Kano’s Muhammad Sanusi II has been rethroned the exact way he was initially enthroned and dethroned: in the melting pot of the politics of vengeance and recrimination.

And he just might be dethroned yet again by this, or another subsequent partisan government, given Sanusi’s infamous incapacity to rein in his tongue and to understand the wisdom in restraint and tact, which his position requires of him—and, of course, the juddering, hypocritical contradictions between what he says and what he does.

Recall that when he worked at the UBA, Sanusi had derided then Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as a scorn-worthy “rural aristocrat” who “surrounds himself with provincials and places key posts in the hands of rural elite.” He characterized the Kwankwaso administration as “the classic comedy of the Village Headmaster in a village council.”

Kwankwaso was so incensed by Sanusi’s boorishness and Kano urban condescension that he threatened to pull out the Kano State Government’s money in UBA if Sanusi wasn’t fired from his job. Yet it was the same Kwankwaso who, for partisan, anti-Goodluck Jonathan political considerations, enthroned Sanusi as the emir of Kano even when he wasn’t the choice of the kingmakers.

And let’s not forget that Sanusi is a vicious, unashamed enemy of common people. His entire economic philosophy revolves around sheepishly advancing the annihilating policies of the IMF/World Bank, such as removal of every kind of subsidy for the poor while leaving intact the subsidies that sustain the sybaritic extravagance of indolent but overprotected elites like him.

Well, after destroying properties worth billions of naira and restoring Sanusi as emir all in the bid to get even with Ganduje, I hope the government will now get down to actually governing and improving the lives of the people who elected it.

The sense I get from people in Kano (many of whom are supporters of the government) is that governance has been on hold in Kano in the last one year in the service of retaliation. Not even the dirty water that Ganduje’s government caused to be distributed to homes is available now, Kano people tell me.

Anyway, when Ganduje dethroned Sanusi in March 2020, I wrote a column titled, “Ganduje is a Monster, But Sanusi Is Not a Victim.” On the occasion of his rethronement, I reproduce portions of it below:

Governor Abdullahi “Gandollar” Ganduje is no doubt a contemptibly philistine monster of avarice and debauchery who dethroned Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Emir of Kano because he couldn’t stomach the former emir’s disapproval of the electoral fraud that brought him to power.

There is also no doubt that Sanusi’s unrelenting public censures of the rotten, if time-honored, cultural quiddities of the Muslim North discomfited many people who are invested in the status quo, and this became one of the convenient bases for his ouster.

But Sanusi isn’t nearly the victim he has been cracked up to be by his admirers and defenders. First, he rode to the Kano emirship in 2014 on the crest of a wave of emotions stirred by partisan politics and came down from it the same way.

Even though he wasn’t initially on the shortlist of Kano’s kingmakers, APC's Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso (who is now in PDP) made Sanusi emir in 2014 to spite PDP’s President Goodluck Jonathan and shield Sanusi from the consequences of his [false] unmasking of multi-billion-dollar corruption at the NNPC. Apart from his unceremonious removal as CBN governor for his [false] whistle blowing, he was going to face other untoward retributions from the Jonathan administration, but his appointment as emir put paid to it.

Now, Sanusi lost his emirship to the same partisan politics that got it for him in the first place. In an ironic twist, he was made emir by an APC government for making privileged [if false] revelations that disadvantaged a PDP government and was removed as an emir by an APC government for his overt and covert acts that could have benefited the PDP in 2019.

In other words, Sanusi’s emirship was molded in the crucible of partisan politics and was dissolved in it.

Nonetheless, Sanusi, given his intellectual sophistication and pretenses to being an advocate of egalitarianism, had no business being an emir. Monarchy is way past its sell-by date not just in Nigeria but everywhere. It’s an anachronistic, vestigial remnant of a primitive past that invests authority on people by mere accident of heredity. Any authority that is inherited and not earned, in my opinion, is beneath contempt.

Emirship isn’t only a primeval anomaly in a modern world, it is, in fact, un-Islamic. In Islam, leadership is derived from knowledge and the consensus of consultative assemblies of communities called the Shura, not from heredity.

Monarchies in the Muslim North, which have constituted themselves into parasitic, decadent drains on society, but which pretend to be Islamic, are grotesque perversions of the religion they purport to represent. Anyone, not least one who makes pious noises about equality, that is denied the unfair privileges of monarchy is no victim.

Most importantly, though, Sanusi embodies a jarring disconnect between high-minded ideals and lived reality. He rails against child marriage in public but married a teenager upon becoming an emir. When the late Pius Adesanmi called him out, he told him to “grow a brain.” He suddenly became the patron saint of conservative Muslim cultural values.

He expended considerable intellectual energies critiquing polygamy among poor Muslim men, but he is married to four wives. His defense, of course, would be that he can afford it, and poor Muslim men can’t. Fair enough. But transaction-oriented reformists lead by example.

Fidel Castro, for example, stopped smoking when he campaigned against it. It would be nice to say to poor, polygamous Muslim men, “Why are you, a poor man, married to four wives when Sanusi, a wealthy man and an emir, is married to just one wife?”

That would have had a much higher impact than his preachments. In spite of their moral failings, Buhari, Abba Kyari, and Mamman Daura would be much more effective campaigners against disabling polygamy by poor Muslim men than Sanusi can ever be because they are monogamists even when they can afford to marry four wives.

This is a legitimate critique since Sanusi has a choice to not call out poor Muslim men who marry more wives than they can afford since polygamy is animated by libidinal greed, which is insensitive to financial means.

Sanusi habitually fulminates against the enormous and inexorably escalating poverty in the north, but even though he is an immensely affluent person, he has not instituted any systematic mechanism to tackle the scourge of poverty in the region in his own little way.

Instead, he spends hundreds of billions of naira to decorate the emir’s palace, buy exotic horses, and luxuriate in opulent sartorial regality.

And, although, he exposed [what he thought was] humongous corruption during Jonathan’s administration and dollar racketeering during Buhari’s regime, he is himself an indefensibly corrupt and profligate person. In two well-researched investigative pieces in 2017, Daily Nigeria’s Jaafar Jaafar chronicled Sanusi’s mind-boggling corruption as emir of Kano, which apparently didn’t abate until he was dethroned.

Sanusi was ostensibly a Marxist when he studied economics at ABU, which explains why he exhibits flashes of radicalism in his public oratory, but he is, in reality, an out-of-touch, unfeeling, feudal, neoliberal elitist who is contemptuous, and insensitive to the suffering, of poor people.

He supported Jonathan’s petrol price hike in 2012 and even wondered why poor people were protesting since they had no cars, and generators, according to him, were powered by diesel, not petrol!

