Nigerians have indeed suffered tremendously in the last one year. Not strictly the hunger tugging at our bellies. That pestilence of hunger was brilliantly conveyed by the whammy soundbite, “Ebi npa wa o” as Lagos Island people’s response to the president’s fleet of gleaming SUVs last year. As an aside, permit the pun, I think that national soundbite deserves a Grammy. Lacerating words from those who rule us even rub salt on our hunger injury. They make Christians race for their bibles to read the famous and incredulous story of King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor. Some young men had helped Rehoboam design a Manifesto themed on how to effectively govern Israel. Perhaps, it was 80-paged, too? Or probably christened “Renewed Hope” as well? Whereas his father-predecessor inflicted heavy yoke on the people, counseled the young men in the Manifesto, Rehoboam’s administration should add to the yoke. So, Rehoboam’s Manifesto had the catchphrase, “whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.” In a language devoid of political sentiment, it looks like the transition from Muhammadu Buhari to where we are now has a Rehoboamic flavour.

I was not old enough to cognize what happened during the Nigerian civil war so, pardon my comparative shortcoming. Were Nigerian lives this miserable during the war? Many have, in the last one year, died of Rehoboam scorpion stings. Many are in the sanatorium. Many depressed compatriots are looking vacantly into the sky and muttering lullabies to God-knows-who. Many husbands have lost their economic manhood. The sick who could not afford spiking drug costs are now at conference table with their Creator. The president and his kitchen crew have become Eddy Iroh’s Toads of (our) War. They grow “big fat stomachs,” apologies to Fela Kuti. N21 billion just renovated the Vice president’s palace. Our First Lady got billions of Naira voted for her kitchen so that tomatoes and pepper can be plenty on the shelf.

Last Tuesday, our president cavalierly dismissed our sufferings. What the hell are we howling about? “You are not the only ones suffering!” he admonished the Ebi npa wa orchestra. Though it was from a statement issued by spokesperson Ajuri Ngelale, I imagine our president fluffing the arms of his agbada proudly and majestically like Mother Eagle. If you dissemble the president’s words properly, they are almost akin to Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette’s famous statement during the French revolution. French people were starving. “Let them eat cake,” the Queen had said, totally removed from the pangs of the people’s hunger. With hunger decking the bellies of the French, the Queen was literally asking the people the impossibility of making a gangan drum with the hide of an elephant. The president was comfortable comparing malaises and not wellness. Seyitan Atigarin of Arise 

television yesterday provided a perfect anecdotal explanation of the president’s infelicity. Aso Rock’s gaffe can be compared to the words of a gym instructor. To an obese person looking up to him for conquest of fat, the instructor asked the obese to look at the sea of the obese like him in the gym for inspiration. Shouldn’t he exemplify hope by citing those who had conquered their fat?

Our Rehoboam experience bonds very well with the submission of a content creator who I recently stumbled on, on the YouTube. He is Tomiwa Adio of Agogo Ede Multimedia concept. While trying to correct what he called mis-usages of Yoruba aphorism, Adio unknowingly told us about our Rehoboam world. The wise-saying which he claimed we mis-use is in the form of a fable. For ages, Yoruba had always said, “Af’agò k’éyin àparò, ohun ojú wá l’ojúú rí” – the one who packs the eggs of the bird called pheasant (aparo) inside a local cage deserves no pity. They only got their due recompense. The pheasant is a very alert bird. It moves about with fear of running into a human trap. To avoid human irritancy, pheasants build their nests safely from any human environment. Any slight suspicion of adversary’s presence, the pheasant flies away. In Adio’s clarification, the Af’agò k’éyin àparò, ohun ojú wá l’ojúú rí” aphorism was a misuse of language. The right usage, he said, was “the one who lurks in wait to catch a pheasant, in order to pick its eggs” (agè’gùn k’éyin àparò) “deserves the aftermath”. In the process of lurking in wait for the pheasant to leave its nest where the eggs are laid, a number of inconveniences come their way. So, the one who lurks to kill the àparò and harvest its eggs not only needs patience, they must know that they could suffer the bite of the giant ant, (Tanpépé) the wasp, (agbón) or bee (oyin’s) sting. They must suffer the recompense in silence. So, did Nigerians lurk this long to pick the eggs of a pheasant?

You do not need to slide the panes of your window to see tears, pain and anguish all over Nigeria. Sufferings are our ever-present guests. They sit at table with us, in company of their compatriot of tomfoolery in high and low places. But, don’t our elders say if the deity, the Orisa, cannot remedy a situation, it should not worsen it? When system henchmen ask why we make these issues daily refrain, we tell them that our case is synonymous with that of a poor man whose fowl was stolen by a rich man (èdá t’ó gb’ádìye òtòsì) and who, by that very fact, has courted to himself, not only the ire of the poor but a global amplification of the poor man’s fate (ó gbelé t’aláròyé). The whole world must hear of the inequity.

An example is the rude and unnecessary debate on whether our president should purchase a jet to add to his harem, pardon me, fleet of ten jets. This is coming at a time when “ebi ńpa wá” has become a national ringtone and Nigerians can’t see tomatoes and pepper on their dining table. We can however see a presidential “bùgá” and “bragging right”. Then, presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, came up with a widely-adjudged common error of reasoning. In a reaction to criticisms against the purchase of presidential jet by this government, Onanuga demanded if critics wanted the president to die in flight like Malawian Vice President, Saulos Chilima and Ebrahim Risi, president of Iran. Let us not dwell on the flavor of indecorum and gloating at the dead noticeable in the statement. Known as “emotive bullying” or “emotional gangsterism,” that presidential statement was an argumentative reasoning that sought to appeal to consequence. In Symbolic Logic, Onanuga’s argument is identified by a Latin word called argumentum ad consequentiam. In such argument to consequence, the one arguing creates an atmosphere of pity. They base the truth or falsity of their argument on whether the premise leads to pleasant or unpleasant consequences, waylaying their opponent by appealing to the consequences of the action of accepting or rejecting their line of argument.

