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THE CONFESSIONS OF DAVID OYEDEPO

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The Failing of Transactional Religion(1)

By Moses Oludele Idowu

“Let me die lest I die, Only let me see thy Face.” – St. Augustine (355-430 AD) (Confessions )

Few men attained the greatness and spiritual eminence of Augustine, the great bishop of Hippo in his lifetime. Yet as Tozer has said it is doubtful whether “he himself could have realized how great he was in his lifetime.” He belongs to the class of people we call “universal Christians”- fathers of the Church who transcend beyond any tradition or denomination but belong to all. Both the Eastern Orthodox Christianity and the Western Christianity regard him as a father. Both Catholics and Protestants honour him and cherish his sweet memories claiming him as theirs and using his views to legitimate their beliefs. Everyone is a child of Augustine, if he is a Christian. His views, theology and brilliance continue to shape the Church till this day. He was one of the most influential fathers of the Early Church and a son of Africa too.His autobiographical *Confessions* is agreed by Western literary scholars as the beginning of classical autobiographical literature since the advent of Christ. In that book Augustine laid his life and actions bare before all. The *Confessions* is so deep, passionate, lucid and sincere; so forthright, spirit- inspired that the book has been a classic for more than a thousand years.This essay however is not about Augustine, the great bishop of Hippo, the son of Monica from Thagaste in present-day Algeria; it is about another bishop of the modern Nigerian church from Omu-Aran, Kwara State and about his “dangerous confessions.” In this essay I want to examine three of his confessions and how those confessions shape him and even a segment of the Pentecostal Church in Nigeria both for good and for ill.Perhaps I need a brief introduction.

I know bishop David Oyeniyi Oyedepo or should I say that I used to know him, at fairly close range.There used to be (and still is) a group known as Christian Life Club in Ilorin. This group was very active in the early 1980’s. I do not know when this group started and who started it. But it used to be the fellowship of young graduates and school leavers who could not fit into the normal traditional church setting after the vibrant and revolutionary campus fellowship of the university years. This group usually met on Wednesdays for Bible study, Saturday mornings for prayer and on Sunday afternoon for evangelism into the interiors of Ilorin. This was the club, later.named Fellowship where most of the well- known ministers of Kwara origin once belonged and from where they sprang forth. Emmanuel Osset, John Idowu, George Adegboye, Stephen Atoyebi, Joshua Odeyemi, Steve Metiboba, David Oyedepo, Sola Soladoye, Steve Adegoke, Yemi Ayodele, Sam Awodoye…. and a host of numerous names that I can’t remember. I was also a member of this Fellowship in the early 80’s and it was here, I first met the man called David Oyedepo in around 82/83. Then the meetings held at ECWA Youth Club center along Ahmadu Bello Way in Ilorin. A word of information here. There was real Christianity in this nation up to the early 80’s.

No one carried denomination on his head as it is now. Just as we met at ECWA Centre, it was there Oyedepo’s ministry too met when they started and the Gideons International also met there. Likewise when the Deeper Life Bible Church started in Ilorin it was in the Anglican Church that they conducted their Bible studies and even in Lagos they once used the headquarters of Redeemed Christian Church at Ebutte- meta. That was then. Love reigned. The sad thing is that it is doubtful whether any ministry just springing up today can use Winners Chapel facilities or Deeper Life facilities. Sometimes I think that even the Orthodox churches are more Christian and even committed to Christ than the Pentecostals with all their noises and arrogance. I digress.I understand Oyedepo was an active member of this group before he had the encounter that he claimed at Ilesha and this fellowship became a platform that aided his actualization when he began. Then he held a teaching program every Friday in the same Center and most of the members of the Club usually attended seeing him as one of them. It was around this same 1983 that he began his ministry then known as Faith Liberation Hour Ministry. I am talking of events of more than 40 years ago and I hope my memory, always sharp as ever, does not fail.To know Oyedepo at this time is to like him. Simple, bold, brutally frank and even very witty and humble. With his beetle car he shuttled between Ilorin and Kaduna, always full of zeal and stories some of which would make you laugh. You could observe him with his pen and jotter taking notes even while another person was speaking. You could also observe him as he would kneel publicly for prayers after ministration. That was then, before the Great Change.