When his attention was brought to the fact that only “subsidized” and privileged “big men” like him use diesel-powered generators, he backed down and apologized. But I found it remarkably telling that until 2012 Sanusi had no clue that the majority of Nigerians used petrol-powered generators to get electricity.

In a September 1, 2012, column titled, "Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s Unwanted 5,000 Naira Notes," I noted that Sanusi was "one of the most insensitive, out-of-touch bureaucrats to ever walk Nigeria’s corridors of power."

Again, in my December 10, 2016, article titled, "Dangerous Fine Print in Emir Sanusi's Prescription for Buhari," I wrote: "If you are a poor or economically insecure middle-class person who is writhing in pain amid this economic downturn, don’t be deceived into thinking that Emir Sanusi is on your side. He is not. His disagreements with Buhari have nothing to do with you or your plight. If he has his way, you would be dead by now because the IMF/World Bank neoliberal theology he evangelizes has no care for poor, vulnerable people."

What is happening in Kano should be of concern to not only the Kanawa or Northerners but to all Nigerians. Kano, as we all know, is the heartbeat of the North. If Kano is economically buoyant, it cascades down to the rest of the North and reflects on the nation’s GDP.

Conversely, any chaos or breach in security will affect other parts of the North, thereby stretching the capacity of our security agencies with all the attendant consequences.

This is why the ongoing ”Game of Thrones” in the ancient city of Kano should concern every Nigerian.

There were some misgivings in some quarters when Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, popularly called SLS - fresh from a controversial sacking from the office of the governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank by then President Goodluck Jonathan - was made the Emir of Kano, against all odds, by Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso on 8th June 2014, in a move that lends credence to the saying that there is no permanent friend or enemy in politics but permanent interests.

In Kwankwaso’s first tenure as governor, he and SLS, then with the First Bank, were more like “enemies”, which made the government of Kano State close its account with the bank as its request for Sanusi’s sack was not acceded to.

Yet there were misgivings too when, again against all odds, he was dethroned by former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje on 9th March 2020. To get at him, Ganduje “shattered” the revered Kano Emirate into five pieces.

Now there are more misgivings after the current governor of Kano State, Abba Yusuf, himself a Prince, dethroned the five Emirs created by Ganduje and reinstated SLS and returned the emirate to its former status.

The issue, ordinarily a state affair within the governor’s authority, is threatening to escalate and burst onto the national landscape. That is, if it has not already,  what with the National Security Adviser (NSA) weighing in.

The thing is, the princes’ insatiable greed for power, influence, relevance and wealth has made them rush open-eyed into the crossfires of ambitious and unscrupulous politicians who keep no captives. To quote from 'Macbeth', the Kano princes have “murdered sleep and so shall sleep no more.”

However, the most pitiable here is the common man who whatever is happening in Kano will neither put garri on his table nor solve any of his mammoth and growing problems. It is the common man who would be used as a foot soldier to disrupt the peace of the community.

Welcome back, “Nigeria We Hail Thee!”

It is no longer news that the National Assembly will bring back our National Anthem at the birth of our nation. It is a welcome development.

On 10 August 2020, I wrote a piece entitled “Pray, who wants Zulum dead?” and I said, “Anybody who chooses to write the truth about our dear country, Nigeria, does so with a heavy heart. You cannot write about your beloved with no degree of passion. The love for it, the sadness at its travails, the fear for its future, and the cry for its affairs to be done right cannot be written dispassionately. Bewildered many a time, you just write for record purposes, knowing that it may change nothing.

"We grew up with the national anthem, 'Nigeria We Hail Thee', which was adopted on October 1, 1960. It was our anthem until 1978. The anthem was written by Lillian Jean Williams, a Briton who lived here at the time of our independence, while the music for it was composed by Francis Berda. In the first stanza, there was a rallying exhortation. After saluting the great mother country – 'Nigeria we hail thee', it went on to call us to unity and oneness – 'Though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand…'

“A three-stanza anthem designed to whip up our patriotism, the third stanza struck a chord with me. In it, we supposedly beseech the Creator to help us build a nation where no man is left behind. “O God of creation, grant us this our one request, help us build a nation where no man is oppressed…” In my childish imagination in the early 70s (I was barely ten) I always romanticised that to mean we were imploring God to help us build a real wall of steel, mortar and cement strong enough to withstand external enemies and tall enough that no Nigerian can be thrown over it to the wolves.

“Now, while the first national anthem spoke of Nigeria as a mother, the second spoke of it as a father. The last verse in the first stanza of the earlier anthem was “Nigerians all and proud to serve our sovereign motherland” while the second verse in the first stanza of the later anthem said, “To serve our fatherland”.

“While the mother fiercely loves her brood and can stake her life for them, the father’s love is less sentimental but intense. By nature, he provides for both the mother and the kids and can break his back so that they can have something. He can move mountains to protect and preserve him. And so the child sees its father as stronger than Hercules and richer than Mansa Musa.

“There may be many reasons why General Olusegun Obasanjo's regime decided to change the anthem to the current one. Chief among them could be nationalism; after all, why should foreigners decide our national anthem, they might have reasoned. But did they put side-by-side the meanings, imports and differences between “motherhood” and “fatherhood” in their decision to adopt the current anthem? Or perhaps they felt that likening Nigeria to a father would make its children revere and work to make it proud of them while in return giving them the love, support and protection only a father can?

“You see, a citizen sees his country in the image of a father. Children begin to lose hope in a father who shirks his responsibilities. They begin to see him as the anonymous lover who, heartbroken, wrote: 'I am afraid to love you again. But whenever I see you, I just want to hold you in my arms forever. You had promised to protect me forever and never to hurt me for once, but you have broken that promise, just the way you have shattered my heart, too.'

“The yet-to-be-found Chibok girls and all their loved ones can say these words about their fatherland. All Nigerian children and their loved ones kidnapped or killed by Boko Haram in the North-East or its other arm, the bandits in the North West and North Central, can borrow these words too. Even those released after their people have paid their ransom can adopt these words. All Nigerians who believe more could have been done will be at home with these words. Do you think those appalled at how Boko Haram terrorists who were “rehabilitated” and released into society disappear will not see these words as apt?”

On 12 December 2022, writing on “CBN, Qatar 2023 and time to rekindle our patriotism (1)”, I said, “There is nothing more touching than watching fans at the ongoing World Cup shed tears when their national anthem is being sung, or crying when their national team loses a game or even wins. Such a show of intense emotion comes as a result of substantial love for one’s country. It is a sign of unbridled patriotism. You begin to wonder if a Nigerian would cry on hearing our national anthem or cry if we win or lose a game.

