Across the west, popular misery and ‘elite overproduction’ are fuelling crisis, argues data-driven historian Peter Turchin. So what can we do to turn things around?

In February 2010, Peter Turchin, a relatively obscure researcher at the University of Connecticut, wrote a letter to the distinguished journal Nature. He was responding to their “2020 visions” issue – an upbeat dawn-of-the-decade exercise that collected predictions of progress from across science and politics. Turchin assumed the role of Cassandra. “The next decade is likely to be a period of growing instability in the United States and western Europe,” he wrote, “which could undermine the sort of scientific progress you describe.” He pointed to waves of disruption that tend to recur every 50 years. “All these cycles look set to peak in the years around 2020.” There was still time to change course, though: with measures to improve wellbeing and reduce economic inequality, “records show that societies can avert disaster”.

Normally scientists enjoy being proved right, but for Turchin, the way the following decade panned out must have seemed a bit too on-the-nose. The response to the financial crisis wasn’t a New Deal-style rescue package as he’d recommended, but austerity and a widening of the gap between rich and poor. Frustration at the established order threw up Brexit in Britain and Trump in the US. Right on cue, 2020 delivered a pandemic, economic chaos and a president who refused to concede defeat at the polls. The following January saw the storming of the Capitol, and images of insurrection that seemed like a throwback to an earlier revolutionary era.

Now Turchin is having another go at explaining those cycles of disruption and what it might take to emerge unscathed (though he tells me that, unlike in 2010, it’s past time to avoid the consequences entirely: “We are in crisis – but it’s not too late to take a less bloody exit.”) His book’s title, End Times, doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, but it does provide a clear theory about how we got into this mess, and how to get out of it. There are some familiar concepts here – falling living standards leading to mass discontent – but others, “elite overproduction” in particular, are much less widely recognised, and genuinely eye-opening.

For a global prophet of doom, Turchin cuts a surprisingly ordinary figure. He speaks to me over Zoom from the sofa in his modest living room in Storrs, Connecticut, essentially a village with a huge university campus attached. “We have a house in the woods,” he tells me, and praises the area’s “low population density” in a way that makes me wonder if he’s prepping for the apocalypse. The reality is less alarming. “You know, my wife has a garden, it’s very comfortable.” A bit like a dacha, he observes – a reminder, alongside his strong accent, that he was born in the USSR – “a country that doesn’t exist any more”. He emigrated with his dissident parents in 1977, when he was 20.

That background makes him less sanguine than others might be about the prospect of societal upheaval – even state collapse. “I went back for the first time since leaving in 1992, and I experienced a failed state. Now, when I’d moved to the United States in 1977, the [country] was really at the brink of several trends beginning to point downwards,” he says, tracing the path of a rollercoaster with his right hand. “I saw the end of the Golden Age – from the common people’s point of view – and it has been downhill since then. So I’m really worried about ending up in another failed state.”

I point out that this will seem like hyperbole to lots of people. “I don’t say that it’s 100% certain,” he counters – and notably refuses to be drawn on whether Trump will be re-elected in 2024. “The road out of crisis opens up a whole set of possibilities, from pretty mild instability all the way to collapse. At this point, pretty much anything is possible.”

What were those downward-pointing trends in the 1970s, then? That decade, Turchin argues, was when the social contract established in the 1930s – Roosevelt’s New Deal – began to disintegrate. For 40 years, America had effectively replicated the Nordic model under which the interests of workers, owners and the state were kept in balance (he’s careful to point out that a significant portion of the population – mostly Black Americans – were always shut out of this cosy arrangement). After that, things began to shift in favour of owners. The power of unions was eroded, as were labour rights. Typical wages started to lag behind economic growth, or even decrease. Quality of life suffered, and with it life expectancy. “Diseases of despair” such as opioid or alcohol abuse grew. Turchin even links the rise of mass shootings to a generalised hopelessness he refers to as “popular immiseration”.

At the same time, the rich got richer – far richer. A system of taxation that weighed most heavily on the highest earners, including a top rate of 90%, was dismantled. The number of decamillionaires, or households worth over $10m, increased from 66,000 in 1983 to 693,000 in 2019, accounting for inflation. The economy chugged along nicely, but the share of it controlled by the wealthiest got larger at the expense of the average earner. Turchin calls this the “wealth pump”. Things are now set up, he argues, so that money gushes away from workers and towards the elite, like a blowout from an oil well.

This has an interesting effect: so-called “elite overproduction”, a phrase coined by Turchin’s colleague, the sociologist Jack Goldstone. “The social pyramid has grown top heavy,” he explains, with rich families and top universities churning out more wealthy graduates than the system can accommodate. To illustrate this, Turchin describes a game of musical chairs with a twist. There’s always been a limited number of powerful positions, be they senator, governor, supreme court justice or media mogul. In an era of elite overproduction, rather than chairs being taken away whenever the music stops, the number of competitors increases instead. Before you know it, there are far more people than can realistically attain high office. Fights break out. Norms (and chairs) are overturned as “elite aspirants” – those who have been brought up in the expectation of a say in how things are run – turn into counter-elites, prepared to smash the system to get their way. This isn’t just a US problem, by the way; Turchin says that Britain is on a similar trajectory. In fact, among OECD countries, it’s next in line. Germany is further behind, but also on the same “slippery slope”.

Turchin, who was a mathematical ecologist before turning to history in the mid-2000s, brings a numbers approach to his adopted subject. He was able to predict the turbulent 2020s by looking at economic and social indicators from 100 historical crises, gathered together in a database called CrisisDB. They range from medieval France to 19th-century Britain, and show that periods of instability are pretty consistently preceded by a decline in wages, the emergence of a wealth pump, and most combustibly, elite overproduction.

Why is the latter so important? Well, the masses may be miserable, but without someone who has the status and resources to organise them, they’ll simply languish. Their revolutionary potential is only realised once a “political entrepreneur” – usually a frustrated elite aspirant – gets involved. Robespierre, Lenin and Castro are all examples of highly privileged individuals who felt excluded from existing power structures and led popular movements to overthrow them. In 19th-century China, a young man from a well-to-do family failed the exams that would have enabled him to become a top flight imperial administrator four times. Hong Xiuquan went on to lead a rebellion in which at least 20 million died.

