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Monday, February 29, 2016

Bliss, Fun and Blessings, As Ogom Finds Her Love, Tobe


On a day like this every hard working father is always proud of his daughter or son, this is the case of the Ani Ahaba Patriarchs, from the Onyeobi and Ogeah families.

For Chief P.I.G  Onyeobi, the Iyase of Asaba, it was a day of great joy as he parted his daughter with lots of love, blessings and patriarchal endowment, ahead of her new family life. 

 It was Her Day, As Iyase Ahaba's Daugther, Ogom, celebrated before all, Her Sweet Heart, Tobe.

We all witnessed it, when both commit to love and cherish each other, last week Saturday, at Ogom Father's Asaba Country Home.

Okonta Emeka Okelum, Asaba, Delta State












Bliss, Fun and Blessings, As Ogom Finds Her Love, Tobe



It was Her Day, As Iyase Ahaba's Daugther, Ogom, celebrated before all, Her Sweet Heart, Tobe.

We all witnessed it, when both commit to love and cherish each other, last week Saturday, at Ogom Father's Asaba Country Home.

Okonta Emeka Okelum, Asaba, Delta State







 
 



Bliss, Fun and Blessings


As Iyase Ahaba's Daugther, Ogom, Sealed To Her Sweet Heart, Tobe

Okonta Emeka Okelum, Asaba, Delta State



















BIAFRA: I’ll rather die in prison than for Ohanaeze to claim credit for my release —Kanu‎





IPOB disown, warn Ohanaeze over negotiation for his release

By Anayo Okoli & Chimaobi Nwaiwu

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has warned those who are claiming to be representing them, including the members of Ohaneze Ndigbo and its youth wing Ohaneze Youths Wing, in negotiating for the release of its leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu to stop such move, that nobody speaks or represent them, unless such person or persons are designated officers of IPOB worldwide.

The group also said that its leader Mr. Kanu has said that he will rather die in jail than the Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of his release, saying he has no business with the Igbo Socio cultural Organization.

”I will rather die in jail than for Ohanaeze Ndigbo to claim the glory of my release,“ he said.

IPOB in a statement signed by its United kingdom spokesmen, Dr Clifford Iroanya and Emma Mmezu, a lawyer said: “We are in court and our wish is to expose the fraudulent charge of treasonable felony before the whole world. At the end of this case the corrupt and compromised segment of the Nigerian judiciary will be publicly disgraced.

“Our march to freedom is unstoppable; this is something Buhari ought to know. We have come to die for Biafra if that is what it will take to be free. Our resolve should not be underestimated. As our leader will always say, “Nigeria will kill us, we will kill them but in the end we will win.”

IPOB reaction follows an alarm raised from Enugu yesterday by some of their members that some people suspected to be Ohanaeze Ndigbo and their youth wing Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths Wing were impersonating their leaders in Enugu, claiming to be representing them in meeting with some American Officials who were in Nigeria to have a meeting with IPOB on the release of their leader and what they want be done to them for peace to reign, which they said needs their designated officers presence and contribution, but they were not informed, but the people went ahead to speak for IPOB when they do not have the powers and authorization of the group to speak for them.

Some people alleged to be members of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ohanaeze Youth wing were said to had met with some Americans, at Nike Lake Resort Hotel between  6pm and 7pm  Saturday  evening.

Information of the alleged meeting at the hotel was said to have got to the attention of the United Kingdom spokespersons of IPOB, who felt embarrassed by the meeting and some of the things the people claiming to be representing IPOB are demanding will be done for IPOB for peace to reign.

“If any country or group is coming to Nigeria to discuss anything concerning IPOB and the release or freedom for our incarcerated leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnandi Kanu, it is no Ohanaeze Ndigbo or their youth wing that will speak for us, because they are not our members and so cannot represent or speak for us, and we urged the Americans who came for the meeting that the alleged representatives of IPOB did not represent or have our support, nobody speaks or represent IPOB except its principal and designated officers.

“We learnt that they cornered some Americans who came to Enugu to have audience with the IPOB over the way forward on the issue of Biafra agitation and the continued incarceration of our leader Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, we want to let the world know that they do not have authority to speak or represent us, they are on their own and should be ignored.