“But you must ask yourself whether such love for the country has something to do with the anthem or with how a country’s managers manage it.

Now, many things have happened that have made a lot of Nigerians want to give up because, sadly, the managers of our country have so bastardised our psyche that many of us are afraid to cry for a country those milking it have no sympathy for. Last week, I saw a video clip of a serving minister boasting to his audience that he cannot be defeated in an election because he had “amassed money”! How insensitive can one be!

We all had hopes for this nation. We still have, and we all want it to be the greatest in the world. However, this hope is fading for some, even as many of us still hold on to the dream of a greater Nigeria because we have no other country to call ours.

** Hassan Gimba is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Neptune Prime.

The 62-year-old is the president and CEO of McKissack & McKissack, the Washington, D.C.-based construction management and design firm behind some of today's most recognizable buildings — from building the Smithsonian African American Museum of History and Culture to repairing the Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson memorials.

The firm's legacy dates back to her great-great grandfather Moses, a skilled brick maker who originally came to the U.S. as a slave in 1790. His skills were passed down and cultivated from generation to generation, prompting two of his grandsons to create a construction company in Tennessee, also called McKissack & McKissack.

That company remains in the family, now based in New York and run by McKissack's twin sister Cheryl. "My father always took us [to] job sites, took us to the office. We talked about it around the table," says McKissack. "It was always a very integral part of our family."

Motivated by a desire to strike out on her own, and to see more Black women CEOs in the construction industry, McKissack withdrew $1,000 from her savings account and launched her company in 1990. Today, it brings in between $25 million and $30 million per year, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, and manages $15 billion in projects with offices in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Baltimore.

"I remember in college, there were probably three women in my class, and my twin sister was one of them. So it's very rare that women are in this industry, but we're excelling," McKissack says.

'I had this burning passion ... that I just had to do this'

McKissack left an engineering job with a six-figure salary to launch her company, and quickly learned that even with a Howard University civil engineering degree and relevant work experience, attracting clients was difficult.

Lugging an old projector around, she presented slides of work she'd done for family members to help "sell my wares." She placed a job ad in the Washington Post, and hired an employee.

"It was touch and go because I didn't have a bank that believed in me," says McKissack. "It took me five years to get my first $10,000 line of credit. I probably went to 11 banks that told me 'no' ... [but] I had this burning passion on the inside that I just had to do this, and it was going to work out for me."

An illustration of Moses McKissack, who came to the U.S. as a slave and became a master builder and brickmaker.

Deryl McKissack

She used her networking skills to land her company's first project: doing interior work at her alma mater. She and her lone employee did all the work themselves, with McKissack putting in 80 hours of labor per week, she says.

One successful job led to another, and McKissack built a portfolio of work to show prospective clients. She applied for jobs as a federal contractor, getting her foot in the door to work on construction projects at the White House and U.S. Treasury building. Larger federal projects followed.

McKissack only paid herself $7,200 her first year in business, she says. Her second, $18,000. She finally paid herself a $100,000 salary after roughly ten years, she adds, prioritizing paying her employees over herself along the way.

"I'm extremely proud of where we are and the projects that we've done ... the impact that we've had in people's lives," says McKissack.

'I haven't made it until more Black [people] have made it'

The global construction industry is projected to be worth $13.9 trillion by 2037, according to a 2023 report from market research firm Oxford Economics. Yet women still make up only 1.4% of construction CEOsworldwide, and Black women account for a fraction of that.

Despite the identical company names, McKissack and her sister do run separate businesses — but they've collaborated on several projects, and often "trade notes" with each other, she says.

"We lean on each other in challenging times. And it's great to have an identical twin that is doing the same thing that I'm doing in a bigger city like New York," she says. "The challenges that she faces are different from mine, but they're similar. So it's good to have someone to talk to."

McKissack sisters Andrea, Cheryl and Deryl with their father, William DeBerry.

Deryl McKissack

A healthy support system is rare for most Black and women construction executives, largely because so few of them exist, McKissack says. Last year, she founded AEC Unites, a nonprofit that provides professional opportunities for Black talent in the architecture, engineering and construction industry.

"I haven't made it until more Blacks and more women have made it," she says, adding: "Once more people that look like me are in the industry and they're dominating in parts of this industry, then I can sit back and say, 'We've made it.'"

One of them, she hopes, will be her daughter — a bioengineering student at New York University who could become the sixth generation of McKissacks in the construction industry.

"I tell her all the time that all roads lead to McKissack," she says. "And I don't care how she gets there."

CNBC

The last 48 hours have seen series of drama and intrigues playing out in Kano and Abuja over who finally takes the coveted throne as Emir of Kano between Muhammadu Sanusi II and Aminu Ado Bayero.

Since Governor Abba Yusuf signed the Kano State Emirates Council (Amendment Number 2) Bill 2024 on Thursday and reinstated Sanusi, there has been tension in Kano State.

It was gathered that the state government had planned for Sanusi to move to the Gidan Rumfa Palace on Saturday, but upon getting wind of Bayero’s arrival in the city in the wee hours of yesterday, the process was hastened, and Sanusi was escorted to the palace before daybreak. This development, sources within the royal family disclosed, compeled Bayero to move into the mini palace in Nassarawa, upon his arrival in the commercial city.

Sanusi arrived at the palace in the company of the governor, the deputy governor, the speaker of the State Assembly and other top government functionaries at about 1:00am.

On the other hand, Bayero, who had paid a visit to the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona in Ogun State, before his dethronement, was received in Kano by a crowd in the early hours of Saturday. He moved to the mini palace in Nassarawa with a security cover from officers of the military, the police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), fueling speculations that he enjoyed the federal government’s backing.

Before then, there had been insinuations that a top federal government official had facilitated issuance of the injunction granted by A. M. Liman of the Federal High Court in Kano, which  restrained the state government from implementing the new emirate law under which Sanusi was reinstated as the Emir of Kano.

There were series of drama yesterday in Gidan Dabo as well as in Gidan Nassarawa as people loyal to the two cousins pay homage to them separately.

NSA denies organising flight for deposed emir

The deputy governor of Kano, Aminu Gwarzo, while speaking from the Gidan Rumfa Palace, where Sanusi had earlier moved to, alleged that the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, arranged two jets to fly the dethroned emir into Kano.

“We have not understood their  intention,” he said.

But responding, the spokesperson of the Office of the NSA, Zakari Mijinyawa, said the allegation was untrue.

He said: “Political actors should desist from misinforming the public as law enforcement officials in the state strive to maintain peace and order,” Mijinyawa said.

