WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces intensify pressure on Ukraine's Avdiivka, Kherson

Russian forces aiming to contain a four-month-old Ukrainian counteroffensive maintained unrelenting pressure on Sunday on the shattered town of Avdiivka in the east and intensified shelling in the southern area of Kherson.

Russia has focused on the industrial east since pulling back from a failed advance on Kyiv at the start of the February 2022 invasion and its forces have tried to maintain positions in Kherson since abandoning the region's main town late last year.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces, in its evening report, said Ukrainian forces repelled nearly 20 Russian attacks around Avdiivka, its buildings now largely reduced to shells. Russian air strikes hit nearby villages, it said.

Avdiivka has become a watchword for resistance, viewed as the gateway to recapturing the Russian-held city of Donetsk and the rest of Donbas -- made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

It was briefly seized in 2014 when Russian-backed separatists captured swathes of eastern Ukraine, but was later retaken by Ukrainian forces who, in the ensuing nine years, have built solid fortifications.

"It is true that Avdiivka has significance," Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for the Ukraine Defence Ministry's Intelligence Directorate, told the Espreso TV news outlet.

"This is not the first instance the occupying forces have boosted tension with declarations of taking over all of Donetsk and Luhansk...Their plans have failed, the deadlines pushed back. This is just another episode of tension."

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the situation in Avdiivka and the nearby town of Maryinka was "particularly tough. Numerous Russian attacks. But our positions are being held.

"Every day, we need results for Ukraine, to withstand Russian assaults, to eliminate occupiers, to move forward," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "Whether it's a kilometre or 500 metres, but forward, every day."

Russian military accounts made no mention of Avdiivka, but described successful operations against Ukrainian positions to the east in Bakhmut, seized by Moscow in May after months of fighting.

In Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said several villages had been struck in shelling episodes, as had transport and food production sites in the city of Kherson.

Reuters could not independently verify the accounts from either side.

Russian forces routinely shell Kherson and villages on the western bank of the Dnipro from positions on the eastern bank, where they retreated late last year.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War has reported in the past week that Ukrainian forces have crossed the Dnipro to take up new positions of their own and pursue Russian forces.

 

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainians using Russian chips for drones – media

The Ukrainian military is using electronic components salvaged from Russian Geran-2 loitering munitions to assemble their own suicide drones, the online outlet Mash reported on Saturday.

The outlet circulated imagery of a Ukrainian homebuilt suicide drone, apparently containing a navigation module from a Geran-2 (Geranium-2). The large crude-looking UAV, which features two prop motors, was intercepted by Russian forces. It was not immediately clear whether the drone was shot down or forced to land through electronic warfare means.

The re-purposed navigation component used in the Ukrainian drone was identified by the outlet as a Kometa (Comet) module that is utilized in Geran-2 drones. The module is said to be located in the wing section of the Russian loitering munition and usually survives impact. The Kometa is said to use the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS for setting the course of the drone. 

Russia began widely using Geran-2 drones in Ukraine last fall, launching the long-range munitions at targets deep in the country’s territory. They widely became known as “mopeds” during the conflict, thanks to the noise emitted by the engine.

Kiev and its Western backers have repeatedly claimed the drones are actually of Iranian origin, pointing out the striking similarities between the Geran-2 and Shahed-136.

No solid evidence to back up such claims has ever emerged, while both Moscow and Tehran have repeatedly denied the drones had been supplied by Iran to Russia. However, Tehran admitted to sending a sample selection of drones to Russia months before the full-blown conflict between Moscow and Kiev broke out in February 2022.

 

Reuters/RT

Lea Ypi’s Free: Coming of Age at the End of History has met with a hostile reception in her home country of Albania, and it is easy to see why. Her self-description as a “Marxist Albanian professor of political theory at the London School of Economics” says it all.

Reading Ypi’s book, I was struck by the parallel between her life and that of Viktor Kravchenko, the Soviet official who defected while visiting New York in 1944. His famous bestselling memoir, I Chose Freedom, became the first substantial eyewitness account of the horrors of Stalinism, beginning with its detailed description of the Holodomor (famine) in Ukraine in the early 1930s. Still a true believer at the time, Kravchenko had participated in enforcing collectivization, and therefore knew of what he spoke.

Kravchenko’s publicly known story ends in 1949, when he triumphantly won a big libel suit against a French Communist newspaper. At the trial in Paris, the Soviets flew in his ex-wife to testify to his corruption, alcoholism, and domestic abuse. The court was not swayed, but people tend to forget what happened next. Immediately following the trial, when he was being hailed around the world as a Cold War hero, Kravchenko grew deeply worried about the anti-Communist witch hunts unfolding in the United States. To fight Stalinism with McCarthyism, he warned, was to stoop to the Stalinists’ level.

As he spent more time in the West, Kravchenko grew increasingly aware of its own injustices and became obsessed with reforming Western democratic societies from within. After writing a lesser-known sequel to I Chose Freedom, entitled I Chose Justice, he embarked on a crusade to discover a new, less exploitative mode of economic production. That quest led him to Bolivia, where he invested in an unsuccessful effort to organize poor farmers into new collectives.

Crushed by that failure, he withdrew into private life and ultimately shot himself at his home in New York. And no, his suicide was not due to some nefarious KGB blackmail operation. It was an expression of despair, and further proof that his original denunciation of the Soviet Union had always been a genuine protest against injustice.

Ypi’s Free does in one volume what Kravchenko did in two. When Albania descended into civil war in 1997, her whole world fell apart. Reduced to hiding in her apartment and writing a diary while Kalashnikov shots clattered outside, she made an extraordinary decision: She would study philosophy.

But what is even more extraordinary is that her engagement with philosophy brought her back to Marxism. Her story attests to the fact that the most penetrating critics of Communism have often been ex-Communists, for whom the critique of “actually existing socialism” was simply the only way to remain faithful to their political commitments.

Free grew out of an earlier treatise on how socialist and liberal notions of freedom are interrelated, and it is this perspective that structures the book. The first part, on how Albanians “chose freedom,” provides an eminently readable memoir of Ypi’s childhood in the last decade of communist rule in Albania. While it includes all the horrors of daily life – food shortages, political denunciations, control and suspicion, torture and harsh punishments – it is also punctuated by comical moments. Even under such harsh and desolate conditions, people found ways to preserve a modicum of dignity and honesty.

