By Tim Cocks

LAGOS, Nov 30 (Reuters) – The leader of Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram praises jihadist movements across the globe and
singled out the United States, Britain, Israel and Nigeria as enemies in a new video, according to a translation by the SITE monitoring service.

The 39-minute video “Glad Tidings, O Soldiers of Allah”, posted in a jihadist forum, features a speech by sect leader Abubakar Shekau with an unusually international focus for a group that has often seemed more pre-occupied with local gripes.

Unlike previous video speeches, which he delivered in his native Hausa tongue, the one posted on Thursday is in Arabic. Shekau pledges solidarity with Islamist fighters everywhere.

“Nigeria and other crusaders, meaning America and Britain, should witness, and the Jews of Israel who are killing the
Muslims in Palestine should witness … that we are with our mujahideen brothers in the cause of Allah everywhere,” he said, according to SITE’s translation.

The video appears to confirm the fears of security agents that Boko Haram has ambitions to join forces with other Islamist
groups pursuing a more explicitly global, anti-Western agenda – like al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), based in Mali.

Almost 3,000 people have been killed in fighting since Boko Haram launched an uprising in northern Nigeria in mid-2009,
enraged by the death of its former leader Mohammed Yusuf in police custody during a crackdown on the sect.

The video wishes “glad tidings” on Islamist warriors in “Islamic Maghreb” (the Sahara) and “the Islamic State in Mali”, as well as Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen and “usurped Palestine”.

He list “martyrs” in the global fight against world powers like Britain and the United States, including Osama bin-Laden.

“Don’t think that jihad stops with the death of imams, because imams are individuals,” he tells them. “Think how many sheikhs and men were martyred … Did jihad stop? No. Jihad doesn’t stop until Allah wills it to be stopped.”

WIDER AMBITIONS

The video ends with footage of fighters undergoing military training, then cuts to weapons and equipment it alleges were taken as spoils from the enemy, SITE’s translation says.

Boko Haram’s favourite targets are usually local in character: Nigerian security forces, Christian worshippers or any politicians and clerics who speak out against it.

It has only claimed responsibility for one attack on a Western target – a bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Abuja that killed 24 people in August last year – but security analysts fear it could soon carry out more attacks like this.

Security sources say Boko Haram has for years been sending fighters to train with AQIM in the Sahara. Some set up camp in Timbuktu after Malian Islamists seized control of it in June.

“Boko Haram may be Nigeria-centric with respect to its attacks, but it clearly sees itself as part of the broader international jihadist movement,” said Jacob Zenn, analyst at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

(Editing by Sophie Hares)

Posted by mosvin bami.

An investigation was ordered on Thursday by the House of Representative over the multi-billion naira mansion said to belong to Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe.

The house located at Mabushi in FCT, was said to have been constructed by SETRACO, a construction firm.

The House endorsed a motion by Mr. Odeneye Kehinde on the matter and resolved to probe the ownership of the property.

Anti-Corruption and Drug/Narcotics/Financial Crimes and Justice are the committees which have been directed to conduct investigation within 21 days and produce a report.

Kehinde noted that the Multi-billion naira mansion has been one of the issues dominating discussions lately in the country.

He expressed surprise that neither the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission nor the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission had considered the issue important for investigation.

A summary of the allegation runs thus:
“The minister is presently resident in a house at Mabushi District Abuja built and handed over to him by SETRACO, a construction company that doubles at his crony.”

He added,’The minister’s failure to declare the said house in his asset declaration form with Code of Conduct Bureau, is a case of perjury if established.

“The minister’s financial escapades and liaisons are in Dubai and other corruption shelters overseas.

“These weighty allegations were at first peremptorily rubbished and dismissed by the minister as handiwork of his detractors and some mischief-makers who were out for extortion.

“Since then, he has unfortunately laboured hard using the media to fault these revelations.”An investigation was ordered on Thursday by the House of Representative over the multi-billion naira mansion said to belong to Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe.

The house located at Mabushi in FCT, was said to have been constructed by SETRACO, a construction firm.

The House endorsed a motion by Mr. Odeneye Kehinde on the matter and resolved to probe the ownership of the property.

Anti-Corruption and Drug/Narcotics/Financial Crimes and Justice are the committees which have been directed to conduct investigation within 21 days and produce a report.

Kehinde noted that the Multi-billion naira mansion has been one of the issues dominating discussions lately in the country.

He expressed surprise that neither the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission nor the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission had considered the issue important for investigation.