Meanwhile, Ribadu’s lawyer, Sanusi Musa, has asked the deputy governor to retract the allegation.

“You have, without any justification, ridiculed the exalted office of the National Security Adviser, which our client occupies by portraying it as a ready tool to be used by politicians to achieve political goals. You have also ridiculed the personality of our client who has built a reputation as a principled and honest citizen in both his public and private life,” the lawyer told the deputy governor.

Police vow to enforce court order against Sanusi’s reinstatement

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Usaini Gumel, yesterday ignored Governor Yusuf’s order for Bayero’s arrest and said the police would enforce the court order stopping Sanusi’s reinstatement.

The governor had, according to a statement by his spokesman, Sanusi Tofa, accused Bayero of creating tension in the state.

“The former emir was smuggled into Kano city last night in an attempt to forcefully return to the palace two days after being deposed by the governor.

“As the Chief Security Officer of the state, the Governor of Kano State, Yusuf, has directed the Commissioner of Police to arrest the deposed Emir with immediate effect for disturbing public peace and attempting to destroy the relative peace the state enjoys,” the statement read in part.

Later at a press conference, the CP said the police would obey the order that restrained the state government from implementing the repealed law of the Kano Emirates Council, warning troublemakers to steer clear.

“The police command is expressly obeying the court order with suit no. FHC/KN/CS/182/2024 Dated 23rd May, 2024 issued by the Federal High Court sitting in Kano alongside all law enforcement agents in the state.

“Therefore, we are calling on members of the public to know that the police in the state are working together with the military and other security agencies and have full capacity to provide adequate security to everyone, as we are committed to carrying out our statutory duties as provided by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Gumel said.

Gumel, in company of the Director of the State Security Services and other security chiefs in the state, met with Bayero yesterday, after the press conference.

Later while speaking in Hausa, Bayero said no one is above the law, calling “on the people to remain law-abiding while awaiting the outcome of the legal process on this tussle.

“We call on the authority to do justice in this matter. Kano is a very influential state in Nigeria. Whatever affects Kano affects Nigeria. May peace reign in Kano. We pray for Allah to bless Kano with responsible and just leaders. Justice is the way to go on every issue. There will be justice. Nobody is above the law.

“We will accept whatever the law says. I appreciate all the people who have shown concern. As I said, justice will take its course. We will keep on praying for peace in Kano State. May Allah, the Almighty, protect us,” Bayero said.

What Sanusi told security chiefs

The security chiefs later went to the Gidan Rumfa Palace and met with Sanusi and Governor Yusuf.

A source at the meeting said the governor allowed the security chiefs to have an audience with Sanusi alone.

The source said the security chiefs informed Sanusi about the decision to enforce the court order stopping his reinstatement.

“The emir, who spoke for over an hour during the meeting, told us that what the state government had done was justice against the injustice meted out to him in the past.

“He told us that he had not seen the court order we were referring to, describing it as a media court order until he sees it,” the source told our correspondent.

Later in an interview with Television Continental (TVC), Sanusi reiterated that his return to the throne was a correction of injustice done to the people, culture and tradition of Kano.

He said he was not given the opportunity to defend himself before he was dethroned in 2020.

State Assembly breached procedure–Dan Agundi

Aminu Danagundi, a kingmaker in Kano, who had secured the restraining order against Sanusi’s reinstatement, at a press conference at the Nassarawa mini palace yesterday, explained why he challenged the new Kano Emirates Law that sacked the five emirs.

Danagundi was reinstated as Sarkin Dawaki Babba and made a kingmaker by Emir Aminu Bayero.

He said the State House of Assembly did not follow due process in passing the bill as there was no public hearing.

He said the five deposed emirs would join his suit challenging the new law.

Atiku, Ulama, NBA warn FG against meddling

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar alleged that the deployment of security forces in Kano over the emirship tussle, by the federal government, contravenes the 1999 constitution as amended.

Atiku, according to a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, warned the federal government against making any attempt to destabilise Kano which, he said, had been known for peace over the years.

Similarly, the council of ulamas in Kano, in a statement signed by members of the council led by Abdullahi Limanci, said the situation could degenerate into chaos if not carefully handled.

The council called on President Bola Tinubu to allow the people of Kano State to resolve the issue amicably “without the use of any force or loss of lives.”

Also, the Kano State branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), in a statement by its chairman, Sagir Gezawa, said the army lacks the powers to enforce court order.

Daily Trust

Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, former Vice Presidential candidate for the Labour Party, has responded to Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka's critique of Peter Obi, the party's presidential candidate. Soyinka had criticized Obi for failing to manage his supporters' online hostility towards opposing views, suggesting this made him unfit to lead Nigeria.

Baba-Ahmed dismissed Soyinka's remarks as a distraction, refusing to engage further. He suggested that Soyinka's comments were driven by fear of the positive changes Obi might bring to Nigeria. Baba-Ahmed emphasized that intellectual prowess does not justify insulting others, referencing Soyinka's past derogatory remarks about the late General Sani Abacha.

"The respected elder statesman, Soyinka, is preemptively worried about the positive impact Obi could have on Nigeria. His actions are a diversion, and I respectfully choose not to engage with him. We have more important matters to address," Baba-Ahmed said in an interview with Arise Television on Friday.

He added, "Soyinka's intellect does not grant him the right to insult others. I recall him severely criticizing General Abacha, who was not an academic but a soldier. Despite having the ability to say things that could destroy Soyinka, I choose not to."

Gaza ceasefire talks could soon resume but Israel-Hamas war rages on

Prospects for a resumption of mediated Gaza ceasefire talks grew on Saturday although Israel carried out new attacks in which Palestinian medics said more than 40 people were killed.

An official with knowledge of the matter said a decision had been taken to resume the talks next week after the chief of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency met the head of the CIA and the prime minister of Qatar.

The source, who declined to be identified by name or nationality, said it had been decided that "in the coming week negotiations will open based on new proposals led by the mediators, Egypt and Qatar and with active U.S. involvement."

A Hamas official later denied Israeli media reports that the talks would resume in Cairo on Tuesday, telling Reuters: "There is no date".

After more than seven months of war in Gaza, the mediators have struggled to secure a breakthrough, with Israel seeking the release of hostages held by Hamas and Hamas seeking an end to the war and a release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Israel pressed on with its offensive in Gaza to eliminate the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas after the top United Nations courtordered Israel on Friday to stop attacking the southern city of Gaza.

Israel says it wants to root out Hamas fighters holed up in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area, but its assault has worsened the plight of civilians and caused an international outcry.

