Lawrence Mofoluwaso Olamiti is essentially a newsman, an inquisitive reporter in the footsteps of Africa's legendary news hounds like inimitable Segun Osoba. Theo Ola, Peter Ajayi, Dayo Duyile, Femi Ogunleye, Femi Sonaike and Sola Odunfa to mention a few. He masters the rudiments, the art and craft of news reporting the way a surgeon trains his scalpels. Luckily for Folu, fortune brought him into the notice of the Sage, Obafemi Awolowo, very early in his career and this singular fortune enriched the quality and scope of his news reporting and eventful  journalism career.

As to be expected, A PEEP INTO THE PAST Chronicles the most outstanding news and feature stories written by Folu over the years and most of those stories are about Awolowo's journeys and travails in politics since 1978, the year the Unity Party of Nigeria ( UPN) was founded. This is where Folu's exceptional reportorial skills are best demonstrated, and surprisingly so, because this period coincided with his formative years in journalism. 

The section titled Tributes is a grand display of emotions and appreciation. And leaving through those pages Olamiti as  a very sincere and appreciative being who places a great premium on friendship. He also lavished on those who have helped him one way or the other in his climb in the journey of life.  The tribute to the Matriarch of Awo Dynasty, Hannah  Dideolu Awolowo, gives an insight into the historic lady's under-estimated greatness and political sagacity.  The piece is a classic example of Folu's mastery of imagery and visuals and Mrs Awolowo is presented in a way that one feels her physical presence.  

The same vividness runs through the tributes to Caroline Akin-Deko, Arisekola Alao, Isaac Aluko-Olokun, MacDonald  Chikwendu Nwariaku, Uriah Angulu, Ebenezer Babatope,

and Rufus Eniola Ariyo,

among several people Folu brings up for praise and appreciation. 

This book is more or less a guide and a tutorial on political reporting as well as a study in human and public relations.  Even though it is not a biography or autobiography, it nonetheless reveals the innermost character trait of Folu as a humanist, a philosopher imbued with deepest candour and spiritual piety. It could well have been titled “A Peep into Folu's Mind”.

It is in the travelogue that Folu displays his mastery of prose and development of cinematography in a way that marks him out as a distinguished record keeper with keen eye on details. He describes the towns, cities and other places he has visited such that would create curiosity in the reader and may compel unscheduled adventure. His narratives are so appetizing and tantalizing and the reader is put in the same mode of a traveller thirsting for wine.

The book gives vivid account of Folu's meritorious service as the longest Resident Public Affairs Director for the Independent  Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ( ICPC) as well as an insight  into the workings of the Agency. 

Similar attention is given to Idanre, the place of his birth, which he celebrates to no end. Idanre to Folu is like Water to Life, or more appropriately like Air to Life. It is with the same gusto he treats Idanre he gives to narratives about his international affairs.

A PEEP INTO THE PAST is a book that showcases news reporting features writing exemplary deployment of images and imagery, while in the same vein shows the techniques of public relations and image management. The reader is led into the workings of international journalism, international politics, and how rare opportunities shape the life of man.

The book has opened my mind to Olamiti's mind, and readers will find the book stimulating and engaging. A Peep into the Past is highly recommended to Journalism institutions as well as students of public and human relations. 

“Governments are best classified by considering who are the ‘somebodies’ they are, in fact, endeavouring to satisfy” – Alfred North Whitehead, 1861-1947

Since his first day in office, when he declared, prematurely, that “subsidy is gone”, President Bola Tinubu has stumbled from one policy decision after another with the intention of dealing effectively and satisfactorily with the after-effects of subsidy removal – without success so far. Instead of providing relief, the Federal Government appears to be making things worse for just about everybody; including state and local governments.

Tinubu, so far, deserves credit for one thing; except for those newly appointed to plum jobs, his policies and actions have not discriminated on the basis of ethnicity, zone, political affiliation, age, gender or religion. Just about everybody in Nigeria today is miserable. Even two of my closest friends, as fanatical supporters of Tinubu before the 2023 election as I was about Buhari in 2011 and 2015, now voice all sorts of maledictions when his name is mentioned.

One, whose business has been wrecked by subsidy removal, is so bitter, tears fall from his eyes every time he recollects the money he spent during the campaign in his area to ensure Tinubu’s victory. He repeatedly asks me: “Dele, did we vote for this?” “Yes you did.” That was my answer; and it is the same answer for all those who failed to make the 2023 election a declaration of no confidence in APC as a ruling party.

However, before going forward with my deeply-felt complaint about “Tinubuism” – a novel sort of political leadership unfolding before us, permit me to make a few comments about a trending matter.

WHO IS GOVERNMENT ELECTED TO SERVE?

“It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong [of a government]” -Jeremy Bentham, 1748-1832

Several philosophers, leaders and statesmen have attempted to provide us with an objective measurement of government’s performance. I strongly believe that Bentham’s idea – the greatest possible good for the greatest number of inhabitants of a country should be the criterion for determining if a government is moving in the right direction or not. This is particularly true of a democracy – which somebody else has defined as “government of the people by the people for the people”.

That is why we vote in democracies; instead of having governments imposed on us. In February 2023, Nigerians voted and a government has emerged. People and those in government need to be reminded that Bentham never said “only those who voted for the ruling party” – just the majority of the people. He knew that it is impossible for any government to please everybody. I also know, from researches and readings, before and after writing the quotations book, that every change of government (even when a political party succeeds itself) produces losers and winners. Some are elevated; others are downgraded in the cake-sharing which inevitably follows.

Because worldwide we live in an era of rising expectations, just as it is expected that a medical clinic would not add to its patients’ problems, people living in a country also expect that a government will not make their lives worse than before. Nigerians are not different. A presidential candidate, who was promoted as a miracle worker, should not be surprised if everybody expected miracles from the first day. When the newly-elected candidate courageously terminated a long standing corrupt atrocity, he built on the expectations.

That was why the immediate repercussions of subsidy removal caught the vast majority of citizens by surprise. So far, it has been all pains and no gains. Worse still, the benefits of subsidy removal are now appearing permanently elusive; and the palliatives are being extended to only the smallest number of Nigerians. The vast majority are being asked to bear the damage to their life styles indefinitely; while only workers in the public sector, less than three millions of 81 million workers, are being offered palliatives as if the rest of us don’t exist. Negotiations have revealed Tinubu and FG’s mind-sets: Only the NLC, TUC, PEGASSAN, ASUU etc matter. The rest of us don’t count.

The most obvious question is: Can a government which declines responsibility for providing subsidy relief for workers in the informal private sector expect those people to cooperate in helping to bring inflation under control? The answer is already being given in the open and supermarkets; where prices of food and other commodities are going to the moon.

Traders, transporters, carpenters, landlords and ladies, barbers and hair-dressers, business centers etc are taking care of themselves – while sending loads of curses and maledictions towards all the Government Houses. Nobody can tell traders not to hoard scarce commodities because the governments in office – particularly the FG – don’t give a damn about them. So, why should they listen to governments which have turned their backs on them after subsidy removal?