Nigeria’s case is like that of the proverbial rolling stone that gathers no moss, something I have elsewhere referred to as a multidimensional malaise. This was what late Babatunde Olatunji couched to arrive at the title of his 1978 Yoruba novel, Egbìrìn Òtè. Are you following the tomfoolery going on in Rivers and Kano States? In both, you can see the hands of the Leviathan. It is obvious that year 2027 is high on the calculations of decisions being taken on the two states. If human casualties litter the streets of Port-Harcourt and Kano, so be it. A president who desires peace in Rivers knows what to do. A major irreverent piece in a faggot, which the Yoruba call “Igi wórókó,” which is upturning the peace of the earthen space, (ààrò) is right inside the president’s trousers (sòkòtò) in Abuja. So, why pretending to be going to Sokoto to find it? If Nigeria’s No 1 Citizen desires peace in Rivers and Kano this moment, it will happen in a twinkle of an eye. All he needs do is agree that 2027 belongs to God and not to any human, no matter their buga. In Rivers, he only needs to pour cold water on this Rivers hot faggot that took residency with him right there in Abuja and remove it from the fire. Kano has a Siamese portent with Kaduna. The president only needs to allow that impish irritant he is afraid would snatch the race baton from him in 2027, who he is hounding in Kaduna through a remote control, stew in his own broth. The belief that the Kano emirate, friendly to the imp, will help him in 2027 may not necessarily follow.    

One of the multidimensional malaises happened in Zamfara state last week. Governor Dauda Lawal flagged off the construction of an airport. This is in a state where the number of out-of-school children rivals a migrating colony of bats. N62 billion of state funds was the sacrificial lamb, oil and cowries propitiated to this god of elite appetite. On the list of the malaises of last week, too, was the appointment of 85-year old Bisi Akande as Chairman, Governing Council of our own UI. Akande, we are told, does not even have a university degree. Don’t our elders say gold should be given only to he who knows its worth? Four persons on the Council membership list are said to be immediate family members/political fawners who hail from Akande’s homestead in Ila-Orangun.

I am sorry for digressing this considerably. Today is clearly no day for all those malaises, the peculiar messes in high and low places. It is certainly not an epistle on the sting or bite of Tanpépé, agbón and oyin which we have stoically endured in the last one year. As I write this, I am listening to Odolaye Aremu’s elegy to S. L. Akintola and Adegoke Adelabu. Both had died in the First Republic. While Akintola was killed in the military coup of January, 1966, Adelabu died in a fatal automobile accident on March 25, 1958. He was aged 43. The unfortunate death happened in a place called Mile 51 on Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, near Shagamu, today’s Ogun State. In the company of a Syrian businessman, Adelabu’s car had hit an oncoming vehicle.

“Soldiers are killing people (àwon sójà ńpàà’yàn); the number of the dead is innumerable (èmí t’ó bó ò l’óñka),” the arguably one of the greatest musicians to have come from Ilorin, Kwara State, sings. It was a musical reminiscence on the aftermath of Adelabu’s car accident. This petrel of Ibadan politics’ supporters had claimed his death was spiritual assassination, leading to a deadly protest. Over 500 people were arrested by the police and 102 others charged to court. Odolaye’s most profound quip in that track and my takeaway in the midst of this Nigerian peculiar mess is, a tear-provoking happening that stupefies deserves to be confronted with laughter. It is same I canvass today. Odolaye sang it as “Òrò t’ó bá j’ekún lo, èrín làá fií rín”.

Each time I try to make sense of the various existential challenges Nigeria battles, I have, countless times, had recourse to Can Themba. Born in Marabastad, near Pretoria, South Africa, Themba was one of the most poignant South African writers whose works were done in Sophiatown, Johannesburg. An investigative journalist as well, Themba worked with the defunct Drum magazine. His famous award-winning short story entitled The Suit supplies answers to my worry on Nigeria’s uncountable malaises. It tames my wandering wonder. The story is about Philemon, a middle-class lawyer. He had an adulterous wife called Matilda and both of them lived in Sophiatown. Devoted as Philemon was to Matilda, the latter was always fond of turning his home into a tryst immediately he leaves for his office. On this particular day, Philemon was told of the escapade of his wife again. Rather than his wont of leaving for home late in the evening, Philemon went home midday. As the lawyers say, he caught his wife in flagrante with the lover. In the melee that ensued, the lover scampered out of the window but forgot his suit.

To effectively deal with Matilda, Philemon then concocted a strange and bizarre punishment for her. This was a routine he spelt out where Matilda had to behave to the suit which he hung on the shelf as a honored guest. This involved treating it with utmost respect, feeding it, providing ample entertainment for the suit and taking a walk with it, while discussing with it as an animate object. In conceptualizing the punishment, Philemon reckoned that this treatment would serve as a bitter and constant reminder to Matilda about her adultery. Remorseful, psychologically beaten and humiliated, Matilda eventually died of shame of her adulterous escapades. The treatment our Aso Rock tormentors and their predecessors inflict upon us is similar to Philemon’s. Were we at any time adulterous as a people? Is this their way of dealing with us?

 

Ojude Oba, Durbar and Musawa’s African Grammy

Last Tuesday’s cultural display of the Ijebu people of Ogun State in their yearly Ojude Oba festival caught the eyes of the world. Translated as Festival of the King’s Courtyard, it has over the years been one of the most glamorous cultural and spiritual festivals held in Nigeria for over a century now. Many people have queried the rich sartorial depth and affluence of the Ijebu in the midst of Nigeria’s national ferment. Among Yoruba festivals, the glitz and colours associated with this festival place it outside the ranks of any cultural festival in Nigeria. Usually held to coincide with the Islamic Eid-l-adha ceremony, the festival holds on its third day.