In northern Gaza, where the Israeli military says it is trying to prevent Hamas from reestablishing its hold, Palestinian medical workers reported new Israeli airstrikes that they said killed at least 17 people.

Abu Mohammad said he had been taking shelter with his family at a school in Gaza City's Saftawi suburb with other families, when an Israeli missile struck a yard and outside a classroom where women were preparing bread.

"We were sitting peacefully, then there was boom, a missile from a controlled drone, or a regular drone, but it did massive damage," he told Reuters. He said several people were killed, adding: "Even schools are not safe anymore."

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Palestinians medics said 45 Palestinians had been killed in the past day across Gaza. They do not distinguish between civilian and militant casualties.

Nearly 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, Gaza's health ministry says. Israel began the operation in response to Hamas-led militants attacking southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

FIGHTING ACROSS GAZA

Hamas and the smaller armed group Islamic Jihad said their fighters had fired anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs at Israeli soldiers in the north.

The Israeli military said its troops in the northern district of Jabalia killed dozens of militants in close combat and airstrikes. Residents and civil emergency services there said Israeli tanks moving deep in Jabalia destroyed dozens of houses, shops, and roads.

Further south, the Israeli military said that on Friday it had killed militants, taken down part of Hamas' tunnel system and found weapon stashes in Rafah, where its forces operated in what it said were specific areas.

Earlier in the war, Rafah became a refuge for Gazans fleeing fighting elsewhere. After Rafah became a target as well, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the city.

So far, fighting has taken place on Rafah's southern edge and eastern districts, away from the most populated areas.

Friday's ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or World Court, is binding but its rulings have been ignored in the past, as the court has no enforcement powers.

Israeli officials said on Saturday that the World Court's order does not rule out all military action in the area.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

We must stay a step ahead of the enemy – Putin

Russia “must always be one step ahead” of its adversaries and should maintain its technological advantage in order to “guarantee” victory, President Vladimir Putin has said.

The president made the remarks on Saturday as he visited the headquarters of the Tactical Missiles Corporation, a major state-owned defense company located outside Moscow. While at the facility, Putin held a meeting with the CEOs of Russia’s leading defense corporations. 

Gaining even a slim technological advantage has a drastic impact on the battlefield, the president stated, referring to what has been learned from the Ukraine conflict. 

“I would like to emphasize that we must always be one step ahead. We have to always be one step ahead of the adversary, and then victory will be guaranteed. You know this,” he said. 

“Your specialists and you personally always remain in touch with our men fighting on the line of contact without sparing themselves to defend Russia’s interests. Whenever we manage to get an edge, no matter how slim it is, this increases our effectiveness manyfold,” Putin added.

The country’s defense industry, which has been booming amid the hostilities, must not only become more efficient in meeting the needs of the military, but also diversify and become more involved in civilian manufacturing, according to Putin.

“Delivering on this systemic objective is instrumental for streamlining the defense sector’s manufacturing potential and helping talented professionals advance their careers. Overall, this would create a more sustainable footing for defense manufacturers by offering them a solid economic and financial foundation in the long run,” he explained.

The president also touched upon the civilian crowd-funded military manufacturers that have emerged amid the hostilities. The solutions they offer – such as radio-electronic warfare devices or sophisticated drones – must be fast-tracked for adoption by the military, the president said. 

“We must also be effective when using assets supplied by the so-called grassroots defense manufacturing sector. We must enable it to develop and expand its manufacturing operations, and introduce a fast-track procedure for supplying its most effective solutions to the army,” Putin stated.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Zelenskiy says Ukrainian forces now control area where Russia pushed into Kharkiv region

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had secured "combat control" of areas where Russian troops staged an incursion this month in northern parts of Kharkiv region.

"Our soldiers have now managed to take combat control of the border area where the Russian occupiers entered," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Zelenskiy's comments, after holding a meeting of military and regional officials in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, appeared to be at variance with comments by Russian officials.

Viktor Vodolatskiy, a member of Russia's State Duma lower house of parliament, was quoted by Tass news agency as saying Russian forces controlled more than half the territory of the town of Vovchansk, 5 km (three miles) inside the border.

Vodolatskiy was quoted as saying that once Vovchansk was secured, Russian forces would target three cities in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region -- Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Pokrovsk.

Reuters was unable to verify independently battlefield accounts from either side.

Russian forces pushed into border regions of Ukraine's Kharkiv region this month and Russia's Defence Ministry said they had secured control of about 12 settlements.

Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials had been reporting success in "stabilising" the area.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff, in its evening report on Friday said the situation in Vovchansk was "tense but controlled by the defence forces".

"The Russian army today launched air terror against this town -- eight guided bombs hit the town," it said. Attacks were launched on at least two other settlements north of Kharkiv.

A late-night report by the General Staff said Ukrainian forces had repelled 10 Russian attacks in the area, including around Vovchansk.

It also noted Russian forces had achieved "partial success" in areas near Kupiansk, further east in Kharkiv region, and the Pokrovsk sector where heavy fighting has been taking place further south in Donetsk region.

Ukrainian military bloggers said Ukrainian troops had been holding their ground around Vovchansk and Russian forces were using less infantry in the area and instead firing from a distance, with limited accuracy.

RT/Reuters

The duo of Abba Yusuf, governor of Kano State, and the Nigerian presidency stand the risk of plunging Kano back into the year 1893. Their weapon would be politics and votes of the over 2 million people of Kano. In the year 1893, in the words of highly rated scholar on Northern emirate administration, C. N. Ubah, a bitterly disputed succession battle plunged the Kano emirate into anarchy and civil war. Indeed, the Kano royal family had overtime been a hotbed of divisions and acrimony. Beginning from the first civil war fought in Kano in 1565, the royal house of Kano had been bedeviled by internal strife and bloodshed. In 1648, the house was again ravaged by a second civil war shortly after the death of Muhammed Alwali, also known as El Kutumbi. The strife continued even till 1806 when Kano became part and parcel of the nascent Sokoto Caliphate. That year, followers of Usman dan Fodio forcefully drove out Alwali, Kano’s last Hausa emir, from the city. Thereafter, in 1807, after a protracted struggle withthe Fula warriors towards the end of that year, Alwali was ambushed and assassinated at Burum-Burum in present day Kano. His assassination spelled the end of the Kutumbaw line of Hausa aristocrats in Kano, as well as the fall of the Bagauda dynasty that had been in place for 800 years.

In modern times, we have had peaceful enthronement and dethronement of Kano Emirs. For instance, one day in August, 1963, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, suddenly woke up from a belligerent side of his bed and conceived the sack of the Emir of Kano, Sir Muhammadu Sanusi. Persuaded that courtesy demanded he should inform his protégé and Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of this move, Bello sent his friend, Alhaji Isa Kaita, Waziri of Katsina, then Northern Region Minister for Works and later, Minister of Education between 1957-1966, to Lagos.