RMAFC ENCOURAGING GOVT BANKRUPTCY

“Functions: The body is charged with reviewing the revenue allocation formula every five years, fixing the salary of political office holders, public officers as well as monitoring the inflow of revenues into the coffers of the nation and blocking leakages” – Wikipedia.

The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission was established by Decree 49 of 1989 to ensure, among other things, that governments pay serious attention to revenue mobilisation; that the President of Nigeria and his top executives don’t behave like drunken sailors on shore; spending recklessly.

That was why the framers of the decree, under Ibrahim Babangida, placed mobilisation before allocation. I was privileged to discuss with one of the promoters of the Commission. They were keenly aware that, left to themselves, many governments would lose focus of revenue generation and concentrate only on the allocation or cake-sharing functions.

Unfortunately, the RMAFC has, since the IBB years, become a body only serving the interests of public officials with little regard for revenue mobilisation. Not once during Buhari’s ruinous eight years did the RMAFC raise the alarm that actual revenue each year was out of step with the salaries and others entitlements included in the remuneration package of public servants. Debt is not revenue; but the RMAFC allowed the FG operate as if money borrowed is revenue earned. Nigeria went deeper into debt because the country used debt to pay salaries. The nation was allowed to spend money not earned and which may never be earned by RMAFC which was not established to allocate debt.

It was therefore not surprising that the Commission recently approved increases in salaries and entitlements to various officials. We can all see the alarming result in the numbers of Ministers, Commissioners, Special Assistants and Advisers being appointed by the President and Governors.

Where there is no limit to the number of officials a President or Governor can appoint, a fixed percentage of actual revenue is already allocated to paying these officials – long before the funds are available. And, if the actual revenue collected is less than budget, the first planned expenditure that suffers is capital expenditure. That again explains why the infrastructure gap is getting wider each year – why there is hardly any part of Nigeria where there is no shameful infrastructural deficit. It also explains why there will be few investments.

 

Vanguard

In today’s competitive job market, retaining talented employees is challenging, particularly given that local companies need to compete against global companies in countries with stronger currencies when hiring great teams. This is how businesses can cultivate nurturing work environments, keep great talent and ensure sustainable growth.

1. What to do

Pay Well: Competitive salaries and benefits packages are your most effective retention tool. This hasn’t changed much, and if you are serious about retention, consider paying above market.

Embrace Freedom: Beyond financial incentives, employees value benefits linked to autonomy. Flexible work hours and remote work options are now expected to be part of the negotiation when hiring. This will ensure you have a happy workforce.

Find Your Purpose: Employees are likelier to stay with a company contributing to a larger societal or environmental cause. A compelling mission provides a sense of purpose beyond daily tasks.

2. Create a culture of belonging

Onboarding Team Members: How you welcome someone into your business is crucial because first impressions are the ones that last. This feeling will stay if the person feels valued and integrated from day one.

Intellectual and Emotional Visibility: Weekly feedback from managers on work performance makes people feel seen and valued, even when the feedback is constructive, and improvement is needed.

Tracking Contribution: Identifying who is thriving – and who needs support – allows for timely interventions. Thriving employees can be promoted, while those struggling can receive counselling. 

Psychological Support: Companies that offer resources for mental and emotional well-being enhance retention by demonstrating care for the holistic health of employees. In the face of rising anxiety and depression, this will be a difference maker.

3. Meaningful contribution

The Power of Meaningful Praise: Sales and customer service live at the core of any business’s performance. Companies that make this a priority generally have happier employees all around.

Shared Narratives: Involve employees in shaping the company’s story. Have an actual book where you write every quarter about how your business progressed and how different people helped.

Share profits: When your company draws profits, share them. Think of more innovative or meaningful forms of measuring and rewarding contributions to create a collective responsibility for the company’s success.

Smart retention drives revenues

Employee retention requires a holistic approach with innovative retention and reward initiatives to fuel sustainable business growth. Taking the right action to retain talented employees is a massive contributor to business sustainability, happier teams and more productive workplaces. 

Having a professional and well-run human resource component is critical to all businesses from the get-go. As global companies increasingly come to Africa to find talent, a strategy that secures staff retention will make a big difference to the business’s bottom line.

Effective employee retention strategies enacted by effective HR realised more engaged employees who get things done. Execution is everything in depressed markets where businesses need to perform.

Rose Elcock is the founder and CEO of VHRS South Africa.

 

Inc

Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) is speedily uploading polling unit results from Saturday’s governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on to its IReV portal for public view.

IReV portal is an online platform where the Indepdent National Electoral Commission (INEC) uploads real time the photographic copies of the result sheets from various polling units as soon as recording is concluded.

Designated officers of INEC at the various polling units are expected, as soon as recording and signing of the result sheets are completed, to take the photographs of the results documents with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and upload them on to IReV with the aid of the same device.

WIthin hours of conclusion of counting in most of the polling units across the three states where the off-cycle governorship election took place on Saturday, well over 70 per cent of the results had been uploaded on to the IReV portal as of the time of our reporter’s visit to the online platform.

The speed with which the results are being uploaded to the IReV portal is in sharp contrast with the almost total collapse of the platform during the 25 February general elections, a development that dealt a huge blow to public perception about the last presidential poll.

Although the Supreme Court last month affirmed the victory of President Bola Tinubu as declared by INEC, it confirmed that the malfunctioning of IReV during the disputed 25 February poll reduced public confidence in the electoral process.

Bayelsa State

As of 11:03pm, the IReV portal indicated that in Bayelsa State, 85.29 per cent of the results had been uploaded, as 1,914 polling unit results had been uploaded out of the 2,242 total polling units.

Imo State

For Imo State, as of 11:18pm, the portal indicated that out of the 4,758 total polling units, 4,287 polling units had been uploaded, representing 90.1 per cent.

Kogi State

For Kogi State, as of 11:20pm, the portal indicated that out of 3,508 polling units, 3,064 polling units had been uploaded, representing 87.34 per cent.

 

PT

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, said his refinery has secured a license to refine more than 300,000 barrels of Nigerian crude per day and will begin to process gasoline “soon.”

“We don’t want to start our refinery with foreign goods, we want to start with the Nigerian crude,” the billionaire said in an interview Saturday in Riyadh on the sidelines of the Saudi-Nigeria business roundtable. “We’re more than ready and you will see our gasoline products soon.”

The refinery was supposed to start production in August but missed that target in addition to several other over the years. But Dangote insists that his refinery will start producing “very very soon.” The refinery’s first priority is to supply gasoline to Nigeria before exporting to elsewhere, including the West African region, he said.

The 650,000 barrel-a-day facility, which is expected to produce 27 million liters of diesel, 11 million liters of kerosene and 9 million liters of jet fuel, will receive crude from other producers in Nigeria, as well as the country’s state oil company, said Dangote, whose fortune is estimated at $16.2 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Nigeria increased its oil output by 60,000 barrels per day last month, reaching 1.49 million barrels per day — the highest in almost two years. The West African nation has launched a new grade of crude called Nembe through a joint venture, as the nation ramps up its oil output.

