At least 150 people, including women and children, were abducted with one person killed in a coordinated attack by gunmen on four villages in Nigeria's northwest Zamfara state, residents said on Saturday.

Kidnapping for ransom has become rife in northwestern Nigeria in recent years where armed gangs, often referred to locally as bandits, have targeted villages, schools, and travellers, demanding millions of naira in ransom and making it unsafe to travel by road or to farm in some areas.

The Zamfara police spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the attack, which took place late on Friday.

Residents told Reuters that gunmen on dozens of motorcycles stormed the villages of Mutunji, Kwanar-Dutse, Sabon-Garin Mahuta and Unguwar Kawo in the Maru local government area of the state.

Dankandai Musa, a resident of one of the villages, told Reuters he managed to slip away unnoticed during the chaos. But 20 members of his household were taken.

"I managed to escape after they were regrouping us and the people from the three other villages that were attacked," he said. "I fled while they were dragging us to the bush."

A local village head said Lawali Damana, leader of the gunmen, had demanded 100 million naira ($119,000) from the villages as retribution after Nigerian troops killed four of his men earlier.

"So yesterday, he came in the company of his boys and took away over a hundred people with him and we haven't heard anything from him since. One person was shot dead in the process of taking the hostages," said the village head, who didn't want to be named for fear of being targeted.

Nigeria faces numerous security challenges, including a 14-year Islamist insurgency in its northeast, separatist violence in the southeast, and frequent deadly clashes between farmers and herders in the central region.

President Bola Tinubu has yet to detail how he will tackle the insecurity. His economic reforms, including the removal of petrol subsidy and devaluation of the naira, have led to a sharp increase in the cost of living, angering citizens.

 

Reuters

At least 11 people were killed and several others displaced when terrorists, locally referred to as bandits, on Friday evening attacked communities in Yantu and Ussa in Ussa Local Government, Taraba State.

Communities in Southern Taraba, where these two towns are located, have a history of attack by non-state actors.

A resident of Yantu, Yakubu Tinya, who narrowly escaped the mayhem, reported that several villages in Ussa town, including Ribasi, Nyichu and Ruyah, were attacked on Friday. He said nine people were killed.

He said another person was also killed in the Tukwog community along Takum- Manya road.

“They came in numbers to separate communities around 6 p.m. and killed anyone on sight. Some people were attacked right on their farms, some on their way back, some in their houses.

“They attacked me and my two brothers and killed one of us. Some of them are Fulanis, but some do not look like Nigerians. They appeared to us at a very close range,” Tinya said.

Peter Shamwun, chairman of Ussa Local Government confirmed the attack. He said the bandits laid siege along Takum- Ussa road to kill more people.

He said the bandits also attacked the Kpambo Yashe community and killed one person.

The chairman appealed to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Agbu Kefas to urgently send security operatives to the area.

“Information available to me now is that the bandits have laid siege along Takum-Ussa road and other areas around Yantu to kill more people.

“I do not know why the bandits have decided to concentrate in the area and have been operating freely without being antagonised by the security operatives. From where a man was killed yesterday evening in Ussa to the military barracks in Takum, is not up to a kilometre.

“The continued attack on the people has brought so much food insecurity. My people are being attacked anytime they go to the farm. We are at the mercy of bandits. I want both the state and federal governments to intensify efforts to flush out the bandits to allow my people to farm.

“There have been issues of Fulani bandits in our area but I am suspecting that the ones operating currently in the area are those that have been chased by the military operatives in Zamfara and other states in Nigeria. They have moved to settle in some local government in Taraba,” Shamwun explained.

Spokesperson, Taraba State Police Command, Usman Abdullahi, said the incident was being investigated.

 

PT

Israel and Hamas complete 2nd day of swaps after tense delay, as Gaza cease-fire holds

Hamas militants on Saturday released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, from captivity in the Gaza Strip, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners in the latest stage of a four-day cease-fire.

The late-night exchange was held up for several hours after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement. The delay underscored the fragility of the cease-fire, which has halted a war that has shocked and shaken Israel, caused widespread destruction across the Gaza Strip, and threatened to unleash wider fighting across the region.

The war erupted on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants in Gaza burst across the border into southern Israel, killing at least 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 240 others, including, women, children and older people. Israel immediately declared war, carrying out weeks of airstrikes and a ground offensive that have left over 13,300 Palestinians dead, according to health authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory. Roughly two-thirds of those killed in Gaza have been women and minors.

The cease-fire, brokered by Qatar and the United States, is the first extended break in fighting since the war began. Overall, Hamas is to release at least 50 Israeli hostages, and Israel 150 Palestinian prisoners. All are women and minors.

Israel has said the truce can be extended by an extra day for every additional 10 hostages freed, but has vowed to quickly resume its offensive and complete its goals of returning all hostages and destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities.

The plight of the hostages has gripped the Israeli public’s attention. Thousands of people gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday in solidarity with the hostages and their families. Many accuse Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of not doing enough to bring the hostages home. The releases have triggered mixed emotions: happiness, coupled with angst over the scores of hostages who remain in captivity.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced early Sunday that it had received a new list of hostages slated to be released later in the day in the third of four scheduled swaps.

In the West Bank, hundreds of people burst into wild celebrations for a second night as a busload of Palestinian prisoners arrived early Sunday. Teenage boys released in the deal were carried on the shoulders of well-wishers in the main square of the town of Al Bireh. But the mood of celebration was dampened by scenes of destruction and suffering in Gaza.

The start of the pause brought quiet for 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, who are reeling from relentless Israeli bombardment that has killed thousands, driven three-quarters of the population from their homes and leveled residential areas. Rocket fire from Gaza militants into Israel also went silent.