In the second part, which describes Albania’s post-communist turmoil after 1990, Ypi recounts how the freedom chosen by – or, rather, imposed on – Albanians failed to deliver justice. It culminates in a chapter about the 1997 civil war, at which point the narrative breaks off and is replaced by snippets from Ypi’s diary. The strength of Ypi’s writing is that, even here, she is tackling the big questions, exploring how ambitious ideological projects usually end not in triumph but in confusion and disorientation.

In the 1990s, one such project was replaced by another. With communism toppled, ordinary Albanians were subjected to “democratic transition” and “structural reforms” designed to make them more “like Europe” with its “free market.” Ypi’s bitter conclusion in the last paragraph of the book is worth quoting in full:

“My world is as far from freedom as the one my parents tried to escape. Both fall short of that ideal. But their failures took distinctive forms, and without being able to understand them, we will remain forever divided. I wrote my story to explain, to reconcile, and to continue the struggle.”

Here we have an ironic rebuttal to Marx’s 11th Thesis on Feuerbach, which famously observes that, “Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” The counterpoint is that one cannot change the world for the better unless one first understands it. This is where the great initiators of both the Communist and liberal projects fell short.

The conclusion Ypi draws from this insight, however, is not the cynical stance that meaningful change is either impossible or inevitable. Rather, it is that the struggle (for freedom) goes on, and always will. Ypi thus feels that she owes a debt to “all the people of the past who sacrificed everything because they were not apathetic, they were not cynical, they did not believe that things fall into place if you just let them take their course.”

Therein resides our global predicament. If we believe that things will fall into place by just letting them take their course, we will end up with multiple catastrophes, from ecological breakdown and the rise of authoritarianism to social chaos and disintegration. Ypi channels what philosopher Giorgio Agamben called “the courage of hopelessness,” his recognition that passive optimism is a recipe for complacency, and thus a hurdle to meaningful thought and action.

At the end of Communism, there was a widespread, euphoric hope that freedom and democracy would bring a better life; eventually, though, many lost that hope. That is the point where the real work begins. In the end, Ypi does not offer any easy way out, and therein lies the strength of her book. Such abstinence is what makes it philosophical. The point is not to change the world blindly; it is, first and foremost, to see and understand it.

 

Project Syndicate

People often ask me, TOE, how do I learn leadership. Should I go on a course? Buy a book? Get a mentor? Are leaders born, or can you become a leader?

Just as I say about business success, leadership has many components – luck, being in the right place at the right time.

But I also believe that those talents and those disciplines that you bring, creating a vision and the resilience and focus that delivers that vision, can also forge your own personal leadership.

I was fortunate to work with Ebitimi Banigo, at the start of my career. My leadership philosophy was built working with him. It started with Banigo taking the time to read my application letter and giving me a chance to prove myself at Allstates Trust Bank in 1988.

When my colleagues tell me today, “TOE you respond too fast to our emails”, I laugh because I learnt from the master himself – Banigo. When I sent memos to him, he would respond within twenty-four hours; therefore, why should I not respond even faster in this age of technology?

These are some of the leadership values I learned from my time with Banigo, and I practise them all today.

Leaders must demand excellence: Only by going the extra mile and pushing ourselves, will we truly develop and stand out. Hard work and excellence made my bosses Toyin Akin-Johnson and Banigo notice, and subsequently, believe in me. At twenty-seven, I went from being a trainee to being a boss, when I was appointed a branch manager – the youngest bank branch manager at that time. All the things I learned earlier came into play, and I continued learning.

Good leaders find in people what people did not know they possess – Leaders recognise the talent in their team and then push to unlock the talent. When I work, I work to achieve my goals, but I also work to unlock my teams’ skills. I know everyone I work with has huge potential – for me my success is also about the success of others, growing and nurturing their talent, that is the foundation of our growth at Heirs Holdings Group.

This focus on talent, teams, personal transformation, is why I am so insistent on creating institutions, cultures, and pathways, where human capital can thrive. It is why I am an investor in businesses, but also entrepreneurs across Africa.

Leaders must walk their talk – A leader must be consistent. People want to trust a leader that they believe has integrity. Leadership is not just about telling people what to do, it’s also about setting an example. A good leader must lead by example and practice what they preach, this demonstrates integrity, it builds trust and respect.

Leaders must impart knowledge: I benefited from the mentorship of Banigo at Allstates Trust Bank. He helped me to develop my strategic thinking, my frames of reference and to channel my ideas into concrete actions, so that when the moment of opportunity arrived, at the age of thirty-four, I had the self-belief to gather a small group together to take over and revive a failing bank – take that enormous step, that is still shaping an industry and a continent today.

Today, when I am faced with an impossible situation, I ask myself, ‘What would Banigo do?’ I worked with Banigo from 1988 – 1995, till this day, he is the one I turn to, when I need advice.

 

PT

As the Supreme Court gets set to hear appeals seeking to remove President Bola Tinubu from office, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the February 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has said that nothing ought to stop the apex court from accepting his fresh evidence.

Atiku stated this in a reply on the point of law he filed to counter objections that Tinubu, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, raised to query the admissibility of documents that were released to him by the Chicago State University, CSU, in the United States of America.

The former Vice President, who is challenging the outcome of the presidential election that was held on February 25, maintained that the documents he is seeking the permission of the apex court to tender would establish his allegation that Tinubu was not only ineligible to contest the election but was equally involved in certificate forgery.

The documents Atiku is seeking to tender before the apex court are Tinubu’s academic records that the CSU handed over to him on October 2, 2023.

The 32-page documents were released on the orders of Judge Nancy Maldonado of the District Court of Illinois, Eastern Division, Illinois, United States of America.

The US court had ordered the CSU to release the said documents to Atiku, despite Tinubu’s objection.

However, following Atiku’s request to tender the documents, Tinubu, INEC and the APC raised separate objections wherein they argued that the Supreme Court could not admit the evidence at this stage of the case.

They argued that the 180 days allowed by the law for hearing of petitions against the outcome of the presidential election, had since elapsed.

According to them, the apex court, at this stage, lacks the requisite jurisdiction to receive and decide on the fresh evidence since it was not presented within the prescribed 180 days.

In his response to the objections, Atiku, through his team of lawyers led by Chris Uche, argued that, contrary to the position of the respondents, “there is no such constitutional limit of 180 days on the lower court to hear and determine a presidential election petition, such that can rob this Honourable Court to exercise its power in any manner whatsoever”.

“The parties are agreed that the Constitution is the fons et origo and the grundnorm, and supersedes any other legislation,” he added.