The Nembe crude stream is expected to be managed and marketed by a joint venture between state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) and oil firm Aiteo Eastern E&P Co. Ltd.

Crude theft and attacks on pipelines in the Niger Delta have crippled the OPEC member’s ability to meet its quota, meaning that the Nigerian government has been struggling to meet its revenue targets.

 

Bloomberg

Pope Francis has dismissed Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, one of his fiercest critics among U.S. Roman Catholic conservatives, a Vatican statement said on Saturday.

It is very rare for a bishop to be relieved of his duties outright. Usually bishops in trouble with the Vatican are asked to resign before submitting a resignation, which the pope accepts.

Popes make such moves, considered drastic, when a bishop refuses a request to resign. Strickland is 65, 10 years shy of the usual retirement age for bishops. Strickland had said earlier this year that he would refuse to resign if asked.

Strickland, a prolific user of social media who was named to the diocese by the late Pope Benedict in 2012, tweeted earlier this year that he rejected Pope Francis' "program undermining the Deposit of Faith".

He has been particularly critical of the pope's attempt to make the Church more welcoming to the LGBT community and attempts by Francis to give lay people more responsibility in the Church and opposed a recent synod.

The dismissal followed a Vatican investigation earlier this year into the administration of the Tyler diocese, which Catholic media reports said included a review of his handling of financial affairs.

It was announced simultaneously by the Vatican and the U.S. Bishops Conference. Neither statement gave a reason.

There was no immediate response from Strickland. A recording on the diocese's telephone said they were closed for the weekend.

Strickland had become one of the most vocal standard bearers of the ultra-conservative wing of the U.S. Church and has a national following far beyond the small diocese of Tyler in eastern Texas.

Last August, the pope lamented what he called a "reactionary" Catholic Church in the United States, where he said political ideology had replaced faith in some cases.

Strickland is a strong supporter of former U.S. president Donald Trump and is seen as a hero by conservative U.S. Catholic media outlets that are aligned with Trump.

Last year, when the Vatican defrocked ultra-conservative U.S. anti-abortion priest Frank Pavone for "blasphemous" social media posts and disobedience to bishops, Strickland was one of the few American bishops to defend him publicly.

"The blasphemy is that this holy priest is canceled while an evil president promotes the denial of truth and the murder of the unborn at every turn, Vatican officials promote immorality and denial of the deposit of faith and priests promote gender confusion devastating lives...evil," Strickland wrote on the platform then known as Twitter.

The Vatican said Francis named the bishop of Austin, Texas, Joe Vasquez, as the interim administrator of the Tyler diocese.

 

Reuters

Hospitals have special protection under the rules of war. Why are they in the crosshairs in Gaza?

The head of surgery at Gaza’s largest and most advanced hospital held up his phone Saturday to the hammering of gunfire and artillery shelling. “Listen,” said Marwan Abu Sada as fighting raged around Shifa Hospital.

Shells hissed through the hospital courtyard and crashed into wards while Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants locked in close quarters combat. Doctors tried to help patients even as they ran for cover.

Abu Sada described Shifa as a deathtrap for thousands of war-wounded, medical staff and displaced civilians sheltering there. The Israeli military denied it launched direct strikes or placed Shifa under siege.

In this Israel-Hamas war, hospitals in the main combat zone of northern Gaza have increasingly ended up in the crosshairs as Israeli tanks crunch through the hollowed-out heart of Gaza City. They have also become flashpoints for warring narratives.

Israel says Hamas militants are using hospitals as shields for fighters but hasn’t provided evidence of that, while Palestinians and rights groups accuse Israel of recklessly harming civilians seeking shelter.

The battles around Shifa on Saturday raised an urgent question: When do medical facilities lose special protection under international humanitarian law?

WHAT DOES ISRAEL SAY?

Israel claims that Hamas locates military assets under hospitals and other sensitive sites like schools and mosques. Bloodshed serves Hamas’ agenda, it says, winning international attention and sympathy for the Palestinian cause.

Israel has singled out Shifa, claiming Hamas operates its command headquarters beneath the hospital complex. The Israeli military has released an illustrated map of Shifa marked with claimed locations of the underground militant installations, without offering further evidence. Hamas, and Shifa Hospital Director Mohammed Abu Selmia, deny this.

Israel has said it will pursue Hamas fighters wherever they are, while trying to spare civilian lives.

“If we see Hamas terrorists firing from hospitals, we’ll do what we need to do,” Israeli army spokesperson Richard Hecht said.

Last week Israel defended its bombing of an ambulance convoy evacuating wounded patients from Shifa, alleging that it was carrying Hamas fighters. That strike killed at least 12 bystanders, Abu Selmia said.

Asked about Saturday’s events at Shifa, the chief Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said the forces were not besieging Shifa Hospital but allowing a safe exit point on the hospital’s eastern side. He said the army was in touch with hospital officials and would help to move babies being treated there to a different hospital Sunday.

Israeli forces also battled Hamas militants in the rubble-filled streets outside Gaza’s Rantisi Hospital for Children, humanitarian officials reported. The Israeli army alleged it identified Hamas militants embedded among civilians in Rantisi when swarming the area last week. Some militants fled after the army opened an evacuation corridor for civilians, it said.

Rantisi Hospital shut down Friday after running out of fuel, said the World Health Organization, and it’s unclear how many people evacuated.

Amos Yadlin, former head of Israeli military intelligence, told Israel’s Channel 12 that the intensifying fight over Shifa and other hospitals creates moral and military dilemmas for commanders.

“Despite that we intend to deal with these hospitals,” he added. “Today it’s clear to all that they are the key command centers of Hamas.”

WHAT DO PALESTINIANS SAY?

Throughout the war, Palestinian families fleeing bombed-out homes have taken refuge in medical compounds, believing them to be safer than other alternatives.

Kamal Najar, a 35-year-old who sheltered at Shifa with his toddler son and infant daughter this week, said he believed that the hospital would be “off-limits, even for Israel.”

“It was the thing we somehow told ourselves wouldn’t happen,” he said, speaking by phone from the central city of Deir al-Balah, where he arrived by foot Friday after escaping what he said were strikes on the hospital with tens of thousands of others.

On Saturday, some 1,500 patients, along with 1,500 medical workers and some 15,000 displaced people were still stranded at Shifa, health authorities said. They said a blackout plunged Shifa Hospital into darkness and switched off life-saving equipment, killing several patients — including a newborn in an incubator.

Palestinian medical workers accuse Israel of mounting an all-out attack on infrastructure to punish the population and force a surrender. “It’s to say, ‘Not only will we kill and wound you, we will ensure you have nowhere to go to be treated,’” said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British Palestinian surgeon working for Doctors Without Borders in Gaza City.