Things may not be quite as bad as that yet, but it’s not hard to identify modern-day figures who fit the elite aspirant mould. Donald Trump is the most obvious, a beneficiary of the wealth pump whose only route to power was as a political entrepreneur stoking grievance. Nigel Farage? “He’s a good example. He’s personally wealthy, a member of the economic elite. And he has been channelling discontent.” Sometimes counter-elites mount their takeover from the inside. With Brexit, “there was a traditional segment of the Conservative party, but then there was an insurgent part. And they were [also] using this discontent. What we see in history is that one segment of the elite channels popular discontent to advance their political careers. This happened in Republican Rome 2,000 years ago, and it happens now.”

Another distinctive feature of elite overproduction is the fierce ideological competition it generates. Turchin believes we’ve transitioned from the pre-crisis period, where political entrepreneurs largely attacked the established order, to a phase in which newly powerful factions are fighting among themselves. This, he argues, is one of the mechanisms behind “cancel culture”. “Such vicious ideological struggles are a common phase in any revolution,” he writes. There is a race to the extremes, with denunciations becoming more and more intense. “In the struggle between rival factions, the ones willing to escalate accusations win over the moderate ones.”

So how do we fix things? It strikes me that there are some pretty obvious political conclusions to be drawn from Turchin’s research, but he’s reluctant to be led too far down the road of punditry. “I don’t want to enter into the political infighting,” he says. “One thing that we know about historical exits from crisis is that at some point the elites and population have to pull together … the different factions have to be reconciled. That’s why I try to stay away from taking sides.”

He will, however, admit to “several recommendations”, saying that “some of them will please liberals, others will please conservatives”. Liberals, presumably, will be heartened by the idea that “we need to give workers more power”. In order to turn off the wealth pump you have to increase labour’s share of the pie at the expense of business. Partly by redistribution, but partly by beefing up workers’ ability to demand higher pay.

What kind of thing would please conservatives? Here he seems to hesitate slightly. “Let’s say … massive immigration does depress the wages of common workers. Actually, this is a paleo-left position. It’s just now the new left is focusing more on cultural issues, and they are all for immigration, but conservatives are now against immigration.” He elaborates, saying it’s an “iron law” of economics that if you increase the supply of something – in this case, labour – then its price will decline. “But,” he points out, “it won’t happen if workers have enough social power, if there are good labour organisations and, also, if the elites internalise the need for dividing fairly the fruits of economic growth. So if you have those institutions, then immigration is not a problem.”

And what about those surplus elites? Well, if you happen to be one, look away now. Halfway through End Times Turchin remarks, somewhat blithely: “In order for stability to return, elite overproduction somehow needs to be taken care of – historically and typically by eliminating the surplus elites through massacre, imprisonment, emigration, or forced or voluntary downward social mobility.” In fact, CrisisDB allows us to be even more precise: in 40% of crises, rulers were assassinated; 75% ended in revolutions or civil wars (or both), and in 20%, those civil wars dragged on for a century or longer. Sixty percent of the time the state in question disappeared, either through conquest or disintegration.

It would be nice to avoid a century-long civil war. Perhaps instead we can select “voluntary downward social mobility” from Turchin’s grisly menu. This would require elites to be persuaded to give up some of their wealth, or to decide to do so off their own backs. Patriotic Millionaires, a pressure group made up of rich people, including members of the Disney family, who “share a profound concern about the destabilising level of economic and political inequality in America” is probably unrepresentative of the class as a whole. More likely, things will have to get so bad that a new social contract becomes the only alternative to levels of discontent that would threaten private fortunes in any case. That’s what happened in the 1930s. It also happened in Britain in the 1830s, when the prospect of a revolution like the ones sweeping Europe was kept at bay by the Great Reform Act and the repeal of the corn laws (it also helped that frustrated elite aspirants could try their hand at running distant parts of the empire).

In any case, it seems we’ll know what the denouement is before too long. “The nice thing about CrisisDB is that we now have statistics on how long these periods last,” Turchin tells me. “Roughly speaking, it’s 10 to 20 years. Very few shorter, some much longer. But for those who think that we’re [already] out of it in the United States? That’s not very likely.” I nod, and make a mental note to speak to him again in 2033.

• End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites and the Path of Political Disintegration by Peter Turchin will be published by Allen Lane on 13 June.

The Guardian, USA

Even though he was our boss, for the first two hours of each day we only glimpsed Rudy from a distance when he shuffled back and forth from his office to the break room coffee machine. If we called him -- even if we paged him -- he wouldn't answer.

By around 10 a.m. he was a different person. Upbeat. Encouraging. Chatty. Eager to solve job scheduling or materials bottlenecks that could affect our productivity.

Then, by late afternoon he became yet another person. Instead of chatting, he barked orders. Instead of solving actual problems, he yelled about nonexistent ones. Whether we needed his help or not, we did our best to avoid him.

Hold that thought.

It's easy to assume that some people are good leaders and others are not. But the reality is more nuanced. Sometimes you're a great leader. You're empathetic. Insightful. Collaborative. Decisive.

Other times, you're less effective.

Why? According to research, sleep plays a major role in your effectiveness. A 2015 study published in Academy of Management found that bosses who don't get a good night's sleep are less likely to make good decisions the next day. Less likely to foster engagement and collaboration with, and among, their teams the next day.

And are more likely to be abusive (which the researchers define as "hostile verbal and nonverbal behavior") towards their employees the next day.

As the researchers write:

Emerging evidence suggests that leaders might be more (or less) abusive on some days than on others... abusive supervisory behavior varied more within supervisors than it did between supervisors.

Why does sleep deprivation have such an impact on leadership performance? For one thing, tired people tend to make poorer decisions.

But the researchers speculate the real culprit is ego depletion: Since self-control draws on a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up, when your energy is low, so is your self-control. Which means you're less likely to have the inner "oomph" required to be the kind of leader you want to be.

Which makes you less patient. Less tolerant. Less collaborative. More likely to make snap decisions -- and to snap at people, even if your version of "snapping" is only a nonverbal eye roll.

Rudy? He was chronically sleep-deprived. He needed four cups of coffee and a couple hours of quiet time to face the day, and us. But by the afternoon, no amount of coffee -- or "I really want to be a good leader" willpower -- could overcome his fatigue.

The solution, of course, is to always get a good night's sleep.

But like most solutions, that isn't always possible. So what should you do when you haven't gotten a good night's sleep? According to the researchers, don't just try to power through.

Instead, adapt to the fact -- and it is a fact -- that lower levels of physical and mental energy can impact your leadership performance. If you can, put off major decisions. Force yourself to take a beat and think -- instead of just reacting -- before making smaller decisions. 

Recognize that fatigue naturally decreases your tolerance for frustration, and save potentially difficult or confrontational conversations with employees -- if the issue or problem can be put off -- for the next day.