Oral historical accounts put the emergence of the festival to Kuku Oduyingbo, who later became Balogun of Ijebu, and or Imam Tunwatoba. Either or both, having recently converted to Islam, gathered friends, families, and well-wishers in homage to then Awujale, Oba Fidipote, who reigned around 1885. It was to appreciate him for the opportunity he gave them to practice Islam without hindrance. Ever since, thanks to Mike Adenuga’s Globacom which heavily funds the festival, Ojude Oba has transformed from being a Sallah homage into a cultural melting point for the Ijebu.

The Ojude Oba goes beyond the glamour of the participants’ dressing, or the equestrian display. Today, it speaks directly to the cultural, religious, social, and military significance of its yearly celebration. It is attended by over a million people. Apart from the visual niceties it brings, it also speaks to the importance of group association as the bedrock of development. You can see this in the gathering and parade of age grade societies called Regberegbe. Established in the 18th century, the age grade societies are known collectively as Wompari. The aim is to bring about amity among groups and ultimately, development into Ijebu land. Wompari is further broken into Egbe Gbobaniyi comprising male and female (1962-1964); Egbe Bobagunte male and female (1956-1958); Akile of Ijebu (1959-1961); Mafowoku, Egbe Arobayo male and female; Egbe Jagunmolu (1965-1967), Egbe Bobakeye, and Egbe Bobagbimo. Most of the Wompari are top industry barons, successful captains of industry and A-List professionals.

What Nigeria advertises to the world in Ojude Oba is cultural elegance and communal cohesion. It does same in the Argungu Fishing festival where showpieces are made of the hugest fish catches. Also in the mode of the Ojude Oba is the Durbar festival, an ancient traditional annual Hausa cultural, religious and equestrian festival which began in the 14th century. Native to northern Nigerian original ancient emirates of Kano, Katsina, Gombe and Akko, it is also celebrated in Sokoto, Zazzau, Bauchi and Bida. It rekindles Hausa’s ancient horsemen preoccupation in the Sahara and Sahel. Like the Ojude Oba, it is also a homage to the Emir and signposted by a colourfully mounted parade of the king’s retinue of horsemen. Musicians and artillerymen also add vibes to the festival.

Over the years, Nigerian creatives have also begun a renaissance to jumpstart the country’s creativity, especially in music. From African traditional music of Dan Maraya in Jos, Ogene songs of Oliver Decoque and Igbo highlife, a contemporary musical genre that combines highlife and Igbo traditional music, lifted into stardom by Stephen Osita Osadebe, to the Yoruba Sakara, Juju and Apala music, Nigeria has evolved into gaining recognition on the global stage. Today, our boys advertise their craft on global audience stage and harvest audiences in the realm of millions. Tiwa Savage, Burna Boy, Davido, Wizkid, Rema, Asake, and many others are doing Nigeria proud in that regard. Blends of Afro beats and hip-hop parade artists like Plantashun Boiz, Def 'O' Clan, Remedies, Trybesmen with world class producers like OJB Jezreel. While they ply their trade at the global stage, these music wizards have also pushed our entertainment industry into becoming a major contributor to the Nigerian economy. Indeed, Nigeria’s entertainment industry is ranked “second-best entertainment and media consumer market” globally with the American music industry being the clear leader.

So, it becomes bothersome when news streaked in that the Nigerian government, represented by Hannatu Musawa, the Minister of Art, Culture, and Creative Economy, is entering into partnership with the American Grammy Awards to establish an African version of the Grammy Award. In a Global Music Industry Growth by Region rating, while Latin America had 21.5%, Asia 12.8%, Europe 6.2%, US/CAN 4.2%, MENA 19.8%, Sub-Saharan Africa had a whopping 28.8%. So why subordinate the master to his apprentice? The question to ask is, will this Africanization of the Grammy bring any good the way of Nigeria or her music industry? The answer is no. The idea is at best imperialist. There can be no two Grammy Awards. The original, which America monopolizes, has a high, if not total dosage of American music flavor. It prides itself as “the music industry’s highest honour” whereas our globally acclaimed musicians from Africa seldom crack its nut. It is why Nigerian superstars hardly win the Grammy. To have dross of Grammy in Africa as Musawa is contemplating is to accept the superiority and then inferiorize our own globally-sought music stars.

As a music enthusiast, I am convinced that what the Minister should be doing by now is to partner existing continental music award platforms which will strengthen and not overshadow them. African music awards institutions like South African Music Awards, (SAMA) Trace Awards, Headies, Ghana Music Awards (GMA), Soundcity MVP Awards, AFRIMA and such like will promote the continent’s music rather than this neo-colonial idea being toyed with by Musawa. She should also devise ways of revving the strides made by Ojude Oba, Durbar, Argungu and allied festivals into making those crafts recognized by the whole world. I hope the minister is listening?

My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth ~ Psalms 121:2.

Introduction:

Your exemption from limitations and from hopeless crises in life is a function of the light of God that is at work in you.

Since the fall of man, it has become completely impossible to live in this world or reign in life all alone without the help of God (Romans 5:17). Surviving wholesomely in our present estate certainly calls for help from a Source beyond ourselves.

The Apostle Paul posits in this regard that the entire creature is in pangs, with joint groans and travails as in birth-pains, to be delivered from the curse of the fall (Romans 8:18-23).

This is the manifest reality in which man finds himself on earth today, and every age has experienced the repetition of the same. However, the story changes for the individuals, families or nations that encounter the help of God (2 Chronicles 26:15).

Occasionally, supernatural help may be preceded by a general atmosphere of uncertainties and palpable fear. However, such conditions don’t last forever, and they cannot obliterate the possibility of divine help once the mercy of God is still in the equation.