War-weary Palestinians in northern Gaza, where the offensive has been focused, returned to the streets, crunching over rubble between shattered buildings and at times digging through it with bare hands.

At the Indonesian hospital in Jabaliya, besieged by the Israeli military earlier this month, bodies lay in the courtyard and outside the main gate.

For Emad Abu Hajer, a resident of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza City area, the pause meant he could again search through the remains of his home, which was flattened in an Israeli attack last week.

He found the bodies of a cousin and nephew, bringing the death toll in the attack to 19. His sister and two other relatives are still missing.

“We want to find them and bury them in dignity,” he said.

The United Nations said the pause enabled it to scale up the delivery of food, water, and medicine to the largest volume since the resumption of aid convoys on Oct. 21. It was also able to deliver 129,000 liters (about 35,000 gallons) of fuel — just over 10% of the daily pre-war volume — as well as cooking gas, a first since the war began.

In the southern city of Khan Younis, a long line of people with containers waited outside a filling station. Hossam Fayad lamented that the pause in fighting was only for four days.

“I wish it could be extended until people’s conditions improved,” he said.

For the first time in over a month, aid reached northern Gaza. The Palestinian Red Crescent said 61 trucks carrying food, water and medical supplies headed there on Saturday, the largest aid convoy to reach the area yet. The U.N. said it and the Palestinian Red Crescent were also able to evacuate 40 patients and family members from a hospital in Gaza City to a hospital in Khan Younis.

JOY AND EXPECTATION

By nightfall, when hostages had been expected to emerge from Gaza, Hamas alleged that aid deliveries permitted by Israel fell short of what was promised and that not enough was reaching hard-hit northern Gaza. Hamas also said not enough longtime prisoners were freed in the first swap on Friday.

But Egypt, Qatar and Hamas itself later said the obstacles had been overcome.

Shortly before midnight, Hamas released the hostages — 13 Israelis and four Thais. The Israelis were turned over to Egypt and then transferred to Israel, where they were taken to hospitals to be reunited with their families.

Hamas released a video showing the hostages appearing shaken but mostly in good physical condition as masked militants led them to Red Cross vehicles headed out of Gaza. Some of the hostages waved goodbye to the militants. One girl was on crutches and wore a cast on her left foot as she was escorted away.

The Israeli hostages included seven children and six women, Netanyahu’s office announced. Most were from Kibbutz Be’eri, a community Hamas militants ravaged during their Oct. 7 cross-border attack. The children ranged in age from 3 to 16, and the women ranged from 18 to 67.

It was a bittersweet moment for the residents of Be’eri, who have been living in a Dead Sea hotel since their community was overrun. A kibbutz spokesperson said all the released hostages either had a family member killed in the Oct. 7 rampage or had left a loved one in captivity in Gaza.

The mother of one of the released hostages, 12-year-old Hila Rotem, remained in captivity, the spokesperson said. Another, Emily Hand, is a girl whose father believed her to be dead for weeks before finding out she was held as a hostage.

At their hotel, kibbutz residents gathered in a function room, cheering in excitement as they saw the first images of their loved ones being released on television.

A HERO’S WELCOME

Some of the Palestinian prisoners were released in east Jerusalem, while the bulk returned home to a hero’s welcome in the occupied West Bank.

Among those released was Nurhan Awad, who was 17 in 2016 when she was sentenced to 13 1/2 years in jail for attempting to stab an Israeli soldier with a pair of scissors.

In Jerusalem, Israeli troops evicted journalists who gathered outside the home of Israa Jaabis, who had been imprisoned since 2015 after being convicted of carrying out a bombing attack that wounded an Israeli police officer, and left Jaabis with severe burns on her face and hands.

Jaabis later told reporters at her home that she is “ashamed to be happy at a time when Palestine is injured.”

In Al Bireh, the teenage boys were paraded through the main square where they waved Palestinian flags as well as green banners of Hamas and yellow banners of the Fatah party of President Mahmoud Abbas. “May God make them strong. May God be with the Qassam Brigades,” said one of the boys, referring to Hamas’ military wing.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, Israel is holding 7,200 Palestinians, including about 2,000 arrested since the start of the war.

The war in Gaza has been accompanied by a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Late Saturday, Palestinian health authorities said four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, hours after another raid in the same area killed the local governor’s 25-year-old son.

A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was also killed by Israeli fire near the city of Ramallah. The Israeli army, which frequently conducts military raids aimed at local militant groups, did not immediately comment.

 

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Five wounded in Kyiv by largest drone attack yet on Ukraine

Ukraine's capital suffered what officials said was Russia's largest drone attack of the war on Saturday, leaving five people wounded as the rumble of air defences and explosions woke residents at sunrise after a week of intensifying attacks.

Saturday's six-hour air raid, on the day Ukraine commemorates the 1932-33 Holodomor famine that killed several million people, began hitting different districts of Kyiv in the early hours, with more waves coming as the sun rose.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that over the course of the week, Russia had carried out 911 attacks across the country, killing 19 Ukrainians and wounding 84.

"The enemy is intensifying its attacks, trying to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians," he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. It was doing so deliberately, "just like 90 years ago, when Russia killed millions of our ancestors," he said.

Ukraine's air force initially said 71 of the 75 drones had been shot down, but subsequently revised the number of downed craft to 74. Its spokesperson said on television that 66 of those had been downed over Kyiv and the surrounding region.