Besides, Atiku maintained that while tribunals were established to deal with election matters from Houses of Assembly, National Assembly and Governorship elections, the Constitution gave the jurisdiction to entertain disputes from presidential elections only to the Court of Appeal.

“Thereafter, the Constitution was intentional and deliberate in setting the 180 days limit only for Election Tribunals, and not for the Court of Appeal. On the other hand, when it came to appeals, the Constitution clearly and expressly extended same to the Court of Appeal.

“The Constitution clearly excluded Court of Appeal in the preceding subsection,” he submitted.

Atiku further argued that a cursory look at Section 285 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, shows that the Presidential Election Petition Court, PEPC, that heard and dismissed his petition, was not an election tribunal.

He contended that the framers of the Constitution limited the application of the 180 days specifically to election tribunals by virtue of section 285(6), excluding the Court of Appeal.

“On the other hand, when it came to the next subsection, namely Section 285(7), they intentionally included and mentioned Court of Appeal. The trite maxim, my Lords, is “expressio unius est exclusio alterius”, meaning that the express mention of one thing in a statutory provision automatically excludes any other which otherwise would have been included by implication.

“Furthermore, when granting jurisdiction to the Court of Appeal to entertain presidential election petitions, the Constitution did not pretend that it was conferring the jurisdiction on a “tribunal”; it clearly gave the jurisdiction to the Court of Appeal. Thus, section 239(1) of the Constitution specifically provides thus:-

“Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the Court of Appeal shall, to the exclusion of any other court of law in Nigeria, have original jurisdiction to hear and determine any question as to whether – (a) any person has been validity elected to the office of President or Vice President under this Constitution.”

Uche also noted that when conferring on the Supreme Court the jurisdiction to entertain appeals arising from decisions in presidential election petitions, the Constitution limited itself to “Court of Appeal” and made no mention of ‘tribunal’.

He cited Section 233 subsections (1) and (2)(e)(i) of the Constitution which provides that: “The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction, to the exclusion of any other court of law in Nigeria, to hear and determine appeals from the Court of Appeal.

“An appeal shall lie from decisions of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court as of right in the following cases – (e) decisions on any question – (i) whether any person has been validly elected to the office of President or Vice President under this Constitution”.

He added that it was based on the above facts that the Presidential Election Petition Court itself administratively refused to be referred to as the “Presidential Election Petition Tribunal”, but the “Presidential Election Petition Court”.

“The case is not whether 2nd Respondent attended Chicago State University, but whether he presented a forged certificate to the INEC.

“That at the trial, a National Youth Service Corps certificate with serial number 173807 presented by the 2nd Respondent to the 1st Respondent was equally tendered by the Appellants/Applicants at the trial as “EXHIBIT PBD 1A” with the name Tinubu Bola Adekunle, which is annexed herewith as EXHIBIT-J,” Atiku added.

 

Vanguard

A former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega, has called for an amendments to the Electoral Act, 2022.

He said though the country’s electoral law could be said to be the best in Nigeria’s history, it is not perfect; and there was the need for further amendments to remove ambiguities, clarify and strengthen some of its sections.

Jega spoke at a two-day retreat organised for senators by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State.

The amendments, he said, should make the electronic transmission of results mandatory from the next general elections in 2027.

He also said the president should be divested of power to appoint the chairman and National Commissioners of INEC to free the commission from partisanship.

He said the law should be reviewed to ensure that all cases arising from the conduct of elections are resolved and judgements made before the date of swearing-in.

Transmission of election results

Many stakeholders had expressed concern that section 64 of the Electoral Act, which states the process of transmission of election results, is susceptible to manipulation and misinterpretation.

But Jega said the section should be clarified by making election transmission of election results compulsory, including uploading of polling unit level results and result sheets used at different levels of result collation.

“INEC would have enough time to prepare for this, if the Act is amended early enough in the ensuing electoral cycle,” he said.

He also called for the introduction of either early voting for eligible voters on election duty, such as INEC staff, observers and their drivers, security personnel, and journalists or special arrangement to enable them vote on election day, especially for presidential elections.

The former INEC boss advocated for diaspora voting, at least for presidential elections, to enable citizens to vote, especially those on essential service abroad.

There is need to enhance inclusion of women, if necessary by up to 35% of elective positions in parliament, and in all political parties’ candidate lists, he added.

Other amendments

Cross-carpeting by elected officials, Jega said, should be proscribed not only for members of the National Assembly but also for elected executives, governors and chairmen of LGAs while INEC should be empowered to prepare for elections to fill the vacancy once it has evidence of the act of cross-carpeting.

He said, “There is need to place stringent conditions for candidate withdrawal and replacement to prevent abuse. Empower INEC to also screen and if necessary disqualify candidates whose credentials show that they are unqualified or in respect of whom it has evidence of forgery and other forms of criminality.

“There is need for the legislation to allow even candidates outside the political parties, as well as tax-paying citizens to file suits against candidates who provide false information to INEC regarding their candidature.

“Although Sections 132(8) & (9) have given timelines within which the Tribunals and courts of appellate jurisdiction should issue verdicts, there is need, particularly in respect of elected executive positions, to ensure that all cases are resolved and judgements made before the date of swearing-in.

“Review the process of appointments into INEC, specifically to divest/minimize the involvement of the President in appointment of Chairman and National Commissioners of INEC, in order to free the commission from the damaging negative perception of “he who pays the piper dictates the tune”.

“The Justice Uwais Committee recommended that the responsibility for advertising, screening, shortlisting and submission to Council of State for recommendation to Senate for confirmation hearings, for this category of officers, should be entrusted to the National Judicial Council (NJC).

“On second thought, and for obvious reasons, I will recommend a joint committee of the National Assembly be given this responsibility, with a criteria, for transparency, non-partisanship and stakeholder engagement for the process. The applicants/nominees for these appointments should be subjected to public scrutiny with regards to knowledge, skills, good character and non-partisanship. Guidelines should be provided for submitting petitions against any nominee during this process.”

 

Daily Trust

Nigeria is turning to a fleet of tiny river-going tankers to boost its oil production because one of its key oil pipelines has been broken for months.

Africa’s top producer, racing to lift output before OPEC decides new oil-production quotas, has started using the tiny vessels to get a new grade of oil, Nembe Creek, up the Niger river delta and onto an ocean-going ship that’s stationed off the nation’s coast.