For instance, the nation Nigeria is presently experiencing a time of political quagmire, economic instability and escalating security challenges, with attendant fear of danger, both perceived and imaginary. Albeit, it’s never too late for God to help the helpless! Hence, I boldly declare: help is on the way!

I do not know how or when, but help shall soon and surely become very manifest in our national life, in our walk with God, even through the valley of the shadow of death, in our health, finances as well as in our marriages and homes.

Meanwhile, the Lord God Himself shall be fully involved, and I believe He is saying to His people in the midst of these complicated perplexities: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God .... yea, I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:10).

Understanding the Subject of Supernatural Help

To ‘help’ means to contribute to fixing a need, or to aid the accomplishment of a proposed plan. Help connotes a sense of bringing ease, succor or relieve to someone in sad straits.

Put plainly, the world is too intricate for any human being to be without supernatural help. No man can survive here without the help of God, so attempting to live without divine assistance is like leaving the doors open for something tragic to happen.

God is the Real Initiator of true help, and whatever help any man can offer or has ever experienced is as near to nothing when compared with what God has in stock for His covenant children. He helps us with a view to preserving the dignity of His Word and getting us to the place of our appointed destiny (Deuteronomy 33:26-29).

The Gospel of Amazing Help!

Jesus Christ, in one of His missionary trips with His disciples, encountered ten lepers somewhere in the border between Galilee and Samaria (Luke 17:11-19).

At first, the lepers kept their distance to avoid, (in their own view), “rendering” Jesus and His disciples “unclean” (Leviticus 13:46). In other words, they saw themselves as being unworthy at Jesus’ presence. Nevertheless, in that pathetic estate, they stood up and cried out for divine help: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us”.

Succinctly, this was like a cry from men who have no right to expect anything, yet are asking for everything. Hence, their cry was ill-fated from the onset, yet it produced one of Jesus’ most amazing miracles of supernatural assistance.

Note here that there were no pronouncements that the ten were cleansed, no loud voice like “Lazarus, come forth” – only Jesus’ simple command that they go and show themselves to the priests, and that was it. Yet, they discovered on their way that they had been completely healed!

Now, out of the ten lepers, one returned, giving thanks for this gift of mercy received, and it was unto this “thankful one” that Jesus said: “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole”.

Whole? Wonderful! It was indeed an amazing wonder that a leper would be restored wholly to his original state, without loss of fingers or skin color as the case may be.

The one who came to give thanks, and was made whole, was a Samaritan, which implies that the other nine were Jewish. What a wonder of supernatural election! The one person, who should not have gotten it, did; the other nine who should have it, didn’t.

The high point here is: you may feel undeserving of God’s mercy, and, indeed, our nation may be truly unworthy of God’s intervention, yet our story can still shock the world. When God helps you by mercy, your story can daze all those who have, hitherto, predicted that hope is lost!

The Amazing Christ, Our Stay Amidst the Storm!

As we think about Jesus’ life and work, we stand amazed in every way. We all stand amazed to know that He defeated the forces of evil everywhere He went in His earthly ministry. In Him, our present help in times of need is secured.

Jesus Christ is the “Actual Authority of the Universe”, ruling in our world today. This is why there is always that element of supernatural assistance that is inexplicable to the natural mind for those who embrace a supernatural walk with Him.

The myriads of accounts in the New Testament illustrate this with vividness. In Mark 6:47-51, we read an account of a fearful event. The wind was fierce, and the disciples of Jesus had long rowed against it with greatest anxiety and trepidation, but the Lord finally came to them, walking on the water, in the ‘fourth watch’ of the night!

What a refreshing source of faith and encouragement to know that His delay is not tantamount to a denial. When trials go on for a long time, we should not assume that God does not hear our prayers, or that He does not care. Perhaps we have not yet reached the ‘fourth watch’.

Jesus Christ operated solely in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14, 18-21; Acts 10:38). We too can tap into His marvelous help in the midst of trials, by giving quality attention to pleasing the Father always, and dwelling in the presence of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4:1-13).

Friends and brethren, cheer up, help is on the way! The same God that helped David out of his troubles, and made him great will not forget you (1 Chronicles 12:22). Only keep in mind that nothing can truly replace God in this needy world.

In conclusion, be strong in faith, hopeful and highly expectant. Expect springs of astonishing moments in your life. Even in the midst of insurmountable security challenges and backdrops of fear, you can still experience the wonders of His matchless help.

Keep holding on to God’s promises, even in the midst of a barrage of scary news, and help will surely come, in Jesus Name. Welcome to your marvelous hour of supernatural help. 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

The managing director had a liking for Fred, to the great annoyance of Joe, his main rival for promotion. Joe was convinced that Fred was no better at the job than him. He tried his level best to impress the boss but to no avail. So, he opted for a new strategy. 

He would set a trap for Fred, confident that he would slip up sooner than later. He did not have to wait for long. Fred fell into the trap hook, line, and sinker. Joe quickly and gleefully brought the matter to the attention of the boss. The dye was cast. He knew that Fred would be given the sack.

Kingdom Dynamics

But he was in for a surprise. The boss tried Fred under the perfect law of liberty, found him guilty, and convicted him. But then he also tried Joe for tripping up Fred. He tried him under the Law of Moses, also found him guilty and convicted him. But why try them under different laws? 

The Law of Moses is a law of judgment. Because Joe showed no mercy to Fred in tripping him up and reporting him, he could receive no mercy. Therefore, Joe is given the sack. Jesus says: “Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:7).

But the law of liberty is a law of mercy. It does not lead to condemnation but to exoneration. Accordingly, Fred was sentenced to mercy, whereby he was not only absolved from the offense but was also enrolled for training that would ensure that he would not be able to commit another offense in the future. Since he was thereby now deemed to be a model worker, he was promoted. In Fred’s case, mercy triumphed over judgment.

These are not the ways of man; these are the ways of God. These are kingdom dynamics.