Some 190 medical workers were among more than 11,000 Palestinians killed since the start of the war, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. Ongoing Israeli bombardment has wrecked 31 ambulances and knocked 20 hospitals out of operation, the ministry said. The war was triggered by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed.

“Death always feels close,” said Naseem Hassan, a 48-year-old medic in the southern city of Khan Younis. Too many colleagues, he said, have left the hospital only to return hours later in body bags. He had a close call Thursday when two missiles landed just meters from his ambulance.

“This is a war of all-out destruction and there is no protection anywhere,” he said. “Israel could be more precise but it’s choosing not to be.”

Israel has said it targets Hamas fighters, not civilians. However, it has used powerful explosives in strikes on densely populated areas that have killed large numbers of women and children.

WHAT DOES INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW SAY?

The claims and counterclaims over Gaza’s hospitals have raised pressing questions about what is allowed under international laws governing war.

International humanitarian law lends hospitals special protections during war. But hospitals can lose their protections if combatants use them to hide fighters or store weapons, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

Nonetheless, there must be plenty of warning before attacks to allow for the safe evacuation of patients and medical workers, ICRC legal officer Cordula Droege said.

Even if Israel succeeds in proving Shifa conceals a Hamas command center, the tenets of international law remain in place, said Jessica Wolfendale, expert in military ethics at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

“It doesn’t license an instant attack,” she said. “Steps need to be taken to protect the innocent as much as possible.”

If the harm to civilians is disproportionate to the military objective, the attack is illegal under international law.

In an editorial published Friday in Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan issued a warning to combatants that the burden of proof is on them if they claim hospitals, schools or houses of worship have lost their protected status because they are being used for military purposes. And the bar for evidence is very high.

“If there is a doubt that a civilian object has lost its protective status, the attacker must assume that it is protected,” Khan wrote. “The burden of demonstrating that this protective status is lost rests with those who fire the gun, the missile, or the rocket in question.”

 

AP

Russia renews missile attacks on Kyiv, attacks intensify in the east

Russia on Saturday launched a missile attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the surrounding region for the first time in more than seven weeks and pounded the east and south of the country with drones, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukrainian border guards said they had retaken a village in the country's northeast adjacent to the Russian border.

Officials in the east, the focus of Russia's slow 20-month-old advance, said Ukrainian forces had repelled numerous attacks by Moscow's troops and they anticipated further assaults, particularly around the devastated town of Avdiivka.

Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said a Russian ballistic missile was launched toward the capital at about 8 a.m. (0600 GMT).

"After a long pause of 52 days, the enemy has resumed missile attacks on Kyiv," Popko said on the Telegram messaging app. "The missile failed to reach Kyiv, air defenders shot it down as it was approaching the capital."

Popko said there were no casualties or major damage.

Ruslan Kravchenko, regional governor for the central Kyiv region, said five private houses and several commercial buildings in the area were damaged. He said two Russian missiles struck a field between settlements.

Ukraine's air defence also shot down 19 Iranian-made "Shahed" drones out of 31 launched by the Russian forces overnight in southern and eastern regions, the air force said.

Ukrainian intelligence official Andriy Yusov told national television: "This is not the first or the last combined attack." He pointed to increasing numbers of air alerts in recent days.

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UKRAINIAN FLAG IN BORDER VILLAGE

Online video from Kharkiv region showed border guards raising the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag in Topoli village alongside the Russian border, without further explanation. Ukrainian forces a year ago made a lightning push to recapture large swathes of territory in the northeast and since June are engaged in a counteroffensive in the east and south.

Prosecutors in northern Sumy region said two people aboard motorcycles died when Russian forces shelled a road.

In the east, military spokesperson Oleskandr Shtupun said Ukrainian troops had repelled 35 Russian assaults in and near Avdiivka, which has been under intense fire since mid-October.

Shtupun told national television that 70 percent of air strikes in the east and south targeted Avdiivka.

Officials in Avdiivka say they anticipate a new Russian push on the city once the ground dries up from days of heavy rain. Videos show buildings reduced to shells and officials say increasing numbers of the remaining 1,500 residents, from a pre-war population of 32,000, were preparing to evacuate.

In the Black Sea port of Odesa, regional governor Oleh Kiper said the southern region was attacked with missiles and drones on Friday evening and overnight. The strikes wounded three people and damaged port infrastructure facilities, he said without offering further details.

Russia has intensified bombardments of Ukraine's ports, including Odesa, and grain infrastructure since Moscow in July pulled out of a deal to allow for exports from Ukrainian ports.

Russian accounts of the fighting said its forces had struck positions near Bakhmut, a town Moscow captured in May after months of heavy fighting.

Reuters could not verify accounts from either side.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

No Ukrainian victory in sight – EU’s Borrell

There is no victory in sight for Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Saturday. He added that the bloc must be ready to support Kiev for an extended period, and potentially substitute US military aid if it wants to stop Moscow from prevailing.

Delivering a video address to the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Malaga, Spain, Borrell declared that the Ukraine conflict “is lasting much too long,” while admitting that Kiev would not be able to face the Russian military without Western support.

EU nations that have “the necessary means to help” should also have the political will to continue to support the bloc’s Ukraine aid policy, and potentially even expand it, Borrell stated. The diplomat also cautioned that the EU may even need to step in to replace US aid, should it diminish.

Although the EU and its members have spent almost twice as much as the US on total military, financial, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Washington remains Kiev’s single largest military sponsor by a wide margin, according to Germany’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The US alone has spent around $45 billion on military aid for Ukraine, followed by Germany with $18.2 billion, data showed. However, the Pentagon warned earlier this week that it potentially had only $1 billion remaining for Ukraine military aid, and would have to ration arms packages from now on.

In his address on Saturday, Borrell insisted that “we must remain united and get ready for a longer conflict, longer than Russia thought.” He claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had expected to end the conflict in “a few weeks,” but had been unsuccessful.

Moscow reacted to Borrell’s remarks by pointing to his apparent change in tone. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted in a Telegram post that the EU foreign policy chief had declared following a visit to Kiev in April 2022 that “this war will be won on the battlefield.” He now says Ukraine will not be able to defeat Russia in the near future, Zakharova added, wondering if the EU was leaning towards considering Moscow as the victor in the standoff.

Borrell himself, however, said during the PES congress in Malaga that the conflict should be one “that Russia will never be able to win.”

Recent reports have indicated growing concern among Kiev’s Western backers about the outcome of the fighting. On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that a Russian victory would be a “tragedy” that would leave the US-led bloc “vulnerable.” He also insisted it was in NATO’s interests to continue supporting Kiev.

** Germany to double military aid to Ukraine — newspaper

The German government intends to increase military aid to Ukraine from 4 billion to 8 billion euros next year, the Bild newspaper reported, citing sources in the country’s Defense Ministry.