There, Kaita met Balewa with his five ministers – Muhammadu Ribadu, Shehu Shagari, Zanna Bukar Dipcharima, Maitama Sule and Tudun Wada. When he broke the news, Balewa and the others were horrified and expressed their opposition to it. “Tell the Sardauna that he should not do it, for Kano will be on fire,” they chorused. Sanusi was a highly revered and loved monarch with a cultic following. Then Kaita rose and told the Prime Minister and the five ministers, “I am not here for permission. I am here to inform you that the Sardauna had made up his mind. I am afraid, no going back”. Bello and Balewa later agreed that Azare, headquarters of the Katagum Emirate in Northern Bauchi province, should be Sanusi’s banishment place. Two days after, Sanusi was dethroned and banished to Azare where he died in 1984.

Who will give Tinubu and Yusuff that initial counsel which Balewa and his ministers gave Ahmadu Bello? Who will tell them that, with the current weaponizing of politics and votes in the Kano royal house succession battle, in anticipation of the 2027 elections, “Kano will be on fire”?

Fifty seven years after that Ahmadu Bello dethronement of Sanusi, in the same off-handed and cavalier manner he removed him, Abubakar Ganduje also halted Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s imperial ride on the royalty of Kano. Through the State Emirate Council Law 2019, Ganduje imposed a five-emirate system, birthing first-class emirs in Gaya, Rano, Karaye and Bichi. Thus, in 2020, Ganduje peremptorily removed Sanusi over allegation of insubordination to his government. And 61 years after, Governor Yusuf walked that same Ahmadu Bello route by removing the Emirs.

Aside Ganduje’s allegation of insubordination against Sanusi, the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, too saw Sanusi’s cup as having run over. Security reports alleged that the Emir was tampering with the president’s meaty pie. Coupled with his perceived aristocratic obstinacy, relentless criticisms of the fiscal regime and indeed the administration of Buhari in very unflattering terms, Ganduje’s disdain for Sanusi received a presidential imprimatur. He had to go.

After receiving his letter of appointment from Yusuf on Friday, Sanusi, speaking in Hausa, ascribed his return to the palace as God’s inscrutable act, because God is “the all knowing. He gives power and takes away from people in leadership. If He gives, no one can take away and if He takes away, no one can stop Him. God gives power to whoever He chooses.” Earlier, while signing the new Kano Emirate Bill (2024) into law, Yusuf had said that the decision to return Sanusi to the stool as the 16th Emir of Kano was in the best interest of the state and its people.

Both Sanusi and Yusuf must however know that they were both being clever by half. The duo merely exploited and capitalized on the mass of the people’s uncritical appraisal of existential matters. Nigerians mix metaphysical issues with the issue of existence, to their disadvantage. The plot to bring the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor back to the palace had no hand of God in it. It was a product of deft maneuvering by political gladiators playing a political chess game. Alongside the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Gwandu and the Shehu of Borno, in Nigeria and outside of its shores, the palace of the Emir of Kano is held in awe for its significance for both religious and political purposes.

Together, the four Emirs are historical and religious rulers who are literally deified in Northern Nigeria. On the national platform, whoever is the Kano Emir has a controlling leverage on the political barometer of the north. With Ganduje’s political hold on the state he governed withering and dithering, one permutation said the federal government needed an ally in a suave, likeable Sanusi whose preference also fits the political vendetta game that the Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso-led New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) wanted to inflict on the APC national chairman. A Sanusi as Emir, with his adorable suavity and talismanic respect in the north would inch any government with sagging electoral hold like Tinubu’s back to power in a re-election contest. So they think. The other permutation said that Ganduje got the presidency of Tinubu to send military troops to Kano to thwart the removal of his anointed Emirs.

Though there are no artillery firepower and marching troops, today in Kano State, there seems to be a reenactment of the famous Battle of Kwatarkwashi. Last Thursday, Abba Yusuf appended his signature to the reappointment of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Emir of Kano, four years after his dethronement by his predecessor, Ganduje. By that singular act, perhaps unbeknown to Yusuf, he went down history lane among leaders of Kano who engaged in the politicization of successions in the Kano emirate.

Fought in 1903, the Battle of Kwatarkwashi ruptured Kano emirate peace. It was a decisive war between the British administered Protectorate of Northern Nigeria and the Emirate forces in the Sokoto Caliphate. In that battle, High Commissioner to the Northern Region, Lord Lugard, waged war against Kano Emir, Aliyu Babba. Bent on removing Babba for what he considered his arrogance and disregard for his office, Lugard wrote incriminating memos to Britain justifying military action against Babba. First, he claimed the Emir planned to attack the Kano garrison with 10,000 troops. Then, he alleged that Babba granted asylum to Dan Yamusa, the Magaji of Keffi, who, in October 1902, allegedly murdered a Captain Moloney, Keffi-based junior Resident. Lugard then placed a price and wanted tag on Yamusa’s head.

On January 29, 1903, the battle began. Colonel Morland, Commandant of Northern Nigeria Regiment and his troops rolled their battle tanks into Kano. Emir Babba’s cavalry for the battle was no match for Morland’s 24 Officers and 722 other ranks, with their four 75mm guns and 4 Maxims. The British, after breaking the walls of Kano, stormed the Emir’s palace, killed its defender, Sarkin Shanu, who had fought them with a sword, set the Emir’s arsenal on fire and killed not less than 300 of the warriors. On February 16, the British forces then proceeded to the Northwest of Kano where they ambushed the Kano cavalry who were gathered by the great rocks of Kwatarkwashi where a 6-hour firepower ensued. At the end, the Vizier of Kano emir beat a retreat with his remnant of cavalry, to Sokoto. Many of the fighters, under Muhammad Abbas, however, surrendered to the British, leading to Muhammad Abbas, Aliyu’s elder brother, being proclaimed Emir of Kano.

Unlike the Kwatarkwashi battle, change of Emirs in a very volatile emirate of Kano is usually in an off-handed manner. Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Second Republic governor of Kano state from 1979 to 1983, had also toed same line in his removal of the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero. Rimi perhaps verbalized the disdain with which politicians regard Emirs. Speaking with respected veteran journalist, Lekan Alabi, in 1982 on an NTA Ibadan Personality Interview Programme, Speak Out, Rimi declared that traditional rulers were “mere public servants” and threatened to remove Bayero.