A summary of the allegation runs thus:
“The minister is presently resident in a house at Mabushi District Abuja built and handed over to him by SETRACO, a construction company that doubles at his crony.”

He added,’The minister’s failure to declare the said house in his asset declaration form with Code of Conduct Bureau, is a case of perjury if established.

“The minister’s financial escapades and liaisons are in Dubai and other corruption shelters overseas.

“These weighty allegations were at first peremptorily rubbished and dismissed by the minister as handiwork of his detractors and some mischief-makers who were out for extortion.

“Since then, he has unfortunately laboured hard using the media to fault these revelations.”

Posted by mosvin bami.

One of the pioneers of Nollywood, and now Delta State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Richard Mofe Damijo better known as RMD and the acting General Manager of Delta state’s Tourism Board, Ms. Philo Nkem Ajufo, have been accused of looting N50 million belonging to the ministry.

Dependable sources in the embattled Ministry revealed that a former commissioner in the Ministry had requested for a sum of N50 million to organize the “Delta State Expo 2007.”
However, it was learnt that the state government could not approve the said amount the same year for some reasons.
The source said the funds were eventually approved and released to the ministry of tourism under the leadership of Damijo in May, 2012.

He said: “As soon as the money arrived, the commissioner said that the ministry could no longer hold the event since six years had elapsed.”

“The Honourable Commissioners also argued that Deltans would have forgotten about the event – and therefore the money should not be used for the purpose it was released,” the source added.

Some documents obtained by newsmen from the Delta State Ministry of Finance show that the N50 million must be spent on the event for which the Culture Ministry applied for it.

The warrant, which was signed by one P.O. Evuojapha on behalf of the Commissioner of Finance indicates that N35 million of the funds was meant for the Tourism Board.

Closed insiders however said that Damijo conspired to issue a check of N35 million in the name of the General Manager of the state’s Tourism Board, Ms. Ajufo who allegedly deposited the sum into her First Bank private account number 3006131619.

The source said: “Mrs. Ajufo and RMD then shared the money.”

Another top government official said that, “It is very obvious that the manner the cheque was issued in the name of the board’s GM instead of in the name of the board was fraudulent. It portrays an element of fraud.”

A reliable source hinted that Ms. Ajufo used her share of the looted funds to start off a twin duplex building located at No.6 Dunkwu Crescent, Asaba in June, 2012.

The twin complex we gathered is behind Junior Staff quarters and opposite one of the branches of Redeemed Christian Church (RCCG) in the state.

The source further said that tourism board’s members had denied receiving any of the embezzled funds.

He said: “She accused Mr. Mofe Damijo of carting away the whole sum of N50 million even when her account was used to commit the fraud.”

It was also gathered that all staff of Ms. Ajufo have reportedly lost all patience with her manner of running the board. “The acting GM is very, very corrupt,” said a staff.

“As we talk, apart from her official car, the Tourism Board cannot boast of a single functional car. All the board’s cars are grounded. And in this era of technology, there is no single working computer apart from one in her office – which she doesn’t use. Her office is entitled to N1 million subventions every month, but as soon as the money comes, the commissioner and the GM share most of it. The left over is never properly used by the GM.”

Another source said that Ms. Ajufo embezzled some funds meant to secure an exhibition stand at the festival. “The GM collected N500, 000 from the government to procure an exhibition stand for Delta State at the Akwaba Festival held in Lagos in October, 2012. Instead, she pocketed the sum of N300, 000 and went for an ordinary table stand which cost her N200, 000 only. She is the most corrupt of all the GMs we have ever worked with in the board. She runs fraudulent deals with the Commissioner and they have both amassed wealth for themselves to the detriment of the people of Delta State.”
When contacted over the allegation, Ms. Ajufo, said, “Please, speak with the Honorable Commissioner for Culture and Tourism. Thank you.”

In his reaction, the actor-turned-politician denied all the allegations levelled against him, he maintained that he’s not aware if such amount was released to his ministry at any time.

Posted by mosvin bami.

Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha yesterday announced a 50 per cent reduction in the tuition fees of non-indigenes in state-owned tertiary institutions.
The governor said his administration would pay the balance as an extension of its free education programme.

Okorocha spoke in Owerri, the state capital, when the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and Student Union Governments (SUGs) of tertiary institutions in the state visited him at the Government House.