Caught Red-handed

Once, the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus. They wanted to know whether he would contradict the Law of Moses, which states that the adulterous should be stoned to death.

There was no question that the woman was guilty. She was caught red-handed, in the very act. Neither did she argue or attempt to defend herself. She pleaded “guilty as charged.” And yet, Jesus did not allow her to be condemned. Instead, he challenged her accusers: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And the Bible records a dramatic turnaround:

“Those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’” (John 8:9-11).

The case of the woman caught in adultery deserves scrutiny, not least because it was a major threat to Jesus’ ministry. It was an attack launched from the pit of hell. Had Jesus condemned the woman, his earthly ministry would have ended. Had he condemned the woman, he would have had to, by the same token, condemn all men: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). 

That would have short-circuited the whole plan of salvation. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:17). Instead of being the Saviour of the world, Jesus would have become another accuser of the brethren.

Grace of God

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3:22). Because of the plan of salvation, God is not only just; he is also the justifier of all those who believe in Jesus Christ. This makes God paradoxically a God of the sinner, as opposed to a God of the righteous. 

Jesus was at pains to explain this to the self-righteous Pharisees: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Mark 2:17).

Indeed, according to the dynamics of the kingdom of God, the competition is not between sin and judgment, but between sin and grace. So, Paul says: “The law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Romans 5:20).

The more the sin, the more the grace of God. Moreover, the redemptive power of grace has given us much more than sin ever took away. Thank God Adam sinned; for while sin robbed us of silver, grace gave us gold.  While sin killed the body of the flesh: grace gave us the body of the Spirit. While sin consigned us to dust, grace lifted us up in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

No Condemnation

Be careful, therefore, not to forfeit the grace of God. Jesus told the story of the contrite publican whom the self-righteous Pharisee despised at the hour of prayer in the temple: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14).

Once you judge a man, you have arrogated yourself to be God. Once you judge a man, you cease to be justified. Once you judge, you will be judged. Man often justifies the righteous but God will only justify sinners. 

Since the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death, Paul says: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1-2). Then, it naturally follows that those who are in Christ should not condemn others. It makes no difference if you are right; know it would be wrong. 

Once you judge a man, you are casting stones, which automatically qualifies you for condemnation in the court of God: “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.” (James 2:13).

Let us look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus contradicted every prescription of common sense. He knew that Peter would betray him and yet continued to walk closely with him. He knew that Judas was a thief, and yet he kept him as his treasurer. He knew that we were sinners, and yet he died for us. And now the Bible says to us: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5).

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8).

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On a warm Thursday afternoon in May, the ululation, drumming and singing of a choir of two-dozen women can be heard across Gan Gora, a village so small it barely appears on the Nigerian map.

“We are happy you arrived safely,” they sing in Hausa welcoming the visitors to the community branch of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), hidden in the hilly Zangon Kataf, an area of half a million residents in the state of Kaduna.

A congregation of about 100 women dance and sway alongside the choir, including Rifkatu Dauda Kigbu, 53, their spiritual adviser, hobbling on a fractured knee, a crutch in her left hand.

This is a weekly meeting of zumunta mata(Hausa for “fellowship of married women”), a clan that has banded together for almost a century, sisters in times of surplus and of scarcity. Their visitors are zumunta mata members of an ECWA, one of Nigeria’s largest churches, in Gonin Gora, a suburb of Kaduna city.

The first zumunta mata was formed in 1930 after a woman almost died during childbirth in Miango, a town more than 50 miles away in what is now the neighbouring Plateau state. Women in the ECWA Christian church contributed to buy a bicycle so future patients could be ferried to the nearest medical facility. It began a fellowship that now has millions of members in northern Nigeria, across a multitude of denominations both Christian and Muslim.

For years, outsiders have primarily known the zumunta mata for their colourful abayas, singing, which has garnered millions of YouTube views, and provision of spiritual guidance to young women and mothers.

Godwin Ogli, head of theatre arts at the Federal University, Lokoja, has been researching the group in Plateau state and says the original motive was to “provide a space for women to learn more about the word of God” and to be “an outreach arm of the church” to bring more women in.

That role expanded as Nigeria’s economy has stuttered and pastoralist violence has intensified across Kaduna and Plateau, and throughout the Sahel.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project estimates that at least 2,600 people were killed by conflict in Nigeria in 2021. Villagers and local researchers say the casualty count is higher, as some incidents in Zangon Kataf, one of the hotspots, were undocumented.

Tensions over land have led to conflict between nomadic herdsmen and Indigenous farming communities. The herdsmen, mostly Fulani Muslims, have said they are acting in self-defence, stemming from rustling and killing of their cows and kinsmen. The farmers, who are mostly Christian, say they are protecting themselves from ethnic cleansing and land grabbing rooted in British colonial excesses.

Analysts say the climate crisis and overpopulation have exacerbated religious and ethnic differences between neighbours who coexisted peacefully for decades. “The relationship is [now] sour,” says Stella Amako, a local politician and elected chapter head of the visitors from Kaduna.

Conversely the bond within zumunta mata has strengthened. The fellowship is the first responder during crises. They have sleepovers, cook, offer small cash gifts and when necessary, bathe new babies or bodies of the dearly departed. When gifts come from NGOs, distribution is managed by the mama zumunta, who is elected every three years for a maximum of two tenures.

“We are even currently handling two cases of women on the brink of divorce,” says Amako.

While WhatsApp groups have become an important self-help tool in some parts of the global south, in Gan Gora even £5 (10,000 naira) smartphones are a luxury. So women attend meetings in person to listen to gospel lessons and give testimonies.

After the dancing, Kigbu advises the women in a brief lesson. “Any woman with dignity is respected. Her husband is blessed because of her and always boasts about her. Her good habits are contagious,” she says, her crutch resting next to her bible on the table.