And don't answer emails that require deep thought, or nuance, or fine judgment late at night. Save them for the next morning when you're fresh.

The key is to remember that no one is able, no matter how hard they may try, to always be the exceptional leader they aspire to be -- especially when they're tired.

So do your best to ensure you are at your best.

And when you're not, to adjust accordingly.

Inc

Enyimba International have emerged as Champions of the Nigeria Premier Football League for a record-extending ninth time after they played out a 1-1 draw against Rivers United in the last game of the Super Six in Lagos.

Ekene Awazie shot the People’s Elephant in front in the 39th minute, but Nyima Nwagua restored parity for Rivers United three minutes into the second half.

Despite the myriad of chances afterwards, the game ended in a 1-1 stalemate, a result that saw Enyimba emerging champions of the league for the first time since 2019.

For George Finidi, this is his first title with the Aba Landlords after a disappointing outing last season.

The Game

Having kept each other at bay for the first 20 minutes, both teams began to look for possible openings to explore.

Rivers United made an attempt when Ebube Duru’s cross towards Mark Gibson was parried, and Enyimba’s Olorunleke Ojo also thwarted the resultant header.

Five minutes before the stoppage time, Enyimba broke the deadlock after Pascal Eze’s cross was defended in Rivers United’s box and broke to Ekene Awazie, who ferociously slotted the ball past Sochima Victor.

While Enyimba thought they could keep their lead in the second half, Nyima Nwagua levelled for Rivers United in the 48th minute.

Olorunleke Ojo was called into action on several occasions, but he did very well to deny Rivers United from shooting into the lead.

With the draw on Sunday, Enyimba, Rivers United and Remo Stars all finished on nine points and were only separated by their goal difference.

For finishing top, Enyimba won the giant trophy, N100m and a ticket to the Champions League. Remo Stars are second on the log and would also be competing for the first time in the Champions League, while dethroned Rivers United will have to make do with CAF Confederation Cup.

PT

Nigeria’s secret police took the nation’s suspended central bank governor into custody, hours after he was removed by the nation’s new president, as a power struggle in Africa’s biggest economy took a dramatic turn.

The State Security Service announced Godwin Emefiele’s detention on Saturday for “investigative reasons.” President Bola Tinubu revealed the governor’s dismissal in a brief statement that was issued after financial markets closed on Friday.

The secret police have been investigating Emefiele for alleged wrongdoing related to multibillion-dollar public lending programs initiated by the governor. Emefiele’s suspension is a “sequel to the ongoing investigation,” the presidency said, without providing further details, leaving it unclear whether its statement referred to the same probe.

The central bank and Emefiele didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Tension between Emefiele and the president has escalated since campaigning began for an election that Tinubu won in February. Tinubu was sworn in as the leader of Africa’s most populous nation less than two weeks ago and used his inauguration speech to criticize the central bank, calling for an end to Nigeria’s multiple-currency regime and a reduction in interest rates to boost economic growth.

Nigeria’s currency has weakened 2.4% this year and touched a fresh record low on Friday of 471.92 naira to the dollar.

Losses have accelerated since Tinubu called for changes to the bank’s currency policy and urged it to close the gap between the official and unofficial exchange rates. The spread between the managed and parallel markets in Nigeria can be as wide as 60%.

Emefiele became one of the most influential figures in Nigeria under Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. The central bank made significant interventions in the economy, including lending unprecedented sums to the government and extending credit to multiple sectors.

The governor played an unorthodox yet central role in promoting Buhari’s agenda, including propping up the naira and banning access to foreign exchange for imports of dozens of goods from rice to cement in a bid to boost domestic production.

Critics slammed the governor for paying undue attention to development finance and excessive regulation of banks at the expense of price stability. The nation’s monetary policy committee has raised borrowing costs by 700 basis points since May 2022 to contain an inflation rate that’s been at more than double the top end of its 6% to 9% target range for 11 months. 

His most controversial policy was a demonetization program introduced in the run-up to Nigeria’s presidential elections in February. The attempt to replace high-denomination naira notes with new ones resulted in a shortage of bills that hobbled day-to-day business in the cash-dominant economy.

Politicians, including Tinubu and those backing his presidential campaign, accused Emefiele of pursuing the unpopular reform to damage the ruling party’s electoral prospects. State governors successfully challenged the policy at the Supreme Court, which nullified a deadline for phasing out the old notes.

Emefiele, who’s been at the helm of the regulator since 2014, will be replaced in an acting capacity by Folashodun Shonubi, a deputy governor in charge of operations at the bank.

Shonubi joined the central bank’s board in 2018 from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, where he was managing director, according to a profile published on the central bank’s website. He has more than three decades of experience in banking and served as the head of treasury at Citigroup Inc.’s Nigerian unit from 1990 until 1993.

Bloomberg

Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja on Saturday played three video clips as evidence in Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi’s suit challenging President Bola Tinubu’s victory.

Mr Tinubu, who won Nigeria’s presidency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the February presidential election, is battling to sustain his victory in court.

In a bid to prove his allegation of Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC’s, non-compliance with its guidelines in the conduct of the 25 February presidential election, Obi’s legal team tendered two flash drives containing INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, and another top official’s press interviews.

Another video recording contained Tinubu’s press interview at Daura, Katsina State, where he had gone to intimate former President Muhammadu Buhari of his intention to pick Kashim Shettima as his running mate at the polls.

Obi’s lawyer, Jibril Okutepa, had on Friday tendered the videotapes containing the interviews before the five-member panel of the court chaired by Haruna Tsammani.

At the resumed proceedings on Saturday, Okutepa called a Channels Television journalist, Lucky Obewo-Isawode, as a witness who mounted the witness box to testify concerning the video clips.

The court directed the playing of the videos.

In the first video clip, INEC chair, Yakubu, a professor, was seen seated with members of political parties and civil society organisations.

Prominent among them was Iyiola Omisore, the National Secretary of the APC.

Yakubu, decked in a brown kaftan and a cap to match, walked into a room and exchanged pleasantries with attendees at the press briefing.

Immediately after he took his seat, Yakubu began to reel out some of the innovative measures the electoral umpire had taken to boost the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process.

“There is no going back on the deployment of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machine,” Yakubu began.

He went on to assure that “There is no going back on the electronic transmission of election results from the polling units in real-time to the INEC IReV Portal.”

Yakubu’s interview also aired on Channels Television – a broadcast station headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.

