Matthew 17:14-18 must have tried every possible means to procure healing for his son, all to no avail. Thereafter, he came to Jesus Christ, pleading for mercy, and the child was cured immediately.

The mercy of God is the most inerrant solution to pathetic situations in life. Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus was blind for a long time. But, he knew by revelation that it was only mercy from the Lord that could rescue him from this infirmity. Hence, when he learned that Jesus was passing by, he cried out for God’s mercy, and heaven stood at attention to assist him, restoring his sight instantly (Mark 10:46-52).

God’s Mercy Never Fails!

God’s mercy is never-failing because it is as eternal as it is everlasting, and it is as dependable as it is reliable. The mercy of the Lord is ever sure and durable (Isaiah 55:3).

Moreover, God’s promises of “mercy” to men are always firmly propped up by His “truth” (Psalms 25:10). And, you see, Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Generally speaking, wise men value a promise by the character of him that makes it. Definitely, under the dispensation of the New Testament, any man can enjoy the fullness of God's goodness through Jesus Christ today (2 Corinthians 1:20). God is not only gracious in promising, but He is also very faithful in performing whatever He has promised. All His promises and all His providences are sustained and fully guaranteed by Truth. Alleluia!

Conclusion

Were it not for God’s Mercy that we receive moment by moment, we would have been consumed by woes and wickedness (Lamentations 3:22-23). Hence, supplication for mercy should remain a top agenda on our prayer altars.

When mercy is still speaking, nothing is impossible. When God’s mercy speaks up for you, it can still be well with you, even inside a well! In all His dealings, God’s people see the Lord’s mercy displayed, and His words fulfilled, whatever situations they find themselves. May His sure mercies continue to speak distinctively for us all, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

I went to buy blank videotapes in a van that had “Christian VideoNet” emblazoned on both sides. Immediately I came out of the van, an Indian man engaged me in a friendly conversation. Soon he was talking to me about “Our Lord.”  

My immediate reaction was: “Which Lord is this man talking about? What makes him think that my Lord is his Lord?”

My thinking was that whatever Lord this friendly Indian man was talking about; it cannot be my Lord Jesus Christ.

My new Indian friend kept on chatting, and he was curiously smiling at me. And then it hit me. When I think Indian, I think Hindu. But this Indian man was not a Hindu. That was what he had been trying to communicate to me. This Indian man was a Christian.

Forgive me for having such a one-track mind. On an earlier occasion, I had met another Indian man. He was clearly not a Christian, but I soon got the impression that he was in the marketplace for a new religion. He did not wait for me to witness to him. Having seen the insignia on the van, he wanted me to tell him about Christianity. But then he had some vital questions he wanted cleared up right at the beginning.  

“Your religion,” he asked, “does it allow you to drink alcohol?”

“Yes,” I replied expansively, “we even drink wine in church.”

“Wonderful, wonderful,” said my Indian friend, brightening up. Then he asked: “How many gods do you have?”

I was a bit slow on the uptake and did not quite understand what he was getting at. “What do you mean how many gods do I have?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, yes,” the man replied, without any hint of mischief. “How many gods do you have?”

“I have only one God,” I said marvelling at him.

And then I understood why. He was shopping for another god. This man was quite simply a “god collector.”

“Only one?” he asked in disbelief. “You have only one God?”

“Well, yes,” I replied, now defensive. “I have only one God.”

The man shook his head in a way that said eloquently: “Forget it.” What is the point of a religion where you only have one God? That is simply too risky. What if He happens to be busy at any given time?

Dear Reader, how many gods do you have? Do you even know all of them? Many of us do not even realise that we serve other gods. Our predicament is similar to that of the biblical nation of Israel:

They feared the LORD yet served their own gods – according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away. (2 Kings 17:33).

He is the God who took us out of the land of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea and we walked through on dry ground. 600 Egyptian chariots and horses chased us when God delivered us from Egypt and Pharaoh. And yet all of them ended up at the bottom of the Red Sea.

So why would we, after such a glorious experience, trust in the same horses and chariots which brought the Egyptians to grief?

The message should be clear: God saves by faith alone. He who has Jesus has all the protection he needs. He does not need chariots and horses. God says:

“I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.” (Hosea 1:7).

Nevertheless, the Bible records that Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen. (1 Kings 10:26).

My nephew had an urgent question to ask me. “Uncle Femi,” he said, “does God not like His children to save money?”

He had been having some difficulty with the Holy Spirit. Every time he built up a tidy nest egg, the Lord would come up with a project that would wipe it all out. He was becoming frustrated. He just did not seem to have any money put away for the rainy day.