According to the sources, the German Finance Ministry had initially earmarked 4 billion euros for military aid to Ukraine in the 2024 state budget, but all of it has already been reserved for current projects, and the Defense Ministry has only 120 million euros left for new projects. The ministry requested an additional 5 billion euros. This week, the government decided to allocate another 4 billion euros. The Bundestag's budget committee will consider the changes next week, the newspaper said.

Bild pointed out that the Defense Ministry also has another 2 billion euros that can be used for long-term defense contracts.

Earlier this month, the German government announced the delivery of another 25 Leopard 1A5 tanks to Ukraine, as previously promised. The new batch of weapons delivered to Kiev also included reconnaissance drones and radars. The total amount of German aid to Ukraine - humanitarian, financial and military - over the past year and a half has amounted to some 24 billion euros.

 

Reuters/RT/Tass

When a child pours libation and gives iba (respect) to the shade of the farm, our elders say he will till the land till evening in comfort. I owe the inspiration to write this piece to one of the few surviving icons of the Nigerian newspaper press, hugely venerated Lade Bonuola, a.k.a Ladbone, ex-Managing Director of The Guardian. He is one of the ancestors who trod this path of column-writing long before those of us, today's masquerades, knew the way to Igbo Igbale, the sacred grove. Seventy-something-year-old Bonuola's piece, published by The Guardian on November 10, 2023 and entitled Truth and its Majesty not only served as a balm on an aching soul, it provoked the need to pay tribute to the Nigerian Tribune, Nigeria's oldest surviving newspaper. The Tribune will celebrate the 74th anniversary of its founding in four days time, November 16. The paper first hit the newsstand on that day in 1949.

A tribute becomes necessary, as we say in journalism, so that we can do a tieback to the newspaper’s avant-garde and gadfly pedigree in pre and post-colonial Nigeria. That pedigree is what many are naïve about or have chosen to gloss over due to the atmosphere of complacency that pervades Nigeria today. A tribute is also curative to the scorched souls of those of us who have kept aloft the tradition of the Tribune in holding leaders to account. Perhaps, it can heal us of the unwarranted verbal assaults, derogatory name-calling and deliberate rings ran round us by commissars of the present federal government, which we have endured. These are all in the bid to ostracize us as bastards and our Yorubaness impugned.

The tribute is excerpted from my doctoral thesis entitled 'The Nigerian Tribune and hegemonic politics in Nigeria, 1949 - 1993, supervised by one of Nigeria's very best political scientists, Adigun Agbaje. That thesis which I submitted to the Department of Political Science, University of Ibadan in 2010 - thirteen years ago, will soon be a book with its own light shed on the role of the press in Nigerian politics. 

On the 70th anniversary of the Tribune, I had the honour of presenting same tribute in a paper I delivered to an august gathering that had the late Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi as well as Theophilus Danjuma, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, ex-Gov Gbenga Daniel and many more in attendance. I entitled the paper Tribune at 70: Journey through barbwires, arson and anger of the State.

In his piece, Bonuola reminded the world of the ideals behind Obafemi Awolowo’s establishment of the Tribune and the eternal essence of its 74-year old editorial policy. It is necessary to remind us that the freedom of Nigeria and the democracy Nigerians enjoy today were, in part, a product of the decision by Awolowo to found the newspaper.

Nigeria of the 1940s witnessed a drift toward subgroup nationalism and tribalism, provoked and exacerbated by Nnamdi Azikiwe’s dominance of newspaper press ownership. This was the impetus that fired some Yoruba and Hausa elites’ desire to have a rival hold that would define their own socio-politics. Founding a newspaper was one of them. Azikiwe and his associates were resented because their politics and influence in the media threatened the socio-political positions of Yoruba leaders and challenged their individual aspirations for leadership.

With his West African Pilot newspaper founded in 1937, Azikiwe attacked the Egbe of Oduduwa, a socio-political group founded by Awolowo and his Yoruba-conscious group elites, frequently lampooning topmost Yoruba and their chiefs, as well as some emirs of the north. Quite predominant in the growing disenchantment with Azikiwe was the widespread bitterness with his “over-protection” of his tribal bloc, while seeking to whittle others down. For instance, Okechukwu Ikejiana, one of the first Nigerians to be appointed at the University College Ibadan, (UCH) had claimed to have a DSc. from Toronto, Canada. Ikejiani was a favourite of Mellanby who was the first Principal of the College. It was later found out that Ikejiani’s DSc. degree was contrived. Thus, Mellanby, though fond of Ikejiani, had no choice but to dismiss him from the University College. Miffed by this action against his godson, favourite kinsman and party man in the NCNC, Zik had to mount virulent attacks on the University College, as well as Mellanby, in the Pilot. As a way of spiting the university, Zik got Ikejiani appointed as member of the Governing Council of the university between 1961 and 1965 as Chairman of the Governing Council of the university where he had earlier been dismissed. He later appointed him Chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

Azikiwe’s NCNC and his Igbo stock became identified with the Pilot group of newspapers, Ahmadu Bello’s NPC with the Nigerian Citizen and later on, the New Nigerian which he founded shortly before he was killed in the 1966 coup. Awolowo became signposted by, and even identifiable with the Nigerian Tribune. Seeing the need to situate the place of the Yoruba in national politics and to counter Azikiwe’s unfairly domineering influence in the Nigerian press of the time, the idea of founding a newspaper to project the voice of the Yoruba in the national scheme of things was conceived. The Nigerian Tribune newspaper was agreed to be its name. And on November 16, 1949, the baby, conceived with fecund thought for the place of the Yoruba nation and ultimately, the Nigerian Project, was born.

Aside his foray into politics, the founder of the Tribune, Awolowo, had once been a practicing journalist, having been employed in 1934 as a reporter-in-training by the Nigerian Daily Times and having worked for a cumulative eight months in the establishment. Though he never wanted to be a journalist, due partly to the unenviable public image of the profession at the time, especially the perception of its practitioners as scum of society, as well as the deprivation imprimatur that its leading editors and practitioners in general presented, Awolowo, however, found journalism as a pedestal to earning some money to enable him achieve his life-long ambition of studying law abroad.

On November 16, 1949, however, the Nigerian Tribune appeared on the newsstand. An eight-page tabloid, it came smoking-hot from the beginning, from both ends of its canons. For example, its first edition carried a lead story entitled, Chemists protest. It identified with the protest of the Association of Pharmaceutical Students of Nigeria against the Pharmaceutical School, Yaba, Lagos. The students were protesting the payment of £5.5s per month subsistence allowance to them and demanding its increase to £7 per month. The fact that the newspaper chose as its lead story this particular story, as against another story on the front page of the paper, entitled, Mystery tree near Oyo, was unusual.

The Enugu Colliery incident of December 1949, in which the police shot and killed some coalminers, gave the newspaper its desired nationalistic underpinning and recognition as a fighter for the oppressed, no matter where the oppressed was domiciled. The miners were said to have protested against the oppressive conduct of their bosses, low wages and poor conditions of service. The brutal quelling of the demonstration by the police led to the death of about 21 miners which provoked very fierce editorial and features from the Tribune.