Air force chief Mykola Oleschuk praised the effectiveness of 'mobile fire' units - usually fast pickup trucks with a machine gun or flak cannon mounted on their flatbed. According to him, these downed nearly 40% of the drones.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko, writing on the Telegram app, said the attack had injured five people, including an 11-year-old girl, and damaged buildings in districts all across the city.

Fragments from a downed drone had started a fire in a children's nursery, he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also pointed out that the attack had come in the early hours of commemorations of the famine, which is recognized by Ukraine and over 30 other countries as a genocide by the Soviet Union, which ruled Ukraine at the time and sought to crush its desire for independence.

"Wilful terror .... The Russian leadership is proud of the fact that it can kill," he wrote on Telegram.

Moscow denies the famine deaths were caused by a deliberate genocidal policy and says that Russians and other ethnic groups also suffered.

The target of Saturday's attack was not immediately clear, but Ukraine has warned in recent weeks that Russia will once again wage an aerial campaign to destroy Ukraine's energy system, as it sought to do last winter.

Ukraine's energy ministry said nearly 200 buildings in the capital, including 77 residential ones, had been left without power as a result of the attack.

"It looks like tonight we heard the overture. The prelude to the winter season," Serhiy Fursa, a prominent Ukrainian economist, wrote on Facebook.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian drone destroys fortified Ukrainian position

A video from a First Person View (FPV) drone, obtained by RT, has captured the moment a Russian kamikaze drone dismantles a fortified Ukrainian position near the town of Soledar in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

The clip, released on Saturday, illustrates the skill of the Russian operator, who was able to fly the explosive-laden quad-copter UAV directly through the door leading into the outpost.

It also includes footage of the incident from another angle, showing the explosion caused by the drone.

Russian forces took Soledar in the northeastern portion of the DPR under their control in January after heavy fighting. The city is some 15 kilometers away from Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), the venue of the largest battle in the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, which ended with a Russian victory in May.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Ukrainian troops operating assault drones in the east of Donetsk were expressing concerns over Russia’s advantage in the number of UAVs.

“Their drones are always in the air, day and night. We can see they’ve implemented serial production of drones for reconnaissance, surveillance, and for strikes,” one of the troops was cited as saying.

According to his estimates, regarding UAVs, Russia had around double what Ukraine had in that part of the front. “Drones are a game changer in this war. If we mess this up, things will be difficult,” the Ukrainian soldier warned.

** Air defenses destroy 11 Ukrainian drones over four Russian regions

Russian air defenses have destroyed 11 unmanned aerial vehicles over the Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Bryansk regions, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. "The Kiev regime’s attempt to use fixed-wing drones to carry out a terrorist attack on targets in Russia was foiled in the early hours of Sunday. On-duty air defenses destroyed 11 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Bryansk regions," the statement reads.

Bryansk Region Governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram that two drones had been shot down over the region.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said earlier that air defenses had thwarted a major drone attack on the capital, dowing unmanned aerial vehicles near the town of Naro-Fominsk and the Odintsovsky Urban District outside Moscow, as well as in another three neighboring regions.

 

Reuters/RT/Tass

Yes, it is a season of claims and counter-claims. Yet, cost of living is hitting the roof. Hunger is pelting the bellies of both the righteous and the infidel. Living life is almost becoming a rocket science. Charles Soludo, luxuriating in public acclamation of “one of the most cerebral Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governors,” is in his season of pontificating. Last week, he offered an escapist defence of the Nigerian establishment which citizens’ hunger could not penetrate. Soludo’s latest proffer for the people’s hunger is that the current government met a dead economy; a dead horse was his exact word. Permit me to extend that logic by borrowing British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s "just let people die," and ask Soludo, “so let Nigerians die” because the economy inherited was a dead horse? Or, what is the final destination of that argument? There have since been attempts at economic necromancy. Every attempt must be made to make this economy’s corpse walk.

That is however not the drift of this piece. Two octopuses of Nigerian financial ocean are at daggers drawn at the moment and their destructive tiffs are rebounding negatively on the economy. Aliko Dangote of the famous Dangote Group and Abdul Samad Rabiu of BUA, two czars of the largest business entities in Nigeria, are fighting dirty. On the streets, in the courts and in the media, the two blue whales of the Nigerian economy are engaged in an acrimonious rivalry that is unexampled. A few weeks ago, that rivalry landed in the public space like a smelly puddle. The two of them openly washed their dirty linens, linens that had hitherto been wrapped in shawls of hushed whispers.

How does anyone describe this tiff, with its blood-baiting mutual exchange? A business rivalry, peer jealousy or business vulture tendency gone awry? It is a duel that has provoked such self-cancelling ruckus, the type found among co-wives in polygamy. An immediate correlation I can readily find to describe this is an autobiographical movie authored by Oyin Adejobi, late Yoruba cripple thespian. Adejobi was renowned for his famous African alternative dispute resolution drama sketches called Kootu Asipa of the 1980s. In it, he allegorized the story of how he became disabled. In Orogun Adedigba, (the wicked co-wife), Adejobi narrativized how his mother’s jealously wicked co-wife puffed up the fire of a destructive potion that immobilized him for life. That singular malediction became the burden Adejobi shouldered for his 74 years on earth. Though the Osogbo-born thespian’s stepmother’s potion succeeded in crippling him, it couldn’t stop the realization of his life’s attainment. Iconoclastic Yoruba Kennery brand music lord, Orlando Owomoyela (Owo’s) Itan Orogun Meji (the story of two co-wives) also explains the concept of a polygamous home’s squabbles which bear similar indicators to the Dangote and Rabiu self-neutralizing squabble.