“We want to use this opportunity to tell the Americans that came and the world that the people who claimed to have represented IPOB in the meeting were impostors, they are not members of IPOB, they are the usual Ohanaeze contractors who will always condemn IPOB, but will be fast to hijack anything good that is coming to South East states through IPOB, they do not have our support and will never represent us in anything.

“We want to tell the representatives of the American government who met with them at Nike Lake Resort Hotel at about between 6pm and 7pm Friday evening to ignore them and whatever, discussion concerning IPOB they had with them, because it does not represent our views or demands as IPOB members” they said.

IPOB said “it is only All Progressive Congress, APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, whom they have been working for against IPOB that recognize them, we never ask anybody called Ohanaeze Youth leader to represent IPOB, he is not our member and cannot speak for us in anything or meeting”.

Those claiming they are speaking for or know the mind of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu are on drugs, because if they know him and his love for Biafra freedom, they won’t make such a statement.

“Nobody negotiates for IPOB or for the release of our leader, more so, when we learnt that they told the United States officials that what will be done and IPO members and they will stop agitation is repairing of south East roads, that is not what We in IPOB want, what we want is unconditional release of Mr. Kanu and actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra,” they said.




The king reigneth






 His real name is not King. But his lifestyle was.

He snagged the name to match the majesty of his position. His real name is Chukwuemeka Ezeugo. He had a regal life until he thought everything he did was legal.

Silence had drowned his drama of about a decade ago until the Supreme Court’s gavel fell. Death by hanging to the king. Some are rejoicing. Others are mourning. But most of these emotions are alive for the wrong reasons.

Those who are rejoicing are thinking revenge, or revenge as justice. Those who are mourning are his followers, although some of them think that he will never die. Did Jesus not say, “some of you will never taste of death?”

Those who are thinking revenge as justice miss the point. The man deserves to be punished, but it has nothing to do with the future. A hanged king will not wipe out the sort of followers of the Christian Praying Assembly. He will die, but the gullible will crave for and believe in the coming of another king. In fact, the dying of a king will only pave the way for another.

It is like the endless yearning for a hero. We seek them. They materialise and answer our material needs. It does not matter that their lifestyles and preaching contradict each other. They are human when they sin, but they are divine when they preach. For their followers, the dichotomy is easy. They put the men of God in context and they are at peace with God.

Reverend King was one of such lucky fellows. Until last week, that is. He was like the rich man in the story of Lazarus. He was on the table that flourished with the opulent cuisine, and wine, and fruits. Lazarus is not angry. He is grateful for a place on the floor. In his benevolent plenty, the rich man tolerates him in spite of his ruffian’s appearance and ulcerous sores. Crumbs drop from the rich man’s table and sustain the humble mendicant.

Reverend King was not only a preacher of the word. He was a lecher of the world. He combined the flesh and spirit to win over the people for God. For those who say he was a lecher and a fake, his followers will point to examples of miracles, of their changed lives, of his spiritual gifts.

Some will say he healed them of cancer. He made them rich. They found love, they found family. They found joy. So, argue with them, and you fail against the evidence of their eyes.
Men like King combine what Dostoyevsky, in his Brothers Karamazov, sees as the trifecta of control: authority, mystery and miracle. Hence the Russian novelist writes, “anyone who can appease a man’s conscience can take his freedom.”

Such anecdotes lift the man on the throne. Everything he says becomes everything God says. Mysticism overthrows materiality. He lived the glamour life. Mansion. Food. Limousines.

Women. Wine. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich. Who can argue with that? If you tell the adherents that God that made you rich does not condone a pastor that makes you a fool. They will say they are no fools. They believe in God and his prophet, so their lives are established.

And, a God that says thou shall not kill would not condone a servant who burns a person alive, pouring petrol on the flesh and his eyes still light up with righteous indignation. They will say the Lord works in a mysterious way. It is wrong to question the servant of God.

Then you quote Prophet Jeremiah: “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so.” Or you quote Jesus: “They be blind leaders of the blind. If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the dish.” Or Isaiah: “The leaders of these people cause them to err, and they that are led of them are destroyed.”