The same oil previously went by the Nembe Creek trunk pipeline to the Bonny terminal, which is operated by Shell Plc.

That conduit, operated by Aiteo Group and previously running at about 150,000 barrels a day, hasn’t sent oil to Bonny since Feb. 2022, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Bonny is also fed by another pipeline and that flow continues.

While the rerouting reduces overall shipments from Bonny, it should have no effect on Shell’s share of Nigerian oil. Shell sold the pipeline to Aiteo in 2015.

The new logistics setup uses a floating storage offloading vessel called Galilean 7, which is anchored near the Brass terminal, according to a terminal information sheet seen by Bloomberg.

Shuttling Nembe Creek oil, which is owned by Nigeria and Aiteo, is a significantly more expensive method than by pipeline.

The river’s depth limits the size of the ships that can sail up it, meaning about 24 individual deliveries are needed in order to get enough oil to fill a standard ocean going ship.

A Shell spokesman declined to comment. Aiteo and NNPC didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

A 1-million barrel Suezmax tanker Maran Orpheus lifted the first cargo of the new grade from Nembe Creek terminal on Oct. 10, tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Nigeria is scheduled to load approximately 65,000 barrels a day of the new Nembe Creek grade this month and next, according to export loading programs seen by Bloomberg. That would replace most, but not all, of the reduction in flows from Bonny.

Egypt's border crossing opens to let a trickle of desperately needed aid into besieged Gaza

The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza opened Saturday to let a trickle of desperately needed aid into the besieged Palestinian territory for the first time since Israel sealed it off and began pounding it with airstrikes following Hamas’ bloody rampage two weeks ago.

Just 20 trucks were allowed in, an amount aid workers said was insufficient to address the unprecedented humanitarian crisis. More than 200 trucks carrying 3,000 tons of aid have been waiting nearby for days.

Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians, half of whom have fled their homes, are rationing food and drinking dirty water. Hospitals say they are running low on medical supplies and fuel for emergency generators amid a territory-wide power blackout. Five hospitals have stopped functioning because of fuel shortages and bombing damage, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said.

Doctors reported using sewing needles to stitch wounds, and using vinegar as a disinfectant until the shops ran out. With anesthesia running low, the screams of patients could be heard during surgery.

Doctors Without Borders said Gaza’s health care system is “facing collapse.”

Meantime, Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry reported heavy Israeli airstrikes across the territory overnight into Sunday, including southern areas where Israel had told Palestinians to seek refuge. The ministry said that among the sites hit were homes and a cafe in the evacuation zone where dozens of displaced residents had sought shelter.

Israel’s military has said it is striking Hamas members and installations, but does not target civilians.

In a statement posted early Sunday on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, the Israeli military said it had launched a strike on the Al-Ansar mosque at the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

There are growing expectations of a ground offensive that Israel says would be aimed at rooting out Hamas. Israel said Friday that it doesn’t plan to take long-term control over the small but densely populated Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Cabinet late Saturday to discuss the expected invasion, Israeli media reported.

Israel’s military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, said the country planned to step up its airstrikes starting Saturday as preparation for the next stage of the war.

“We will deepen our attacks to minimize the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said, repeating his call for Gaza City residents to head south for their safety.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas but has given few details about what it envisions for Gaza if it succeeds.

Yifat Shasha-Biton, a Cabinet minister, said there was broad consensus in the government that there will have to be a “buffer zone” in Gaza to keep Palestinians away from the border.

“We need to create a distance between the border and our communities,” she told Channel 13 TV, adding that no decisions had been made on its size or other specifics.

Tensions have risen in the West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops, arrest raids and attacks by Jewish settlers. Israeli forces have held the West Bank under a tight grip, closing crossings into the territory and checkpoints between cities, measures they say are aimed at preventing attacks.

The opening of Rafah came after more than a week of high-level diplomacy, including visits to the region by U.S. President Joe Biden and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Israel had insisted nothing would enter Gaza until Hamas released all the captives from its Oct. 7 attack on towns in southern Israel.

Late Friday, Hamas freed its first captives — an American woman and her teenage daughter. It was not immediately clear if there was a connection between the release and the aid deliveries. Israel says Hamas is still holding at least 210 hostages, though their conditions — and if they are even alive — remains unknown.

On Saturday morning, an Associated Press reporter saw the 20 trucks heading north from Rafah to Deir al-Balah, a quiet farming town where many evacuees from the north have sought shelter. Hundreds of foreign passport holders at Rafah hoping to escape the conflict were not allowed to leave.

American citizen Dina al- Khatib said she and her family were desperate to get out. “It’s not like previous wars,” she said. “There is no electricity, no water, no internet, nothing.”

The trucks carried 44,000 bottles of drinking water — enough for 22,000 people for a single day, according to UNICEF. “This first, limited water will save lives, but the needs are immediate and immense,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

The World Health Organization said four of the trucks were carrying medical supplies, including trauma medicine and portable trauma bags for first responders.

“We need many, many, many more trucks and a continual flow of aid,” said, the head of the U.N.’s World Food Program, Cindy McCain.

Gaza’s Hamas-run government called for a secure corridor operating around the clock.

Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said “the humanitarian situation in Gaza is under control.” He said the aid would be delivered only to southern Gaza, where the army has ordered people to relocate, adding that no fuel would enter.

Biden said the United States “remains committed to ensuring that civilians in Gaza will continue to have access to food, water, medical care, and other assistance, without diversion by Hamas.”

The U.S. government would work to keep Rafah open and let U.S. citizens leave Gaza, he said in a statement.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said late Saturday he was sending additional air defense systems to the Middle East and putting more troops on “prepare to deploy” orders.

Guterres emphasized international concern over civilians in Gaza, telling a summit in Cairo that Hamas’ “reprehensible assault” on Israel “can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”

Two Egyptian officials and a European diplomat said extensive negotiations with Israel and the U.N. to allow fuel deliveries for hospitals had yielded little progress. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information on the sensitive deliberations.

One Egyptian official said they were discussing the release of dual-national hostages in return for fuel, but that Israel was insisting on the release of all hostages.

The release of Judith Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie, on Friday brought some hope to the families of others believed held hostage.

Rachel Goldberg, whose son is thought to have been badly wounded before he was taken hostage, said she was “very relieved” by the news but urged quick work to save others, including her son.

“I think he could be dying,” she said. “So we don’t have time.”

Hamas said it was working with Egypt, Qatar and other mediators “to close the case” of hostages if security circumstances permit.