Owomoyela, the nonconformist musician’s narrative goes thus: Two co-wives in a traditional African Yoruba home were engaged in spirited scuffles for the heart of their joint household. One day, the eldest wife conspired to kill the son of her co-wife, simply because he was more brilliant than hers. She cooked a portage delicacy served in two different plates. One, which was invitingly reddish and garnished with condiments, was sauced with a killer potion while the second plate, bereft of any poison, was whitish and uninviting. As the children of the two women arrived from school, they headed for the plates of food. While the son of the woman who hewn the death drama picked the reddish but poisoned plate, her stepson picked the one without. The malefactor’s son dies but the co-wife’s immediately went to the local football field and went a-playing football. Owo’s moral in the song is similar to that in Bob Marley’s Small Axe track. They both teach that anyone who contrives calamity for his fellow man can be compared to a man shouldering an army of ants-infested evil faggots which would soon bite them to death. Marley termed such evil-dispenser “whosoever diggeth a pit” who “shall fall in it.”

Attempts have been made to explain the Dangote/Rabiu rivalry and euphemize its deadly portent. In this regard, they say it is nothing outside the rivalries between Coke and Pepsi, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks in America. This drift is expatiated upon by invoking the ghost of Adam Smith in his famous The Wealth of Nations. In it, Smith extolled the importance of competition to the public good and submitted that relentless competition is not only healthy but is a core principle of the market economy.  

But what healthy rivalry would make two brothers, from same Kano State, involved in same line of businesses, not work towards to expand the frontiers of their markets but would rather seek their individual mutual destruction? While Dangote Cement is the largest cement product in Nigeria, controlling an over 60% market share, BUA Cement comes second, boasting of a market share of around 20%. Since 2008, the two companies have squared up in a bull’s fight. In the sugar refinery sector, the tango they are engulfed in is a fight of death as well. While Dangote’s sugar refinery, the most humongous in Nigeria, holds a market share of over 70%, BUA’s follows distantly with a market share hovering around 20%. It is this kind of duel you encounter in William Shakespeare plays where two armoured men clank swords in a battle that would only cease when one of them has breathed its last. It was always a duel on issue of honour or betrayal.

It is a common feature in this Dangote/Rabiu Orogun Adedigba tussle to hear of the two businessmen’s serpentine attempts to destroy each other. In 2020 for example, BUA Cement accused Dangote Cement of blocking access to its Edo State limestone quarry. Dangote Sugar Refinery responded to the alleged shenanigan by accusing BUA Sugar Refinery of price-fixing. They are both currently narrating details of these allegations before MiLords. The next year, BUA authored the wolf cry of alleging that Dangote Sugar Refinery had masterminded an attack on its sugar factory in Port Harcourt, Rivers State by sending hired thugs there. It also alleged that these hired hounds destroyed its property and inflicted massive injuries on its workers. Police were called in to ascertain the veracity or otherwise of the allegations. Rolled into this are also allegations that one of the two business sharks deployed debilitating political connections and favoritism steeped in graft to be granted waiver on import duties for cement. The ultimate aim, it was alleged, was to aid the stifling of competition.

The most recent of this cache of allegations and counter allegations came out in a press release early this month from Dangote. It accused BUA of masterminding what it called false allegation that it was being probed by the Jim Obazee Special Investigator. It alleged that its rival claimed it was involved in illegal foreign exchange deals and money laundering which allegedly had Godwin Emefiele’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as lead actor. In the said press release, the Dangote group decimated these allegations as spurious and a “rehash of a similar report peddled out of malice” since 2016.

BUA’s reply didn’t thaw the ice. It documented what it alleged were a myriad of acts of sabotage authored by Dangote against its operations. It also claimed that Dangote’s allegations were “very cheap attempts at blackmail… following months of sponsored campaigns of calumny against us.” Dangote’s concatenation of treacheries against it, alleged BUA, began from 1991, which later became “a ruse that would lead to a court-sanctioned freeze of our assets,” leading to a situation in which, “for three agonising months, our accounts were garnished, warehouses shuttered, and our spirit tested. Yet, from the ashes of deceit, BUA survived.” It also listed interventions by Late President Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari whose timely reach prevented the octopodal hands of Dangote from sinking its company. BUA’s song looks very similar to the lyrics of Marley’s Small Axe song: “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe/ready to cut you down/And we are gonna cut you down!”

From all the above, it should be clear that what the duo of Dangote and his Kano brother are about is beyond the Adam Smith’s health-inherent competition, nor does it resemble in any way the Coke and Pepsi, Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks and Macdonald’s and Burger King competition. Those American competitions no doubt resembled Smith’s evergreen proffers in the Wealth of Nations. Not this. Many people reason that, buried inside this Dangote/Rabiu quarrel is an age-long particular issue-provoked enmity which the two are probably not ready to disclose to the public.

For Nigerian consumers of the duo’s products, this rivalry has potential benefits. A couple of months ago, BUA announced its intention to reduce the cost of cement to N3,500. Were the two friends, we would not have this people-centric riposte. The reduction in price received applauses all over Nigeria. For a shrewd businessman like Dangote for whom profit is king and not the customer, the BUA price reduction must be a scalpel to a wound. The enmity has continued regardless.

For the sectors where the two of them are major players, this inexplicable enmity has disastrous implications. Association with one must be equal to enmity with the other, an equation that is not healthy for business at all. I learnt that many top brass in the political and business spheres have attempted an armistice between Rabiu and Aliko, without any let. This affirms my earlier submission that the real reason for this rivalry may have been hidden from Nigerians.

No matter how the two business whales play out this squabble in the courts and the media, the street seems to have made up its mind on who to apportion blames. One of them is renowned with an Orogun Adedigba history of vulture-like business practices, seeking to and succeeding in swallowing the carcasses of its competitors. It is a whale that enjoys singular wallow inside the ocean and from the claws of its deadly grips, shrimps that attempted to grow have died premature deaths.