In the second video recording, INEC’s national commissioner on Voter Education, Festus Okoye, was seen on Channels Television’s primetime programme, ‘Sunday Politics.’

Okoye, while being interviewed by the show host, Seun Okinbaloye, regretted INEC’s failure to electronically transmit the presidential election results in real-time as it had promised in the build-up to the general elections.

The failure of the electoral commission to promptly upload the results from polling stations during the presidential election across Nigeria forms is one of the issues raised by Obi and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in their separate petitions seeking to overturn Tinubu’s victory.

Tinubu’s video clip evidence

In the final video played in court on Saturday, Tinubu, who was a presidential flagbearer of the APC, was seen dressed in a blue flowing gown bearing his signature infinity symbol, addressing journalists at Buhari’s country home, Daura, Katsina State, on 10 July 2022.

“I have chosen Kashim Shettima as my running mate. He is competent and reliable,” Tinubu said in the interview, which aired on Channels Television.

Obi urged the court to nullify Tinubu’s victory over the allegation of double nomination against Shettima.

However, the Supreme Court, in a recent judgement, dismissed a suit filed by the PDP challenging Shettima’s alleged dual nomination as a senatorial candidate of the APC in Borno Central Senatorial District as well as holding the vice presidential ticket of the party in the February polls.

After playing the video recordings of the trio, the court admitted them in evidence despite the respondents’ objections to their admissibility.

The court promised to rule on the respondents’ opposition to the admissibility of the video clips at the end of hearing the suit.

In addition, the court admitted more electoral documents as exhibits from some Local Government Areas of Benue State.

After that, the court adjourned further proceedings until Tuesday, 13 June.

PT

Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, sitting in Abuja, on Saturday, struck out an application the candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, filed for permission to interrogate the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on the technology it deployed for the conduct of the general elections.

Specifically, Obi, who is challenging the outcome of the presidential election that was held on February 25, had in the application, prayed the court to compel the electoral body to answer 12 key questions he listed on an interrogatory he filed on May 22.

He wanted INEC to among other things, tell the court the date it conducted the functionality test on the purported improved technological system it deployed for the elections, as well as the names and details of those that conducted the test.

He equally urged the court to compel INEC to supply its answers to the following questions; “Who created/deployed the four (4) Applications Patches/Updates to fix the HTTP 500 error that prevented the e-transmission of the results of the Presidential election on 25th February 2023?

“What was the exact time of the occurrence of the technical glitch which prevented the e-transmission of the result of the Presidential election on 25th February 2023?

“What time were the technological glitches fixed and or repaired?

“What percentage of the result of the Presidential election was uploaded on the I-Rev on 25th February 2023?

“What percentage of the result of the Presidential election was uploaded on the I-Rev as at the time of the declaration of the Result of the Presidential election on 1st March 2023?

“If the Presidential Election was conducted concurrently with the National Assembly Elections on the same day and at the same time using the same technological devices, why were there glitches only with respect to the Presidential Election?,” Obi and his party added.

They maintained that answers the Commission would provide to the questions, would be very vital to the determination of the petition they filed to challenge the declaration of President Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the presidential election.

However, all Respondents in the matter urged the court to dismiss the application for want of competence.

Cited as 1st to 4th Respondents in the petition, are INEC, President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and the APC.

Meanwhile, in a unanimous decision on Saturday, Haruna Tsammani-led’s five-member panel struck out the application on the premise that it was filed outside the pre-hearing period.

Vanguard

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's army reports new gains against Russian forces near Bakhmut

Counterattacking Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 1,400 metres at a number of sections of the front line near the eastern city of Bakhmut in the past day, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

The advance is the latest in a series of similar gains reported this week by Kyiv near Bakhmut, which Russia said it had fully captured last month after the bloodiest and longest battle since it began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"We're trying...to conduct strikes on the enemy, we're counterattacking. We've managed to advance up to 1,400 metres on various sections of the front," the spokesperson for the eastern military command said, when asked about fighting near Bakhmut.

Serhiy Cherevaty, the official, said in televised comments that Russian forces were themselves trying to counterattack but that they had not been successful.

Ukrainian forces, he said, had inflicted heavy Russian troop casualties and destroyed military hardware in the area.

Reuters was not able to independently verify that assertion or the situation on the battlefield.

Moscow and Kyiv both reported heavy fighting in Ukraine on Friday, with bloggers describing the first sightings of German and U.S. armour, signalling that Ukraine's long-anticipated counterattack was under way.

Russia, which has built extensive fortifications in Ukraine's occupied east and south, said this week that a big push by Kyiv had failed to break through Russian lines.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said that Ukrainian forces have penetrated the first line of Russian defences in some areas but that Kyiv's progress had been slower in others.

Officials in Ukraine, which has been poised to launch a broad counteroffensive for weeks, denies its much-anticipated push has begun and says that when it does it will be obvious.

** Russian strikes kill three in Odesa, hit Poltava air base, Ukraine says

Russia fired missiles and drones at targets across Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday, killing three civilians in the Black Sea city of Odesa and striking a military air field in the central Poltava region, Kyiv authorities said.

The attacks, in which a 29-year-old was also killed in the northeast Kharkiv region according to officials, were the latest in a spate of overnight strikes that Russia has intensified as Kyiv sets its sights on a major counter-offensive.

The Air Force said the attacks involved eight ground-launched missiles and 35 strike drones. Air defence units managed to down 20 drones and two cruise missiles, it said.

"As a result of the air fight, debris from one of the drones fell onto a high-rise apartment, causing a fire," the southern military command's spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said of the attack on Odesa.

Firefighters battled overnight to put out the fire in the 10-storey block in a residential area of the city, footage released by the military showed.

The morning light revealed a gaping crater in the ground several metres wide next to the damaged building and a children's playground, a Reuters photographer said.

Three people were killed including a couple who lived on the eighth floor of the building and a man who had been outside at the time of the attack, authorities said.

At least 27 other people, including three children, were hurt, the emergency services said.

The first drone strike came around midnight and was followed by three more. Air raid sirens blared repeatedly through the night.

Russia also fired drones and ballistic and cruise missiles at the Poltava region, inflicting "some damage of infrastructure and equipment" at the Myrhorod military airfield, the regional governor said.

Ten drones attacked two areas of the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia and also backs onto the front line, wounding a 39-year-old man and killing one other person, governor Oleh Synehubov.

Ukraine also shot down two drones over the Dnipropetrovsk region where no damage was reported, its governor Serhiy Lysak said.