Because of this publication, which fell into about five weeks of the beginning of its operations, the editor of the Tribune was summoned by the colonial authorities before the Fitzgerald Commission probing the Enugu coal mine killings for what was considered a seditious publication. Thereafter, however, due to the Tribune publications and the concerned voices of the people, the Western part of the country was co-opted into the drastic steps taken to get to the roots of the crisis and give succour to the families of the victims. According to Arifalo, a coalition was organized by Nigerian political leaders as a response to the police shooting which had Akinola Maja as Chairman and Mbonu Ojike, the Deputy Chairman.

Even though there was no formal Mission Statement on the direction that the Tribune newspaper would follow at its inception, what could be held as the geography of its advocacy was, one, a piece written by the founder of the newspaper in the maiden edition of the publication and the second, a proper editorial policy of the newspaper articulated by Lateef Jakande, the newspaper’s managing director and editor-in-chief (Editorial comment, May 23, 1977 with the title, A leap forward.). This was reproduced by the newspaper on March 4, 1984 under the title, Why we are that way.

Prefaced by a recalcitrant poetry from one C. E. Henley which says “my head is bloody but unbowed,” among other things, Jakande espoused the J. S. Mill utilitarian ideology of the greatest good as the force that fires the newspaper’s zeal and stating that Tribune “owes a tremendous responsibility to the public it serves.” The editorial policy, said Jakande, focuses on, “the expression of public opinion”, rather than the service of any hegemonic quest.

Having performed this role creditably well, however, the years between 1962 and 1966 could unarguably be said to be the most politically tumultuous for the Tribune, as well as the Western region. Nigeria eventually partook of the turmoil, with the overthrow of the First Republic by the military. Even though not as tumultuous as the former, the period of the Second Republic, that is 1979 to 1983, was also as turbulent for the newspaper which witnessed constant struggle to subvert and delegitimize arrayed forces against the interest of the Yoruba people and that of the Awolowo political group.

In the fight between the Premier, Samuel Ladoke Akintola’s political group and Awolowo’s, the government of Akintola nearly grounded the Tribune. Beginning from 1963, the newspaper faced an endless regime of violence visited on it at the whim of the runners of government, as well as persecution, discrimination, intimidation, and many litigations designed to cripple it economically and wind up its overall operations. During the period of the Emergency Rule, the Majekodunmi administration brought several sedition charges against both the Tribune and other newspapers allied to it, especially those in its chain of merger called Amalgamated Press Ltd., like the Daily Service and the Daily Express.

The Daily Express editor, Timothy Olu Adebanjo, courted the ire of Majekodunmi. He was arrested and charged to court. At the trial, in which the Amalgamated Press was defended by the duo of one Odedina and Awolowo’s son, Segun (who was shortly killed in a car crash), the judge found the newspaper chain guilty for going beyond ‘the bounds of fair, decent and honest criticism’ and held that it had the intention of ‘ridiculing and lowering the prestige’ of the Administrator. It fined it £300.

The Akintola government and the Michael Okpara government in the Eastern Region, in alliance with the Action Group that formed UPGA, both engaged in retaliatory media salvoes against adversarial press reporting of their governments. While the Eastern Region, through its Local Government Councils, in 1965, imposed ban on the Daily Times, Morning Post, Daily Sketch etc for certain publications felt to be inimical to the running of its government, the Western Region, in a retaliatory move, also banned the circulation of the Pilot, Outlook and the Tribune from the Western region.

Prior to this, from March 16 to May 19, 1963, the Tribune newspaper was completely off the newsstands as the Akintola government-owned National Bank had instituted a court action against the newspaper, as well as Service Magazine, Iroyin Yoruba, and COR, which were all under the management of the Allied Newspapers Limited. At the commencement of the legal action, the Tribune management tried to wean itself of liability for the debt, citing its being a different legal entity from the Allied Newspapers. It sought to be treated as such in the liquidation of the debt. The court, however, saw things differently as it ordered that the premises and properties of the newspaper be ‘attached’ for a total recovery of the debt owed the bank. At the end of the ‘attachment,’ which resulted in total paralysis of the operations of the newspaper, eight of its printing machines were carted away and were subsequently auctioned at give-away prices to the rival Sketch newspaper established by Akintola as a counter-poise to the Tribune. The newspaper was to make a come-back to the newsstand on May 20, 1965 and it did with a recalcitrant, unbendable editorial on the same day.

As the newspaper sought to deflate the Akintola government by subjecting its policies to scrutiny, the Akintola government too in turn sought to emasculate the newspaper and this it did in several forms, one of which was harassment of its personnel, especially the ones behind what it felt was the irritancy of the newspaper. On February 5, 1964, a Tribune reporter, Adetunji Adeoye, was arrested by the police and was immediately charged for wandering at the Premier’s Lodge at Iyaganku, Ibadan. He had in fact gone to the Lodge to cover the special meeting of the Egbe Omo Olofin, the cultural counter-poise to the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, formed by Akintola to finally sound the knell on the Awolowo political brand. The Tribune had visited very scathing diatribes on the founding of the rival organization and it was thus predictable that the Premier would view any impending report on the budding organization by the Tribune as an adversarial report. The charge could however not stand as the police eventually withdrew it from the court.

Also on April 16, 1964, the newspaper’s editorial courted the ire of the Premier who ordered the police to swoop on the premises of the newspaper. In the editorial, the newspaper had quoted a Minister who said that the Akintola NNDP-led government had upped awareness among the Yoruba people. In its interpretation of this, the editorial reasoned that the Akintola government was trying to incite the Yoruba against other ethnic groups. The Tribune was raided and at the end, several documents were carted away by the police, including a copy of the newspaper’s editorial comment for the second day, April 17, 1964. This later became the subject of a one-count sedition charge slammed on the newspaper by the government.

The Akintola government was still not done with visiting its wrath on the newspaper. For publishing a story entitled COP sacked for querying NNDPer in its August 31, 1964 edition, the government ordered that a team of men from the Nigeria Police raid the newspaper. They arrived on September 2, 1964. They were ostensibly searching for the manuscript of the said story. At the end of the raid, the police took along with them the newspaper’s acting editor, Ayo Ojewumi and a reporter, Bola Aragbaye, who were grilled and eventually, they, alongside the Tribune, were charged to court for false publication.

On January 4, 1965, for writing an editorial which was a critique of the 1964 Federal Elections, where the Tribune took the government of Tafawa Balewa to the cleaners for what it perceived were shoddy elections targeted at promoting the NPC and its NNDP ally into office, police again, for over an hour, swooped on the premises of the newspaper at Adeoyo, Ibadan, ferreting for documents. At the end of the day, the newspaper’s acting editor, Folarin Adeeko, was arrested and quizzed by the police and was later released on bail.

