When Pakistani medical student, Salman Ahmad, stood up to twiddle his guitar, to the delight of all, at a student talent show event in a Lahore hotel in 1980, he was oblivious of the raging silent war between religion, music and sports. As he sang, a Pakistani fanatic dashed to the stage, snatched Ahmad's Gibson Les Paul guitar from around his neck and smashed it into smithereens. Nothing happened. The fanatic could not understand Ahmad’s temerity of playing rock music or music in general which Arabs potentates of the Islamic religion once referred to as “a prompting of the Devil” and an affront on Islam. As if leaving frying pan for fire, Ahmad recoiled off music to his other passion of playing cricket. He got it to the highest octave, even playing alongside Imran Khan, Pakistani cricket World Cup player.

Not satisfied with himself, Ahmad made a momentary return to the “prompting of the Devil” on a cricket tour of Bangladesh. He then began to combine classic rock and blues, mixing them with the mystical music and poetry of Islamic Sufism, to form a blend of what he called "Sufi rock". Under threats from the military regime of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Ahmad went underground. To Islamists, Zia-ul-Haq got praises for his “de-secularization efforts and stern opposition to Western culture.” To the world out there however, Zia-ul-Haq was authoritarian, especially in his press censorship, religious intolerance and weakening of Pakistani democracy. Upon his death, Ahmad became a celebrated rock star and his songs, a representation of a progressive Pakistan. As he wrote in his biography, Rock and Roll Jihad, it became a life struggle for him to get music positioned as an integral and crucial part of Islam.

Popular American-Nigerian singer, David Adeleke, last week had a brush with his own Pakistani fanatics as he courted the intolerance of Muslim youths. For his temerity at sharing his musical video, Jaye lo on his social media handles, the penalty was a quaint colouring of the social media with hate against his person and music. A Muslim group even set his posters ablaze as a representation of their anger. Davido had misrepresented Islam as the preoccupation of sybarites, they alleged. The Jaye Lo video had backup singers dressed as Muslim faithful, in white flowing apparel and cap. All of a sudden, the group transmuted into hip-hop music dancers. Davido himself sat on a building that looked like the roof of a mosque, complete with a loudspeaker, like a muezzin. The video immediately sparked outrage and divided opinions. How dare Davido drag the holy religion into such typecast of a mundane, pleasure-seeking, dancing groove? By such representation, Davido had painted pagan image of Islam and mis-situated the religion in an imagery of carnal engagement.

The same week, at the Brisbane Stadium in Australia, while Nigerians momentarily forgot the harrowing pain inflicted on them by their new rulers and were wrapped up in celebration of the country’s win in the women World Cup football event, the “prompting of the Devil” debate returned at full throttle. Apparently overtly animated by her 72nd minute maverick shot that netted a third goal for Nigeria against Australia, Super Falcons’ Asisat Oshoala pulled off her shirt, leaving almost her lingerie.

The Oshoala celebratory pull of shirt has since provoked a huge hoopla. Social media went abuzz with back-and-forth conversations wrapped round the act. Photos of Oshoala, a Muslim, praying and wrapped up in the Islamic Hijab, sprung up. She was not only exposed to sexualizing diatribes, Muslims weaponized religion to cast her in the mould of an infidel.

From the time of the earliest theology, theologians of all religions have had dissenting opinions about music. Questions asked are, what is music’s place in religious rituals? Is music beneficial to the soul? Does it encroach on the boundary of morals? Is the problem strictly with some musical instruments? The bata, for instance, an ancient drum associated with the liturgy of traditional religious worship, is frowned at in some churches till date. What occasions and times should particular music be played? Are some genres morally and spiritually unsuitable for some music? And in sports, which require terse dressing to ensure easy movement of concerned sport persons, should female gender sport adherents be part of it and if they are, should they too be tersely clad like their male counterparts?

