Ohanaeze Youths Petition UN, Demand Referendum

 

Ihuoma Chiedozie, Enugu

The Ohanaeze Youth Council, the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Tuesday said it had sent a petition to the United Nations, demanding ‘special protection’ for Igbo in the North.

OYC, the umbrella body of all pan-Igbo youth associations, in the letter to the UN, also called for the commencement of steps towards a referendum in Igboland “to finally determine the fate of their people.”

The Ohanaeze youth wing disclosed this in a statement in Enugu on Tuesday.

The development was a response to a letter in which a coalition of northern youth groups asked the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to allow the Igbo to secede from Nigeria.

The northern youths, in the letter, urged the Acting President to organise a referendum in Igboland over the agitation for Biafra.  

PUNCH.

6 Stages Of A Dying Church

 

As I wrote in Breakout Churches, the first stage for any church to reverse negative trends is awareness or, stated another way, confronting the brutal realities.

Somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 churches in America will close their doors in the next year. And many of them die because they refuse to recognize problems before they became irreversible.
So, it is with both sorrow and great love for local churches that I share a pattern that is increasingly common. I call it "the six stages of a dying church."

1. Denial. The church is declining numerically, but no one seems concerned. Fewer people are reached with the gospel, but no alarm sounds. The church's impact on the community is negligible, but life continues in the church like nothing has happened.

2. Recalibration. There is a sense that something's wrong in the church, so the church responds in one of two ways. Do more of what we are doing that has proven ineffective. Or, secondly, seek a "magic bullet" program, emphasis, or new pastor. The church does not really want to change; it just thinks it needs an adjustment.

3. Anger. Church leaders and members begin to recognize that the magic bullet did not reverse the negative trends, so they deflect the blame. It's the denomination's fault. It's those young people who don't respect the way we've always done it. It's the messed-up culture. It's the people in our community who stopped attending churches. The anger in these churches is palpable.

4. Exodus. The church had been losing members gradually to this point, but now the outflow increases. And even those who don't officially leave attend less frequently. The worship center is desolate on Sunday mornings. The anger in the church moves to demoralization.

5. Desperation. For the first time since the dying process began, the remaining members say they are more open to new ideas and change. But their words are more words of desperation than conviction. They now see the handwriting on the wall. Their church will soon die.

6. Death. The church becomes another sad and tragic statistic. At best, the church deeds its property to a healthy church. The process from denial to death in the recent past would take as many as thirty years. Today, the process is much shorter, ten years or less.
Churches have broken free from the death stages, but they are rare. And the longer the church waits to make substantive changes, the more difficult it becomes to reverse the path. It's significantly easier to make changes at stage one than stage four.

Also, keep in mind that nearly nine out of ten of the churches that die are in communities that are growing.
The problem is not a shortage of people. The problem is a shortage of courage, commitment, and sacrifice.

Originally posted at thomrainer.com

Italy Arrests Nigeria’s ‘Rambo’ For Torturing, Killing Migrants In Libya

Nigerian human trafficker known as “Rambo” has been arrested in Italy on charges of torturing and killing migrants held captive in Libya, Italian police said Tuesday.

The suspect named John Ogais, 25, was traced to a reception centre in Calabria in southern Italy and clapped in cuffs on charges of belonging to a transnational smuggling ring, specialising in human trafficking, murder and rape.

Detectives in Agrigento in Sicily have pulled together witness testimony from migrants who accuse Ogais of torturing people held captive in a makeshift prison, with at least two men reportedly dying at his hands.

Many of those rescued from flimsy dinghies in the Mediterranean as they try to make the perilous trip to Europe bear torture scars and tell rescuers they had no choice but to flee for their lives from the crisis-hit African country.

A victim claimed John Ogais, 25, (pictured) tortured migrants before killing them

“While I was inside that ghetto, where it was impossible to escape, I heard that a man who called himself Rambo had killed a migrant,” one of the witnesses said according to the police statement. “My cousin and others tried to escape but they were caught and tortured nearly to death.”