Outside, her husband, Rev Luka Kasai Kigbu, shakes hands with local pastors who have come to thank the women for helping them out on a recent farming day. The couple are still recovering from a car jacking by the region’s marauding herdsman that led to Kigbu’s knee injury. They had been returning from a visit to family in a neighbouring state when they were attacked. The reverend managed to escape but the bandits dragged Kigbu out of the car and fractured her right knee. Eventually she was released, and is grateful, despite her injuries.

“I have to give thanks for every situation,” she says.

The women are proud of their support system. Mary Bawa, 68, joined as a new bride in 1976. “What gives me peace of mind and joy is knowing Christ and [having] these people around me,” she says.

A widowed mother of seven, Bawa passes on to young widows what she knows about farming soya beans to make tofu to trade.

One is Magdalene Israel, 32. Halfway into recanting how her husband and mother-in-law were killed on the same day, caught up in a firefight between herdsmen and farmers in September 2022, she stops to bend her head and weep.

She escaped from their farm that day by running non-stop to the next village, bullets whizzing past her ear. “I was just screaming holy ghost fire,” says the mother of three.

“Life has not been easy but zumunta mata and God Almighty have been behind me,” says Israel, who is praying for the ability to let go of her abiding anger and forgive the killers.

For now, conflict has paused and Gan Gora is a picture of serenity. In front of the church, the long tarred road connecting the community to others is flanked on either side by mango, neem and baobab trees and small fields of maize.

Multiple checkpoints dotting the road are held by young soldiers in khaki sitting on sandbags. It is a departure from the scarce government presence for years in an area where people remember other violent episodes, including a 1992 communal clash and a 2011 election crisis that both left hundreds dead.

The checkpoints were introduced after an army general from the region, Christopher Musa, was appointed a service chief last year. A barracks is being built to reinforce security around the hills. At state level, the new governor, Uba Sani, is seen as less divisive than his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, who proscribed a community association in Zangon Kataf for being an “unlawful group”.

Still, some are afraid to return to fields and villages.

In the relatively safer Gonin Gora suburb of Kaduna, the women enjoy regular sessions like learning how to make homemade liquid detergents to help cushion their households from the effects of Nigeria’s cost-of-living crisis. The choir rehearses songs about subjects such as forgiveness and heaven.

“They look out for one another, supporting one another, sometimes financially or emotionally, psychologically … this goes beyond the church,” says Ogli.

One such session helped Grace Friday, 33, with the art of food presentation that her husband now loves. Afterwards, he overheard her chatting with a friend about a forthcoming wedding as he ate and later told Israel he would buy her an outfit to the ceremony, to show his appreciation for the benefits the fellowship had brought to his family. She was overjoyed.

Eunice Shola, a 47-year-old civil servant who runs the cooperative union’s low-interest loan system, says the fellowship has helped her to try public speaking.

“When I started this, I couldn’t even stand and pray in the presence of two or three people … but this fellowship has really built my self-confidence,” she says.

Those in the city remember their sisters in the countryside. For the past 13 years Lucy Stephen, 48, has led Gonin Gora’s 57-woman choir, whose music helps members to show solidarity with their Zangon Kataf sisters and “build their faith”.

One song references the cry of a prophet in the Bible’s book of Habakkuk. “Oh Lord, how long must I call for help?” the first verse goes. “There is pathos everywhere.”

 

The Guardian, UK

A 3,300-year-old ancient sunken ship dating back to the Bronze Age has been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth where time has "frozen," the Israel Antiquities Authorityannounced Thursday. 

The agency, which describes the find as the "first and oldest wrecked shipdiscovered to date in the deep sea in the eastern Mediterranean," says it was first spotted last year about 56 miles off Israel’s coastline by Energean, a natural gas company that was conducting a survey in the area. 

"The ship appears to have been eroded as a result of a distress it got into in a sea storm, or perhaps in the event of an encounter with pirates -- a phenomenon known from the Late Bronze Age," Yaakov Sharavit, the director of the IAA’s Unit of Marine Archaeology, said in a statement. 

"This is a world-class, historical-altering discovery," Sharavit was also quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying. "This find reveals to us as never before the ancient mariners’ navigational skills – capable of traversing the Mediterranean Sea without a line of sight of any coast." 

The ship’s remnants were found more than a mile below the surface at a depth "where time was frozen in the moment of disaster" and has been untouched by humans or currents that affect shipwrecks found in shallower waters, according to Sharavit. The IAA says it sank sometime between 1400 and 1300 B.C. 

Sharavit says only two other Bronze Age shipwrecks have been discovered throughout history, both near Turkey. 

Energean Environmental Team Leader Karnit Bachartan said the ship was found during the survey by an "advanced underwater robot." 

"We identified an unusual sight of what seemed to be a large cluster of jugs resting on the ground," she said.  

"Upon reviewing the site and mapping using the robot, it was clear that this was a shipwreck about 12 to 14 meters long, carrying hundreds of jugs that only some of them could be seen on the surface," she added. 

The rest of the ship appears to be buried deep in mud on the seafloor, researchers say. 

The IAA says two of the jugs were later pulled from the depths to be examined for research purposes. 

It added that the jugs are believed to have held oil, wine and other agricultural products. 

 

Fox News

Nigeria loses about $182,200  (N270.567 million) on each shipment of cargo into the country to maritime crime. This is according to data obtained from the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN).

The data shows that the impact of corruption in the sector adds about 15 percent to the cost of importing items such as food and bulk products into Nigeria.

The report detailed the results of a study developed by socio-economic impact assessment firm, Quantifying Business Impact on Society (QBIS) which applies a dollar value to direct and indirect costs of maritime corruption across the private sector, government, and society in Nigeria.

The report shows that government officials extract bribes from owners of consignments to carry out routine tasks, or ‘coercive’ corruption.