Israel has also traded fire along its northern border with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militants, raising concerns about a second front opening up. The Israeli military said Saturday it struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon in response to recent rocket launches and attacks with anti-tank missiles.

“Hezbollah has decided to participate in the fighting, and we are exacting a heavy price for this,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a visit to the border.

Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed Saturday, and the group’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, warned that Israel would pay a high price if it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Israel ordered its citizens to leave Egypt and Jordan — which made peace with it decades ago — and to avoid travel to a number of Arab and Muslim countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Bahrain, which forged diplomalarge demonstrationstic ties with Israel in 2020. Protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza have erupted across the region, and large demonstrations were held Saturday in several European and U.S. cities.

An Israeli ground assault would likely lead to a dramatic escalation in casualties on both sides in urban fighting. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed in the war — mostly civilians slain during the Hamas attack.

More than 4,300 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. That includes the disputed toll from a hospital explosion.

At the summit Saturday, Egypt President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi called for ensuring aid to Gaza, negotiating a cease-fire and resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which broke down more than a decade ago. He also said the conflict would never be resolved “at the expense of Egypt,” referring to fears Israel may try to push Gaza’s population into the Sinai Peninsula.

King Abdullah II of Jordan said Israel’s attacks on Gaza were “a war crime” and slammed the international community’s response.

“Anywhere else, attacking civilian infrastructure and deliberately starving an entire population of food, water, electricity, and basic necessities would be condemned,” he said.

Over a million people have been displaced in Gaza. Many heeded Israel’s orders to evacuate from north to south within the sealed-off coastal enclave. But Israel has continued to bomb areas in southern Gaza .

A senior Israeli military official said the air force will not hit the area where aid is being distributed unless rockets, which militants are relentlessly launching at Israel, are fired from there. “It’s a safe zone,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to reveal military information.

 

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ex-German leader reveals why Russia-Ukraine negotiations failed

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has argued in a newspaper interview that the US government didn’t “allow” any compromises that could have brought an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict just weeks after Moscow’s military offensive began in February 2022.

Speaking in an interview published by Germany’s Berliner Zeitungnewspaper on Friday, Schroeder said he was asked to help mediate the March 2022 peace negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Istanbul. He said that although representatives of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky were open to making concessions on such key issues as renouncing efforts to join NATO, “the Ukrainians did not agree to peace because they were not allowed to. They first had to ask the Americans about everything they discussed.”

Russian officials have repeatedly claimed that the US and other Western backers of Ukraine discouraged Zelensky’s government from agreeing to a peace settlement. Schroeder, who has defended his continuing friendshipwith Russian President Vladimir Putin, essentially confirmed that allegation in the Berliner Zeitung interview. “My impression: Nothing could happen because everything else was decided in Washington,” he said.

The ex-chancellor described Washington’s strategy as “fatal,” saying it resulted in closer ties between Russia and China. “The Americans believe they can keep the Russians down,” Schroeder said. “Now, it is the case that two actors, China and Russia, who are limited by the USA, are joining forces. Americans believe they are strong enough to keep both sides in check. In my humble opinion, this is a mistake. Just look how torn the American side is now. Look at the chaos in Congress.”

Washington’s allies in Western Europe “failed” to seize the opportunity to push for peace in March 2022, Schroeder said. At the time, he added, Zelensky was open to compromise on Crimea and breakaway territories in the Donbass region. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian troops have been killed as Western military aid prolongs the conflict. Putin estimated earlier this month that Kiev lost over 90,000 soldiers in the failed counteroffensive that began in June.

“The arms deliveries are not a solution for eternity, but no one wants to talk,” Schroeder said. “Everyone is sitting in trenches. How many more people have to die? It’s a bit like the Middle East. Who are the victims on one side and on the other? Poor people who lose their children.”

Schroeder argued that only French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz can revive peace talks in Eastern Europe. “Scholz and Macron should actually support a peace process in Ukraine because it’s not just an American matter, but above all a European matter.”He added, “Why did Scholz and Macron not combine the arms deliveries with an offer to talk? Macron and Scholz are the only ones who can talk to Putin.”

Russian leaders were threatened by the US push to bring NATO to Moscow’s western border by adding Ukraine to the Western military alliance, Schroeder said. However, he claimed that one of the justifications for arming Ukraine – alleged Russian expansionism – had no basis in reality.

“This fear of the Russians coming is absurd,” Schroeder said. “How are they supposed to defeat NATO, let alone occupy Western Europe?” He added, “That is why no one in Poland, the Baltics and certainly not in Germany – all NATO members, by the way – has to believe they are in danger.”

On the other hand, Schroeder insisted, Western leaders must understand that no matter who is in power in Moscow, Russia won’t allow either Ukraine or Georgia to be absorbed by NATO. “This threat analysis may be emotional, but it is real in Russia,” he said. “The West must understand this and accept compromises accordingly. Otherwise, peace will be difficult to achieve.”

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Six killed in Russia's missile attack on Kharkiv postal centre, Ukraine says

Six people have been killed and at least 14 injured in a Russian missile attack that hit a postal distribution centre in the war-devastated northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.

"Russian missiles hit the Nova Poshta centre - an ordinary civilian object," President Volodymyr Zelenksiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

He posted a video showing s building with windows blown out and construction materials strewn about, with red trucks with Nova Poshta written in Ukrainian in front of it.

Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the broader Kharkiv region of which the city of Kharkiv is the administrative centre, said several of the injured were in serious condition in hospital.

Those killed and injured were employees of the postal centre, Synehubov said on Telegram. Police said the workers did not have time to run to the shelter, because the siren sounded a second before impact.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia. Both sides deny targeting civilians in the war that Russia launched against its neighbour in February 2022.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, was devastated in the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion.

RESISTANCE IN AVDIIVKA

Further south in the east, Ukraine has been trying to stop a new push by Russian forces to gain more territory there, amid Kyiv's slow and gruelling counteroffensive that has continued for months.

Moscow's drive to capture the town of Avdiivka encountered fierce resistance on Saturday, Ukraine's military said, with defences bolstered by fortifications erected nearly a decade ago.

"The enemy is becoming more active, but is incurring heavy losses," General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, commander of Ukraine's troops in the south, said on Telegram.

Russia's Defence Ministry, in its evening report, made no mention of Avdiivka, but reported strikes on areas outside Bakhmut, a town seized by Moscow's forces in May after months of battles. Both towns are in the eastern Donetsk region.