The gesture is for non-indigenes in Imo State University, Imo State Polytechnic and College of Health Sciences, Amaigbo, whose counterparts of Imo origin are enjoying free education.
Okorocha restated the commitment of his administration to making education free at all levels.The governor urged his counterparts in other states to adopt similar measures to create opportunities for Nigerian students in other tertiary institutions to enjoy free education.

Posted by mosvin bami.

In the wake of terrorists attacks on army cantonments in parts of the country, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Azubuike Ihejirika, has directed that all civilians and non-military personnel residing in all army barracks be flushed out.
His words: “All illegal civilians and those above 18 years should vacate the barracks immediately in view of the security situation in the country. Any Commander that fails to flush out these persons should be ready to face serious sanction.”
The directive of the Army chief came just as he disclosed that since assumption of office, his administration had paid off a massive debt portfolio of over N2 billion which he inherited from UBA and Oceanic Banks. He said he could not lay a finger on what previous administrations of the Army did with the money.
Ihejirika who was speaking at the closing of the annual COAS Conference in Asaba said on terrorism: “Nigerians should expect more comprehensive action by the military and all the security agencies.
Some of the moves the army has initiates include  that unit commanders should liaise more, supervise and monitor their personnel more closely than they have done in the past. So 2013 would be decisive.”
He directed that all vehicles used for internal security operations, be painted in army colours immediately to forestall the type of blackmail recently witnessed from Reuters International news agency, noting: “The Nigerian Army is dealing with enemies who have no other business that to plan mayhem, destruction and murder from morning to night.”
He said that within the last two years of his administration, 435 officers’ quarters and 6,337 soldiers accommodation had been rehabilitated while by 2013, over 10,000 soldiers and officers’ accommodation would be rehabilitated.
On the porous nature of Army barracks like that of Jaji, he said: “Yes, several of our barracks are not fenced but in the last two years, we must have fenced four barracks. But we are talking about may be 80 barracks that are not fenced.”
“Doing that will entail a lot of resources, a lot of support which the current budget may not contain. But again whether barracks is fenced or not, it does not serve as excuse for any commander to allow what happened to happen. But one thing I would say is that the lack of fence compounds the challenge.
“Now, every commander must think of ways of ensuring that what happened in Jaji does not happen. What is important is that you have put in your best in terms of planning, in terms of security measures, in terms of intelligence. Even when barracks are fenced, fences could be climbed, houses could be broken up, and we are not going to fence cities.
“What it means is that fencing of barracks would not be the only solution but it would aid security.  A board of inquiry has been set up by the Nigerian Army and another one by the Defence Headquarters. With these two inquiries with various terms of reference, I believe that a number of  revelations will come up which will further help us to ensure that such a thing does not come up.
On the vexed issue of intelligence gathering which many Nigerians believe is missing, the Army chief said: “The Nigerian Army works in collaboration with other services. We work hour by hour, and day to day with the SSS. We also receive support from the Nigerian Intelligence Agency. Apart from that, there are also certain international bodies that also relates with us.
“You are also aware of my visit to the Inspector General of Police. We also agreed on ways of enhancing intelligence collection and then dissemination. The conference also emphasized the need for national intelligence fusion. What it means is that all the various measures are going to be fast tracked to ensure that intelligence is further enhanced.
“You should know that it is a running battle because the people you are fighting are people within the country who know what measures you are even taking to checkmate their terrorist activities. That is why I also drew the attention of commanders on the need for them to, on a continuous basis, devise new tactics in dealing with the problem”.
He warned that henceforth monitoring committees from the army headquarters are going to be set up too to monitor the Commanders in the field adding, Make no mistake about it, Command responsibility is one area we will emphasize more next year”.
Asked if this action will lead to purging the force of unserious people, he said, “That one is obvious. I have already informed Commanders and they know. They should not wait for the Chief of Army Staff before taking action along the line’.
Courtesy Vanguard