The study revealed that corruption adds $147,000 per import shipment of grain and more than $187,000 per shipment of petrol. And that Food and petrol account for around a third of Nigeria’s imports.

“With 63 percent of Nigerians or 133 million people classified as multidimensionally poor, most Nigerian families do not have a budget surplus. Increased import costs due to corruption are therefore likely to reduce their household demand and make essential goods less affordable to the average Nigerian family,” the report said.

The business-as-usual scenario adds 1-2 percent to retail prices for grain and petrol.

“Maritime corruption results in an annual reduction in GDP of $204m, an annual reduction in revenue collected by Customs of $42m, and 235,000 fewer Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs due to less sales and economic activity,” the report said.

The report also indicates a zero-tolerance approach to bribery during vessel clearance and that it cuts the damages caused by corruption by around 62 percent.

It showed that by slashing around $114,000 per shipment in corruption costs, the bill for marine corruption falls by around $100m per year, and its economic impact drops by $230m.

“By ‘Saying No’ to maritime corruption, GDP increases by about $130m annually, customs revenue from tariffs increases by $28m annually, and more than 147,000 FTE jobs are created due to more sales and economic activity across the supply chain in Nigeria,” said the report.

 

Daily Trust

The founder of Stanbic-IBTC Bank, Atedo Peterside has announced his retirement as a banker.

Peterside made this announcement in a post via his verified social media page.

The banking icon wrote, “This has been an incredible 35-year journey that ends today, June 10, 2024. 

“Every single day since Feb 2, 1989, I have been either the CEO, Chairman or Bank Director. All good things must come to an end. I give God the glory at age 68,” he added.

His exit comes after over three decades and a half of dedicating his wealth of experience to the Nigerian banking sector.

According to sources, Peterside is investing his time more in advocacy, charity, philanthropy and human capital development through his foundation.

Recall that Peteside founded Investment Bank and Trust Company (IBTC), which later metamorphosed into Stanbic-IBTC Bank after a series of mergers over the years.

The Rivers State-born founded the bank in 1989, at 33, when many of his peers were busy lavishing their parents’ wealth.

After running the affairs of the bank for years leading it to the path of profitability and also ensuring the bank lived up to his expectations, he resigned in 2017.

He later channelled his strength to Anap Jets Ltd he founded in 2015. He also sits on the boards of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited and Standard Bank Group Limited.

Those close to the former member of the National Economic Management Team and member of the National Council on Privatisation disclosed that when it comes to finance, economics and business success, he is a walking encyclopaedia.

His family background as the son of Pa. Clement Atowari Peterside, an ophthalmologist and a retired controller of Medical Services in the Old Rivers State ensured he had a sound education. 

He graduated from The City University, London with a B.Sc. in Economics and an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

 

Vanguard

Israel pounds Gaza, killing dozens, as fighting rages

Israeli forces pounded Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday, as well as other areas across the enclave, killing at least 45 Palestinians as troops engaged in close-quarter combat with Hamas militants, residents and Israel's military said.

Residents said the Israelis appeared to be trying to complete their capture of Rafah, which borders Egypt and has been the focus of an Israeli assault since early May.

Tanks were forcing their way into the western and northern parts of the city, having already captured the east, south and centre.

Firing from planes, tanks and ships off the coast caused more people to flee the city, which a few months ago was sheltering more than a million displaced people, most of whom have now relocated again.

The Gaza health ministry said at least 25 Palestinians had been killed in Mawasi in western Rafah and 50 wounded. Palestinians said a tank shell hit a tent housing displaced families.

"Two tanks climbed a hilltop overseeing Mawasi and they sent balls of fire that hit the tents of the poor people displaced in the area," one resident told Reuters over a chat app.

The Israeli military said that the incident was under review. "An initial inquiry conducted suggests that there is no indication that a strike was carried out by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) in the Humanitarian Area in Al-Mawasi," it said.

Earlier, the military said its forces were conducting "precise, intelligence-based" actions in the Rafah area, where troops were involved in close-quarter combat and had located tunnels used by militants.

Over the past week, the military said, troops targeted a university that served as a Hamas headquarters from which militants fired on soldiers and found weapons and barrel bombs. It did not name the university.

In the central Gaza area of Nusseirat, the military said soldiers killed dozens of militants over the past week and found a weapons depot containing mortar bombs and military equipment belonging to Hamas.

Some residents said the Israeli onslaught on Rafah had intensified in the previous two days and that the sounds of explosions and gunfire had hardly stopped.

"Last night was one of the worst nights in western Rafah: Drones, planes, tanks, and naval boats bombarded the area. We feel the occupation is trying to complete the control of the city," said Hatem, 45, reached by text message.

"They are taking heavy strikes from the resistance fighters, which may be slowing them down."

STRIKES ON KHAN YOUNIS AND GAZA CITY

More than eight months into the war in Gaza, Israel's advance is now focused on the two last areas its forces had yet to seize: Rafah on Gaza's southern edge and the area surrounding Deir al-Balah in the centre.

"The entire city of Rafah is an area of Israeli military operations," Ahmed Al-Sofi, the mayor of Rafah, said in a statement carried by Hamas media on Friday.

"The city is living through a humanitarian catastrophe and people are dying inside their tents because of Israeli bombardment."

Sofi said no medical facility was functioning in the city, and that remaining residents and displaced families lacked the minimum daily needs of food and water.

Palestinian and U.N. figures show that fewer than 100,000 people may have remained in the far western side of the city, which had been sheltering more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people before the Israeli assault began in early May.

In nearby Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike on Friday killed three people, including a father and son, medics said.

In parallel, Israeli forces continued a new push back into some Gaza City suburbs in the north of the enclave, where they fought with Hamas-led militants.

On Friday, an Israeli air strike on a Gaza City municipal facility killed five people, including four municipal workers, the territory's Civil Emergency Service said. Rescue teams were searching the rubble for more missing victims.