Avdiivka, a watchword in Ukraine for resistance, has withstood enemy attacks for months. Video footage shows buildings in ruins and streets barely distinguishable.

The town was briefly captured in 2014 by Russian-backed separatists who seized large swathes of eastern Ukraine, but was retaken by Ukrainian forces who built solid fortifications.

"We have concrete fortifications ... outside the city," military analyst Pavel Norozhnyi told national television. "(Russian forces) need heavy artillery and anti-tank missiles to destroy every stronghold."

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think-tank, said Russian troops had "marginally advanced" near Avdiivka.

 

RT/Reuters

Father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, must have had the conversation last week between Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the recently cleared Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) Ola Olukoyede in mind. While propounding the theory of what is now known as Freudian slips in his 1901 book he entitled The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud discussed what in German is called 

Fehlleistungen. It is another name for faulty actions which mirror bits of unconscious mind leakages into conscious behaviour. This leakage, otherwise known as misspeak, according to him, prompts a speaker to say what is unintended in the course of speaking. While some call it slip of the tongue, psychoanalysts call such slips parapraxis. They are slip-ups that can be traced to unconscious thoughts, desires and urges.

Last week at the Senate screening session for the then chairmanship nominee of the EFCC, Olukoyede let slip what he most probably wanted to say, but what ostensibly dominates the minds of Nigerian people. Such words are heresies today and can only be said in whooshes of whispers. Only bastards who do not love the current musical ensemble can utter them out. Or tribes that harbour ethnic hatred for the current power calculus. Nevertheless, the conversation, which psychoanalytic theory calls Freudian slip, from Olukoyede to Akpabio unconsciously revealed the dirty underbelly of the fight against corruption in Nigeria. It is why, per adventure, Olukoyede has the mind to clean the Augean stable of corruption in Nigeria, he is perceived to have, ab initio, failed as he is ranged against the impossible.

As the screening session went by, Olukoyede was sucked into the need to explain the modus operandi of the EFCC. To do that, he went comparative, deploying a relatable, living scenario to convey the commission’s operations. “If we are investigating the Senate President for example…” he had begun. Apparently a good reader of his environment, Olukoyede immediately perceived the turgidity of the atmosphere. Smiles suddenly evaporated from the faces of the lawmakers and their countenances were ashen like one who had just marched on excreta. Olukoyede must have felt like he had stepped on a cobra’s tail. And he recoiled. The gudugbe – the humongous and consequential – had fallen nevertheless. Like porcelain that it was, or the egg that Niyi Osundare fittingly compared to the spoken word in his The word is an egg, the egg had fallen and its messy entrails were now visible to a discerning world.

Akpabio would not have Freud direct his fate that magisterially. And he bellowed it out immediately. “I’m very glad that the nominee wants to use the Senate President as an example. But Mr. nominee, leave the Senate President for now, look at this direction (pointing at the seats of opposition lawmakers).”

“For now…” That should be another Freudian slip; this time, an Akpabio speaking the minds of Nigerians. Olukoyede should leave the Senate President, for now, but he should not leave him for too long. The EFCC chair must investigate Nigeria’s No 3 man who is festooned all over by dark tar of fraud allegations.

Until May of this year, Akpabio was a subject of intense investigations by the EFCC. The commission claimed that a N40 billion fraud was allegedly perpetrated by him in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) which he headed for three years. It claimed further that his name and that of former Acting Managing Director of the NDDC, Kemebradikumo Pondei, had featured notoriously in frauds unearthed in the commission. Both were major dramatis personae in investigations into allegations of fraud in an over-N86 billion contract scams. In the EFCC’s claim, the duo left footpaths that maggots leave in their trails while wriggling on rotten meat. Pondei, you will recall, was the hero of that ill-starred slumping drama in the House of Representatives not too long ago. As the grilling in the parliament became intense and hot, the professor was suddenly reported to have lost consciousness. Now that Akpabio has become Nigeria’s No 3 man, with power and majesty at his beck and call, Pondei has no need to go on a binge of infantile slumping any longer. Since then, even with all the mind-boggling sleaze uncovered in the NDDC, like a typical big man in Nigeria, the slumping professor has lived happily ever thereafter.

God bless the Yoruba. When a man’s irritancy becomes ten a dime, they liken him to the tortoise, the alabahun who was always embroiled in illicit acts. Like the alabahun, it seemed allegations of corruption do not refuse to stick to Akpabio at every whimper. Before then, the anti-graft agency had arrested Akpabio for an alleged theft of N108.1 billion of Akwa Ibom State funds during his governorship. It was the product of a petition by an Abuja-based lawyer and activist, Leo Ekpenyong. Akpabio had spurned an invitation by the EFCC to appear for questioning on March 29, 2023 and travelled abroad. His lawyer, Umeh Kalu, in a letter to the anti-graft commission dated March 27, 2023, alleged that the man who is now Nigeria’s Senate President suffered from pneumonia and cardiac arrhythmia. Big ailment of big people in big trouble.

Unquestionable as the way of Almighty God is, these two ailments suddenly disappeared immediately words allegedly went round that Akpabio was the preferred candidate of President Bola Tinubu to head the senate. Since Akpabio became head of the upper legislature, his sins have literally been forgiven him. In any case, the hunter haranguing him then, Abdulrasheed Bawa, has met his own comeuppance. Not only has the hunter become the hunted, Bawa has languished in the penitentiary for months now and nobody is losing sleep about the detention. The claim that he is probably suffering this fate because he knew too much about the Big Man of power’s past has not attracted any Nigerian’s bother. Bawa’s sin must be as tall as Ibadan’s Bower’s Tower for our saintly Big Man to have locked him behind bar without having him charged to court. A few days ago, words surfaced that the youthful ex-anti-corruption czar was embroiled in a N580 million illicit funds binge.

Akpabio must have shouted “Praise the Lord!”

God always rescues His own, shortly before they hit their feet against the stone. He couldn’t keep His eyes away from His elect, who is now the Senate President of Nigeria. By Akpabio’s testimony on the floor of the Senate, the good Lord rescued him from the machinations of the EFCC and its erstwhile chair, saving him from being “embarrassed” by the brusque, youthful EFCC chief. Again, that Bawa’s rudeness must be as high as Bower’s. Why would he be rude to the Almighty Akpabio? While not addressing how he didn’t steal the said money the EFCC claimed he had stolen, Akpabio believed that sensationalism was the culprit, and it must roast in hell. “I think the EFCC has engaged more in sensationalism than in real investigation. For me I have had my own fair share (of embarrassment) where even a letter informing EFCC that I won’t be able to come over a frivolous petition, was released by the office of the chairman of EFCC. You could see the chairman’s stamp on it. He released the letter just to embarrass me before the 2023 elections but by the glory of God I surmounted it.”