** Trudeau announces military aid, addresses Ukraine parliament

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $500 million in new military aid for Ukraine during an unannounced trip to war-time Kyiv on Saturday, as Ukraine girds for a counteroffensive against Russian forces and grapples with regular air strikes.

Trudeau paid his respects at a memorial to Ukrainian soldiers killed fighting pro-Russian forces since 2014, met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and addressed Ukraine's parliament.

"We will be there with (you) as much as it takes, for as long as it takes," he said, in footage of the talks released by Kyiv authorities, as he sat across from the Ukrainian leader.

NATO member Canada, which has one of the world's largest Ukrainian diasporas, has supplied military and financial assistance to Kyiv since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Ukraine wants to join the NATO military alliance as fast as it can, but Zelenskiy has recognised that cannot happen while the war with Russia is raging.

"Canada supports Ukraine to become a NATO member as soon as conditions allow for it. Ukraine and Canada look forward to addressing these issues at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July 2023," said a joint declaration adopted after the talks.

Trudeau was applauded at length as he spoke in parliament for 25 minutes, denouncing the Russian invasion and praising Ukraine's democratic development.

He said Ukraine's resistance was about "the future of us all. You are the tip of the spear that is determining the future of the 21st century."

Zelenskiy said Ukraine was grateful to Canadians for their support and extended thanks.

As Trudeau visited Kyiv, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced that a Russian-registered Antonov-124 cargo plane was seized at Toronto's airport, Ottawa's first such seizure of an asset aimed at putting pressure on Moscow.

The Canadian prime minister was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a Ukrainian speaker.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

West doesn’t want to listen to Russia’s concerns – Kremlin

The West’s accusations of Russia are an attempt to cover up its lack of desire to listen to Moscow’s concerns, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov made the statement in an interview with Pavel Zarubin for the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin." program, a fragment of which the journalist posted to his Telegram channel.

"There are accusations from Washington, from European capitals that Russia is aggressive and so on. This is just an attempt to camouflage their unwillingness to listen to our concerns," he said.

** Russian forces eliminate about 60 Ukrainian troops in Krasny Liman area

Russian forces neutralized an enemy subversive and reconnaissance group and destroyed up to 60 Ukrainian troops in the Krasny Liman area and an ammo depot in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) over the past 24 hours, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Saturday.

"A Ukrainian subversive and reconnaissance group was eliminated near Chervonaya Dibrova in the Lugansk People’s Republic. Over the past 24 hours, the enemy losses [in the Krasny Liman area] amounted to over 60 Ukrainian personnel, an infantry fighting vehicle, two armored fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, Krab, Gvozdika and Akatsiya self-propelled artillery systems, as well as a D-20 howitzer," Konashenkov said.

According to the general, Battlegroup Center’s aircraft and artillery hit enemy units near Yampolovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Nevskoye and Belogorovka in the LPR, as well as in the Serebryansky forestry area.

"An ammunition depot of the 66th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces was destroyed near Petrovskoye in the Lugansk People’s Republic," he added.

Reuters/Tass

Sudanese capital quiet as 24-hour ceasefire takes hold

The Sudanese capital Khartoum was relatively calm on Saturday morning as a U.S. and Saudi-brokered 24-hour ceasefire took effect, providing a window for humanitarian assistance and giving the public a break from the intense fighting.

The short ceasefire follows a string of violated truces between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), whose power struggle erupted into violence eight weeks ago, sparking a humanitarian crisis.

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia said they shared "frustration" over the violations in a statement announcing the latest truce, and they threatened to adjourn the talks, which have continued indirectly, if fighting continues.

The fighting has turned the metropolitan area including Khartoum and its sister cities Bahri and Omdurman into a war zone, and led to conflict in the Darfur and Kordofan regions to the west.

Before the start of the truce at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT), residents reported anti-aircraft missiles firing in southern Khartoum and the Sharg el-Nil district across the Nile, which also saw air strikes.

The fighting has displaced more than 1.9 million people, 200,000 or more of whom have crossed the border into Egypt.

Those who have taken the long journey have complained of poor conditions and long wait times.

On Saturday two people attempting to cross the Ashkeit border said they had been turned back as a new rule had come into effect requiring all Sudanese to obtain a visa before entering Egypt, reversing a longtime exemption for women, children, and the elderly.

"We spent two nights in the neutral territory and now they are turning us back," said Sundus Abbas, a doctor speaking to Reuters by phone from between the countries' checkpoints. "Some people are refusing to leave," she said.

Confirming the new rule, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said authorities had detected "the spread of unlawful activities by some individuals and groups on the Sudanese side" including issuing fraudulent visas.

Egypt did not aim to prohibit entry but to organise it, he said, adding the necessary equipment had been provided for the visas to be issued promptly.

SATELLITE MONITORING

In the week since the last ceasefire lapsed on June 3 there has been intense fighting, including around crucial army bases.

The U.S. State Department said late on Friday it was supporting a platform called the Sudan Conflict Observatory that would release results of satellite monitoring of the fighting and ceasefires.

An initial report by the observatory documented "widespread and targeted" destruction of water, power and telecom facilities.

It also documented eight "systematic" arson attacks that razed villages in Darfur and several attacks on schools, mosques and other public buildings in El Geneina, country's westernmost city, which has seen fierce militia attacks amid a telecom blackout.

A doctors' union in the city called it a "ghost town" and alleged several human rights abuses, including blockading the city, depriving civilians of water, and killing the elderly.

Citizens have said that some of the men who have attacked the city wore RSF uniforms.

Previous ceasefires had allowed some humanitarian access, but aid agencies reported still being impeded by the fighting, bureaucratic control and looting.

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Medical aid agency MSF said on Saturday its staff had been stopped by RSF soldiers and "obliged" to make a statement that was later circulated by the forces.

Sudan's army and the RSF, a parallel force that has operated legally since 2017, fell out over plans to integrate their troops and reorganise their chain of command as part of a transition toward civilian rule four years after a popular uprising ousted strongman President Omar al-Bashir.

Reuters

The Batá is a Yoruba drum that is in a class of its own. It used to be highly venerated in social and political circles as its percussion impacted virtually all spheres of life. It is a double-faced drum shaped by its crafters to look like an hourglass, with one end of it bigger than the other. In the olden days, Bata got deployed mainly during traditional and religious festivals – it occupied a special place in the heart of Alaafin Sango, all his descendants and devotees. In its outstanding place of social pride, the Bata shared spatial recognition with Gbedu, the drum of royalty. In those early years spanning centuries, the Bata’s uniqueness was based on its deployment to connect with the ancestors and the other world. It often cosseted local politicians on outings in village administration. In Cuba where it later migrated to in the 1800s, Bata has played a major role in a religious worship known as Santeria. In the 1950s, Puerto Rico and the United States of America adopted it too as their major drum. Though it has lost its savour today as it is drummed in semi-religious musical entertainments in secular and popular music, whenever the Bata enters a gathering, it distinguishes itself because of its unmistakably unexampled voice and symphony.