He exploded: “The way you press and our political opponents (regard) the Emir of Kano is not the way we regard him. As far as we are concerned (thumping his chest) – we the elected government of Kano state – as far as I, the governor of Kano state, is concerned – the Emir of Kano is nothing, nothing, nothing but a public person… he is holding a public office… being paid from public funds and whose appointment is at the pleasure of the governor of the state and who can be dismissed, removed interdicted, suspended if he commits an offence. And there is nothing unique about Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano… believe me, if he commits any offence which will make it necessary for us to remove him, we will remove him and we will sleep soundly”.

Since the formation of Kano Emirate in 1805, two attempts have been made to split the emirate. Incidentally done by civilian governments, both attempts hung their reasons for the Emirs’ removal on the need to whittle down the powers of Emirs. Rimi was the first to create five emirates out of the Kano Emirate. A noticeable sour relationship had developed between Bayero and Rimi. In 1981, Rimi stopped the traditional homage usually paid by village heads to Bayero. So, on April 1, 1981, Rimi created four new emirates of Gaya, Rano, Dutse, and Auyo, excising some domains from Bayero’s emirate. On April 7, 1981, he also issued a “Query” to Bayero and in 1982, ordered the return of dethroned Emir Muhammadu Sanusi to Wudil in the state.

What is playing out in Kano today is a replay of the Second Republic Kano government-Emirate tango. Or the usual volatility of successions in the royal house in earlier centuries. Rimi, who became governor under the banner of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) had fallen out with party leader, Mallam Aminu Kano. From this fallout came a faction of PRP called “Yan tabo” with its loyalty strictly to the Mallam. The other faction, called “Yan santsi,” pledged its loyalty to Rimi. Unfortunately for Rimi, the electoral umpire, FEDECO, pronounced its recognition of the Aminu Kano faction. This led Rimi to defect to the Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) where he vied for a second term in the 1983 elections. As soon as he tendered his letter of resignation as governor, the “Yan tabo” faction replaced him with his deputy, Abdu Dawakin Tofa but later fielded Sabo Aliyu Bakin Zuwo as governorship candidate. Zuwo defeated Rimi. On his assumption of office in 1983, the first thing Bakin Zuwo did was to reverse the creation of the four new emirates made by Rimi. The single emirate of Kano continued for thirty six years until 2019 when Ganduje again got it splintered.

Unbeknown to the generality of the people, though Governor Yusuf had, in campaigns for the office of the governor, vowed to “right wrongs” in the emirate, his “very bad” case at the appellate court must have given him and the Nigerian power apparatchik what lawyers call consensus ad idem on the restoration of Sanusi to the palace. In the permutations of what is happening in Kano, the one suggesting that the president is most likely running with the hare and hunting with the hound is almost the most fertile. Sanusi and the current Nigerian power levers have always been allies. Giving his return a presidential push would be a worthy favour to a friend who incidentally has become a proposed weapon for retention of power.

Events unfolding since Thursday have shown that politicians are gradually dragging Kano to the Battle of Kwatarkwashi, the slab of bloodshed. As I write this, there appears to be two Emirs on a single Kano emirate stool. Presidency officials themselves are split between Sanusi and Bayero. Security apparatuses are also torn apart in their loyalty to the two “Emirs”, with Yusuf threatening to arrest Bayero for allegedly sponsoring the bid to set Kano aglow. But, is the blood of Kano people worth the politics of 2027 and vendetta?

For at that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great host like the host of God ~ 1 Chronicles 12: 22.

Introduction

There are many subtle satanic conspiracies to keep you in a box from the day you were born till your sojourn here on earth is over. However, God has also mercifully put into the hands of some people all you will ever need to live happily here on earth.

In fact, God has positioned these people and some other elements of creation ahead of you to make your life’s assignments achievable. Just as He sent the wise men from the East to offer Jesus certain prophetic gifts, He has also sent these people to your life (Matthew 2:1-11). They are your “destiny helpers”, and all you need is to release them appropriately to work in your favour.

Your destiny helpers carry the responsibility to move you through your life’s stages of growth and development unto success and prominence, till your journey on earth is complete. This is the pattern God has set for all living beings, sinners and saints alike.

If you can undertake a discreet study of your life’s journey so far, you will discover that for every new level or open door you ever experienced, you met some people who played major and crucial roles to get you there.

No man was born to fail. God never intended for anyone to "settle down", as it were. He wants to take us from one dimension of glory to a higher one by the supernatural force of His blessings. We must leverage this to release destiny helpers today, and discover the "higher places" that God has prepared for us, in Christ Jesus.

The Importance of Helpers To Fulfilling Destiny

The notion of a manifest destiny has many components. Basically, God is our Very Present Helper (Hebrews 13:6). He can arrange situations and things to work for our greater good. But, He often uses men and women to accomplish this. He also sometimes uses non-human channels to bring us what we require.

It was the raven birds that brought bread and meat to Elijah. For Prophet Balaam, it was a speaking ass that saved him from the sword of death. However, commonly, God uses men to bring help our ways, even when they look apparently useless to us.

God used four lepers to deliver the whole of Samaria from famine. It was also men that God used to make David great. They came with different abilities to help him succeed in his life’s assignments.

Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18)! But, it is equally true that where there are no people, visions also perish. You cannot fulfill your life’s mission alone; you need the contributions and support of others. But, don’t forget to make room for them to freely operate to work in your favour.

Your destiny is the assignment God has created you to achieve as a part of His overall plan for the world (Jeremiah 1:5). Releasing your destiny helpers is very essential to the fulfillment of your destiny. You can have all the requisite qualifications, yet it takes helpers of destiny to connect you to the right quarters.

Releasing Your Destiny Helpers

Today, many people are stranded in the various “basements” of life, struggling and struggling without a terminal date in view. Why? They simply misused their ladders as firewood by failing to recognize and release their destiny helpers appropriately.

Some of our destiny helpers include our parents, pastors, mentors, friends, siblings, spouses, disciples, children, mentees, and so on. Invisible angelic helpers are also available to all of us. They come to our aid when we least expect it, and they may disappear as soon as their work is done.

Meanwhile, invariably, destiny helpers characteristically wait for enabling environments conducive for their operations before they act in our favour.

Joseph was sent to Egypt by God ahead of His people, to preserve them from the impending famine and hardship that was to come upon their land. But, he passed through the crucibles of hurts, slavery and imprisonment! Until he was released, Israel couldn’t benefit from his gracious assignment (Psalm 105:17-21).

When your destiny helpers are released to work, your destiny is catapulted overnight. Big and unforgettable things begin to happen to you, even in small places. Remember the poor cripple man in Mark 2:1-12. He remained perfectly disabled, until four earnest helpers brought him to the small house where Jesus was at that time!