“God does not like His children to rely on money,” I said to him. “He wants His children to depend solely on Him. It would appear that, in your case, when you build up a savings you start to rely on the money, instead of relying on God.”

You can put burglar-proofing on your door but do not rely on it. It can be cut like paper. You can buy life insurance policies but do not put your hope in them. The insurance company itself can collapse. You can not have a godfather. Neither can you have a “sugar daddy.” And you can never go to Egypt for help. (Isaiah 31:1).

So, tell me please: how can we fight Goliath if we have no weapons? Do not even bother trying to put on the armour of Saul. The weapons of our warfare are not man-made, but they have divine power to pull down strongholds. (2 Corinthians10:4).

How would we kill Goliath? “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6). How would we pay our school fees? How would we meet our life partners? How would we get promoted in our jobs? Neither by might nor by power but by the Holy Spirit.

Jesus revealed to us that God is spirit. This means He is invisible and immaterial. He is not flesh and blood. Since God is a spirit, worship must be spiritual. Once we make an image, it is no longer spiritual worship. Therefore, God insists that we make no likeness of Him.

The LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form; you only heard a voice. (Deuteronomy 4:12).

Once we have to relate to something physical, be it a rosary or a beautiful carving of Jesus, it is no longer spiritual worship; it is physical worship. Note that the children of Israel worshipped the brass serpent that Moses made, calling it Nehushtan. (2 Kings 18:4).

Christianity is not the service about an altar of stone or wood but about the human heart and life. It is not the service of Sunday best clothes, but of the garment of praise (Isaiah 61:3) and the robes of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10). It is not the service of drums, saxophones, and organs, but of making melody in our hearts to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19).

Spiritual worship means keeping oneself unspotted from the world by living holy godly lives. (James 1:27).

But frankly, faith is a big problem for a lot of Christians. It is so unreal. We want a God we can see: a God we can touch. And so, we make a calf and say it is the God that brought us out of Egypt. But we just made the calf, so how can it be God? Or, we want a king like all the others. But is God not our king? No! We want a king who is flesh and blood.

And so, we not only weary men but we also weary God as well. We provoke the Holy One of Israel to anger. God says: “Samuel, tell them what a king will do to them. Tell them a king will sell them and their children into slavery.”

But we are not impressed. It does not matter. We still want a king. Everybody else has one, and we would like to be like everybody else.

The man who looks unto the hills is the man who does not know God. The man who looks unto the hills is the man who does not know where his help is going to come from. He has many gods and so many helpers. But the man who has God knows his salvation is coming from the only true God.

Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. (Jeremiah 3:23).

Even the psalmist who was initially looking to the hills soon realised the error of his ways:

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (Psalms 121:2).

Our help does not come from the lord who is the Governor of the Central Bank. It does not come from the lord who is the Managing Director of First Bank. It comes from “the Lord of all lords” and “the King of kings:” The Lord who made heaven and earth.

Sometimes we pray just to fulfil all righteousness. And after we have prayed, we come back to our senses and have panic attacks.

Joy’s son was going back to the United States from Nigeria. He had an American passport and a Nigerian passport simultaneously. He came in with his Nigerian passport, which meant he did not have a Nigerian visa. But if he tried to leave with his Nigerian passport, they would require him to show a visa for his destination, the United States. That would mean he would have to show his American passport.

But dual nationality had been suspended in Nigeria. If he showed his American passport, they would ask him how he got into the country without a Nigerian visa.

It was a “Catch 22” situation. Joy took the matter to God and asked for His help. Then she went to the airport with her son. But on getting there she had a panic attack. She started looking for other gods to help her. Perhaps there was someone she knew who could help her? Perhaps if she spoke politely to the immigration official he would overlook the matter? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

But what does the word of God say?

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7).

But Joy was anxious about everything, and she had no peace. Finally, the Holy Spirit spoke: “Did you not ask me for help? So why are you still anxious?”

Suddenly, she stood there in the middle of the airport terminal apologising to the Holy Spirit. She had scarcely finished praying her apologies when someone called her name.

“Professor Ogwu, is that you?” She looked up to see this distinguished military officer standing in front of her with a big grin on his face.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“My son is travelling to the United States.”

“Where is he?” the man asked taking charge.

He took charge so completely that he ushered him past immigration and literally onto the plane. Problem solved.

When Joy told her husband what had happened, he was unimpressed. “It was just a coincidence,” he insisted. Coincidence my foot! God is not a coincidental God.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com

I have a fond memory from a Monday a month or so after my mum died. My friend Deb’s son, then three years old, was playing hide and seek with my daughter of the same age. He picked a delightfully impressive hiding place, wedging himself into the bottom of my floor-to-ceiling shelves. He was wearing camouflage print and against the usual domestic detritus on our shelves proved genuinely difficult to find. Quite a feat.