However, as unique as the Bata drum is, when it makes its powerful, penetrating rhythm, Yoruba preach caution and warn the drum and its drummer to dance carefully. They say, bi bata ba le l’ale ju, yiya ni ya – when its delicate goat skin leather gets torn, it is cast aside and becomes utterly useless. It is a lethal warning to power-mongers on the slippery terrain of power.

Like Bata, man, no matter how respected, if he wears the alaseju (one who over-flaunts) dress, it gets torn too. Many have wondered why the Bata got the kind of veneration it has had, outside of its unique moulding. Is it its magisterially unique voice that is a rarity among other drums? The black substance gummed on the Bata’s leathery face, or its amoebic but rare make? Made by suturing goat skin on an Omo wood, the Bata’s playing head is uniquely structured from the goat skin. It also has tension straps that are not only durable cowhide but which have proved to be the mastermind of its unique, penetrating and almost ear drum-shattering rhythm. The Bata’s penetrating power at occasions is so pervasive that it instantly becomes the Lord of the Manor. 

Three Bata drums got torn midstream last week. At the apogee of their power and majesty, these drums shared essences with the Bata drum. They were sought after for their penetrating percussions. No gathering was complete without them. They shattered eardrums with the power of their presence. However, like all Bata drums that fail to heed words of advice, these Bata drums got turn and the irritancy that the torn drums provoked got to its highest decibel. As their Bata got brutally torn, gradually, they hit the butt of people’s reckoning, gravitating from being gadflies into wet-flies.

Godwin Emefiele, erstwhile Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor; Nasir El-Rufai, ex-Kaduna State governor and Rauf Aregbesola, ex-Minister of Interior and former governor of Osun State, were poster-boys of power. At the apogee of power, the flaunting of their brawns was legendary. They were the epitome of the grandeur of the top. From another prism, they were the unique masquerade, the Eegun Alare. When this masquerade appears at the market square, there is frenzy. The Bata drummer sustains the frenzy of the Eegun Alare by drumming, in melodic symphony, Oo le se bii baba re – I dare you to match the feats of your forebears; exhibit their uncanny dancing mastery and ferocious hounding of their vicinity. The masquerade, roused to the zenith of his exhilaration, pushes the beast behind the Egungun mask and elasticizes himself beyond limits. In the process, he outdoes himself. He then assumes a level of invincibility that is unearthly, something in the mould of the Friedrich Nietzsche Superman; after all, the Eegun Alare is mythically assumed to be a resident of heaven come to earth. The Egungun then gets transfixed. He operates at the realm of the celestial. His whip trounces without border, even upsetting sacred bounds, including somersaulting in overreaching, dangerous stunts.

In different ways and manners, as Emefiele, El-Rufai and Aregbesola snatched the klieg and became the most negatively talked about persons in Nigeria last week. Their power odyssey points to that English proverb which counsels that the evil men do lives after them. On a lighter note, perhaps what they mirror, the thread that runs through them, is how they signify that classical Shakespearean Caesar and Cassius dialogue. Though unempirical, the dialogue strikes at the core of the relationship between physiognomy and evil. Wary of Cassius and his capacity for treachery, Caesar had said, “Let me have men about me that are fat; Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o'nights: Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.” You would think Caesar was describing the Nigerian trio. 

Lean-look Emefiele was a financial egg-head. An economist and banker of note, Goodluck Jonathan appointed him as Nigeria’s CBN Governor in 2014. Though a native of Agbor in Delta State, some chicanerous folks claim Meffy, his street name, garnered his wiles from the ruff-and-tumble slums of Lagos. Meffy grew in Lagos, even attending the Ansarudeen Primary School and Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School in Lagos. It was only while pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Banking and Finance that he left the shores of Lagos, proceeding to the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. He was said to have come tops in his 1984 class. Meffy’s street wisdom, mixed with mastery of the wizardry of the marketplace, as Bob Marley sang, was his only carriage that pushed him through.

Early in his banking odyssey, Emefiele got to unravel the key that unlocks the hearts of the Nigerian men of power. Its acronym is GGG – Graft, grits and genuflection. Immediately Jonathan exited as president, Meffy effortlessly meandered into the hearts of the next holders of the reins of power. Muhammadu Buhari’s mythic asceticism and incorruptibility had yet to be perforated. So, to Mamman Daura, the president’s cousin and Ismaila Isa Funtua, he gravitated. He was ready to carry their can of excrement to have his space cemented at the apex bank. In a viral photo shot, the CBN Gov was pictured genuflecting by the feet of Funtua. It was a euphemism for the sequestration of the Bankers’ Banker bank. He was alleged to have opened the vaults of Nigeria’s CBN to Buhari’s acolytes and sidekicks, especially with the multiple exchange rate regime he operated by creating a renteer forex system for them. They could round-trip and emerge therefrom with billions of Naira in a jiffy. It was a shock to Nigerians when, on Thursday, May 16, 2019, Meffy became the first CBN Gov since 1999 to get a second term reappointment into office.

Like the Bata drum and the Eegun Alare, Emefiele then began to sound and dance in uncanny dancing steps, ferociously wounding the Nigerian economy as he pandered to the Buhari Villa marionettes. Roused to the zenith of power play, he pushed the beast behind his mask up and bit bullets that no one ever did. His Anchors Borrowers’ Programme (ABP), which, on its face presentation, was targeted at providing loans in kind and cash to smallholder farmers to boost their agricultural production, create jobs, reduce food import bill towards conservation of foreign reserve, became a veil to cover public eyes and siphon Nigeria’s scarce forex into the purses of some Villa rats. While claiming to have benefitted hundreds of farmers, most especially from Buhari’s north, a heist of monumental proportion was alleged to be afoot.