Basically, a destiny in divine order attracts all divine blessings. When your destiny is on track with God, things work well because God makes adequate provisions for you before the needs arise.

There is no shortage of helpers when your destiny is on track with God. As one helper is leaving, another is coming with even greater resources. When your destiny is in divine order, you are virtually guaranteed the good life. Even if the enemies attempt to slow you down while God is still building you up for the tasks ahead, they cannot stop you (1 John 4:4).

Furthermore, in life, everything is interconnected. When you make good things to happen for others, God will make better things to happen for you as well (Matthew 5:7). Being merciful provokes the release of your helpers of destiny.

Very importantly, when helpers wouldn’t help destinies, we should set to interrogate the situations: Are there certain allowed personality defects in our lives? Do we have stingy attitudes to others? Could there be some satanic dimensions to the ugly scenario?

Men and brethren, whatever it is, let’s plead the mercy of God today for divine connection with people that matter to our destinies. Let’s follow the leadings of faith and patience, and we will certainly experience the outstretched arms of God in the circumstances of our lives, in Jesus name (Hebrews 6:12). 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

There are fundamental differences between what God does and what man does. God is not a man. His ways are different from those of men. His reward is different from that of men.

Jesus insists we must choose between the things of God and those of men. We cannot have both, not the least because the things of men are the things of Satan.

Ephemeral Rewards

Jesus identifies three instances where we must seek only God’s approval, not man’s: when we do charitable works, pray, and fast. He says if we do any of these secretly, God will reward us openly. But if we do them to be seen by men, the only approval we will get will be from men. (Matthew 6:1-3/6).

When we give to men, we must do so recognising that we are giving to God and not to men. Jesus says: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 24:40).

Therefore, we must not receive glory or praise from men. Jesus says: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).

The rewards of men are ephemeral. Unlike God’s reward, they do not last. Job says of men: “Their prosperity will not endure.” (Job 20:21). Men will praise us today and abuse us tomorrow. They will end up discouraging our righteousness. We will soon become tired of doing good if we seek their approval.

God cursed the Earth. (Genesis 3:17). So, nothing fundamentally good or enduring can be dug out of the Earth. Therefore, Jesus teaches that it is more blessed to give than to receive from men. (Acts 20:35).

When we fast, we must do so because we hunger for God and not for the praise of men. When we pray, we must be careful to pray only to God and not to men. Prayer must not be designed to feed our spiritual ego. 

God’s Reward

Most Christians acknowledge that God rewards man, but we do not know how. Churches primarily recognise money and riches as God’s rewards. But these can be obtained without God. Since many unbelievers are wealthy, then wealth cannot be the reward of God.

God’s kingdom is not of this world. So, God’s reward cannot be of this world. John says:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.”(1 John 2:15-16).

The Bible says: “(God) is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”(Hebrews 11:6).

It is only logical that since God rewards those who seek Him, their reward must be what they seek, which is God Himself.

God primarily rewards those who love Him with Himself. He is by far the most precious thing in the universe. Therefore, there can be no greater reward than God Himself. David says to God: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”(Psalm 16:11).

Accordingly, God chose Abraham by giving Himself to Abraham. He said: “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” (Genesis 15:1).

The reward of God is God Himself, and it is an exceedingly great reward. He revealed Himself to Israel, His chosen people, as Immanuel: “God with us,” leading Isaiah to declare: “Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!” (Isaiah 12:6).

When Israel came to the Promised Land, the land was divided by tribe. Some received the highlands, some the lowlands. Some well-watered lands that rivers divide, and some coastal lands.

But the Levites were not given any land whatsoever. God declared that He was their Promised Land.

“The Lord said to Aaron: ‘You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.’” (Numbers 18:20).

Rather than complain about this seeming oversight, the Levites maintained that they received the best deal: “O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.” (Psalm 16:5-6).

Today, we have come full circle in Christ. We are not heirs of carnal things. We are not even heirs of what God has. We are heirs of God Himself: “Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.”(Romans 8:17).

So, when a man came to Jesus to seek His assistance in getting his brother to give him his share of the inheritance from his father, Jesus rebuked him for striving for the inheritance of men and ignoring that of God: “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15).

God’s Open Reward 

As observed, most Christians are socialised in churches to believe that God rewards us with carnal things. We know that God rewards good works done in His Name. But we think He does this by giving us valuable things of this world. 

However, that cannot possibly be the case. Jesus says: “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15).Surely, God will not reward anyone with what is an abomination to Him.

Moreover, if what God gives is essentially Himself, how does He give Himself openly? Jesus says every secret devotion elicits God’s open reward. 

God does this by demonstrating openly that He approves of us. At Jesus’ water baptism, God approved of Him openly in the hearing of everybody: “Suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” (Matthew 3:17).

On another occasion, there was an open conversation between God the Father and Jesus:

“‘Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.’ Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’” (John 12:27-29).  

God rewarded Jesus openly by validating His word with signs and wonders. Thus, Peter testified to the people on Jesus’ resurrection from the dead: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know.” (Acts 2:22). 

Such open validation also belongs to followers of Christ. Jesus says: “These signs will follow those who believe: In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18).

God rewarded Joseph openly by making him the prime minister of Egypt and then bringing his devious brothers who sold him into slavery to Egypt to bow down to him. He rewarded Daniel openly by shutting the mouths of the lions when he was thrown into the lions’ den. He rewarded openly the three Hebrew children when they were thrown into the fiery furnace. They were unscathed.

God rewards us openly by doing something extraordinary for us that shows every bystander that the hand of God is upon us. They often come in wilderness situations. They come in ways that men cannot claim the glory, but God. They are not hidden. God deliberately broadcasts them supernaturally to the world.

When God rewarded David openly, he wrote in the Psalms: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” (Psalm 23:5).

When our cup runs over, everyone sees it, especially our enemies.

It is not only God’s peace that surpasses all human understanding, so also do His open rewards. Everyone might be going through an economic crunch, but that is when our businesses prosper inexplicably.

Thus, Isaac sowed in famine and reaped a bountiful harvest. His harvest must have been confounding to his neighbour:

“Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.” (Genesis 26:12-14).

Every time Isaac dug for a well, he found running water and his neighbours contested with him for the well. He would move away and dig somewhere else and still find running water. He kept this up until they gave up and stopped harassing him.

“Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” But they said, “We have certainly seen that the Lord is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you.” (Genesis 26:26-28).

Everyone concluded that God must be the one favouring Isaac, so even his enemies came to reconcile with him. Solomon says: “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7). CONTINUED.

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