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A bill seeking to correct abnormalities in the Flags and Coats of  Arm Act of 2004, on Thursday in Abuja passed through second reading in the House of Representatives.
The bill seeks to enact the National Symbols Act, 2012, defining a procedure for States to follow to have their flags, symbols and other emblems.
It also seeks to expressly authorise the use of State Flag, State Coat of Arms and how it should be used vis-a’ vis the National Flag.
The Nigerian National Symbol includes the National Flags, National Coat of Arms, National Anthem and National Pledge.
The Flags and Coats of Arm Act of 2004 does not provide for States flags expressly, but it permits it by making reference to it.
Leading  the debate on the general principles of the bill , Rep. Karimi Sunday (PDP-Kogi) said the bill seeks to correct some abnormalities in the old Act.
He noted that some States currently have flags and symbols without following the correct procedures, and displaying them without the National Flag.
“It will be wrong for a State to display its own flag without the National Flag.’’
The lawmaker said that the bill would impact on the psyche of an average Nigerian  to think of himself as a Nigerian first before he thinks of himself as member of his “ tribe, religion, ethnic group or State.“
Rep. Sunday urged his colleagues to support the bill, saying that it would foster national unity and instil patriotism among Nigerians.
“Nigeria no doubt is at one of the most challenging times in her national history where various factors militating against the Nigerian State keeps rearing its head.
“All efforts geared at fostering unity, nationalism and patriotism should therefore be encouraged, while all factors repudiating the Nigerian State must be discouraged.’’
In his contribution, Rep. Leo Ogor (PDP-Delta ) expressed his  support for the  bill, saying  the that “ the Green White Green is the symbol of our authority.’’
He expressed concern that some states were having their own flags,  saying that if the trend continues, Local Government might also want to have their own flags.
He averred that any state that desires to have its own flag “ should know that there is only one nation.’’
“The National Flag should be our only flag, it is our national identity.’’ Ogor said.
In his remarks, Rep.Ossai Ossai (PDP-Delta)  aligned himself with the views of Rep. Sunday that the bill was intended to unite the country.
“This bill will promote patriotism, a feeling of united Nigeria and Sovereign State.’’
However, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila(ACN-Lagos)  deferred in his views, saying that  states having their flags or other symbols does not connote that Nigeria was not a united nation.
He said that any states could have their flags side by side with the National Flag.
“They can go side by side, if National Flag is disrespected, we can bring an amendment and not repeal.
“I don’t think the bill should pass through the second reading.’’
The bill however, scaled second reading when it was put to vote by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Emeka Ihedioha.
He referred it to the House  Committee on Justice for further legislative work.
Meanwhile, the House had adjourned plenary to Dec.11 to allow House Committees complete work on 2013 appropriation bill.
Courtesy NAN

Posted by mosvin bami.

An 18-year-old is to appear in court charged with the rapë of an 11-year-old girl who he attacked on Friday, November 23 at around 4.30pm in Enfield, north London, as she walked home from school.

She was dragged into nearby Jubilee Park and rapëd in an ordeal that police said could have lasted as long as three hours.

The girl, who was wearing her school uniform returned home at around 8pm and was taken to hospital.

She had to undergo surgery for injuries sustained in the attack.

Detective Inspector Simon Ellershaw said it was “a horrific and unusual attack of a defenceless schoolgirl”.

She had been making her way home along her usual route, one of Enfield’s busiest shortcuts, at the beginning of the Friday afternoon rush hour when she was grabbed.

Police have appealed for witnesses and Det Insp Ellershaw said: “Given the significant and unaccounted for amount of time between the incident and the victim’s arrival home, we are particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have seen her possibly appearing confused or disheveled following her ordeal.

All calls will be treated in the utmost confidence.”

Opemipo Jaji, 18, has been charged with rape and attempted rape and will appear at Enfield Magistrates’ Court later.

Witnesses or anyone with information that could help police is asked to call the incident room on 0208 345 4326 or Crime-stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Chevron Nigeria Limited, operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Chevron Joint Venture has denied claims that it had asked some of its Labour contractors to sack workers.
The General Manager, Policy Government and Public Affairs, Mr. Deji Haastrup, in a statement by the firm on Wednesday, said the clarification had become necessary in view of reports by some media suggesting that a number of workers had been sacked.
He said, “Six existing labour contracts will be expiring on December 31, 2012 and new contracts will commence immediately after. The transition will not lead to redundancy.”
Haastrup further explained that the tender process had gone through all the appropriate phases and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services had approved and directed the award of contracts to the successful bidders, commencing on January 1, 2013.
The CNL Director, Human Resources and Medical, Mrs. Ihuoma Onyearugha, also confirmed that all workers would have the opportunity to work for the new contract companies, unless they choose to retire with accrued benefits.
Courtesy Punch

Posted by mosvin bami.