 

A requiem for my mother 

Last Friday, November 24, around 1pm, I was getting pleased with myself for having scaled the hurdle of yet another chapter in a school dissertation I was writing when my phone rang. Before then, I sat cross-legged like someone who had just won tombola, thinking of further routes to take to arrive at the final destination of this academic obsession I wangled myself into. These days, when my younger brother called, I was always seized with trepidation. Thirteen years ago, September, 2010, to be precise, he had similarly called me. It was a dawn call. His wail on the phone ten years ago, I would soon know, would assume a sequential familiarity. He barely got the words through. Barely audible from his wail was the message: Our father, Joseph Adedayo, had just crossed to the other side of the divide. Now, as his call came through on Friday, my heart was in obvious turmoil. My mother, Victoria Ajoke, had been ailing for a while. So, I picked the call. The wailing on the other side was the uncommunicated communication I needed to affirm that I had finally received a pass into the orphanage; my gold had undergone everlasting rust. My brother was crying. I didn’t ask what the matter was. I got the message and ended the call. She was just a mere 77 years old girl.

Since Friday, I have not shed a tear. I have however worn a cloak of melancholy that I cannot explain. Like all mothers, Victoria Ajoke dotted on me, the child who opened her womb. These days, the suffusion of prayers she sprayed on me seemed to announce to me that she was preparing to shed the furs of mortality she wore. Like all mothers, she was excited seeing that little stubborn boy of hers, weaned on the apron of lack, become a man. A few weeks ago when I visited her in our family house at Oke-Ijebu in Akure, Ondo State, as frail and ailing as she was, she had a good laugh as we reminisced in what was going to be our last, on our journey thus far. I told her to get well quick so that I could take her to see a recent story of my life. I was afraid she might not. I remembered that my father too had, a few hours to the ailment that took him, wondered when my PhD defence would be, apparently for him to be the father of a ‘doctor’. Now, my hunch was right.

Some years ago, on a visit to Ilesa, Osun State, I branched at Ayeso barracks, with a friend. I stood in the front of a row of shanties that were the homes of policemen and pointed at one of them. That was where I grew, I announced to my friend. He bluntly told me I was lying. Nine of us, my parents inclusive, lived inside that dinghy cell-like apartment, I said.

While my mother and I reminisced, I reminded her of how far God had taken us. Indeed, like Bob Marley sang in his Talking blues, growing up, cold ground was our bed and rock, our pillow. Victoria Ajoke was a disciplinarian. When I tell my children, who hear Grandma now address me with so much respect, the story of how her lacerating cane wangled through my back, they found it hard to believe. Or, when she discovered I had stolen out of the proceeds of her plastic wares I hawked round Ikirun, Eko-Ende and Inisa those days to buy puff-puff. My cheeks suffered tremendously from her slaps.

She taught me the values I hold sacrosanct today. At dinner, all of us, her children, would circle round our bowl of eba or 

amala meal. Woe betides whoever picked meat before the end of the meal. She would hit the back of your palm with such ferocity that you wouldn’t feel like eating again and you must not decline to eat further. That was insolence, the penalty of which was another slap. She would announce that you were greedy and a potential thief. Till today, when I sat with a collective to eat from the same plate, I am cheated because Mama taught me that meat eating was the last plate assignment. At dinner, she told us folklores and we loved to listen to the songs she sang to wedge home the morals of the stories. The one I still remember vividly was delivered in our Akure dialect. It was in the early 70s when the military government began executing armed robbers. “In m’eyin re t’okun, omo ke sare moto ko binrin binrin dana (let him face the firing squad; the child who robbed in the bid to own a motor vehicle).

When she thanked me profusely for taking care of her as her days thinned out, I wondered if she had forgotten her toils on me. My mother was an expert in frying gari and preparing cassava meal called fufu. Her fufu could last for weeks without gathering moist. Her proficiency came to bear in 1994 when I had to go study for a Master’s at the University of Ibadan, at a time my father had just retired and hunger was our most notorious companion. I would take her fufu, cocoyam and gari to my hostel and was known for my indigent life. A few years ago when I slumped into a financial distress, immediately my mother heard of it, she called me. A huge sum had just been allotted her from the proceeds of the sale of a paternal family inheritance. She handed everything to me so that I could solve my existential challenge. Such was the mother I lost on Friday.

When I remember her sacrifices for me, I remember Plato's The Phaedo. It is one of the most ubiquitously read dialogues that was written by that ancient Greek philosopher. In it, Plato gave what is considered to be one of the most essential philosophical validations of the sweats of motherhood. Motherhood, said Plato, is not only about love, but “a selfless self-emptying for another, not because the child has earned or deserved it, but simply by the very fact of being the mother's child.”

That was Victoria Ajoke, my mother, who lies alone right now in the morgue.

I will miss my mother immensely. It is such a painful separation of mother and her son. I will take solace in her blessed womb that held me for nine months and the lacerating whips from her cane that nurtured me to what I am today.

Adieu, Maami Victoria Ajoke.

For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:5.

Introduction 

The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God actively working in His people today. Nothing moves except as He directs; nothing happens except as He permits; and nothing will be except as He allows.

Indeed, every day can be exciting for the Christian who intimately knows the reality of being filled with the Holy Spirit, lives constantly under His direction and operates absolutely under His unction. He is the Unfailing Enabler of our destinies.