Another said: “Once I saw Rambo the Nigerian kill a migrant he had gagged and tortured for a long time.”
A third witness said he saw Rambo beat an underage boy and a man to death.
– Extortion, murder –
Ogais was found staying at a reception centre in Isola di Capo Rizzuto, one of the largest such centres in Italy, and the scene of mass arrests last month over a mafia scandal which capitalised on asylum seekers.
Libya has long been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe and people smugglers have stepped up their lucrative business in the chaos which has engulfed the country since its 2011 revolution.
People rescued at sea have described harrowing ransom situations in which captors lock up migrants and demand their families send money to buy their freedom. Those who fail to comply are executed.

Reports have also emerged of ruthless traffickers burying people alive on the beaches of Libya if they refuse to board unseaworthy dinghies and overcrowded boats.

Despite the dangers, many of those arriving in Libya — fleeing conflict or poverty — find it almost impossible to get out again, if not by sea.

According to the UN’s International Organization for Migration, there are between 700,000 and one million people in Libya awaiting their chance to cross.

Over 77,000 people have tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe since the beginning of the year, the UN’s refugee agency said Tuesday, while close to 2,000 people have died trying.

AFP

I’ve Slept With 1,000 Men, Says Benue Man Who Worked As Female Prostitute

The Police in Benue have arrested a man who posed as a woman named Jenifer Kpaakpa and worked as a prostitute in Makurdi, the state’s capital.

The real identity of the man, Ushahemba Yaapera, was uncovered during a raid involving a case of N2,500 theft at a brothel along the railway bye-pass at High-level area of Makurdi metropolis.
During a search which took place after a raid, a female DPO, who carried out the search, discovered that something was unusual about this particular suspect since all of them were females.

The 19-year-old who hails from katsina-Ala Local government area disclosed that he was introduced to the ‘Mermaid’ business five years ago by her classmate.

He confessed, “For the past five years, I have operated like a woman. At night, I would stand on the road as a prostitute and men would pick me up at an agreed price.

“Usually, the female organ would manifest during my operations at night. But at day time, I will remain in my normal masculine state

“So far, I have slept with over 1000 men.”

State Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, who paraded the suspected impersonator alongside others for various crimes at the Command headquarters yesterday in Makurdi said the raid was conducted at the said brothel by police operatives following a report of theft.

Makama said the case is being investigated and that scientific test would be conducted on the suspect before he would be charged to court for unnatural offence.

Osinbajo, Act Fast, Saraki Is Coming!

Akin Fadeyi

“Nelson Mandela was an extraordinary human being. He put a strong “truth and reconciliation” committee together. He was not insulting everyone and anyone. It earned him global respect.

Leadership matters when you want to heal a divided nation. Donald Trump hurls abusive speeches at every perceived opposition in sight and that has greatly damaged America”. 

These were very punchy and incisive comments of Ed Luce, Financial Times Chief Commentator, on Fareed Zakaria on GPS on the night of Sunday, June 18, 2017.

The opening topic was on why GOP Congressman and Louisiana Rep, Steve Scalise, was shot by an obviously disgruntled 66-year-old American who had nursed disgust for Trump’s style of racially divisive politics. James T. Hodgkinson was lurking in dark shadows like an untamed reptile. He struck before anyone could cage him and dealt a great blow not through the injury caused Scalise but actually to the ideals of diversity America once proudly represented.

I have written against Trump before, published in Premium Times, describing him as a “bad dream for a fragile world”.

But nonetheless, I love Trump because he is down to earth, sometimes recklessly though, but again, you cannot fault his unconventional radicalised Republican brand of politics. Hate him all you like, he has millions of followers who look up to his “rascally” tweets. In a democracy with all its faults, it is figures that still count. Trump will seem to have the figures albeit within a nation now beleaguered by naked hate and prejudice.

Having said this, there are learnings to pick in Fareed’s GPS guests stance that a nation is full of divergent political interests, social alignments and cultural leanings; and therefore, you cannot be insensitive to the feelings of the led as a leader.