Perhaps, Emefiele’s most damaging bravado was his venturing into partisan politics even as a sitting CBN Governor. As confirmed by the APC Chairman of his ward, he registered as a card-carrying member of the party and purchased the presidential form, hiding behind an amorphous group of friends he claimed purchased it on his behalf. Pronto, as the American slang says, branded vehicles with his name embossed on them appeared in the social media, with no disclaimer from his office. Then, his campaign posters flooded the nooks and crannies of Abuja. It was the most blatant exhibition of Buhari’s final castration by the Villa power cabal and a clear display of his mummified presence in Aso Rock. Not only was the Emefiele move the most unprecedented by any chief of the Nigerian apex bank, it was daringly audacious. This was in vagrant disobedience of the Central Bank Act which frowned at an occupant of such exalted office peeling themselves of their apolitical, independent and nonpartisan apparel. There was not even a single whimper from Buhari.

The last straw, as the cliché goes, which broke the camel’s back, was Emefiele’s Naira redesign policy. While the intent behind it, to wit to frustrate politicians warehousing cash for election purposes, was commendable, its raison d’etre, it was said, was against those who snuffed life out of his presidential bid. In the process, Emefiele literally and metaphorically killed Nigerians in their hundreds and exerted optimal pains on the people. Very many people died due to lack of access to cash while, at the end of the day, the Nigerian politician, who was always a step ahead in chicanery, eventually sidestepped Emefiele’s wiles. The policy, which Buhari openly sheepishly owned, was rumoured to have been an outcome of Emefiele and the cabal’s plan to frustrate Bola Tinubu whose excrement they couldn’t countenance nor stand, even in the toilet. Emefiele’s sack last Friday was thus celebrated on Nigerian streets as a typical example of a Bata drum which over-exaggerated its relevance, exceeded the decibel of its symphony and an Eegun Alare who, in his moment of frenzied stunts, flew inside a burning fire.

The fundamental question to be asked is however that, was Emefiele cut from the zenith of power out of vengeance or the culmination of his numerous atrocities? If it is on the basis of the latter, an impartial investigation into his tenure would suffice. Will the presidency have the guts to invite Emefiele’s rumoured accomplices too, from Buhari himself to the Villa cabal and Abubakar Malami, the man said to have shrouded him with a legal shawl? If however he is being hounded simply out of vendetta, the president would be missing a key point in human philosophy. When you are enveloped by vendetta and the burning need to administer comeuppance on your nemesis, you wake up lost.

Nasir El-Rufai parades a history of political whoredom since his appearance on the Nigerian political scene as DG of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE). He was in bed with Atiku Abubakar, the man who brought him out of the brier of obscurity and hoisted him on the political space. The moment Abubakar’s political matrimony to his boss, Olusegun Obasanjo, suffered schism, the young Nasir flew to the next bed for consortium. He crouched beside Obasanjo who in turn rewarded him with ministerial appointment. Then to Yar’Adua and Jonathan he wagged his amorous buttock for the next dalliance.

El-Rufai’s governorship of Kaduna State for eight years paraded a horde of admirable developmental firsts. It however was nil in democratic credentials. Emperor Shaka the Zulu and Nero were his unprofessed mentors, even as he demonstrated palpable lack of human feeling. El-Rufai sent bulldozers to homes of his political traducers at flimsy excuses. In a Nigeria where the fad is for the leadership to ethnicize politics and politicize ethnicity, El-Rufai blandly mirrors this narrow-mindedness. He habours separatist, ethnic and religious superiority, an aberration in a democracy. In a recent five-minute 43 seconds video of his that is currently generating uproar on the social media, he remorselessly narrated how Kaduna would continue to be a totalistic Muslim state, something of the hue of Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran, in a metropolitan environment where there are adherents of other faiths. The Premium Times translated this audio from Hausa. That El-Rufai exhibited such narrow mindset is not the calamity that befell Kaduna; it is the recklessness and the you-can-go-jump-inside-River-Niger mindset behind it. If Shekau or Bin Laden had professed what El-Rufai mouthed as Kaduna state’s ideology under him in that audio, no one would have bothered. Certainly, a self-professed democrat should not have anything to do with such obvious democratic philistinism. When you read that Caesar-Cassius dialogue and compare the description with El-Rufai’s physiognomy, his attendant treachery and weird evangelism, you would wonder whether Shakespeare was a prophet.

This mindset may have explained why El-Rufai’s eight years boasted of thousands of butchering of people in Southern Kaduna, with their careless justifications by his government. One of his sworn critics, Shehu Sani, has had a welter of unpalatable words for him, in and out of office. Perhaps the most encapsulating of them, which seems to explain the relentless shedding of blood in the state, came last Wednesday. “Bigotry is (was) a state policy in Kaduna State for the past eight years. Muslim and Christians were set up against each other for political gains. Religious clerics were drafted and paid to propagate hate and divisiveness. The government purport itself as champion of interest of the Muslims while it inflicted suffering and hardships on the same people. The state government maintained a systemic policy of marginalization and repression of the people of Southern Kaduna because of their faith and political choices. Over the years, some of their leaders were arrested for voicing out. The last act was the proscription of one of their groups,” Sani wrote on his Twitter handle.

Now out of power, with rumoured disenchantment with the APC-led federal government over the position of the SGF that escaped him – a la Shehu Sani – El-Rfai’s innate prostitutive inclination may yet be on automated mode. Tinubu may get ready to receive barbs from a man who Julius Caesar described in unexaggerated narrative.

Then, as they did in Shakespearean drama, curtains opened on Rauf Aregbesola last week. This erstwhile Tinubu acolyte slithered into the media like a rude awakening. Dressing calamity in robes of victory, he drove in an open roof. This was garnished by a crowd whose presence stank of monetary purchase. They were there to hail his entrance into an Osun State which still gnashes its teeth as a result of his eight years of calamitous rule. On a “triumphant entry” into a state he almost set alight due to his extremist ideology, he reportedly lauded Tinubu who he said, without him, he would not have been where he is today. It was the same man he breathed the fire of a Chimera upon in Ijebu-Jesa, in February 2022.

“Only God can terrify us, not man. Go and tell them wherever they are, we own this party… We followed him dutifully with all sense of loyalty… Some people even thought that we were no longer Muslims because of how we cooperated with him. We dealt with him without treachery but we never knew he planned evil for us…We exalted him beyond his status and he turned himself to a god over us and we had sworn to ridicule anyone who compares himself to God. God has no competitor; He is enough to be God…” he said, as if he holds the patent to the key that unlocks God’s heart. The innuendo was not lost on the crowd.

The common twine linking Emefiele, El-Rufai and Aregbesola is their gross mis-use of grace, their adulterous disposition to power and failure to realize its transience. They rode so high that they forgot that there is always a tomorrow when man could walk in a descent down the valley of life. Aregbesola’s exceptional fall from the Kilimanjaro of political relevance lies in his arrogant, immodest sense of arrival at the top of the mountain. Even the ocean does not forget to thank the streams, springheads and rivers that feed it.