His wife, a graduate of Economics from the then University of Ife, known then as Florence Oyedepo was teaching at the Queen School, Ilorin and carrying the pregnancy of the baby, David Jr – the young man now too tall for his age and waiting in the wings to step into his father shoes.So you can see I don’t know the Oyedepos too well but I do know them. Or, better stil, I used to know them.It was during these Friday meetings which he taught at ECWA Centre that I heard him make certain statements three of which I want to now examine in this essay and the others coming.Somehow, there is no accident in life and people’s actions are actually conditioned by their beliefs and confessions. Even at this early period and even at this beginning you could discern the cravings for success and desires for earthly riches and prosperity. Although he taught the Bible distinctly and read it voraciously some of his statements at this early time showed that he was a man on the wing. *The first confession* “I shall not pass this world unnoticed” One night I heard him in the course of his sermon declare: “I shall not leave this world unnoticed.” In the theology of Oyedepo and in his understanding of Faith personal success and dominion loomed large. He believed very much in prosperity and success even then. To him, personal ambition and desire for the good life are not antithetical to the pursuit of a spiritual calling.Unlike Augustine who sought to demystify self that he may reveal Christ, Oyedepo sought instead to fulfill self. One bishop worked for self-denial, another for self-realization.

That is the difference and the difference between the Early Apostolic Christianity and modern- day Christianity – a difference as wide as the world. It is all about beliefs and Oyedepo is one of the prominent men who brought this about in this generation. True, his confession has come to pass. He can no longer leave this world unnoticed. Who doesn’t know Oyedepo today? But known for what actually? Augustine is known as one of those who saved Christianity from heresies and confine it to the pure religion of Apostolic times; what specifically is Oyedepo known for? What comes to the mind of an average Nigerian when the name is mentioned? Prosperity, success, fame, riches, jets, university ( that children of members cannot afford)…? Are these the laurels, the magnifying commendations of a minister of Jesus Christ and of the votaries of Historic Christianity? We thank God for success, fame and prosperity and even riches if and when they do come.

They are good but they are not what validate a spiritual calling or exemplify a minister of Jesus Christ. *The Second Confession* “My wife shall not go to the market again for anything.”Again I heard him one night declare that soon his wife won’t go to the market again to buy things because his faith would command the things he needed to come. This sounds like fairy tale in 1983-84 if you can understand that period. This was the period of “essential commodities” and the first widespread suffering occasioned by the duo of brutish Muhammadu Buhari and his stone- faced counterpart Tunde Idiagbon. It was that era when even milk was an essential commodity. [ Buhari has been dealing with this nation for too long ] Today that Confession strange as it was then has also happened. Pastor Faith Oyedepo won’t go to the market for anything. What for? With hundreds of assistants and minions at her beck and call she had merely need to sigh not even talk and the things would be supplied.

Again Oyedepo’s confession has materialized.One thing is he was an orator and gifted in Bible recitation and quotation. Possibly because of his Muslim background noted for extensive memorization and Quranic recitation of long sentences. He would always send you back to the Bible after his preaching at these early periods. I can’t say much for now, it’s a long time I heard him or read any of his numerous books. I just lost interest. Soon you will know why. *The Third Confession* “I am born to reign”It was here that I also heard him declare one day that he was born to reign. “Born to Reign.’ This became one of his seminar titles and even one of his books. I do understand that we are to reign in life through Christ based on His Finished Works on the Cross as carefully enunciated in the Petrine and Pauline Revelations. But the idea of individual reign in the materialistic sin – filled world confounds my imagination, both then and even now.

Not.just reign over Satan, forces of darkness, diseases and sins but reigning with splendour and material accumulations and abundance of resources.Since there can only be one king in a palace, if someone is born to reign then some others must be born to serve. Not me. I foresaw a master- servant relationship. One thing with the Bible is as I often say, you can make it to say anything you want it to say.. I am a servant of Christ, I shall not be a servant of any man. I am bought with a price, the very Precious Price of Christ’s Blood, need i be a servant of men? Not me. Seeing several young able- bodied men running before Oyedepo’s Rolls Royce on his 70th birthday and hundreds of others waving in complete adoration and submission to the majestic splendour like the captured citizens of a Roman colony before Caesar’s chariot and Legion I understood that indeed this man was.born to reign.

It was then I understood. In the Church that Christ founded appointment is by service, humility and by divine calling; in the modern system it is by blood. I am told that after Oyedepo’s exit, the next in line to the throne is his son and all members know this and content with it. It is not about age, or service or divine calling but about blood, just like in the natural succession order of kingship and royalty. “Born to Reign” then, may not be about Christ or His Finished Works but about one man’s or family’s quest for hegemony over a budding religious empire.

With an empire of wealth built largely from the Church warehoused both here and in a safe offshore account in the family’s name according to Pandora papers exposed by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists it is now clear who was “born to reign” and wbo were born to serve. We could not discern this in 1983.So far we have seen at least three proclamations from the mouth of the “man of faith” even as early as then right from the pulpit. At least we can still situate these confessions within the compass of Scripture to some degrees.

And in a sense they have come to pass in his life. Obviously he knew something the rest of us didn’t know even as early as that time. And to be sure and also fair Oyedepo was not just a pauper. He did mention it even then that his father bought the first lorry in the town and built the first story building – a town that is not so obscure and even produced the first military governor of Kwara State. I even heard him once saying that a military governor once asked him to come and see him for anything he needed but he did not go there even once.