Chevron Nigeria Limited, operator of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Chevron Joint Venture has denied claims that it had asked some of its Labour contractors to sack workers.
The General Manager, Policy Government and Public Affairs, Mr. Deji Haastrup, in a statement by the firm on Wednesday, said the clarification had become necessary in view of reports by some media suggesting that a number of workers had been sacked.
He said, “Six existing labour contracts will be expiring on December 31, 2012 and new contracts will commence immediately after. The transition will not lead to redundancy.”
Haastrup further explained that the tender process had gone through all the appropriate phases and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services had approved and directed the award of contracts to the successful bidders, commencing on January 1, 2013.
The CNL Director, Human Resources and Medical, Mrs. Ihuoma Onyearugha, also confirmed that all workers would have the opportunity to work for the new contract companies, unless they choose to retire with accrued benefits.
Courtesy Punch

Posted by mosvin bami.

Tunisian authorities on Thursday dropped a case of possible indecency against a young woman allegedly raped by two policemen, her lawyer said, adding the accused security officers would now face charges.
“The charges (against the woman) were dropped for lack of evidence and the judge has decided to (charge) two policemen for rape and a third for corruption,” Bochra Belhaj Hmida said.
The case was dismissed “against the woman and her boyfriend,” another lawyer Emna Zahrouni said.
The 27-year-old rape victim faced possible indecency charges with her fiance based on the testimony of the alleged rapists, policemen who say they took the couple by surprise in an “immoral position” just before the attack purportedly took place.
A judicial source has previously said that the police had taken the couple by surprise as they were having sex in their car.
Two of them then took the woman to the police car, where they raped her, while a third restrained and tried to extort money from her fiance, the source added.
Last month a magistrate had questioned the woman, alleged raped on September 3, to decide whether she was to be charged with indecency.
The case sparked a storm of protest in Tunisia, with NGOs, media and opposition figures saying the proceedings had transformed the victim into the accused and reflected the Islamist-led government’s policy towards women.
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, from the ruling Islamist party Ennahda, said in October that the policemen, arrested shortly after the incident, would be “severely judged.”
But he also said there may be a case of indecency to answer.
However, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki in October offered a state apology to the woman.
“The Tunisian president received the young woman raped by the policemen… and after listening to the details of this painful case… he expressed total sympathy (with the woman) and offered a state apology,” a statement from his office said.
Since the Islamists’ rise to power after last year’s revolution, feminist groups have accused police of regularly harassing women, by challenging them over their clothing or if they go out at night unaccompanied by family members.
The principle of gender equality, enshrined in the Personal Status Code that was promulgated in 1956 under Tunisia’s first president, Habib Bourguiba, made the north African nation a beacon of modernity in the Arab world.
Ennahda, the Islamist party that heads the ruling coalition, was heavily criticised for proposing an article in the new constitution, since dropped, that referred to the “complementarity” of men to women, rather than their equality.
Courtesy AFP

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A Cairo court on Wednesday sentenced seven Egyptian Christians and a controversial US pastor to death in absentia for involvement in a movie that ridiculed the Prophet Mohammed, state media said.
The Christian Egyptians, including the film’s maker, are all located in the United States and were tried in their absence. The American pastor, Terry Jones, heads a small congregation in Florida.
During the trial, the judges were shown clips of the low-budget film, the Innocence of Muslims, and footage of Muslim protesters in Libya outraged by the film, the official MENA news agency reported.
Egyptian courts usually hand out the maximum punishment — execution in this case for a blasphemy verdict — and send the decision to the state’s top Islamic scholar to get his approval, which is always granted.
If the defendants do return to Egypt, they could get a new trial.
The movie, in which Mohammed is depicted as a buffoon and paedophile, sparked fury across the Muslim world. In Libya, Islamists killed the US ambassador Chris Stevens in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.
Courtesy AFP

Posted by mosvin bami.

By Ogaga Ifowodo
AND it came to pass, that the congregation of the Lord in the Word of Life Bible Church took count of the 40 years marked by the wonderful things that Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, had done through his humble servant, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, in their lives and they were ashamed that they had treated the anointed servant of the Lord very poorly.

They had left him to the indignity of travelling by car and commercial air travel to his many deliverance missions in near and far places even when his fellow Daddy Overseers owned private jets.

And being deeply shamed, they said unto themselves, Behold, in this year of our Lord, our father in Christ shall mark the 40th year of the “unique anointing upon his life” that has “brought salvation, deliverance, revival, healing and outstanding miracles to millions across the world as God’s power is demonstrated with signs and wonders.”

Now, therefore, let us hasten and do unto him according to the riches with which the Lord has blessed us; let us buy for him a private jet.