Nigeria: I have no doubt the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, is probably genuine with his efforts aimed at harmonising various positions in this nation and bridge the divides. The same Sunday on Channels TV, I saw his rapprochement with the South-East leaders. He has been to Cross River State, a few days ago; he hosted the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, to a very private meeting at the Villa.

Osinbajo is writing some plausibly good history as a strong believer in a compact Nigeria. Awesome.

But let me give the Acting President a piece of advice. David Blankenhorn, activist and president of “Better Angels”, does something for America that Osinbajo needs to do in Nigeria. His organisation brings grassroots people together despite political differences. His organisation believes people can get angry at one another, debate emotionally against one another, but they must all be heard with a sole focus on nation building and genuine healing. He strongly recommends a public square engagement.

Another guest on Fareed’s GPS warned against “dehumanising” Scalise’s shooter, Hodgkinson, and painting him totally evil. He describes the shooter as a symbolic representation of certain hurt, frustrated and shattered feelings after Trump shaped America’s political narrative with racial colorations. He wants this hush-tone section of the nation to be heard, understood and brought back to the mainstream.

The Acting President at this stage cannot engage with the elites and leaders alone while assuming that the real agitators are committing heresy. The anger and agitation are down here, Mr. Acting President. Those “leaders”, I doubt, have the ears of the crowd you are trying to rein in. If they did, IPOB would not arise, OPC will not flourish and Arewa youths would not issue the ultimatum.

The Acting President must necessarily open up strategic and far-reaching processes of honest and robust engagements where every tribe is allowed to openly express where and how they have been hurt. Where no tribe feels superior to the other. Where citizens will now believe and trust the government. Where leadership is handed to competence and not federal character but also done and well-managed within the delicate thresholds of our interests and diversities. Where the Federal Government vacancies are not presumably filled up “already by their children” despite paid advertorials. The government must identify with genuine youths who want to discuss without angling or positioning themselves for pecuniary gains. Many “youth leaders” seize the microphone and utter gibberish once they have access to the media. The job of identifying the truly aggrieved and the honestly prepared in national discourse must be factored into our engagement template.

The executive, I dare say, must confront our fears and maybe revisit the 2014 national confab report which is about to evolve into a nuisance-value booby trap ex-President Goodluck Jonathan inadvertently put in place for this administration.

 

Osinbajo must manage carefully how he serves into the hands of the National Assembly who are now demanding it without falling naively for a populist goal about to be scored against the Presidency. The Presidency has lost many recently.

I am still in doubt what the underlying motive of our senators are. If it is positive, great for Nigeria. Not a few though will be pleasantly surprised. On Channels TV a few days ago, even the then confab chairman, Senator Femi Okunrounmu, expressed reservations about the National Assembly’s sudden interest in the report so soon after Senate President Bukola Saraki was let off the hook in a no-case submission and acquittal which Prof Itse Sagay has been losing sleep over. For the National Assembly to now open the books of the confab report will be a masterstroke move to “buy-the-public” applause in a political chess game. But hey, who would not like us to discuss the issues tearing us apart for which we have been living in denial? In-here lies why the National Assembly may trounce the executive once again and silly too. If Saraki organises national grassroots forum today for these discussions, he would have a huge crowd. The Presidency must act fast, either play this game or glide painfully into public irrelevance.

Overall, we must all mean well for this nation no matter which desk we occupy. Corruption is still a damning monster and it is actually getting brazenly bold. Leaders should visit social media occasionally and find out to their utter shock how many people have lost faith in the government’s anti-corruption fight. We must go back to the drawing board and re-strategise. The Acting President should read the Chatham House report where a holistic approach involving grassroots behavioural change is recommended as a great tool for tackling corruption.

We must patriotically work towards building a nation where no one sees anyone as inferior. Where the Yoruba don’t feel the Hausa are “hungry for power” and where the Igbo don’t feel the “Yoruba can’t be trusted”.  I have met fantastic northerners, civilised Igbo and golden-hearted Yoruba. Those dividing us don’t mean well for us. Their intentions are not beyond their ambitions.