So really we must concede to him that there is at least some measure of wealth in his roots which has now burgeoned through the use of applied psychology and social engineering tinctured with religious dynamics. The next and the final confession is what troubled me then and still astounds me even now. I will continue from there in the second part. Keep a date.[ In the meantime I wish the bishop, a prominent Igbomina son just like myself, a happy birthday.] [ Wait for the Second and Third Part of this Essay]

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October 5, 2024

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FCT Police Forestall Purposed Attacks… Storms Kidnappers ‘ Hideouts, Arrests Ex- Convict & 3 Orhers

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By Ebinum Samuel

The Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the FCT Police Command on 1st October 2024, acting on credible intelligence, trailed and arrested four notorious kidnappers who have been terrorizing the Federal Capital Territory namely: Yau Sani, a.k.a. Baba (an ex-convict), Nuhu, a.k.a. Giwa, Kabiru Mohammed and Yusuf Hassan, at their criminal hideout in Sauka, Abuja living within the general population.

The suspects confessed to being responsible for series of kidnappings of unsuspecting residents in FCT and its environs, the killing of seven victims in the process.These gang have attacked Dakwa, Dawaki, Aco Estate, Dupe Village Zuma Rock, Kuchiko village and some villages in Niger and Kaduna. They also led Police operatives to another hideout in Gauraka Forest, Suleja, Niger State, where they dug out four AK-47 rifles, thirteen AK-47 magazines, one hundred and sixty-two (162) rounds of 7.6 mm live ammunition.

The suspects also confessed their intending plans to attack some government institutions and estates within the FCT, which have been proactively prevented by the Command. SP Josephine Adeh, the command spokesperson said the Police wishes to reiterate its commitment to stamping out crime and criminality within the FCT. It urges members of the public to report any suspicious or unusual activities to the following police *emergency lines: 08032003913, 08028940883, 08061581938, and 07057337653.* For complaints, please contact PCB at 09022222352 or CRU at 08107314192.

Tricycle Operator Leads Delta Police To Burst Child-Trafficking Ring, Three-Day,-Old Baby Rescued, Two Suspects Nabbed

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By Ebinum Samuel

The Delta state commissioner of police, Mr Olufemi Abaniwonda has commended a commercial tricycle rider in the state for his heroic act that led to the bursting of a child trafficking ring and rescue of a three-day-old baby.According to the Command Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, SP Edafe Bright on Tuesday this week, at about 1830hours, a tricycle rider (name withheld) came to Ekpan police station and reported that while he was on his daily commercial operation, four women boarded his tricycle, on reaching Efurrun roundabout, two of these women alighted from the tricycle.

One of the two women who alighted came to hand over a newborn baby boy to the women left in his tricycle. The tricycle man said he heard one of them saying, the balance has been paid while saying that when they get to their destination, they should inform her. The tricycle rider smartly diverted the two women, Tessy Ikechukwu, and Lauretta Akomen, and the newborn baby to Ekpan Police Station. Preliminary investigation revealed that one of the suspects Lauretta Akomen ‘f’ aged 38yrs bought the baby for the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) from a traditional home located in Portharcourt where they harbour teenage girls, and got men to have sex with them till they are pregnant after which they sell the babies to people looking for children.

The suspect also revealed that she was given a drug which she took for some time to make her look pregnant. She later led the DPO, CSP Aliyu Shaba and operatives to the house of one Gloria (surname unknown) who acted as an agent between her and the traditional home. Suspects are in custody while a manhunt for the other accomplices is ongoing.

The Commissioner of Police CP Olufemi Abaniwonda thanked the tricycle rider for being a patriotic citizen and urged others to emulate him.SP Edafe Bright, the Command spokesman , enjoined Members of the public to reach the command either by reporting at the nearest Police station or by calling any of the following numbers- 08036684974- 08114895600- 08025666914

PSC APPROVES POSTING OF FOUR CPs TO STATE COMMANDS, ABANIWONDA REMAINS IN DELTA, OPARA MOVED TO CROSS RIVERS

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By Ebinum Samuel

The Police Service Commission has approved the postings of four Commissioners of Police to head State Commands in the Country.

CP Abaniwonda Olufemi recently moved to Rivers State Command has been returned as Commissioner of Police Delta State Command.CP Peter Ukachi Opara has finally been deployed to Cross Rivers State Command. He was earlier appointed the Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital Territory, FCT Command, moved to Delta State but has now been posted to head the Cross Rivers State Command.