I properly laughed, for which I was truly grateful. It had been quite a while since I had laughed like that. Deb was there to deliver dinner for us all; something she had promised to do a few days earlier. A family meal, every Monday, for the next few weeks.

“That is beyond nice of you, but way too much of an ask,” I said.

“OK, but you’re not asking, I’m just doing it,” she replied. “Just accept and enjoy while you get through the grey.”

Grief can come in many shades. For me, there was the glowing red panic of my mum’s cancer prognosis that was falling off a cliff so fast we could barely keep up. Then there was the searing white heat of her actual death, and the blinding fame that comes with being the bereaved at the centre of a tragic circus. And then came the grey. That point when I was due to get to back to normal life, except everything was entirely abnormal because how could it possibly be anything else? A meteor had struck and left a gaping abyss in my world which I was somehow meant to avoid falling into.

Deb intuited Mondays were my greyest days. The day of the week that I was solely responsible for my three-year-old and not quite one-year-old. The day of the week my mum had called her “Abigail Mondays” because that was the day she would devote to me and my children, ever since I had moved back to my home town to be closer to her 18 months earlier. After her death, I was a shell of a person by teatime on a Monday, struggling to function with two young children relying on me for their care. That is when Deb knocked on with dinner.

Friends and family did so many wonderfully kind things for me at that time, each act of compassion like a thread of a safety net they collectively sewed to prevent me from freefalling into the abyss. Deb’s Monday meals-on-wheels were a particularly robust bit of net that I will never forget.

So we asked you, our readers, for the good memories of your worst of times. For some, it is a lifelong friend who ran to their rescue; for others, a perfect stranger who showed them extraordinary kindness when they needed it most. From grand, country-crossing gestures to just listening, all of them acted as a balm to souls at their weariest. Like a homemade meal for your family on a grey Monday.

When I met Caroline (not her real name because, honestly, I really don’t remember it), I was at a party in Toronto. I had had a stillbirth in the spring and this was summer. My family and friends could only stand so much of my grief. Somehow Caroline and I ended up sitting with each other in a private corner away from the noise and I told her about giving birth to Tabitha at eight months, already knowing that she had died in utero. She listened to me without interrupting, her quiet attention giving me space for my stumbling, anguished words. And then we sat. Still, quiet, letting the story of Tabitha have yet another moment. She’ll maybe not know how grateful I was/am for that. I will never forget it.
Vivien Stollmeyer, Trinidad and Tobago

When I was at university, I struggled with my mental health. One of the most acute spikes of anxiety and depression coincided with exam season. In the midst of this crisis, I volunteered at a local charity shop. When I started my shift one of my fellow volunteers presented me with an entire bag of home-cooked meals, enough to last me a week, “so you have one less thing to worry about”. It remains the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. The food was delicious, and I ended up doing well in my exams, too.
Declan Cochran, Worthing

My husband died on Christmas Day when I was 35. My first birthday without him was six months later; our daughter had just turned three, and so I was up early making her breakfast. When I drew back the curtains I discovered that my sister had been to my house (very early) and stuck “Happy birthday” and “We love you” signs up on my windows. It really lit up a dark morning.
Rebecca Messenger-Clark, Leeds

I was one of the unfortunate people kept in draconian Australian hotel quarantine during the second wave of Covid. My dad had a sudden heart attack and instead of being able to fly to his bedside, I ended up alone in a windowless room three hours’ drive away. It was hell. But one of my oldest friends, Thomas, really went above and beyond. Every day I woke up to a coffee delivered by an alien in PPE and him standing under my window, ready to talk. Over the two weeks he organised letters and treat boxes from my friends, exercise plans, books – things to let me know that I wasn’t alone. My dad died while I was in my Covid prison, but Thomas kept showing up: he reminded me that friendship, as Coleridge said, is a sheltering tree.
Sophie Mathisen, London

It was the late 1980s, at Christmas, and I was living in Norwich on my own. I knew I wasn’t getting any presents because I didn’t really know anybody there, but a woman I had met by chance left a wrapped Christmas box for me. It was beautifully done with various gifts inside – a book, bubble bath, chocolates, some really nice tea and gorgeous biscuits. I was on benefits at the time, and I was very ill and barely making it financially each month, but she didn’t know this. It was an act of kindness.
Sarah Lionheart, Whaley Bridge