In the same vein, Akpabio brought in the issue of the arrest of ex-Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, who was apprehended in a gangsteric manner by the EFCC. “I don’t see how the EFCC will arrest a former governor and come through the rooftop as if they are taking Pablo Escobar. It happened to Rochas Okorocha. They broke through the POP and the whole world watched and for you that is investigation. EFCC needs to conduct proper investigations before carrying out arrests,” he said.

Then Akpabio went to Ogun State, to Yewa land, where he solicited the support of the people for the governorship ambition of Adeola Olamilekan, popularly called Yayi. Four months plus into this term, politicians have already begun to haggle the price of the next term, as if it is a fish. Democracy, as it is understood in saner climes, isn’t and shouldn’t be only about elections and voting. It is more importantly about good governance, respect for the people and their rights to decent living. How is Akpabio respecting their rights by pushing a candidate their throats at this time? What have they benefitted from “his” government now to back up this homily from him? Akpabio would have discharged himself well at that occasion if he had spoken softly to the people about what ‘his’ government is doing at the moment to remove the people’s economic and living heartaches, rather than dabbling into the politics of a people who do not see governorship as reward for big purses.

Sorry that I digressed. So when, at the end of the senators’ boisterous laughter and the expiration of his Freudian slip on the floor of the senate, Olukoyede said “If you are fighting corruption, you become the enemy of everybody,” he probably knew the enormity of what he was about. By this appointment, Olukoyede has been asked to fight principalities and powers that have existed in Nigeria even before his forefathers were born, what Daniel Jordan, in his famous A culture of corruption, has described as Nigeria’s “image as a bastion of bribery, venality, and deceit.” He has been asked to combat a crime which, among Nigerians, went global the very moment new criminal markets began to emerge all over the world. His job description is, at the risk of sounding like a prophet of doom, doomed from the beginning.

The incubus Olukoyede is being asked to confront, according to a review of Stephen Elis’ This Present Darkenss: A history of organized crime in Nigeria, has become a culture and reputation renowned with Nigeria and Nigerians. A culture which, broken to its brass-tacks, is that of drug-trafficking, fraud, cyber-crime and other types of criminal activity. The new EFCC chief is being asked to fight criminal networks that have a global reach; a Nigeria where its origin of organized crime has been traced to, as far back to the years before colonial rule. These crimes then became manifest during the First Republic when “nationalist politicians… in need of funds for campaigning, (offered) government contracts to foreign businesses in return for kickbacks, in a pattern that recurs to this day” and where “political corruption encouraged a wider disrespect for the law that spreads throughout Nigerian society.”

If Olukoyede is desirous of making impact in his new assignment; if he genuinely wants to reverse the belief out there that he would make a colossal failure of the job, the first thing he should do is do an organizational introspection. When a child goes inside the bush, Yoruba’s constant belief is that such a child would emerge therefrom with their clothes stuck by mistletoe. So they expressed this in incantations that, “wara were l’omode nt’oko eemo bo.” This seems to be true with past chairmen of the EFCC as they always emerge from the office with their clothes covered by “eemo.”

Since the EFCC Establishment Act was first enacted in 2002, the “eemo” failure has dogged their path. The Act authorized the commission to combat economic and financial crimes, prevent, investigate, prosecute and penalize economic and financial crimes, so as to sanitize the system. From Nuhu Ribadu, to Farida Waziri, Ibrahim Lamorde, Ibrahim Magu to Bawa, the commission is seen today as a mockery of crime fighting. The only major sparkle that ultimately became unenduring, came from Ribadu who initially put the fear of God in the hearts of political and social criminals who dot the landscape of Nigeria. Unfortunately, the spark was for a short while. Ribadu soon dissolved the agency into an Alsatian dog that the Obasanjo presidency sent on howling assignments as its whim dictated. His own lust for political power finally rammed the nail on the remnants of his personal social capital.

Today, the EFCC, which arrested, prosecuted and jailed a former Inspector General of Police in Nigeria, has become the tiger that politicians boast that they have by its tail. It descended from that Olympian height into carving a pussyfooting renown for itself as a hunter of kindergarten online malefactors. So, if Olukoyede wants to make a success of his new job, he must reinvent the image that the drafters of the EFCC Act projected for the commission. Fear, they say, is the whip that exorcises the ghost of crime from the human heart. It is only when the EFCC earns back the dread, respect and fear of Nigerians that it can be seen as an effective tool against criminals.

Today, the atmosphere of crime and criminals has become more acidic than the 2002 when Obasanjo established the commission. In 1908, the United States of America occupied Nigeria’s unenviable vantage too. Though the years of industrialization had made America wealthier than ever and becoming in the process a new world power on the block, having become victorious in its naval conquest over Spain, the dark clouds that dogged its horizon was that of crime. American cities and towns were fast assuming the image of a breeding ground for a future generation of professional lawbreakers. Compared with corruption that was becoming rampant in local politics, with the emergence of crooked political machines, violence was just the tip of the criminal iceberg in the USA. Businesses had become a cauldron of sleaze too and hearts of crime were spreading like a metastasis. But in 1906, President Roosevelt, a man “who had no tolerance for corruption and little trust of those he called the ‘malefactors of great wealth,’” began the reform in the criminal justice system in America and appointed someone who was a likeminded reformer like him, Charles Bonaparte, as his Attorney General. On March 16, 1909, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was born. Till today, the FBI has remained a highly dreaded domestic intelligence and security service of the US and the country’s principal federal law enforcement agency.

If Olukoyede is averse to going down the drain like his predecessors, becoming captives of the corruption they were asked to fight, politicians must dread him and malefactors must see him as incorruptible. He must wear the toga of one policeman in the service of the Oyo State Command, Francis Ojomo who politicians and evil-doers nicknamed Ko gb’owo, ko gb’obi (literally, he collects neither money nor kolanut) for his incorruptibility. That nickname was a parodied epithet of God as one who demands no bribe from anyone to perform His fatherly duty in the life of man. Olukoyede must avoid any dalliance with politicians. He must make the Bola Tinubu presidency his place of primary assignment. In doing this, he would have shown the world that politicians, no matter their political leanings, are not free from his corruption-sniffing Rottweiler dogs.