CP Mustapha Mohammed Bala from Katsina State has been posted to Rivers State, while Gyogon Augustine Grimah from Nasarawa State has been posted to Kaduna State Command.The approval for the postings has been conveyed to the Inspector General of Police for implementation in a letter signed by Commission Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu rtd, mni, PSC, NPM

Lagos best WASSCE result: Sachet water seller’s son wins scholarship

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Tribune OnlineLagos best WASSCE result: Sachet water seller’s son wins scholarshipby Tunbosun Ogundare October 1, 2024Reading Time: 3 mins readA ALagos best WASSCE result: Sachet water seller’s son wins scholarshipA 17-year-old boy, Muslim Adewale, who graduated from Birch Freeman Senior High School in Surulere, Lagos, has achieved the best result in the 2024 May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) within the entire Lagos Education District Six and has been awarded a scholarship.

The boy, who also scored 302 out of 400 in the recent Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), which the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) reported many candidates failed, was presented with the award on Monday during this year’s annual merit awards and honors organized by Education District 6, Lagos State, for school administrators, teachers, other school staff, and students in the district, which comprises the Ikeja, Mushin, and Oshodi-Isolo Local Government Areas.

The scholarship prize amounts to half a million naira and was provided by God’s Covenant Church of All Nations, Ikeja, as part of its commitment to support indigent members of the community.

Lagos CP Set To Crush Criminal Elements

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By Ebinum Samuel

The deployment of a crack, seasoned police chief, Ishola Olawale Olarewaju to head the Lagos state police command by the authorities through the office of the Inspector-general of Police, IGP, the Police Service Commission, PSC, was not only greeted with great enthusiasm by stakeholders in security matters, but was welcomed by his colleagues who knows his pedigree.For old crime reporters and security experts, the posting of Olarewaju to Lagos, shows the determination by IGP Kayode Egbetokun to send warning signal to criminal elements in the state.

This assignment given to the police chief with vast knowledge of Lagos, surely, would lead to drastic reductions in violent crimes. To prove his worth, he hit the ground running last week by meeting with his subordinates, operatives from sister’s agencies, journalists and stakeholders in security Matters to synergized. This move has yielded fruits with last week arrests of no fewer than 38 suspected criminals. Close associates confirmed his get-up-and-go policing methodology.

Similarly, with an unsurpassed record of serving as DPO in no fewer than seven police stations in the state, he would not only improve upon where his predecessor, AIG Adegoke Fayoade stopped, but ensure that he gives his very best to the people of the state.Also,the sustainability of this commitments by Olarewaju and collaborative efforts by all in the state, the police under him is good to go in checking the activities of criminals and hoodlums .

DESPAIR, DEPRESSION AND DEATH

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By Moses Oludele Idowu

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, it is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” ( 1 Kings 19:4)”Then I thought that it is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.” – John Bunyan ( Pilgrim’s Progress) *INTRODUCTION*Today’s message is very important and you should master it and heed it. It is your life in the days to come.Before Introducing the message let me first preface it with two recent incidents this year, one happening just this last week which occasioned this message. *Case Study 1:*This last week in Lagos a, 45-year old lady and an accountant with Globacom living at Osapa, London, Lekki area committed suicide by drinking insecticide and died. Folake Abiola did not take her own life because she was poor or had no job or lacked professional fulfilment. According to a colleague of her she had battled depression for years. More baffling is the fact that she was a Christian the only Christian in a family of Muslims and her depression, according to this friend was not due to loneliness or even sex because she had been involved in romantic relationship with two men which she ended at her own instance because of her depression as she “did not want to bring someone else into her life when she could not take care of herself.”Thus a soul was lost. Her church could not help her.

It is really sad but when I look into churches today I see many people who are lonely even though they are surrounded by congregation. Many people in church today are suffering and the church does not even speak to their conditions. Because the church does not even understand them. *Case Study 2:*Ms Cheelie Kryst was a Miss USA, Miss North Carolina, a reporter and former attorney. She held an MBA from Wake Forest University and was doing well until this year. On Sunday at 6.00 am January 30, 2022 she committed suicide by jumping from her 29- storey New York City apartment leading to her death. She was only 30 and a victim of depression which she had managed to hide from others. The mother immediately confessed that it must be due to depression because her daughter had battled this problem for years.

*THE ISSUE*

Thus it is my purpose in this message to explain:* What depression is* Causes of depression* Danger of depression* How to escape depression* Answer to depressionThis message engages the principles of the Bible and the spiritual system of reality and not the medical or intellectual or physiological aspect as obtain in University training of Medical Science. All my knowledge and exposition here is purely on spiritual system and not academic or scientific. Those ones may help too but at certain stage of depression especially what Science itself calls “high- functioning depression”, Medical Science may not be of much help. *Elijah and Depression*Depression is a serious thing. It can end a man’s life as suddenly as anything. It is worse than bullets. It is one of the worst arrows of witchcraft and forces of darkness that could be fired against a servant of God or someone they want to destroy. Because once you succumbed to depression you are gone unless by the special intervention of God. At that time, your spirit begins to sink and your mind is in retreat and your body can absorb any sickness even your pores begin to absorb any germ or virus. Because technically and spiritually you are on retreat, you are sinking. Your spirit is sinking as in a mire. Run away from depression.What all the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Grove could not do against Elijah one single arrow of Depression fired by that Queen of Hell, Jezebel did it.