And in this, we shall do as our brethren in the Living Faith Ministries did unto Bishop David Oyedepo, and in the Redeemed Christian Church of God unto Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and in the Redeemed Evangelical Mission unto Bishop Mike Okonkwo, and in Christ Embassy Church unto Pastor Chris Oyakhilome.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome; Ayo Oritsejafor; Enoch Adeboye; David Oyedepo and Mike Okonkwo
Then shall we present the aircraft as a gift to our Papa Ayo, that he may fly without hindrance, delay or discomfort to the farthest reaches of the world, where the people walk in darkness and do not know God, and have not confessed Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal saviour, for behold, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Yea, let us do this mighty thing in the sight of the Lord that we may cease to be the laughing stock of our brethren in Christ who say of us, Surely, their God is a poor God! Wherefore do they preach prosperity? Oh, their God is a poor God indeed!

And it came to pass that on the 10th day of November in the year of the Lord, which also is the anniversary of his birth, the congregants presented unto their pastor, Papa Ayo, who also is the spiritual leader of Christians in all ofNigeria, aBombadier 601 Aircraft, the cost of which is about $5 million.

And the same was done in the presence of the President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who knows a thing or two about not one but a fleet of jets and their constant replenishment.

And the President, whom Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, appointed over his people in the unpromised land of Nigeria, gave testimony of the servant of the Lord in words that I understand thus, Verily I say unto you, Papa Ayo is the uniquely anointed son of God in whom He is well pleased.

Hear and honour him with every material thing of which your hands and the blessing they have received are capable; but which, in his own words, went thus, “I can say without any equivocation that Oritsejafor, from the very humble beginning in 1972, has moved from strength to strength. … he is a Christian visionary leader who preaches the words (sic) of God clearly and eloquently as a good shepherd …

He has earned his respect among his peers and this explains why he is holding the two very important positions in Christendom in Nigeria as the President of CAN, and President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.”

And the congregants made a great shout, such as could have felled the walls of Jericho, and there was dancing and merriment and the offering of praise to Jehovah who had brought this great deed to pass, according to his riches and glory, that the world may know that he is Lord and there is none like him.

Since Pastor Oritsejaforloudly entered the Jet-set Club,many Nigerians disturbed by the phenomenon of unabashed embrace of a hedonism usually associated with the heathen have begun to ask questions about what a true life of the spirit entails.

And the fruits of the prosperity gospel that has overawed a nation steeped in grinding poverty have now begun to set on edge the teeth of a few in the fold. Pastor TundeBakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, for instance,does not believe that without private jets the gospel suffers. And I agree. After all, Mary Slessor did not sail fromScotlandto Calabar in a private ocean liner.

Bakare sees not soul-winning but soul-weaning, the separation of church-goers, majority of them poor, from their means of keeping body and soul together. He sees thieves inpriests’ clothing and would have them imprisoned and then cast into the hottest part of hell on judgement day.

But not so some of his brethren whose doctrine of prosperity has long done away with the key tenet of sacrifice.

So we have heard the defenders of high-flying predator capitalists in cassock and collar, and very often in pin-striped suits, say that a pastor is deserving of his reward. Here on earth.

“There is nothing wrong for a preacher to own (sic) a jet. If people in the secular world can acquire jets for chief executive officers of big private enterprises, there is nothing wrong in giving gifts to a man of God of Pastor Oritsejafor’s standing. …

He deserves what he has been given,” says one Reverend El-Buba, General Overseer of Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministries International, Jos, clearly anticipating his own jet, the one he would fly to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, China, North Korea and even Judaist Israel as part of his All Nations for Christ mission. And, of course, there is nothing wrong with comparing self-proclaimed men of God and churches to CEOs and business enterprises!

The Pharisee-pastors and congregants defending crass materialism think they answer their critics by claiming that the jets belong to the church, and not to the Daddy Overseers.

The only problem is the damning evidence of bondage to Mammon; of the manic setting up of treasures here on earth: palatial mansions, jewelry, fleets of luxury cars (even including stretch limousines).

Ye shall know the truth and the truth shalt set ye free? Here is the truth: the predator capitalists in cassock and collar are rich men in the manner of that poignant parable of Christ in Matthew 19.

A rich man, who has followed the commandments, comes to the barefoot carpenter to know what else he might do to gain eternal life. Jesus says tells him to go and sell all that he has, distribute to the poor so he shall have treasure in heaven, and then “come and follow me.”

Whereupon the rich man went away sorrowful, “for he had great possessions.” Prompting Christ to utter the famous words, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into thekingdomofGod.”

Source. Vanguard

Posted by mosvin bami.