The Holy Spirit is the Eternal Spirit of the Living God, and the Third Person of the Triune God. He’s ageless just like the Father and the Son (Genesis 1:2; Hebrews 9:14). He’s all powerful (Luke 1:35); He’s everywhere (Psalms 139:7); and He knows everything (1Corinthians 2:10,11)!

The Holy Spirit is not a mere experience, or just a latent force; neither is He another spook by fairytales. He is a Real Person, who may be grieved, and can lead, teach, guide etcetera (John 14:26).

He chooses people as He wills, and fills them with wisdom and strength for specific assignments (Judges 3:9-10; Exodus 35:30-35). Indeed, no one can serve God acceptably without His supernatural enablement (Psalms 110:3).

Understanding the Holy Ghost And His Ultimate Power

Jesus Christ made it abundantly clear that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples would result in them being wrapped up with the power of God (Luke 24:49). Through His manifold operations over the ages, we can confirm that the Holy Ghost is synonymous with Ultimate Power in the spirit realm.

Even Jesus Christ ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14-15). God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost to enable Him do the mighty works recorded about Him (Acts 10:38). If Jesus had to, I much more need to rely heavily upon the Holy Spirit. It is only in Him and through Him that we can find answers in the world and for the world today.

Understanding the Concept of the Power

Power depicts “might”; authority depicts “right”. Deploying brute “might” without authority makes you a common criminal; claiming “right” without power also makes you a foregone loser. Hence, power is always required to back up any essential authority, just like the police force backs the constituted authority of a sovereign state.

The Holy Ghost’s superpower bestowed upon the Christians is very essential in this world, or else we won’t be able to enforce the Lordship of Christ on earth, nor will we be able to truly enjoy our sonship authority in Christ Jesus (Luke 10:19).

The Greek word, “dunamis” is commonly translated “power”. “Dunamis” is also the root word for “dynamite”, an explosive of great energy. Hence, Acts 1:8 connotes a sense that an explosive spiritual power or force comes upon the believer at the instance of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

However, the Holy Spirit’s empowerment is not only in terms of signs, wonders and explosive spiritual gifts. In fact, the word translated “power” also means “ability”, which applies in practical ways to everyday life (Acts 1:7-8, MSG).

The Holy Spirit supplies the ability, whatever it takes, to help Christians accomplish whatever they need to accomplish. See, that’s all we really need in life —whatever it takes!

Vital Purpose of the Holy Spirit Infilling

The main purpose of the Holy Spirit baptism is for effective witnessing, that is, influencing the world for Christ and manifesting as sons of God in our generation.

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit filled the disciples, and the grand consequence was the spread of the gospel, region by region, throughout the entire world (Acts 1:8; 2:1-4).

The religious oppositions admitted that Jerusalem was promptly reached (Acts 5:28) and soon thereafter, Judea was touched (Acts 8:1; 8:4). Next, the “Jesus’ message” entered Samaria (Acts 8:5-6) and, finally, the gospel percolated the then known world in very quick succession (Colossians 1:5-6).

Moreover, even Peter who had hitherto been very timid was able to preach the gospel boldly after he was baptized in the Holy Ghost. Of a truth, the Holy Spirit enables ordinary people to do extraordinary things, particularly helping us to witness for Christ in the Holy Ghost power and with full conviction (1 Thessalonians 1:5; Acts 4:29).

Unfortunately, however, many people equate being a witness merely with speech, or what we commonly term, “witnessing.” But effectiveness in reaching the spiritually lost requires witnessing beyond words.

This is the age of the Holy Spirit! Our witness is comprised of what we say, how we say it and who we are. The Spirit moves us in our witness with a sincere and compelling passion, and He enables our character to become what God has called us to be.

The Holy Spirit Then And Now!

Pursuing and performing in the power of the Holy Ghost is not an option but a command: “As ye go, preach …. Heal ….” (Matthew 10:7-8). It is imperative for us, Christians, to use our position well to glorify God, and to rescue the oppressed and the perishing (Mark 16:15-18; Ephesians 6:10-12).

As part of the regular works of the Holy Ghost on earth, He enables desirable changes in the lives of men (Jeremiah 13:23; 1 Samuel 10:6; John 1:12). He convicts men of sin (John 16:7-14). He also incubates power for inexplicable miracles (Luke 1:35; Genesis 1:1-5).

Again, the Holy Spirit imparts grace, strange power and boldness to make Christians valuable, vocal, vital and valid witnesses of the power of God (Zechariah 4:6; John 7:37-38; Romans 8:26). This He does in order to reveal the love of Jesus in the hearts of men.

Now, recall that the Holy Spirit is eternal; hence, there is nothing He has done before that He cannot do again and again, if only He finds Christians who would maintain a real close touch with Him.

Maintaining A Close Touch With The Holy Spirit

After our initial experience of Holy Spirit baptism, we need regular recharge for renewed vigour and boldness in the work of the Great Commission. The outstanding impacts that the disciples made in Acts 4:13-31 in spite of their generally unimpressive human credentials are very noteworthy.

What made the huge difference was that the men had spent time with Jesus, had been impacted by Him, and were now walking in the strength of His Spirit!

Where the Holy Spirit is present, He influences and controls every destiny connected with Him (Romans 8:14). The influence of the Spirit would lead any man to glorious destinations, but when neglected, rejected or despised, the man goes down to a hell of aborted destiny (1 John 2:20).

Beloved brethren, the Holy Spirit is still at work here on earth, enlightening, quickening, strengthening and guiding true disciples of Christ who are born of His Spirit. Only that He’s waiting for them to readily pay the price for renewed experiences of the Pentecostal infilling.