The prophets of the Grove and preachers of Baal in modern times who have abandoned the Cross and turned after prosperity and success who glorify and worship success more than anything are telling us to seek success and prosperity. Fine. The two ladies mentioned in the case studies were not failures, they were on the top of their careers and models of success. Elijah had just achieved the greatest success in ministry by slaying the prophets of Baal and putting Baal to open shame. Yet they succumbed to Depression and wanted to take their lives. They actually did and Elijah would have done so too but for God. Success is iot the answer to depression it may even be the trigger of it.That is why you must know this great weapon,this arrow of the enemy. *John Bunyan and Giant Despair*It is one of the tragedies of modern Christianity that Christians today do not read the great classics of Christian Literature. They don’t even know them. The average Christian today has never read a single Christian classic of all time. Most of what they read are the same glossy and soft materials based on pernicious logic and heretical principles constructed on wholly effete religion and shaky philosophy of the modern day. That is why we have not saints among us. That is why we lack exceptional universal Christians today. I recommend to you – if you have not read it – *Pilgrim’s Progress* by John Bunyan, a masterpiece of both spiritual logic and even the finest form of allegory in the whole annals of English Literature. In this book Bunyan typifies Depression as the Giant Despair who enslaves Christian and his companion, Hopeful as they journeyed from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Bunyan devotes three pages to this enemy because of its importance. That is why we should take heed. The old Christians were wiser than us and they knew where the danger is.

Hear how John Bunyan captures it and see the power of his language:” Now there was not far from the place where they lay, a castle, called Doubting Castle, the owner whereof was Giant Despair, and it was in his grounds they now were sleeping: wherefore he getting up in the morning early, and walking up and down in his fields, caught Christian and Hopeful asleep in his grounds. Then with a grim and surly voice he bid them awake, and asked them whence they were, and what they did in his grounds. They told him *they were pilgrims and that they had lost their way. Then said* the Giant, You have this night *trespassed on me, by trampling in and lying on my grounds, and* therefore you must go along with me. So they were *forced to go because he was stronger than they.* They also had but little to say, for they knew themselves in a fault.” [ My emphasis]Christian and Hopeful were imprisoned and they would not come out until days after without food. How did they find the key that finally released then? Go and read the book.That is the power of Depression. We must salute the creativity of Bunyan that he represents this fiend as Giant Despair because indeed he is a giant – a giant that has slain many giants and inside whose grounds were the broken bones of many pilgrims on their way to the Celestial City. In all the journeys of Christian and his sufferings right from the Wicket Gate through the Slough of Despond to the City of Vanity, they met with many temptations but not in a single place did it occur to them to take their lives through suicide except when they were imprisoned by Giant Despair. So even as far back as more than 400 years ago Bunyan already connected Depression with suicide which modern medicine and experience are just discovering.Here is the wonder of wonders by the hand of that English Craftsman and author: after escaping from the prison of Giant Despair they immediately got to the Delectable Mountains from where they could see and behold the Celestial City – the Land of Emmanuel “where there are no passing seas nor interposing mountains.” ( apologies to John Fletcher)Thus from the moment of Depression, if you can be patient and endure and do the right thing the Mountains of God are not far away. Every time I have heard the Voice of God have been immediately after a period of deep depression when I almost lost hope. What if I had taken my own life then? Then I won’t hear His Voice because He does not speak to murderers and those in hell never hear His Voice. I want to share with you what I know on this subject.1. *What is Depression* It is a state or conditions either natural or of spiritual attack directed against a person during which his vital and critical functions of reason, faith, hope and connectedness with the environment are shrinking. During Depression it is difficult to pray or read the Bible. It is like your spirit has fallen deep down; it is like you have no spirit. Your spirit has been shot at and it will be going down unless brought up by the Word of God and gracious actions of the Holy Spirit. At that time even your prayers can’t rise through the ceiling because your spirit has sunk. *1. What Causes Depression*Depression, I am speaking from the Platform of spiritual reality not medical or scientific reasoning or permutations, can be caused by various things:1. *Boredom.* When you have done the same things over and over for years with no possibility of changing, it could lead to depression.

The white men knew what they were doing when they say you should go on leave once in a year to try something else. Why lecturers should go after 7 years of teaching to do something else and allow the mind to rest and roam. Unfortunately our love of money erode that possibility because even in that sabbatical year many still go and teach to get double salary. Greed. Rather than research or go into writing books and journal articles refreshing the minds with other creativity. These things can cause depression.Even praying and fasting if that is all you do will lead to boredom. Preaching always and nothing more will lead to boredom and ultimately depression. Change the route. Shift the focus once a while. Read the Bible, but not only the Bible and Christian Literature, read other things. Let your mind too exercise.