Shortly before the Manchester riots in 2011, I was robbed at knifepoint by an intruder in my flat. Fortunately I was not injured, but the experience shook me up. My friend dropped everything to be with me and joined me for my police interview, and later, my attendance at court. She was there for me every step of the way and this made our friendship even stronger.
Harry

I’m currently going through cancer treatment, and things are very uncertain. With too much time on my hands, I have sometimes felt very lost in frightening thoughts. I mentioned to a friend that I was running out of courage. A parcel arrived with a beautiful soft toy lion inside, with a message: “Here’s some extra courage for you.” I sleep with the lion – if I am wakeful in the night, this little toy soothes me but also connects me to the loving support of my friend.
Leigh, Wiltshire

I have travelled frequently on my own, but since my father passed away, I’ve never had a friend or partner meet me at the airport at my final destination. I mentioned it once to a friend, then thought no more of it. Over a year later I went to meet her in India, and she surprised me at the airport with flowers and a silly welcome sign. Such a simple gesture but it meant so much.
Lilly Crick, Brighton

My husband of 20 years died a little over a year ago after a heart-wrenching struggle with type 1 diabetes and end-stage renal disease. To chronicle my grief, I tried a new medium, TikTok. I put my grief into short, one-minute capsules, hashtagging #widow. I received thousands of comments from other widows who were watching my raw pain. Laurie reached out to me in a private message about her own loss – her husband of 17 years had died in a motorcycle accident. She was broken like me. I took a risk and gave her my phone number. We shared our experience of love and loss. She was able to understand me in a way my friends could not, and never tried to fix me or expect me to “move on”. On the one-year anniversary of my husband’s death, which I was dreading, she bought a ticket from Rochester NY to Los Angeles to hold my hand. My godson dug a hole in the garden for me to plant a gardenia bush and mix my husband’s ashes into the roots. My new friend was crying, too. She didn’t speak. She didn’t have to. She was there.
Carole Raphaelle Davis, Los Angeles and Nice

During the terrible 2017 California fire season, our entire neighbourhood was threatened by multiple wildfires. From our house, we could see the fire line and the planes dropping orange-coloured retardant; power was cut off and the police toured the area warning residents to evacuate. With some difficulty, because cellphone connections were bad, my wife and I rented a lovely, if expensive, house in San Francisco, one of the few still available. The owner greeted us and as soon as I told him about our circumstances he stated emphatically: “Stay as long as you need to. There will be no charge for your stay.” His kindness is seared into my memory.
Gabriel Baum, Sonoma

I was at work when I heard news that my dear dad had taken his own life. I called my friend and, worried about me driving after hearing such news, she offered to pick me up in a heartbeat. She drove me 45 minutes to collect my mum and brother and brought us back to my home so we could begin to process what had happened. To bravely support us all in the immediate aftermath was heroic.
Anonymous

 

The Guardian, UK

Nigeria’s naira weakened for a ninth straight day against the dollar, making it the worst-performing currency in the first half as a steep devaluation, insufficient dollar liquidity and market volatility hampered efforts to stem its rout.

It’s weakened 0.2% to 1,510 per dollar by the close on Thursday, FMDQ data compiled by Bloomberg show. The losing streak is the longest since July 2017 and takes the decline since the start of the year to 40%.

Nigeria's Naira Leads First-Half Declines Against the Dollar

The currency has depreciated 40% against the dollar in 2024.

The naira’s performance is the worst among global currencies tracked by Bloomberg beside that of the pound in Lebanon, which is undergoing an economic crisis and witnessing dollarization.

“While the naira is undervalued and has seen significant adjustment, the supply of dollars needs to improve for the currency to be supported,” Samir Gadio, head of Africa strategy at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in London, said by email. “Portfolio inflows have yet to pick up, even amid still-attractive local rates.”

Nigeria has faced years of acute foreign-exchange scarcity and instability arising from lower crude production and a lack of economic diversification. The local unit has lost about 70% of its value against the dollar since June 2023, when President Bola Tinubu’s government introduced policy changes to lure inflows to help revive the economy.

The currency was volatile between mid-April and May due to the imbalance between demand and supply for the greenback, before the swings moderated in June on an improvement in dollar inflows.

Central bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso said this week the lender believes the currency’s volatility may be a thing of the past and will work to promote investor confidence. Since assuming office in September, he has increased interest rates by 750 basis points to 26.25%, cleared a foreign-exchange backlog and negotiated multilateral dollar inflows to help prop up the currency.

Besides the naira, Egypt’s pound and Ghana’s cedi were the world’s other worst performers in the first half.

“Adjustment and rebalancing in 2024 after years of a heavily managed and misaligned currency regime,” account for the currencies weakening, Gadio said. For the naira, “what will matter going forward is whether it can stabilize on improving foreign-exchange inflows and perhaps see some appreciation,” he said.