Again, on April 21, 1965, a team of policemen arrived the premises of the Tribune alleging that it was looking for the News Room’s Assignment Book and Desk Diary, an itinerary of reporters on duty and their operations. The team could however not retrieve anything from the premises. On June 5, a sedition charge was slammed on the newspaper for a leader in the April 16edition entitled, Where do we go from here? The notice of the sedition charge was published on the front page of the paper of June 6, 1964.Also, for writing a story the previous day on its front page on a supposed arms cache linked to the NNDP, a detachment of police men, on June 27, 1965, stormed the Tribune. They searched the offices of the newspaper, as well as the home of its editor, Ojewumi, for the manuscript of the story, in vain.

Six days after, precisely on July 3, 1965, Ojewumi was again questioned by the police in connection with a story in the newspaper to the effect that the Western Regional Minister of Information had boasted that 60 prospective NNDP men would be returned unopposed at the rescheduled Regional Elections. Again, on August 25, 1965, the newspaper’s offices were thoroughly ransacked and its editor interrogated over a story in its August 17 edition. The government didn’t end at this. It, on the basis of this story, instituted a sedition suit against the newspaper.

On October 6, the police again swooped on the premises of the newspaper at Adeoyo, alleging that it had come to investigate an anti-NNDP story it had written in the edition of the day. When it could not lay its hands on the manuscript, the police went with two members of staff of the newspaper, to wit the editor, Ojewumi and Kanye Eleko. The story of this swoop was published on the front page of the newspaper’s October 7 edition. The paper alleged that the raid was dictated by a story it carried on September 7, 1965 entitled Ogundina asked to stop threat and thus, the “the CID men dashed to the Red Lion House of the editor, Ayo Ojewumi,” only for them to reappear at about 4pm of the same day looking for the manuscript of the previous day’s editorial comment.

Again, on October 13, 1965, at two hourly intervals, the police raided the premises of the Tribune four times. Two days before, the re-arranged Regional Elections had taken place and the two alliances, viz NNA and UPGA, had declared themselves winner. Expectedly, the Tribune had trumpeted the win of UPGA and Adegbenro, urging the Acting Leader of the Action Group – Adegbenro – to form his cabinet immediately. It backed this seditious call with features and editorial comments.

Miffed by this, the police carted away heaps of the day’s edition of the newspaper and manuscripts of the stories that proclaimed Adegbenro’s victory. This raid was followed by a threat from the NNDP Secretary, Richard Akinjide, to thenceforth clampdown on “irresponsible journalism and publication of false news.”A detached team of Nigerian and local government policemen, on November 14, again swooped on the Tribune. Numbering about 150, they were at the newspaper’s premises before sunrise, ostensibly searching for thugs and arms allegedly kept in the premises. Some arrests were made, including four night guards that the newspaper hired to keep watch over the premises after the NNDP thugs’ arson of November 7 and they were subsequently charged for wandering and remanded in detention.

Ojewumi, who was to face stiffer wrath of government later, was on December 1, 1965 accosted by the police who said they had information that he was in possession of Indian hemp. A team of men of the police, led by Chief Superintendent Kofo Lasekan, had swooped on the Tribune and accosted Ojewumi that the team was looking for “Indian hemp in your possession.” The story was written in the newspaper of December 2, 1965, with Ojewumi warning, in the Editor’s note corner, all “UPGA leaders and supporters (against) receiving any stranger they do not know very well.” He had earlier been assaulted by men who were said to be NNDP thugs and his car damaged in his Ilobu, now Osun State, country home. He was subsequently detained for assaulting another person.

Then, from January 6 1966, the Tribune was off the newsstand. Giving reasons for this, the newspaper said it was not published “because the Nigeria Police, in a surprise swoop on the premises of the African Press, succeeded in paralyzing the production of the paper.” It was apparent that the newspaper’s editorial comment of the previous day, denouncing the Premier as a ‘shameless liar’ and in another segment of the edition, speculating that the Deputy Premier, Fani-Kayode might have been mortally wounded in a political fracas in his hometown of Ile-Ife, had led to the raid. The police, led by the Chief Superintendent for Ibadan Division, Kofo Lasekan, eventually carted 21 persons into detention, including visitors to the premises of the newspaper.

However, one long-drawn strain and intimidation on the newspaper was the trial and imprisonment of its editor, Ayo Ojewumi. The newspaper, on its own, most times in conjunction with Ojewumi, was slammed sedition charges and on some occasions, ordered to pay fines. Some of the charges had not been resolved as at the time of the collapse of the republic.

The sedition charge against Ojewumi was however concluded. Charged for seditious publication of the leader entitled Where do we go from here?(April 16, 1964), the editor was immediately detained by the police. The editorial comment, quite frankly, contained one of the newspaper’s most mordant strictures ever. It called government actions “awful, stinking, disgraceful and ugly,” and accused it of “reckless squandermania and abuse of office,” alleging in the same mould that ministers in the Akintola government, including the Minister of Agriculture, were deploying government farm equipment “to plough their fields.” Also on the editorial’s allegations was that that ministers, numbering over 50, collected £1,000 and £3,000 respectively in bonuses during the Republic and Christmas day celebrations. It also accused the Premier of hiring an Apala musician for personal fancy, at the public expense, for £20 a day, during the census celebration.

The crisis was so bad that on November 5, 1963, a woman, Sikuola Odunaro, shouted the name of Awolowo while the Premier was passing by. Premier Akintola ordered her bundled into a police van. This it became the second lead story of the Tribune and entitled Woman arrested for ‘Awo’ cry.  

As it were, on the morning of January 15, 1966, the military took over government via a bloody putsch, after an initial failed bid by Kaduna Nzeogwu and other Majors to oust the Federal Government. That was after Akintola, Balewa, Sardauna and other government officials had been killed. Doing an epilogue of the Akintola government and the fate of the Tribunein its hands, Ojewumi had written an opinion article entitled, The collapse of the First Republic.

During the civilian government of President Shehu Shagari, the Tribuneequally faced persecution in the hands of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and its elements. Having now been in the hands of the UPN, the Daily Sketch also joined the positive press received by the UPN and negative reports by the NPN. For all these, however, the Sketch became a recipient of federal repression. Its Managing Director, Segun Osoba, was on September 1, 1981 charged before a Yaba Chief Magistrate’s Court for authorizing the publication of “a false news item.” The news item in question was a story in the newspaper of May 5, 1981. The prosecutor claimed that the story was capable of causing fear and alarm to the public. Its editor, Sola Oyegbemi, also went to court over the same story. The paper had reported that a police source confirmed to it that a robbery had taken place in broad daylight in Lagos. Oyegbemi was promptly arrested by the police and charged to court for conspiracy to commit felony in the publication of the “false news.” Oyegbemi prayed the court to restrain the police to desist from compelling him to disclose the source of his information. The court granted Odugbemi’s prayers and ruled that the disclosure would be an infringement on the fundamental human rights of the journalist.