In the nearby Beach camp, an Israeli air strike on a house killed at least seven people, medics said.

Palestinian health officials said at least 45 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes across Gaza on Friday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its Gaza office was damaged when heavy-calibre projectiles landed nearby, in an area where hundreds of displaced Palestinians are living in tents.

"This grave security incident is one of several in recent days; previously stray bullets have reached ICRC structures," the organization said in a post on X on Friday. "We decry these incidents that put the lives of humanitarians and civilians at risk."

Israel's ground and air campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, killed more than 37,400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left nearly the entire population homeless and destitute.

The United Nations said on Friday it is Israel's responsibility - as the occupying power in the Gaza Strip - to restore public order and safety in the Palestinian territory so humanitarian aid can be delivered, amid warnings of imminent famine.

 

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

US permits Ukrainian strikes anywhere beyond conflict front line – Politico

The US has permitted Ukraine to strike targets on Russian territory using American-made weapons anywhere across the front line – not just in the Kharkov Region, Politico has reported.

This doesn’t represent a change to Washington’s policy on the use of US-supplied weapons by Kiev, anonymous sources told the outlet in an article published on Thursday.

In late May, media reported that the administration of President Joe Biden had quietly greenlighted Ukrainian attacks using American weapons inside Russian territory for “counterfire purposes in the Kharkov region.” The ban on long-range strikes deep inside Russia remained unchanged, according to the reports.

In an interview with ABC News earlier this month, Biden clarified that Ukraine could use US-made arms “only in proximity to the border [with Russia] when [Russian weapons] are being used on the other side of the border to attack specific targets in Ukraine.” Washington is “not authorizing strikes 200 miles into Russia and we’re not authorizing strikes on Moscow, on the Kremlin,” he clarified.

Officials who talked to Politico confirmed the statement made by White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier this week, in which he said Kiev’s ability to fire US-supplied weapons wasn’t limited to Kharkov Region.

“It extends to anywhere that Russian forces are coming across the border from the Russian side to the Ukrainian side to try to take additional Ukrainian territory,” Sullivan said in an interview with PBS on Tuesday.

Russian forces are now advancing in Kharkov Region, but if they move across the border in some other area, “it would apply there as well,”Sullivan explained. “This is not about geography. It’s about common sense. If Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border.”

Russia has repeatedly warned against the use of weapons supplied to Kiev by the US and their allies to strike deep inside its territory, arguing that such attacks would amount to direct Western participation in the conflict, as the Ukrainian military is unable to fire foreign long-range systems without assistance from NATO states.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow would not rule out supplying weapons to other countries, including North Korea, in response to the West providing long-range systems to Ukraine.

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian drones knock out two substations, Russia-installed officials say

Russian-installed officials said on Friday that Ukrainian drone attacks had put out of action two electricity substations in Enerhodar, the town serving the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and cut power to most of its residents.

But an official at the occupied Zaporizhzhia station, Europe's largest nuclear plant with six reactors, said it was unaffected by the military action.

Russian troops seized the plant in the early days of the February 2022 invasion and Moscow and Kyiv have since routinely accused each other of endangering safety around it. It produces no electricity at the moment.

Eduard Senovoz, the top official in Enerhodar, wrote on Telegram that the latest attack had damaged the second of two substations supplying the town. The other substation was destroyed on Wednesday, he wrote.

Ukrainian officials have made no comment on the incidents and Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Russian news agencies quoted Yevgeny Yashin, director of communications at the Zaporizhzhia station, as saying the latest attack had no effect on the nuclear plant. And he said the substation could be repaired.

"Specialists have gone out to the site to assess the damage," Yashin told RIA news agency. "There is a chance to restore the damaged transformer but it will take time."

Russia launched mass attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the first winter of the conflict and resumed a long series of attacks in March.

Kyiv says the renewed attacks have knocked out half of Ukraine's energy generating capacity and forced blackouts.

Ukraine has stepped up its use of drones this year to attack Russian oil facilities. Ukrainian drones struck four Russian oil refineries as well as radar stations and other military targets in Russia in the early hours of Friday, Kyiv's military said.

 

RT/Reuters

The airplane flight between the Scottish islands of Westray and Papa Westray holds the world record for the shortest commercial flight, as the plane is usually in the air for just under 2 minutes.

Most of us can just hop into a car, bus, or train for short trips, but things are different in the islands of northern Scotland. The few people who call the Orkney Islands their home have only two options, a ferry ride over rough waters, or an incredibly short flight in a small plane. The second option is the most popular – because the ferry can often face disruption due to rough waters – and the most famous because of how short the flights can be.

In fact, the flight between the islands of Westray and Papa Westray is officially recognized as the world’s shortest commercial flight. It usually lasts about 90 seconds, but with favorable winds, it can be over in less than a minute.

The world’s shortest commercial flight was first established in 1967 and has been operated by Loganair ever since. It covers a distance of just 1.7 miles, which is shorter than the runways of most major airports and is more similar to a bus ride than an actual airplane flight. Passengers are flown in a Britten-Norman Islander, a small plane that requires only one pilot and has just eight seats. As you can imagine there is no in-flight service available.

In normal conditions, the world’s shortest commercial flight lasts between 90 and 120 seconds, but as one pilot has demonstrated, in favorable weather conditions, it can be completed in just 53 seconds. However, in unfavorable circumstances, the plane will be in the air for almost 3 minutes.

The flight between Westray and Papa Westray has been criticized as unnecessarily bad for the environment because of the short distance it covers, but for the inhabitants of Westray (600) and Papa Westray (90), it is a vital link to other more populated islands. For Orkney Islands residents, the flights are subsidized by the Scottish Government, while tourists can expect to pay between £17 to £45.

Despite the small populations of the two islands, the world’s shortest flight can be quite busy during the summer months, as there are plenty of tourists willing to experience it for themselves.

 

Oddity Central