Friends, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might (Ephesians 6:10-12). Swing to a lifestyle of accord with the Holy Spirit. Be at one with Him, yield fully and He will suddenly enable you for enhanced performances upon the earth. You won’t miss it, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

Forgiveness is a cardinal principle of the Christian faith. I dare say, one of the ways we can tell that we are children of God is if we readily forgive those who offend us.

Inevitably, people will often offend us in this world of sin, even as we often offend others. But Jesus makes our readiness to forgive offenders a veritable passport into the kingdom of God.

He says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7). “If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15).

As usual. Jesus practised what He preached. As He was dying on the cross at the instance of evil accusers, He prayed for the forgiveness of His persecutors: “Then Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.’” (Luke 23:34).

Kingdom Dynamics

Forgiveness is so central to salvation that Jesus told an enigmatic story of an unrighteous servant who was served notice that his employment would be terminated for wasting his master’s goods. To prepare for his impending dismissal, he decided to ingratiate himself with his master’s debtors by surreptitiously forgiving them chunks of their indebtedness. So, he hoped they would repay his “kindness” when he became jobless and needed their help.

What is remarkable about this story is Jesus’ assessment: “The master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.” (Luke 16:8).

But why would Jesus Christ, the righteous, commend this unjust servant? The answer is not far-fetched. Unlike the sons of light, this unjust servant understood the value of forgiveness. He recognised that forgiveness is an investment that yields handsome future dividends.

Therefore, when Peter asked Jesus: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-23).

Offensive God

But here is the rub. What if the offender is not man but God? What if it is God who offends us?

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. (Isaiah 55:8-9). Paul says: “How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!” (Romans 11:33). Therefore, Solomon counsels that we should not lean on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5).

For this reason, we often find God to be very offensive. I call God “Doctor Strangelove.” He secures our welfare through schemes that are often unpalatable to us. He seems to take delight in disappointing our hopes and in foiling our expectations of grandeur. He is determined to thwart our own purposes in life. As Jeremiah warned Baruch: “Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.” (Jeremiah 45:5).

The Bible is replete with examples of people who were offended by God. God told Abraham to sacrifice his beloved Isaac, a child born when he was 100 years old, as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah.

He starved the Israelites of food and water in the wilderness to their extreme discomfiture. (Deuteronomy 8:3).

He invited the devil to decimate Job’s wealth and family, killing his 10 children in the process. His wife was so offended, that she berated Job: “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).

God killed Uzzah for trying to prevent the ark from falling when it was being carried to Jerusalem. “David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.” (2 Samuel 6:8).

God killed Ezekiel’s beloved wife and told him not to mourn or weep about her death. (Ezekiel 24:16). He told Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot for three years, without his trousers, with his buttocks exposed. (Isaiah 20:1-4).

He told Jonah to tell the Ninevites that He would destroy them within forty days. But to Jonah’s annoyance, He decided not to destroy Nineveh after constraining Jonah to deliver the message of their impending destruction.

Rock of Offence

Jesus closely followed this offensive pattern in His earthly ministry. Isaiah had prophesied that: “He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and taken.” (Isaiah 8:14-15).

Thereby, Jesus offended the people of His hometown of Nazareth by telling them they did not deserve God’s miracles:

“You will undoubtedly quote Me this proverb: ‘Physician, heal Yourself’ – meaning, ‘Do miracles here in Your hometown like those You did in Capernaum.’ But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. Certainly, there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner - a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.” (Luke 4:23-27).

The people were so angry with him that they wanted to kill Him there and then. They dragged Him to a cliff, intending to push Him headlong to His death. But He miraculously escaped.

He pronounced woe on the Pharisees and the scribes, calling them whitewashed tombstones. (Matthew 23:27). He told some people that the devil was their father. (John 8:44). He provoked His Jewish audience, who knew that eating blood is proscribed by the Law of Moses, that they would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood if they wanted eternal life. (John 6:51-58).

Many of His disciples were so disgusted with Him at this saying that they departed from Him and decided not to follow Him any longer.

Even John the Baptist, who had earlier identified Him as the Messiah, became disillusioned with Jesus because He failed to rescue Him from Herod’s jail. He sent emissaries to Him asking: “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3).

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.’” (Matthew 11:4-6).

When told that Lazarus was gravely ill, Jesus waited until he died before responding. Lazarus’ sisters, Mary and Martha, could not hide their disappointment when he finally showed up, four days late. They said to Him one after the other: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21/32).

Practical Christianity

As God is offensive in the scriptures, so is He offensive in life. He offends us when our loved one is bereaved. He offends us when He refuses to help us when we are in a bind. He offends us when we commit our business into His hands and it fails, nevertheless. He offends us when we are jilted in love, or when our marriages collapse.

In short, God offends believers when something bad happens to us even though He could easily have prevented it. He offends us when we ask Him for something and He refuses to give it to us. He offends us when we look to Him for deliverance but He ignores us.

In my case, armed robbers attacked me and shot me in the leg. God rescued me from them. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when He then told me He was the One who sent the robbers to waylay me:

“Who allowed Israel to be robbed and hurt? It was the Lord, against whom we sinned, for the people would not walk in His path, nor would they obey His law. Therefore, He poured out His fury on them and destroyed them in battle. They were enveloped in flames, but they still refused to understand. They were consumed by fire, but they did not learn their lesson.” (Isaiah 42:24-25). CONTINUED.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com 

Whether it’s asking a neighbor for a favor or re-directing a colleague on a team project, being persuasive in your professional or personal life is a helpful skill.

People with high emotional intelligence, or EQ, are generally better at convincing others to see things their way, says Matt Abrahams, a Stanford University lecturer in organizational behavior and author of ″Think Faster, Talk Smarter: How to Speak Successfully When You’re Put on the Spot.″ 

Here are two things they do better than most people, according to Abrahams.