They will merely respond that you quote the Bible upside down. So the solution is not in hanging the leaders like King and others who mislead.

Around the world we have such groups, and they have not stopped erupting. We had Jim Jones and we have many around. A few years ago, some students in Obafemi Awolowo University waxed into a suicidal group. In Colorado, a cult leader, Warren Jeff, led his cult from prison. The evisceration of one group does not destroy its rebirth.

Such leaders have special gifts, which for lack of a better word, we call charisma. They have, what the Bible calls appearance of holiness. They have smooth tongue, vast knowledge pool, suave manners, intuition, street wisdom, and they are clever risk takers. Those who are not suave have the façade of noble rascals, strong, aggressive but strategically kind.

Such pastors are still around, and it only takes the wise to discern the word from the sword of rascals. It is about religion, but it is not about religion alone. It is the people’s search for identity, for a place on earth. Once they meet that leader who can flatter their secret hopes, they yield.

Like a smart Alec as suitor. The fair lady falls.

Did we not see men of God ape Jonathan and even campaign for him? If they had vision, why did they not warn us about the filth in Jonathan’s cupboards, the billions stolen, the reckless fascination with filthy lucre? Were they asking us to vote in another season of kleptomania?

Since the flood of revelations, none of the clerics has explained to their adherents how they led them to vote for thieves when the good books says, thou shall not steal. In spite of how bad things are, imagine if we would have Nigeria today if Jonathan got re-elected?

 I believe all the clerics who roared gospels to support Jonathan’s re-election owe everyone an explanation, or an apology! They have misquoted Romans Chapter 13 and distorted the term higher powers to mean all adherents should be subject to the government of the day when it means the church authority that does right.

Many died. Families fell out of joint because of Jonathan-era thieving. Many followed apishly. They are not different from all the King’s brethren.

And the solution is education? Not necessarily book education. I swear that Reverend King had well-read people as followers. Just like Jesus of Oyingbo who married mothers and daughters and their daughters of his own flesh. His incestuous holiness!

The Islamic world has the same hobgoblin. An expert said some Western girls flocking to ISIS are merely sex-starved, seeking a romp with the “spirit.” King is no better than Yusuf who birthed Boko Haram.

We need emotional education, psychological education. Jack was sent to school to learn to be a fool. Book education is not adequate. And it is not about religion alone. Our politics is full of it. People rally behind men who appeal to tribe and faith.

We sometimes kid ourselves that because we are in a democratic era, men like King cannot con us. History tells us that moments of democratic impulse yield to the eruption of monarchs. In his great study, Michael Scott captured this in his book, From Democrats to Kings, where he tracks the downfall of Athens to the “epic rise of Alexander the Great.” Napoleon also prospered on mass movement.

Whether King dies or lives, the king reigneth in the eyes of his followers.

In Touch, The Nation newspaper, 29/02/2016





Kachikwu: We’ll Reduce Oil Exports, Focus On Domestic Market






Uche Okobi, Lagos

 

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), has said that Nigeria would increase crude oil production to meet local demand and not to essentially sell it in the international market.

Kachikwu explained that the oil output would remain unchanged from the January level of 2.2 million barrels a day, but export would be reduced to focus on local refining and supply of petroleum products to the Nigerian market, which requires at least 500,000 barrels a day.
Nigeria is a net importer of refined petroleum products, in spite of being one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, on account of low refining capacity and an oil and gas industry riddled with corruption and complex deals.

President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Kachikwu as head of the NNPC, the state-owned oil monopoly, to reform the industry. Under Kachikwu, the moribund refineries have been resuscitated and petroleum products supplied to the local market.

The minister, during an interview with reporters in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday, also announced Nigeria’s support of Saudi Arabia and Russia in freezing oil production, while giving Iran and Iraq a way out to regain some of their lost market shares due to sanctions and war.

“Nigeria will continue to look at the possibility of increasing production, not to sell it, because we have local consumption that is essential for us. Right now, we are not even exporting the quantity that OPEC has given us,” he said.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela and Qatar agreed last week to keep production at January levels, as long as others followed suit, in an effort to revive prices from a 12-year low.