2. *Unfulfilled expectations of long- term desires*” Hope deferred maketh the heart sick…” That is how the Proverbs said it and it is so.You have seen others of your classmates getting good jobs and you are still at home tending babies like rabbits. Other are married and only you in your age group is still single in the church…These can lead to depression.3 *. Enjoying what is not meant for you*When you have started toying with what is not meant for you then it will bring guilt and ultimately condemnation. Example, because you are not yet married you feel sex is necessary to keep you warm. Well sex is designed for marriage not outside. This may bring guilt and condemnation and later depression. *4. As arrow of witchcraft*Elijah received an arrow of witchcraft that brought him to isolate himself from others and led to depression that ended his glorious Ministry. Arrows are regularly fired from the covens of darkness against servants of God and if you are not rightly positioned and understand what is happening you will succumb. The danger is you won’t know where it comes. At that level you will take foolish decisions based on cognitive dissonance. You are at that stage opened to all manner of attacks and even diseases because your body only receive orders from your spirit and once your spirit is no longer in control and power and Dominion then your body will receive counter order from your enemies. The sting of witchcraft is the worst form of arrow that can generate depression.

And it will not go away unless cleared by the Spirit of God through anointed spoken words or preaching. 5. *By the actions of the Holy Spirit* Depression can also come by the actions of the Holy Spirit. Usually this may be for one or two days and it is not dangerous. Sometimes the Holy Spirit uses our human spirits for His purposes and operations without us being aware of it just as evil spirit too can use your spirit without your awareness if you give them room. That is why the Bible says if you hate your brother in your heart you are a murderer because the evil spirit can take your spirit and through the hate in your heart construct a bridge to that person and murder him but it will be charged to your account as I was explaining to the School of Divine Healing yesterday. The Holy Spirit can pray through your spirit and even bless people. Some persons have told me they saw me in their dream praying for them or giving them instructions. Now that is not me, that is the Holy Spirit taking my spirit form to do that exercise. God can also look through your eyes to people and deliverance will take place. I have witnessed this happening. Now at such a time when the Spirit is praying through your spirit you may feel depressed and bogged down. This feeling won’t last for more than few days. If it is more then it is not the Holy Spirit…I will continue next week.Keep a date.

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June 5, 2022 All Rights Reserved

Disaster Relief Fund: Why fix it when it is not broken?

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By Yahaya Etila

Recently, the federal government announced the establishment of a “Disaster Relief Fund” to address national disasters like flooding. I struggled to understand the aim and objectives because Wale Edun, the minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the economy, stuttered when making the announcement. Yes, there is no doubt that when disasters occur, it is incumbent on the government to provide relief to those affected promptly to cushion the effect of such disasters. Does the country have a framework for addressing disaster situations, and has the agencies involved in disaster management lived up to expectations? I think the government has an ulterior motive. It seems a merry-go-round. While establishing the Disaster Relief Fund seems a brilliant one on the surface, it left many unanswered questions about the core mandate of the fund and how effective it would be in disaster relief administration in Nigeria. It is not enough to receive funds in a central pool.

The last I checked donations and funding is not the missing link in disaster prevention and management in Nigeria. But rather, strengthening the capacity for rapid response to national emergencies. This is critical thinking. Establishing a Disaster Fund is not critical thinking. There is deep suspicion about the quantum of money that could be made and who should be in charge of the anticipated inflow. This is what the government appears to be interested in.

I stand to be corrected. It also appears the government forgot there is an agency called National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) whose mandate is to “coordinate resources towards efficient and effective disaster prevention, preparation, mitigation and response in Nigeria. ” It also appears that the supposed eggheads behind the establishment of the Disaster Relief Fund are not aware that there are five phases of emergency management including prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

Wale Edun, the supremo minister while making the announcement stated, “We know we do have the NEMA Relief Fund, we even have the Flood Relief Funds set up around 2012 but Mr President feels we need in this era of climate change, climate events as well as from time to time there will be matter in prevention measures there will be disaster that will occur.” What is the meaning of what he said? Let me help him out. It should not be a function of what Mr President “feels”, but what is necessary. For example, the emphasis was on the era of climate change. Is climate change a new concept? Who was supposed to remind the president about other agencies such as the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), which serves the preventive function in the disaster management ecosystem? For the records, the NIHSA has a flood alert system that provides flood warning coverage, a real-time, community-oriented flood warning system geared towards reducing risks involved with flooding.