 

Bloomberg

The United Nations humanitarian agency is struggling to secure funding to combat severe food insecurity in Nigeria's insurgency-hit northeast, raising fears of mass hunger and deaths, its resident coordinator warned.

In April, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched a $306 million appeal alongside Nigeria on behalf of 2.8 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, states ravaged by a 15-year Islamist insurgency, during the lean season, a period of peak food scarcity.

OCHA chief Mohamed Malick Fall told Reuters that, despite an initial $11 million commitment from Nigeria and another $11 million from the UN's central pool, the target remained far off due to reluctance among international donors.

"We are far from where we want to be. That is something we are confronted by even beyond the lean season which is that we have noticed that humanitarian assistance to Nigeria is shrinking," Fall said in an interview on Thursday.

Fall anticipates receiving only $300 million in the best-case scenario, a significant drop from the $500 million secured last year. He attributed the decline to the economic impact of Covid-19 on major donors.

Competition from new global crises has also diverted attention and resources.

"Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan have all emerged in the past two years which makes it difficult to maintain the same pace of funding," Fall said.

The situation is further exacerbated by Nigeria's worst cost-of-living crisisin a generation, with inflation exceeding 33% and food prices soaring above 40%.

OCHA warns of "catastrophic" consequences of food insecurity in Nigeria's northeast without immediate intervention.

UNICEF data from April already shows more than 120,000 children admitted for treatment of severe acute malnutrition in the region, exceeding the entire year's target of around 90,000.

"The cost of inaction has many folds with the most pressing being an excess mortality among children," Fall said.

 

Reuters

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued fresh guidelines on foreign currency deposits by deposit money banks (DMBs).

CBN made this known in a circular signed by Solaja Olayemi, its acting director of the currency operations department on Friday.

In the circular, the apex bank directed banks to transfer all excess foreign currency notes to its Lagos or Abuja branches.

The financial regulator said this is aimed at boosting liquidity in the foreign exchange market. 

According to CBN, each bank would be allowed a maximum deposit of $10 million threshold for $100 notes and $50 notes daily.

“In order to deepen the foreign exchange market, boost liquidity and attain convergence in the exchange rates of the parallel and official markets, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has approved that DMBs may deposit their excess foreign currency notes with Lagos and Abuja branches of the Bank,” CBN said.

“The approval is a response to the increasing demand by DMBs to deposit their forex cash with CBN for onward credit to their off-shore accounts with the correspondent banks.”

‘3 WORKING DAYS NOTICE FOR INTENT TO DEPOSITS’

The financial regulator said the banks should adhere strictly to its guidelines such as giving three days notice showing intent to deposit foreign currencies.

“Give at least three (3) working days’ notice of their intent to deposit forex cash, in writing to the branch controller, CBN Lagos or/and Abuja. This must be accompanied by the list of owners of foreign currency to be deposited,” CBN said.

“All deposits must be within the threshold of the following per day: (i) USD higher bills ($100 and $50) maximum limit of $10 million. (ii) USD lower bills (20 and below) maximum limit of $1 million. (iii) GBP notes a maximum limit of £1 million. (iv) EURO notes – maximum limit of €1 million.

“Two (2) representatives of the depositing bank must be present to witness and confirm the amount to be deposited.

“Deposits may be in $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, $1 and all GBP and EURO denominations. Each denomination shall be in separate boxes.

“The DMBs shall engage the services of only CBN-registered CIT companies for deposits of foreign currency notes.

“The time for accepting deposits shall be between 8am and 12pm.”

CBN said Abuja and Lagos branches would receive, count and authenticate deposits in the presence of the representatives of the depositing bank on the same day.

“The bank shall credit the DMBs account through their correspondent bank within the cycle time of T+5.” the apex bank said.

“The handling charge of 0.30 per cent of the authenticated amount should be recovered from the DMB current account with CBN.

“The Bank would not accept forex deposits from any DMB that fails to comply with any of the guidelines.”

On September 12, 2023, the CBN asked banks to stop utilising gains from the revaluation of the naira to pay dividends or finance operations.

 

The Cable

Israeli forces push deeper into southern and northern Gaza

Israeli forces pressed their incursion deeper into two northern and southern areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday, and Palestinian health officials said tank shelling in Rafah killed at least 11 people.

Residents and Hamas media said tanks advanced further west into the Shakoush neighbourhood of Rafah, forcing thousands of displaced people there to leave their tent camps and head northward to the nearby Khan Younis.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Since May 7, tanks have advanced in several districts of Rafah, and forces remained in control of the entire border line with Egypt and the Rafah crossing, the only gateway for most of Gaza's 2.3 million people with the outside world.