The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it ~ Proverbs 10:22.

Introduction:

Undoubtedly, divine blessing is one of the deepest mysteries of godliness. Certainty, Jacob knew this when he insisted on being divinely blessed, refusing to let God go until he got the blessing (Genesis 32:26-29). Even though, he obtained it at a cost of great personal pain, his story changed forever after that experience. We all must practically understand the principles of divine blessing and seek to enjoy it in full.

Greatness is more than success. Whereas success is limited to a particular area of one’s life at a particular time, greatness is a wholesome phenomenon that combines several successes, bringing public recognition and personal fulfillment. Greatness is an immeasurable state of achievement in life.

You are not truly great until some other people become blessed through you (Genesis 12:2). This is what I call significance. Notwithstanding, it is the blessing of God that attracts all the diverse and assorted gifts of grace to the blessed (James 1:17).

Perhaps certain things are not working for you the way you expect presently. Don’t be worried about that; what should concern you is whether or not you are connected to the blessings of the Lord. Mercy surrounds the blessed of the Lord; therefore, no matter what happens, they win and laugh at last (Romans 9:16).

A blessed man is by far greater than a rich man. A rich man is like a lake, but a blessed man is like an ocean. A rich man may become poor and may never fully recover again. But, if the possessions of a blessed man are taken away from him, as with a mysterious magnet, more possessions will be pulled to him again.

In the days of his tribulations, it looked like Job was finished. He lost everything: his family, friends, health, wealth, peace, etc. He became like a man forsaken and forgotten. He was troubled on every side, and the enemy thought, “yes, I got him”. But, God’s Mercy said No! In the end, he got double for all his troubles, because he was a blessed man (Job 1:10; 42:10-17).

Understanding the Nature of the Blessing

Blessing is a divine empowerment to succeed in life (Deuteronomy 8:18). It can rest upon a person or a group of people, an environment, a place, an organization, a thing or things.

Basically, to bless is to declare God’s goodness upon an entity, but real blessing is more than mere words. It is an invocation that comes with the power to accomplish it, especially when spoken under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The initiative and the final control over divine blessings resides with God. No man can live independent of Him; He is involved in every effectual bestowal of gifts upon sons of men, both temporal and spiritual. Hence, the whole creation depends upon God for its continual existence and function.

The blessing of God is an indispensable accompaniment of great destinies. God called Abraham and commanded him to leave his father's house for a strange land. Knowing that it would be virtually impossible for a seventy-five year old man to make it out there alone, He blessed him.

There is nothing like “too late” for a blessed man. When you are blessed of the Lord, everywhere you go, sooner or later, springs will flow in the desert, the barren land will become fruitful, the crooked ways will become straight, because you are divinely equipped to succeed (Isaiah 40:4)!

The blessing from God is full, rich, unstoppable and void of sorrow. It cannot be revoked even by the man who invoked it (Genesis 27:33). And, it is always a misadventure for anyone to curse the man whom God has blessed (Genesis 12:3; Deuteronomy 23:5). Please remember Balaam (Numbers 24:1).

At this stage, it is very important to note that all true believers in Christ Jesus are under a strong positional blessing, capable of attracting tremendous benefits (Ephesians 1:3). Yes, incredible provisions are made available to us, just awaiting our faith to pull through to partake of its gracious benefits (Galatians 3:9).

God had generously heaped His blessings upon His people so we can reflect His original intentions (Genesis 1:28). His blessing empowers us to the utmost bounds, equipping us to possess the gates of our enemies and to make us ever relevant to many generations (Genesis 22:17-18).

One incredible truth in this regard is that the blessing of God is captured and stored in the gene of the blessed, and it could even be retrieved by faith to empower his offspring after him (Psalms 112:2). In other words, all things being equal, the children of the blessed are blessed (Proverbs 20:7)! Alleluia!!

How To Be Rooted In the Blessing for a Distinctive You

God does not struggle to bless; the power is always there to accomplish His purposes in the lives of men. He said to Solomon in a dream, ‘I have also given thee’ (1Kings 3:13). And that was it. The man lived and died without any equal among men in his time. We must tap into this mercy pool by aligning with its required processes.

The first and the most important step to accessing the blessing of God is to become a child of God by repenting and believing in Jesus Christ (John 1:12). That puts the mark of Christ upon you, and most amazingly, it also recodes your spiritual gene for divinity to  pattern it after Christ’s (Galatians 6:17; Matthew 1:1).

Secondly, you need to recognize, receive and embrace the messenger that God has appointed for you (2 Chronicles 20:20; Hosea 12:13; 1 Samuel 22:23). The general rule is: “the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:17). In other words, “father-figures” have the positional authority to bless.

“Father-figures” are persons for whose sake God will act to bless other people. Isaac was blessed for the sake of Abraham (Genesis 26:24). And, priests are divinely authorized to bless (Deuteronomy 10:8).

They include your biological or spiritual parents and everyone who has rule over you to guide, instruct, direct, train or teach you in physical or spiritual matters that relate to your progress, growth and development in life.

Meanwhile, as humans, the souls that will courier God’s blessing may require some kind of “excitation”, as it was with Isaac when he blessed his son Jacob after eating the venison (Genesis 27:1-29). The words of a blessing may produce no positive effect unless the spirit-man is engaged (1Corinthians 14:16).

This is how it works: when a great or an anointed soul is made happy, it receives energy (or is provoked) to release the blessing. In that state of enthusiasm, particularly when the soul senses an atmosphere of abiding love, encouragement, care, loyalty and obedience, it releases the blessing (1 Samuel 22:23).

Finally, yield to God’s opinions and show deference to His kingdom matters as a child of God, and you will attract the unassailable blessing of the Most High. Everything you are striving to get is available in a seed form. Obey God, and pour out; serve, give, encourage others, evangelize, and the blessing will suddenly whelm up in your life (Job 36:11).

No one can truly stand out without sacrifice. If nothing burns, nothing moves. When you are mature enough to channel your sacrifice towards God and the demands of His kingdom, you will start to enjoy the power of His Invisible Hand (Matthew 6:33-34).

The blessing of God terminates miseries and woes in the lives of the blessed, and it expressly aborts every satanic operation against them. When a man is divinely blessed, he is blessed, irrespective of who dislikes him or what demerits him. Friends, may you receive the blessing today, and be empowered evermore for God’s glory, in Jesus’ Name. Happy Sunday

** Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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