During the military era that began from 1983 and ended in 1999, the newspaper received ambivalent responses to its publications by the military governments. While the Ibrahim Babangida government was cautious of public backlash for rising against the “newspaper of Awolowo,” the Sani Abacha government, though didn’t attack the organization as a corporate entity, showed its displeasure with its adversarial attacks on it by singling individual journalists out for sanction. On May 1, 1998, seven persons were killed in a May Day riots in Ibadan. In the melee, Editor of the Sunday Tribune, Femi Adeoti, Bola Ige and Lam Adesina were hauled into detention as a result of the chaos. They were detained on the order of the Abacha government whose military governor, Ahmed Usman, called “Prisoners of War.”

Since 1999 when the civilian government came into being, the Tribune has continued its avant-garde role of communicating the reality of society, jabbing governments in power when necessary and essentially acting out the role of public ombudsman. That role has not changed and is not going to change as the newspaper prepares its journey towards its centenary celebrations which is just 26 years away. Ladbone (Lade Bonuola) held in his seminal article earlier referenced that "it is too late to get the Tribune to bend to anybody's inclination, tendencies or beliefs or gag her editors." While Tribune continues on that road of "honourable intransigence", to its apakamaku (undying) spirit, I pour libation of victory while I wish it a happy 74th birthday in advance. 

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith ~ 1 John 5:4.

Introduction:

Victory is very sweet. Defeat can be a very bitter poison. God is not glorified when you live as a victim of past experiences or of present circumstances. Happily, victory is a uniform banner of every new creation man (1John 5:4).

Rejecting or ignoring covenant victory in Christ Jesus should never be an option. It could be tantamount to a high spiritual crime of personal injury and a great disservice to God’s kingdom. No one can rule from a bottom-level position, neither can anyone call the shots while wriggling, grieving and sulking under the circumstances.

Knowing this above, Satan so virulently attacks the saints to make us more vulnerable to defeat, especially in this end-time, just like any footballer could be on the field of play at “injury time” (1Peter 4:7). He is always looking for a leading light to dim, or turn outrightly into darkness. May you never fall his prey in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Generally, the devil lacks appeal to any sensible mind, especially in his casts of wickedness. Therefore, whenever he targets a destiny for destruction, he often appears in subtleties and disguises – as an angel of light. But, once he discovers that his chances are slim to succeed this way, he wears the garb of a roaring lion, and uses force, intimidation and harassments.

The great piece of good news here is that it is not everyone that the devil can swallow. Those who are sober, focused, vigilant and prayerful are swallow-proof against him (1Peter 5:8). Whenever the devil is resisted, he flees (James 4:7).

The devil is a defeated foe and he knows it. Each time you resist him, he assumes you know it too and he flees. The devil normally chickens out before any believer who knows his or her right in Christ and walks in righteousness. And, any believer who can exercise a steadfast, pure and firm faith in Christ can overpower the devil.

Ours is total victory over sin, Satan, the world and the flesh through faith. However, this faith has to be built in Christ and through Christ alone. Jesus is the only firm foundation, all other ground is sinking sand.

Guaranteeing Your Faith In Christ Alone

Pure faith in Christ can be built by taking your place in the Word of God (Roman 10:17)! You couldn’t determine how and where you were born, but you can choose how you live and die if you place your focus on God’s Word.

We have been redeemed from: troubles (Psalms 25:22); death (Hosea 13:14); sins (Titus 2:14); curses (Galatian 3:13); the enemies (Luke 1:74); afflictions (Acts 7:10); powers of darkness (Colossians 1:13); the wrath to come (1Thessalonians 1:10). This is the truth of our case from the standpoint of God’s Word, no matter the facts of our present experiences.

Your faith in the Word is very pertinent to what you get on earth. The major difference between victors and victims as well as successes and failures is in their focus on the truth of God’s Word, and their heavenly tasks at hand (Hebrews 12:1-4).

Whenever you determine to boldly occupy your place in dominion, God stands on your side and even your simple adventures turn to brilliant achievements. But, once the devil breaks your focus, you become a cheap victim!

Working Our Ways Back To The Redemption Platform

From the foregoing, no doubt, all Christians have been delivered (Colossians 1:13). But, not all Christians are enjoying the full benefits of the redemption because of three major culprits, namely: unbelief, ignorance and ungodliness. If we’re to make progress and enjoy our redemptive benefits to their fullest ranks, we must skillfully engage the veritable tools of the covenant to collar those major culprits.

Firstly, in order to overcome unbelief, you must believe in your Bible identity. Most of our human problems are actually festered by our identity crisis, whereby we fail to discover our real roots in God and firmly believe in it. See, if you don’t know where you are coming from, you may never know where you are going.

Your true origin does not depend upon your color, gender, educational attainments, current achievements, and so on. Those may tell only a bit about you, but never so much about who you really are and where you are actually going.

Your actual origin is in Christ in God (Matthew 1:1). You must be very conscious of this fact: the devil is very helpless in the face of its reality. Discover your dignity and begin to enjoy your status as a victor through faith in Christ (Galatian 3:14).

Secondly, ignorance fades into oblivion when you embrace the beautiful provisions of your new birth in Christ Jesus. You were born again to reign again through Christ (Romans 5:17). You were redeemed to be enriched, and you were enriched to enrich the world around you ((Galatians 3:13-14).

Ignorance is highly punishable in the realm of the spirit (Hosea 4:6; 6:6; 2 Chronicles 15:3,5-6; Job 36:12; Isaiah 5:13; 2 Timothy 3:16). Knowledge enhances fulfilled destiny and remarkable exploits. We were neither called to sweat, nor saved to struggle. It is our very costly disease of ignorance that prolongs stress.

For the avoidance of doubt, the curse of the law refers to the consequences which the execution of the law would inflict upon the law breakers, which include: death, humiliation, sicknesses, poverty, defeat, unfruitfulness, etc. (Deuteronomy 28:15-45). On the other hand, the blessings of Abraham talks of the blessings which Abraham enjoyed through justification: exaltation, fruitfulness, good health, prosperity, being head and not a tail etc.

The believers in Christ are treated to the fullness of the blessings of the seed of Abraham (Romans 4:16). But, all those who refuse Jesus Christ today are yet dwelling under the curse (Matthew 27:25). If you know this truth, happy are you if you act upon it accordingly.

Obedience to the commandments of God is the antidote to the spirit of ungodliness. Ungodliness is a satanic tool that robs men of the grace that sustains progress, but obedience empowers their covenant progress. Obedience was the badge of Abraham, Moses and David. Even Jesus Christ showed us that deadly obedience always paves the way to eternal honor (Philippians 2:5-10).

Obedience means complying with divine orders (Jeremiah 7:23; Acts 5:29). Yes, the Lord is a very loving Redeemer, but to displease Him through a lifestyle of disobedience may be a very costly misadventure. All who violate the laws of God are exposed to its penalties (Galatian 3:10).

Meanwhile, every error defeated by discipline paves a way for great victories. Today, as you stay hooked to God and His royal provisions, may you enjoy a fulfilled destiny round-about, and experience victory in all your vocations, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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