This country is beautiful and holds a promise:  But the frank realities confronting us cannot be skirted over. Doing so may damage us irredeemably.

Shall I say, God bless Nigeria? For those who believe there’s some God somewhere, an amen may mean a lot at this critical moment in our nation’s history.

• Fadeyi, Executive Director of Not In My Country, wrote in from Lagos

PUNCH.

Why Sinners Find Happiness

I know a lot of godless but sorta-kinda-spiritual people who are very happy with their lives. Many of them, especially those in my neck of the woods (the South), even consider themselves "blessed and highly favored."

These people do not seek God, cherish Christ, or walk in the faith and obedience of the gospel. Their present manner of living looks nothing like the new life that the Spirit gives. But regardless of their lack of interest in the true God, and despite how cheerfully they indulge in the evils he despises, they sincerely believe their happiness of heart is indicative of his loving pleasure toward them.

The Bible diagnoses things a bit differently. In his letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul explained that happy contentment in sin is not an indicator of God's pleasure or favor, but of his wrath.

Many people think of God's wrath only in hellfire and brimstone terms. One day, this terrifying manifestation of God's indignation will be the unending experiential reality of all whose names are not written in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:15). But on this side of the Judgment, the way God most often demonstrates his wrath is by giving people over to all their sinful, soul-destroying delights.
Notice the progression of Paul's argument in Romans 1:

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth . . . although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened . . .
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves . . .
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions . . .
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." – Romans 1: 18, 21, 24, 26, 28

Is your conscience unbothered while you revel in activities that the Bible declares impure? If so, it's because God, in his wrath, has given you over to impurity.

Do you, without a twinge of conviction, delight in pursuing and satisfying unnatural desires? If you do, it's because God, in his wrath, has given you over to dishonorable passions.

Is your life filled with things the Scriptures say ought not to be done? Are you untroubled by this? If so, it's because God, in his wrath, has given you over to a debased mind.

Hear me, though — this does not have to be the end of your story!

Though God's wrath rests upon you while you remain in unbelief and rebellion (John 3:18), he also extends a merciful hand of salvation toward you. Anyone who will turn from the treacherous happiness they find in their sin and take shelter in the grace of Jesus Christ, God will freely pardon and give a new heart — a heart that desires to pursue the holy happiness in God for which we were all made!

If today you find yourself feeling happy or even "blessed" in an unrepentant way of life, my prayer for you is that God would: 1) graciously trouble your sin-treasuring heart and 2) draw you to his sinner-saving Son. The joy Jesus gives is so much better than the cheap, fleeting, and deceptive happiness sin gives. Only when you know him will you really understand what it means to be blessed.

Originally posted at moorematt.org.

Banker Accuses Father-In-Law Of Abducting, Renaming Son

….he didn’t complete his wife’s traditional rites – Father-in-law

Samson Folarin

A Lagos-based banker, Princewill Njoku, has accused his father-in-law, Chief Godwin Osochukwu, of abducting his son, Kayomikun, adding that the 69-year-old community leader renamed his child.

 Princewill noted that petitions sent to the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, the Lagos State Police Command, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related matters, and the National Human Rights Commission, had not received attention.

 However, Osochukwu, explained that he did not abduct the child, saying the 39-year-old did not marry his daughter in accordance with tradition.

 He noted that he changed the child’s name from Kayomikun, which is Yoruba name, because the two families had no ancestral link to Yoruba.

 Princewill, who hails from Umuokwaraku Umudiagba Abajah, in the Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State, however, told PUNCH Metro that he lawfully married his late wife, Favour Njoku.

 He said, “I met my wife Favour, sometime in June 2014 and by May 31, 2015, we had our traditional marriage in her father’s compound in Umuokwara Umucheke Okwe in the Onuimo council area.

 “I went to the village with my people and performed all the traditional rites to marry my wife in the presence of her people.