One resident, who spoke to Reuters via a chat app, said some bulldozers in the Shakoush area were piling up sand for Israeli tanks to station behind.

"Some families live in the area of the raid and are now besieged by the occupation forces," he told Reuters.

"The situation there is very dangerous and many families are leaving towards Khan Younis, even from the Mawasi area as things became unsafe for them," said the man, who moved northward overnight.

More than eight months into Israel's air and ground war in Gaza triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on Oct. 7, the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces operating in areas over which the army said it had gained control months ago. The Palestinian groups sometimes still fire rockets into Israeli territory.

In a yard at the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, mourners gathered with 10-year-old Belal Abu Hassanein, whose mother and brother were killed in an air strike that hit their house.

"I went to check out our rooftop, they struck us, I was bombed - I flew off the rooftop and fell," said Belal, who was laid on a hospital stretcher after being wounded in the attack.

"My grandfather started screaming ... He was telling us that there was a hit at our place. When I heard the word hit, I went to check the room in which I was sleeping," he said. "I found that my mother and brother had been martyred."

CEASEFIRE EFFORTS STALLED

Arab mediators' efforts, backed by the United States, have so far failed to conclude a ceasefire. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in fighting until Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.

When Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel last October they killed around 1,200 people and seized more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The Israeli offensive in retaliation has so far killed more than 37,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and has left the tiny, heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.

In parallel, Israeli forces continued their new raid into the Shejaia neighbourhood in the northern Gaza Strip, into which tanks advanced on Thursday prompting heavy fighting with Hamas-led militants.

Medics said earlier that several Palestinians have been killed and wounded in Israeli bombardment and that medical teams have been unable to reach all casualties because of the military offensive.

The Israeli military said forces were conducting "targeted" raids in Shejaia, adding that the air force struck dozens of Hamas military targets in the area.

It said that one Hamas militant, who was operating from a humanitarian-designated area, was killed in a strike it launched in the Deir Al-Balah area in central Gaza. It said measures were taken to ensure no harm to civilians, accusing Hamas of systematically using Palestinian civilians as shields. Hamas denies that.

 

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia delivers 17 strikes at Ukrainian military-industrial sites over week

Russian forces delivered 17 strikes by precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles, hitting Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises, logistics centers, army and foreign mercenaries’ deployment areas over the past week in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"On June 22-28, the Russian Armed Forces delivered 17 combined strikes by precision weapons and attack unmanned aerial vehicles, hitting energy facilities of Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises, military airfield infrastructure, logistics centers accumulating Western-supplied armaments, and also assembly and storage sites for attack unmanned aerial vehicles and naval drones. The strikes also targeted temporary deployment areas of Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries," the ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s Battlegroup North inflicts 1,560 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup North kept advancing deep into the Ukrainian army’s defenses and inflicted roughly 1,560 casualties on enemy troops in the Kharkov area over the past week, the ministry reported.

"During the week, Battlegroup North units kept advancing deep into the enemy’s defenses and inflicted casualties on manpower and equipment of three Ukrainian army formations, a marine infantry brigade and three territorial defense brigades. The enemy’s losses amounted to 1,560 personnel, 12 armored combat vehicles and 43 motor vehicles," the ministry said.

In counterbattery fire, Russian forces destroyed 33 Ukrainian field artillery guns, among them seven foreign-made howitzers, three Nota and Bukovel-AD electronic warfare stations and two US-made AN/TPQ-50 counterbattery radar stations," the ministry said.

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicts 3,230 casualties on Ukrainian army over week

Russia’s Battlegroup West inflicted roughly 3,230 casualties on the Ukrainian army in its area of responsibility over the past week, the ministry reported.

"The Ukrainian army’s losses in that frontline area over the past week amounted to 3,230 personnel, four armored combat vehicles, 40 motor vehicles, three Grad multiple rocket launchers and 24 field artillery guns, among them six US-made weapons," the ministry said.

Russian troops liberate Razdolovka community in DPR over past week

Russian troops liberated the settlement of Razdolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past week, the ministry reported.

"Southern Battlegroup units liberated the settlement of Razdolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic in active operations and gained better positions," the ministry said.

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian military says it captures eastern Ukraine village, Kyiv says fighting continues

Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had taken control of the settlement of Rozdolivka in eastern Ukraine, but Ukraine's military said heavy fighting was raging in areas around the settlement.

The Russian ministry said in a statement that Russia's "Southern" military grouping had taken up what it called more favourable positions after pushing Ukrainian forces out of the settlement.