The first place the EFCC chair should begin his assignment is to invite Godswill Akpabio to explain allegations of corruption against him. Not doing this will give the impression that his senate clearing, in spite of glaring violations of the EFCC Act on his appointment as the commission’s chairman, was a pro quid pro for pushing allegations against Akpabio under the cellar.

Olukoyede can help Nigeria battle this image crisis and perception of our country as the habitat of corrupt people. Because the world is a global village, the available information out there, secured at the press of a button, are damming. No meaningful development can take place with such optics. The EFCC chair can help reduce that uncomplimentary image to the barest minimum by ferreting corrupt Nigerians from their holes and making public examples of them.

 

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid ….. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven ~ Matthew 5:14-16.

Introduction

Truly, gross darkness is fast enveloping the world, and many people everywhere are groping in darkness. Quite unfortunately, some of those who are expected to bring solutions and peace to it are rather roving and racing thoughtlessly, and are fast becoming a part of the problem.

However, I am firmly convinced that any genuine believer today can make a difference by choosing to become a burning and shining lamp, showing men walking in darkness the way unto Eternal Light, Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:16).

Now, the glory of a thing cannot be separated from the purpose for it. Purpose is a key element in fulfilling destiny! Purposeful living is any man’s cheapest access to becoming the best of what he can be under God in this dark and dangerous world.

Purpose is the original intention for the existence of a thing, and it is what confers relevance and significance to it. Fulfilling purpose defines a fulfilled destiny. Thus, the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but to live without fulfilling purpose.

As believers, we’re strictly admonished to shine as light in our world. However, Jesus added a most incredible dimension to this charge when He proclaimed that we are, indeed, “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

Succinctly, we’re not only required to shine, but we are indeed “the light” to illuminate the world. Of a truth, the Light-Source of the universe dwells in us! This is a glorious position of honour, unique privilege and greatest responsibility. It also constitutes a major purpose for any genuine Christian!

The path of the wicked may be gloomy, dark and dangerous. But, that of “the just” is open, luminous, and ever bright, effusing the beauty of a cloudless sunshine glowing on, and shining as it grows, to the full and perfect day (Proverbs 4:18).

Meanwhile, “the just" man referred to here is one that’s made righteous through the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. He is recreated in Christ, and lives under the influence of divine grace. It is only through such a man that the ever luminous light of God shines forth, gloriously.

As saints of God, we should showcase the glory of Christ, and shine brighter and brighter in our world (1Peter 2:9). This is what God has purposed, and which we all should relentlessly pursue and attain unto by means of the ministry of His Word.

In Isaiah 60:1-22, Prophet Isaiah spoke glowingly in this regard, and he equally gave us some key assurances in which we must acquaint ourselves very honorably as God’s children.

First, we’re assured that this supernatural light is certainly here with us, not just in the future. It is an intense light, kindled by the glory of God, and it generates distinction for the believers.

Again, this glorious light comes with a charisma that supernaturally attracts global attention. It also typically provokes super-abundance of riches as well as enlargement of heart both to conceive and perceive the marvelous works of God.

Moreover, everyone who carries this light is simultaneously fitted with the supernatural capability to live as an irresistible high-flier, an eternal excellency and a joy to many generations, whose sun shall never go down. What an assurance!

A Burning and A Shinning Light

In John 5:31-35, Jesus Christ gave a typical example of a man who lived here on earth as a fine shining light: John the Baptist. Jesus aptly described him as “a burning and a shining light” in his generation (v35).

Yes, the birth of John the Baptist was certainly miraculous. But, I am quite sure that he didn’t become the “shining” lamp to his generation simply because of his miraculous birth, family background, or socio-religious status.

All these may have contributed, one way or the other, towards his destiny fulfilment, but undoubtedly his burning godly lifestyle, his consuming zeal and passion for God, his righteousness stance, consecration, devotion and his uncompromisingly blunt preaching of repentance significantly played out in making him a shining lamp in his generation.

John the Baptist was a typical out-of-this-world kind of a man. His clothing, feeding and general lifestyle set him apart from the world (Matthew 3:4). And, we can safely infer that this lifestyle was an outer coat of his inner strength.

No doubt, John had a working knowledge of the fact that nothing can shine without burning to start with, and he readily paid that initial price to live like a glowing light in his generation. Hence, his messages brought conviction to the hearts of all those who heard him, leading them to repentance (Matthew 3:1-6).

He was also a man with an unalloyed and an indomitable force of faith (Matthew 11:12). He lived with the awareness that life doesn’t always give you what you deserve, but only what you take over by the fierce force of faith.

Again, John served God, duly recognizing the peculiar days in which he lived. The law and the prophets were until John, but afterwards only men of faith's violence do enjoy faith's victory. He was a dispensational preacher who had the unique assignment of preparing the way of the Lord (Matthew 3:1).

John the Baptist, clearly and publicly made Jesus Christ known to his generation. He charged all men, whether poor or rich, educated or uneducated, to repent and bear fruits worthy of repentance. He bluntly confronted sin, and clearly declared to sinners the eternal woes, pains, torments and regrets that awaited them in hell if they failed to repent.

John’s greatest purpose and pursuit was to reveal, declare and make Jesus Christ known to his generation as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. What a challenge for us today as believers who are called to be “the light of the world”!

Our generation desperately needs such fiery, forthright and bold preachers and teachers of the Word, who won’t regard men’s status or faces, but will consistently and persuasively call all men to repentance and holiness.

Beloved, what are you today to your family, your community, your Church and the world at large? By your lifestyle and general conduct, are you a shining lamp and a gospel light-bearer, manifesting the love of God and demonstrating His character to all men? Or, you’re a mere idle talebearer?

John served God and dazed the world in his generation, to the extent some people even mistook him for Jesus Christ (Matthew 14:2; 16:4). Notwithstanding, Jesus made a very staggering conclusion on this subject when He said the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11:11).

Undoubtedly, that’s very tall talk for those who are used to living on their seats of comfort and convenience. Prophet Isaiah specified that all those who would shine as glorious lights in this world must learn to arise from their stupor, to begin with.

Friends, to shine we must arise! We must determine to live no longer under the bushel, or any such cover of irrelevance. Let’s arise at once, and live as shining lamps in this dark world.

Many lost souls are counting on us to find their way back to God their Maker. May we all receive grace today to purposefully serve God in our generation to the very best of our potentials. You won’t miss it, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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