The establishment of flood warning systems near any major waterway or body of water provides critical information that can protect property and save lives. I think that the government must also do well to strengthen the operations and capacity of NIHSA. If that is done, the implication is that the country would have addressed a key component in the National Disaster Management Framework (NDMF). What this move by the government has done is begin the process of rendering some critical organs of government redundant and creating a parallel arm that would rival the existing structures. What happens afterward? The victims of disasters in the country would suffer because high-level politics would play out. It would indeed begin a regime of lethargy and blame game. This is a common feature in our clime. Let’s make some assumptions.

Say there was a disaster in a part of the country,  and funds were donated for that purpose to the Disaster Relief Fund. Would there be a structure in place for the Disaster Relief Fund to address the situation , or would we rely on the network of NEMA, NIHSA, and other agencies in the ecosystem to ameliorate the situation? But from the look of things, the government is not looking at the issue of disaster prevention and management holistically, hence the hurried establishment of the Disaster Relief Fund. It is akin to creating monsters while solving a problem because the government also didn’t factor in the institutional rivalry this move would create. Don’t forget that disaster situations require a rapid response approach. Creating bureaucracies ultimately defeats the purpose.  It is not enough to channel energies towards warehousing disaster relief funds. What about prevention and the preparedness to manage disaster situations? This is key to ensuring a robust disaster management strategy. I think the government got it wrong. It might as well pass for a reflex action without a clear-cut purpose. Or maybe the aim is to keep a proper record of donor funds for disaster-related purposes and not address disaster situations.

If this is the case, then I dare say the government is not intentional about addressing disaster situations in the country. What I had expected was strengthening the operations of agencies in the disaster prevention and management ecosystem for operational effectiveness. It is not rocket science. If there are noticeable lapses in operational effectiveness, the rational thing to do is to strengthen governance processes and structure. We can’t be duplicating roles and responsibilities given the dire economic situation in the country. No matter how coated it is, the Disaster Relief Fund is a duplication. It is unnecessary and runs contrary to the National Disaster Management Framework (NDMF), which provides a clear mechanism that serves as a regulatory guideline for effective and efficient disaster management in the country. The NDMF was conceptualized in 2018 and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to implement measures to enable communities, individuals, businesses and institutions to minimize the adverse effects of disasters in Nigeria, thereby enhancing the ability to prevent, prepare, respond to and recover from disasters across all elements in the country.

It also caters to the accessibility and governance of financial resources for disaster management. It stated that for disaster-related matters (DRM) to be successful,  “plans and operations must be linked with required financing for (a) immediate liquidity for relief and short/medium-term recovery, (b) resource mobilization for prevention and mitigation investments, (c) long-term recovery or reconstruction.” In light of the above, my question is, what does the government want to achieve with the establishment of a Disaster Relief Fund where there exists a robust disaster management framework in the country? The onus lies in the hands of the government to provide answers to this question. And if all the government cares about is pooling of resources alone, then we are making a caricature of governance and its impact on the lives of the people. We must tell ourselves the truth. Some certain things do not add up.  Why fix it when it is not broken?

Etila, a development expert, wrote from Abuja

Auto parts dealer arrested over heroin, loud shipments concealed in lamps, sofa legs

Posted on by admin50

As NDLEA arrests 2 wanted kingpins, 2 ex-convicts for drug trafficking; intercepts illicit consignments going to US, UK, Canada, Australia, Thailand

By Ebinum Samuel

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, have arrested an automobile spare parts dealer Ejiofor Nnaemeka Chiwuzie over attempt to export consignments of heroin and loud, a strain of cannabis, concealed in LED rechargeable lamps and sofa metal legs through the export shed of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, MMIA Ikeja Lagos.


Ejiofor was arrested on Tuesday 24th September 2024 at the Trade Fair complex, Ojo area of Lagos where he sells automobile spare parts following the seizure of his cargo containing auto parts, rechargeable lamps, sofa metal legs and electronics going to Liberia at the export shed of the Lagos airport.
Concealed inside the LED lamps and sofa legs were 37 parcels of heroin weighing 1.10 kilograms and four blocks of loud with a total weight of 1.20kg. A swift follow up operation led to the arrest of two freight agents and then Ejiofor who sent the consignment.


In the same vein, attempts by drug trafficking networks to export consignments of loud, tramadol pills, co-codamol tablets, pentazocine injection, dihydrocodeine and promethazine tabs through some courier companies to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Thailand and Oman were foiled by NDLEA officers of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation, DOGI, attached to the logistics firms.
While 2.3kg of loud hidden in a carton was going to Thailand, 749 grams of tramadol concealed in soles of locally made footwears were heading to Oman, with 60 ampoules of pentazocine injection going to the United States. No less than 200 pills of co-codamol were meant for Australia while a total of 700 tablets of dihydrocodeine, promethazine and tramadol as well as 20 ampoules of pentazocine injection concealed in soles of footwears were heading to the United Kingdom. Going to Canada were 58 ampoules of pentazocine injection hidden in female cloths. All the seizures in the courier houses were made between Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th September in Lagos.


Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday 25th September arrested a wanted drug kingpin Ajiboye Damilare Samuel (a.k.a Na God) after 12 months of evading arrest following the raid of his warehouse in Akala, Mushin area of Lagos, where a total of 1,101 kilograms of Ghana Loud, a strong strain of cannabis was recovered on 4th September 2023. The arrest of Ajiboye in a bank in Ogun state followed well-coordinated efforts by the Agency’s Directorate of Assets and Financial Investigation, which traced 20 bank accounts linked to the suspect and blocked them.

In like manner, NDLEA operatives in Lagos on Friday 27th September took into custody a wanted community leader and Sarkin Yamma of Badagry, Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Talba, following the arrest of his two wives: Hauwa and Asma’u and son, Sadat as well as the seizure of a total of 226.2kg cannabis at their homes in Badagry on 18th September. In another operation in Lagos, no less than 9.7kg cannabis sativa and 50 litres of monkey tail, a fermented combo of cannabis and dry gin, were recovered from a suspect Florence Moses at Badore area of Ajah, Lekki on Tuesday 24th September.
In Kogi, three suspects: Owolabi Dele, 42; Ayodele Monday, 40; and Olawale Ojo, 22, were arrested by NDLEA operatives along Okene-Lokoja-Abuja expressway while conveying 132 sacks of cannabis weighing 2,062.00kg in a Mercedes container truck from Osun state to Dei Dei in Abuja. Another suspect Benedict Simire, 57, was arrested at Ayetoro road, Kabba, conveying 33.40kg of same psychoactive substance and a pump action gun with six cartridges on Wednesday 25th September.
On the same Wednesday, operatives of the Marine Command of NDLEA intercepted a two 40HP Yamaha engines boat bearing 71 bags of Ghana Loud weighing 2,982kgs along Alfa beach, Lekki area of Lagos. Men of the Nigerian Customs Service Western Marine Command were on hand to support the NDLEA officers to recover the boat and exhibits after the two suspects in the boat dived into the water.
Also, on Wednesday 25th September, NDLEA operatives at the Port Harcourt Ports complex, Onne, Rivers state intercepted 1,500 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup containing a total of 150,000 bottles during a joint examination of a targeted 40ft container, with men of Nigerian Customs and other security agencies.
While NDLEA operatives in Niger state recovered 6,000 ampoules of pentazocine injection from Chukwudi Nwanoche, 38, at the former Minna city gate, their counterparts in Kano arrested Aminu Danmanya, 31, with 15,530 capsules of tramadol at Kano residential hotel, Katsina road.
In Plateau state, operatives on Friday 27th September arrested a female suspect Jummai Luka, 58, behind Jehovah Witness junction, Kabong, Jos North LGA, in possession of 12,000 pills of tramadol while NDLEA officers in Oyo state on Tuesday 24th September nabbed
Segun Asogba, 50, with 601kg cannabis sativa and a Dane gun at Igangan town.
In Katsina, two ex-convicts: Muhammad Machido, 44, and Zakari Ya’u Buhari, 32, were again arrested by NDLEA operatives with illicit substances. While Muhammad was nabbed along Kano-Katsina highway, Kankia, on Monday 23rd September with 51,000 pills of opioids, Zakari was arrested in Daura with 14 blocks of cannabis weighing 7kg. Zakari was first arrested on 8th February 2024 and sentenced by court to 15 months’ imprisonment with an option of 15,000 fine, which he paid. In his case, Muhammad was earlier arrested with 45kg cannabis sativa and 2.5kg tramadol on 12th December 2022. He was then sentenced to two years imprisonment.
While Benjamin Benjamin Ebei, 33, was arrested at Biase LGA Cross River state, with 38kg cannabis recovered from his vehicle, operatives in Edo state on Tuesday 24th September raided a house along Okpuje road, Uzebba in Owan West LGA where they arrested a suspect
Idonuan Ajilo, 53, and seized 112.5kg cannabis from his store.
Meanwhile, across the country, NDLEA Commands continued their War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, sensitization lectures and advocacy visits to worship centres, schools, workplaces, palaces of traditional rulers and communities all through the past week. Instances include: WADA sensitization lecture to students and staff of Government Girls Secondary School, Kafur, Katsina; students and teachers of Akinlade Primary School, Ajah, Lagos;
students of St. Patrick’s Secondary School, Ikot Ansa, Calabar, Cross River; and WADA advocacy lecture at the palace of Aree of Iree town,Osun state, Oba Muritala Oyelakin, among others.
While commending the officers and men of DOGI, DAFI, MMIA, Onne, Marine, Lagos, Kogi, Katsina, Oyo, Plateau, Niger, Kano, Edo, and Cross River Commands of the Agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd) also applauded their compatriots in all the commands across the country for intensifying the WADA sensitization lectures and advocacy messages to every part of their areas of responsibility.