 “On September 2, 2015, my wife was admitted to a maternal and child centre at FESTAC Town for bed rest. But when we got there, she was diagnosed with severe pre-eclampsia and we were advised by a doctor that she would have to deliver through a caesarean section that night.

“The pregnancy was only seven months old then. I called her father and he spoke with the doctor and gave the go ahead with the operation. I also called my wife’s elder brothers to notify them.”

He said after signing the operation consent form in the presence of another relative, his wife was delivered of a baby boy, who was named Kayomikun, Chimdinso, Destiny, Sunday, Patrick, Njoku.

However, the wife died the following day.

He said an autopsy report showed that Favour died from the medical problem earlier diagnosed by the hospital.

Princewill said he left the baby in the care of the maternal grandmother.

However, on December 27, 2015, he said when he went to pick the child for a thanksgiving service at his church, his father-in-law refused to release the child.

 “On December 30, my father in-law and some other relatives pushed my sister, Charity Njoku, out of their house and took away my son from my sister staying with my mother-in-law,” he added.

PUNCH Metro learnt that on January 16, 2016, Osochukwu reported a case against Princewill at the Agboju Police Station, Lagos State, alleging that he never married his late daughter.

Princewill was subsequently arrested and arraigned in an Apapa Magistrate’s Court, where the banker allegedly discovered that his father-in-law had changed his son’s name from Kayomikun, Chimdinso, Destiny, Sunday, Patrick, Njoku, to Samuel, Ndidi, Destiny, Osochukwu.

Osochukwu allegedly sought custody of the baby.

The magistrate was said to have asked that the child be brought to court, which the father-in-law agreed to, before later asking for out-of-court settlement.

The magistrate reportedly ordered that the baby should be taken to a welfare centre every Monday in order to get acquainted with the father.

“The relatives brought my son two times and disappeared. Instead of my father in-law to organise the peace meeting he requested, he went to the police at Zone 9 and lied against me.

 “I reported the incident to the magistrate in Lagos, who demanded that he should produce my son since May 2016, but he refused. It was at this instance that the magistrate issued a bench warrant on him.

“The magistrate, fearing for the safety of my son, requested that we officially report a case of kidnap and abduction to the Commissioner of Police at the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, which we did. But the officers at X-Squad, Ikeja, have refused to arrest the man,” he said.

Osochukwu, however, denied abducting the child, saying Princewill was lying.

He said, “He has not married my daughter. In Igboland, if you don’t marry someone completely when he is alive, you will complete it when the person dies. So, he should do the right thing.

“He has not paid the dowry or completed the traditional marriage.  We are both from Imo State, but he has refused to allow elders to mediate.

“He is saying I kidnapped the child. How? The law must take its course traditionally. The police have told him there is nothing like kidnapping in this case. This is a child that was brought out from my daughter’s womb and the child was born at seven months. He has been in my care ever since and we have been giving him all kinds of medication to ensure  that he survives.”

Osochukwu, who confirmed that he had reported the case at the Zone 9 Police Command, said he withdrew the case he instituted against Princewill at the Lagos Magistrate’s Court after a disagreement with the magistrate.

The 69-year-old, who claimed not to be aware when his daughter was operated upon, said he had been taking the child to the court until he was ordered to take the child to a welfare centre.

“I said over my dead body. I told the magistrate that I would not allow that. She gave the order on Thursday and by Friday, we got a stay of execution from a high court.

“I am the claimant in the case. After I agreed to settle out of court, I asked my lawyer to withdraw the case, but he refused. I changed the lawyer and asked the new one to withdraw the matter. But the magistrate refused the application. That was when I concluded that I was no longer safe and stopped going to the court.

 “The names the boy is answering to now are the names my daughter gave him before she died. The name I  added was that of my daughter, just to remember her,” he said.

Our correspondent was told that the parties would be meeting at the office of the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Fatai Owoseni, on Wednesday (today).

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said he would get back to our correspondent, but had yet to do so as of press time. 

PUNCH.