Rozdolivka is located in Donetsk region, the focal point of Russia's slow advance across eastern Ukraine. It lies north of Bakhmut and Soledar, two localities brought under Russian control last year after being flattened in months of battles.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff, in an evening report on Friday, said Russian forces had launched 19 attacks in a broad sector that included Rozdolivka.

"Our soldiers resolutely held their defences and repelled 15 of the assaults," the report said. "Four armed confrontations are continuing."

Reuters could not verify battlefield accounts from either side.

Russian forces pressing forward along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line have captured several villages in eastern regions since they captured the strategic town of Avdiivka in February.

 

Tass/Reuters

I am beginning to believe the common saying that “power corrupts” quite beyond its original context, either because of the exceeding and degenerative continuing trends of African leaders from forgetting the promises they had campaigned for and the background they had come from by ruling with a fierce hand and inconsiderate motivations. Sometimes, the belief has been that the right leader for the suffering citizenry should come from the group of those who have faced similar trauma. Well, the recent trend of African leadership had rendered such belief a mere lofty assumption.

President William Ruto of Kenya had climbed his way to the top through the impossibilities of the African political classes and bought the hearts of the people with the various problems he faced on his way up. He was voted with the people’s conviction that they had voted a “Hustler-in-Chief” in office. I mean, he had had to hustle the sales of chicken on the roads. People should have seen that he was far from being a hustler, as he claimed after his political assignments in the country and the corruption allegations against him. But the Kenyans were further persuaded by his determination and relatability; he had said, “We want everyone to feel the wealth of this country. Not just a few at the top.” The campaign’s points against his opponent, Odinga, at the election was that he represented the image of the Kenyan hustlers against the Odinga dynasty and was only convinced to “put food on the table” of the Kenyans. I am not sure many remember that he started his political career under Moi, receiving money to purchase votes and launder images.

Like many of the average politicians in Africa, Ruto quickly lost sight of the plight of the people and stiffened the air that the poor breathed. Having this background imprinted on the back of the minds of the people, the expectation of the people as to what Ruto would use his good office to do was either to make the situation better or to ensure it does not get worse than it is. One would not blame the citizens. Perhaps the people failed to notice that his game was to serve the interests of Washington D.C. to the extent that he damaged the name of his country in support of genocide, incurring curses from those who lost their lives in the Mau Mau struggles. In enjoying the red carpet treatment offered to him by the U.S., travelling there in a charted plane paid for by nameless friends, Ruto is too naïve to remember the policy statements as enunciated by Henry A. Kissinger:

To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal. America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests.

We should ask Ruto: is it true that there were American observers in the Parliament on the day they voted for the Finance Bill 2024? Maybe your political enemies made up the story. Could it also be true that parliamentarians received bribes before they voted for the bill? Another rumour? Other rumours, but who is driving the obsession to drive the bill? If the country needs to pay its debt, why not shift the burden to Ruto and his friends, who are already enjoying so much?

The task of a government is torn between the need to satisfy state realities and the welfare of the people they govern. Often, many African governments have tilted towards these economic steps without considering the welfare of their people at the very moment. They unknowingly separate the people’s wishes, experiences, and priorities from those grand economic plans and realities they claim to address. Well, leaving out the different shenanigans of the politicians in Africa and those in Kenya, policies are created without reading the room.

Ruto and his cohorts have been making policies upon policies with the claim to stabilize the economy and other supposed grand schemes for the nation. The government’s Finance Bill was supposed to cover the next financial year from July to June, giving the skeletal financial framework of the country. The Bill intends to solve the country’s many economic and financial crises by putting heavy loads on the people without thinking outside the box.

The bill increases the taxes on commodities, such as bread and annual returns on vehicles. The bill puts the Motor Vehicle Tax at 2.5% annually with a minimum benchmark of KES 5,000 and not more than KES 100,000, which is safe only for government vehicles and ambulances. Multinational enterprises are put on a 15% tax, and their annual turnover is 750 euros. This also includes digital service tax increments, adjustments to withholding taxes, digital content, and VAT. The bill introduced a 16% tax on bread and an excise duty on consumables like cooking oil and other basic items. The SMEs are faced with more taxes and liabilities than in previous years.

The supposed reasoning of the government is to generate more revenue to enable it to service the numerous debts it had incurred over the years. It targets about $2.7 billion from the taxes to service the budget deficit and make provisions for the supposed running of the government. Another justification was that the increments would allow the government to meet the IMF requirements and recommendations for Kenya’s economic restructuring and efforts to stabilize critical public services like healthcare, infrastructure, and education.