1. They remove ‘restraining forces’

When someone is deciding whether or not to make a change, they are probably evaluating two factors: the promoting forces and the restraining forces.

Promoting forces are all the reasons why you should do something. Restraining forces are what perceived barriers you face.

“I could give you all the reasons for why you should do something, but that might not be enough because of the restraining forces,” Abrahams says. “Someone with high EQ might focus on restraining forces.”

Let’s say you notice a friend struggling with anxiety and want to convince them to try meditating. Instead of telling them all the benefits of meditation, you could offer to do it with them the first few times.

2. They know what is important to the other person

“Folks high in EQ try to connect things you already do to what they are looking for you to do,” Abrahams says.

This comes more naturally to them because they are good at asking questions and remembering details about other peoples’ lives.

Let’s say you’re putting together a presentation and need someone to design visuals for you. A high EQ person would be able to recall that a colleague recently told them that they are looking for more graphic design opportunities and ask them for help.

“People with high EQ are better at understanding what’s important to other people,” he says. “They are sensitive and remember what people are doing.”

 

CNBC

Nigerians seeking a safe outlet for their anger can now get an unusual form of therapy, a "rage room" where they can break glass, smash wardrobes, and destroy electronic devices without any consequences.

Located in the crowded megacity of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital, the Shadow Rage Room offers 20-minute sessions for N7,500 ($8.93).

Banjoko Babajide James, a co-founder, said the idea for the rage room came from the rising mental health crisis in Nigeria which is "a taboo topic" to discuss openly.

"We want to create a community of like minds, to make people to understand that this thing is real and we are going to try to push it out," he said.

Patrons are outfitted in protective gear, a baseball bat and a selection of items to break, including glass cups and plates, electronics, and furniture.

The room has been a hit with Lagosians, who have been flocking to release the stress of the country's soaring cost of living, disputed presidential election, and widespread insecurity.

"I was really angry," said Nancy Igwe, a customer, after her session. "Living in Lagos, it is terrible, it is frustrating when you see that the prices of everything has increased."

Anita Christian, another customer, said she came to the rage room after losing a friend.

"I had to come and vent because when you don’t get clarity or closure it is really sad," she said.

While the room has been well-received, James acknowledges that not everyone understands the concept.

"The perception people get when they encounter the rage room is a place where we are promoting anger," he said. "We always try to explain that we are not doing that."

($1 = 839.5400 naira)

 

Reuters

Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.54 percent in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The growth rate is higher than the 2.25 percent recorded in the same quarter last year and higher than the second quarter 2023 growth of 2.51 percent by 0.03 percent.

NBS disclosed this in its GDP report for Q3, released on Friday.

The bureau said the growth rate was driven by the services sector.

“The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the Services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.99% and contributed 52.70% to the aggregate GDP,” NBS said.

“The agriculture sector grew by 1.30%, from the growth of 1.34% recorded in the third quarter of 2022. The growth of the industry sector was 0.46%, an improvement from -8.00% recorded in the third quarter of 2022.

“In terms of share of the GDP, agriculture, and the industry sectors contributed less to the aggregate GDP in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the third quarter of 2022.”

According to the NBS, the nominal GDP for Q3 2023 was N60.66 trillion while the real GDP was N19.44 trillion.

Nominal GDP and real GDP both quantify the total value of all goods produced in a country in a year. However, real GDP is adjusted for inflation, while nominal GDP is not.

NBS said: “In the quarter under review, aggregate GDP was N60,658,600.37 million in nominal terms.”

“This performance is higher when compared to the third quarter of 2022 which recorded aggregate GDP of N52,255,809.62 million, indicating a year-on-year nominal growth of 16.08%.”

‘NIGERIA’S OIL PRODUCTION ROSE IN Q3 2023’

The report also shows that the nation in the third quarter of 2023 recorded an average daily oil production of 1.45 million barrels per day (mbpd), higher than the daily average production of 1.20mbpd recorded in the same quarter of 2022 by 0.25mbpd and higher than the second quarter of 2023 production volume of 1.22 mbpd by 0.23mbpd.

“The real growth of the oil sector was –0.85% (year-on-year) in Q3 2023, indicating an increase of 21.83% points relative to the rate recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2022 (-22.67%),” the report said.

“Growth also increased by 12.58% points when compared to Q2 2023 which was –13.43%.

“On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the oil sector recorded a growth rate of 12.47% in Q3 2023. The Oil sector contributed 5.48% to the total real GDP in Q3 2023, down from the figure recorded in the corresponding period of 2022 and up from the preceding quarter, where it contributed 5.66% and 5.34% respectively.”

‘NON-OIL SECTOR ACCOUNTS FOR NEARLY 95% OF NIGERIA’S GDP IN Q3 2023’

The NBS report said non-oil sector grew by 2.75 percent in real terms during the reference quarter (Q3 2023).

This rate was lower by 1.52 percent points compared to the rate recorded in the same quarter of 2022 and 0.84 percent points lower than the second quarter of 2023.

“This sector was driven in the third quarter of 2023 mainly by Information and Communication (Telecommunication); Financial and Insurance (Financial Institutions); Agriculture (Crop production); Trade; Construction; and Real Estate, accounting for positive GDP growth,” the bureau said.

“In real terms, the non-oil sector contributed 94.52% to the nation’s GDP in the third quarter of 2023.”

NBS said this is higher than the share recorded in the third quarter of 2022 which was 94.34 percent and lower than the 94.66 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2023.

 

The Cable