News
RCCG’s Dangerous Foray Into Politics For Osinbajo
The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Nigeria’s most popular Pentecostal church where Yemi Osinbajo was (is?) a pastor, issued a Feb. 28, 2022, memo, which came to light today, that hints at a massive, ground-up political operation to help its members win political offices in Nigeria.
The memo talked of the establishment of an “Office of Directorate of Politics and Governance,” which it said should be replicated “at all levels of the church – zone, area and parish” in order to “help coordinate the engagement of our people who are willing to be involved in politics as well as mobilize support for them when required.”
Peoples Gazette correctly interpreted the memo as an “arrangement to mobilise sweeping support for [Osinbajo’s] ambition” to be president.
This isn’t really surprising, frankly, because Pentecostal Christians see Osinbajo as their representative in government and think he is the fulfilment of Pastor Enoch Adeboye’s oft-quoted prediction that one of them would become Nigeria’s president during his lifetime.
(Osinbajo’s rise to the vice presidency, for the record, was a consequence of Buhari’s personal desire to blunt notions of his Islamic fanaticism by having a pastor as a running mate. It was the same reason that caused him to prefer Pastor Tunde Bakare, a Muslim convert, as his running mate).
Osinbajo himself defines his role in government in the narrow terms that his co-pentecostalists see it: as the materialization of a Pentecostal Christian theocratic dream. That’s why his inner political circle is almost entirely made up of Yoruba RCCG members.
When his multi-billion-naira corruption in the management of the Buhari regime’s social investment program was probed by members of the Aso Rock cabal (which caused it to be taken away from him and transformed into a separate ministry), it was discovered that the vast majority of people who benefited from the contracts he awarded were Yoruba members of the RCCG.
Osinbajo is so smugly ensconced in his RCCG filter bubble that he doesn’t even care to seek out the cultural counsel of his Federal Government-imposed Muslim aides when he travels to the Muslim North.
That is why he routinely steps into mosques– and into the the late Yar’adua’s mother’s bedroom– with his shoes on, even though the Queen of England whose people brought to Nigeria the Christianity he practices takes off her shoes when she visits mosques.
There’s no Christian in government in Nigeria’s history who has ever been as narrowminded, as culturally clueless, and as insular as Osinbajo, which was why, as I said in my last Saturday column, a senior Yoruba Christian professor told me recently that Osinbajo would “create greater instability as president” than Buhari has because “The Sharia folks will confront [Osinbajo’s] Christian fundamentalism with more violence,” which would precipitate disabling communal upheavals.
What the RCCG is doing with its wholesale immersion into partisan politics isn’t unique, of course. Muslims, particularly Salafists, pioneered it.
The late Sheikh Abubakar Gumi started it in, I think, the 1980s when he urged his followers to be politically partisan and shocked the Nigerian Muslim community when he said politics was more important than worship.
Just like the Pentecostals, the Salafists want to take over the power structure and impose, by stealth or by force, their version of theocracy on the rest of Nigeria.
Salafists’ highest representative in government today is Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami. He taught for 2 years at the Islamic University of Madinah, the ideological breeding ground for Salafist ideology, and is being prepped for a greater role.
Anyone who wants to hasten Nigeria’s conflagration should elect Osinbajo as President and Pantami as Vice President. Osinbajo would be the matchbox and Pantami the matchstick.
The push and pull between Pentecostal and Salafist theocratic craziness would provide the friction necessary for the matchstick and the matchbox to collide.
With RCCG’s openly political partisanship, expect the same from the Salafists. Let’s see where that leads.
By Farooq Kperogi
The Anambra State Government has arrested one Uzochukwu Okoli, for marrying off his underaged daughter.
Okoli was apprehended after his daughter reported to the State Ministry of Women and Social Welfare about the alleged ill-treatment being meted out to her by her father and the man he forced her to marry.
The daughter, Chioma Okoli, who is currently 16 years old, said after the death of her mother, her father took her and her sister out of Edo state and brought them to Anambra.
She alleged that she was first forced to live with a 70-plus-year-old man at the age of 14 but after some time, she ran back to her father’s house before he finally gave her out to a 34-year-old Chinedu Nweke as husband.
Chioma who was in the company of her sister, explained that life with Chinedu has been a living hell because he allegedly beats her and sometimes pees in her mouth.
She said this act made her run away with their 9-month-old baby. Her father, Uzochukwu Okoli, on the other hand, claimed her daughter is 18 years old and, at some point, said she is 20 years old.
After he was handcuffed, Mr Okoli threatened to deal with the daughters if he made it out of prison. He also urged Chioma and her sister to pray he dies in prison because he would make life more miserable for them.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Hon Ify Obinabo, has instructed that the case be charged to court so that the girl can get justice.
Both Mr Okoli and Chinedu Nweke were arrested and will be arraigned in court.
April 30th 1994, 30 Years Ago, And Till Today Nothing Has Really Changed.
Netizens have gone in search of a beautiful and well-spoken woman who spoke out against fuel scarcity 30 Years Ago.
A user on X.com, Jackie, who identifies as #JWEZEE had shared the video yesterday with the caption, “On this day April 30 1994, same day same time, only difference 30years ago.
“Nigerians in long fuel queues lamenting, 30years later they are still lamenting. And In another 30years will still lament, why? Because patterns don’t lie.”
In the video, which has since gone viral, Nigerians were seen queuing to purchase fuel and lamenting their predicament as citizens waiting in long queues with their gallons to buy fuel.
The woman passionately addressed the unfairness of soldiers skipping queues to resell fuel, highlighting a longstanding problem.
She said in part, “You have the soldiers that come, they buy petrol, they put it in jerry cans they sell it right in front of these people, it’s ridiculous.
“They get the fuel themselves, why do they have to come here, they don’t join the queue, they just buy and they sell right in front of people, it’s ridiculous. Something has to happen.”
The 30-year-old video which recently surfaced coincides with the current fuel price hike across the country.
Here is the viral video from 30 years back.
Currently, the country is facing fuel scarcity and price hike, with fuel being sold at N900 per litre in some states. This has affected the price of goods in the nation.
The Federal Government had declared Wednesday, May 1st, 2024, as a public holiday to mark this year’s Workers’ Day.
Nigeria’s Minister of Interior Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo made the declaration, according to the ministry’s Permanent Secretary Aishetu Ndayako.
“The Federal Government has declared Wednesday, 1st May 2024 as a Public Holiday to commemorate this year’s Workers’ Day Celebration,” Aishetu said in a statement on Tuesday, April 30.
“In alignment with this year’s theme, which focuses on ensuring safety and health at work in a changing climate, I wish to state that the Federal Government remains steadfast in its resolve to prioritise the safety and well-being of all citizens,” the minister said.
“Let me reaffirm Mr. President’s commitment to providing a conducive environment for work, where every worker can thrive and contribute meaningfully to national development”.
The minister, who acknowledged the contribution of workers, called for more measures to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change through synergy.
“The Minister also urged Nigerians to remain committed to the present administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda as he wishes workers a happy celebration,” the statement read.
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