While the justifications behind these policies might appear convincing, the policies, forming the means, are way off the track to achieve any. You can not tax people out of poverty because no one gives what he does not have: Nemo quo dat non habet. At the moment, more than 36.1% of the total Kenyan population lives below the poverty line of the country, and the statistics of those living below the $1.90 per cent daily earning have been of regrettable concern as of 2023. The country maintains an unfavourable unemployment rate with a projection of an increment of 2% before the end of this year and with about 2.9 million persons unemployed. Aside from these many problems, the rate of job losses across the country has been increasing lately, with more than 70,000 job losses recorded between the end of 2022 and 2023.

You see, every act and policy of any country must gain validity from the will of the people and the welfare of the same. With the long history of suffering the people, one Ruto claimed to have hustled through, and the contemporary complications on the survival possibilities of the people, the primary objectives of any reasonable government should be to make the people as comfortable as they can get. Imposing a 16% tax on bread and oil that people find difficult to buy or any common food they long for is an evil disguised in the name of doing good. Why not limit them to eating two meals a day and drinking water for dinner?

This begs the question of why the people must be suffocated at every point of governmental inconvenience. The task is not to make policies in a vacuum but to primarily alleviate the suffering of the people at best or to ensure no complications at least. It is quite unfortunate and unfair that the poor, whom Ruto had claimed to have hustled with, are left to bear the burden while the rich and influential bask in pools of Kenyan commonwealth. The allegations of corrupt practices in the Kenyan government have been at an alarming rate, and one wonders why the government has not looked at the sabre-toothed cankerworms that eat into the economic sanity of the nation.

The Kenyan judiciary has been charged with different levels of corrupt practices, leading to some faceoff between the stakeholders. The misappropriation of the KES 20 billion that was supposedly planned for the Soin-Koru Dam restoration, The KEMSA scandal pointing to the misappropriation of health funds, including illegal awarding of tenders to the tune of about $72 million during Covid-19, the heavy lootings by Kenya Public servants to the tune of $3.8 million just by the end of June 2023, and other lavish lifestyles of officials are some of the disgraceful issues and instances that have quickened the spirit of the people against unfavourable policies. Amid this crisis, Ruto, the supposed Hustler-in-Chief, without relating with the plight of the people and failing to show that the country is in urgent need of funds, decided to charter a private jet to both Atlanta and Washington D. C at a cost of about $1.5 million. $1.5 million on a trip when his people suffer? So, can Ruto impose a tax on sanitary pads to recoup? Is the menstruation blood needed for some kind of ritual to remain in power?

It is reasonable that when perseverance becomes too difficult, every human being will resist. This was the case in the Kenya population’s resistance to the Finance Bill 2024. If the government fails to read the room to understand what the people face, it will start a war against its citizens. After the announcement of the Bill, Ruto and the parliament have faced severe opposition and protests, and from June 18, 2024, protests had intensively started from social media and Nairobi and spread to Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nyeri, and Eldoret. On June 20, 2024, the protest had escalated to a national crisis.

The highlight of this discussion rests on the government’s response to the expression of agitation among its people. The government faced the people like it was fighting its enemies. Some reporters claimed that about 22 people had been killed, 300 injured, and about 50 people arrested by the security operatives as of June 26, 2024. In fact, the President had claimed that the protest had turned into a threat to national security, and many “criminals” had pretended to be protesters, intending to terrorize the government. How can Ruto call the citizens he governs criminals?

The same way the economic issue is handled wrongly is how the protest escalation was handled carelessly. The arrogance of the government has blinded its eyes from the need to expediently respond to the plight of the people and catch the protest at its early stage by taking preliminary steps at achieving and not being apprehensive with the same people that put him in office. I believe that the Parliament’s insensitive attitudes that made them go ahead with the Finance Bill is an affront to democracy, which is obvious evidence of their inability to understand the people’s claims. In addition, the latter concession of the President, refusing to sign the bill, is equivalent to medicine after death. Kenya would not be erased from the map if it suspends the passing of the Bill in order to achieve peace and for a more diplomatic approach.

It is more disheartening that the treatment of the people in their biggest moment of vulnerability has come from a man who has claimed to have once been like them. A man who had promised to make their lives comfortable and one who promised to bring sanity to their welfare care. It is important that if there will be anything to savage at all, it is pertinent that Ruto and its government drop the arrogance and show more intentionality about promoting peace without violence. The first solution is not to impose more taxes on people who can barely survive: once again, you can not tax people out of poverty.

“Hustler-in-Chief” treat your people with respect and do not suffocate the suffocating citizenry anymore.