When traditional African Yoruba music genres of Sakara, 

Apala, Fuji and Waka began to emerge in the early 18th century, they faced strict censure from their listening audience. Most of them had mutated from the Islamic liturgical practice of Ajisari music used to wake Islamic faithful during the fasting period. Though mostly in the form of praise songs and engendered by traditional Yoruba instruments like the solemn-sounding goje violin and a tambourine-like small, round sakara drum hit with a stick, as well as agidigbo, the music’s Arabic ancestry manifested in its traditional percussion instruments which were very implicit. Abibu Oluwa, who pioneered Sakara in the 1930s; Jibowu Barrister of Fuji, Haruna Ishola of Apala and all who came immediately after them faced critics who claimed that they were polluting the Islamic faith with their songs. This necessitated a defence made into a track in an early musical career song of Ayinla Omowura. Alcohol and not music pollutes Islam because even Arabs who lived in Mecca, Ayinla sang, are involved in music. He sang: Ara Mon…Ara Monka ns’esin/Ilu o b’esin je o, oti ma lo b’esin je…

While in 2003/2004, a minor city in Sweden was faced with the row of a woman who got converted to Islam but decided to engage in a legal battle to get her 7-year-old son exempted from music instruction in school, Islam wasn’t the sole attacker of music. American pop musician, Marvin Gaye’s death revealed this. He had had bitter childhood rancour with his father. However, on April 1, 1984, his Christian Minister and strict disciplinarian father committed filicide by shooting him twice in the heart at their Western Heights neighbourhood house in Los Angeles, California. Gay Snr. highly disapproved of his son’s “sexual ambiguity”, with widespread rumour that the hip-hop musician was a homosexual. Gaye was also a user of hard drugs and had gone paranoid and suicidal before he met his untimely death at the age of 45. Indeed, traces of cocaine were found in a later autopsy conducted on his corpse. The older Gay highly excoriated Gaye's career in music and was more resentful that Gaye was closer to his mother Alberta, especially when the musician became the breadwinner for the family. Marvin’s highly successful but sexually explicit Sexual Healing track, from the album, Midnight Love further put a wedge between father and son. How could the son of a Minister sing such song?

Over centuries, Islamic scholars have debated the propriety of music to the religion. Islamic scholars, in the Hadith collections of the late 8th and early 9th centuries, said that even Muhammed was ambivalent about music, shunning and embracing it as inherently haram or as halal. Islamic scholars who preach tolerant views on music say that even in the Qur’an, the prophet never gave a clear statement on music whenever he described social life or gave advice on morals. In a particular Hadith, Muhammed was said to have encouraged songs at weddings, though also prophesying that, at the end of time, music would become one of the signs of moral chaos. Ibn ‘Abd Rabbihi (d. 940) while discussing music in Kitab al-‘iqd al-farid (The Book of the Unique Necklace), which is regarded as one of the oldest surviving texts in Islam, had been quoted to have said: “And sometimes one apprehends the blessings of this world and the next through beautiful melodies. And a proof of that is that they induce generosities of character in performing kindness, and observing family ties, and defending one’s honour, and overlooking faults. And sometimes man will weep over his sins through them, and the heart will be softened from its hardness, and man will remember the joys of the Kingdom [of Heaven], and image it in his mind.” Umayyad Caliph ibn Walid (d. 744) renowned for his asceticism, was quoted to have said, on the reverse: “O, Umaiyads, avoid singing for it decreases shame, increases desire, and destroys manliness, and verily it takes the place of wine and does what drunkenness does. But if you must engage in it, keep the women and children away from it, for singing is the instigator of fornication.”

It was apparently this attitude that Nigerian Netizens took to attacking the duo of Davido and Oshoala last week. Some said that since African values frown at nudity, Oshoala shouldn’t have pulled off her shirt. Did African progenitors, in setting the boundary of culture, reckon with playing football, especially a woman footballer who, seized by a spontaneous celebratory spirit, pulled off her shirt? This intolerance is rank intolerance. It is also failure to apprehend the fact that, unlike what operated in early centuries when religion was lord of the universe, religion has scant influence now. It is this same attitude that is taken to violent reactions to burning of the Quran and, in a lesser degree of bile, reactions to burning the Bible. When far-right politician, Islamphobic Rasmus Paludan, burnt the Quran in Sweden on January 21, 2023, a floodgate of reactions was opened into the debate. About two weeks before this in Stockholm, police claimed they authorized a protest by a man who wanted to burn the Torah and the Bible outside the Israeli Embassy. He said it was a riposte to Quran-burning outside a Stockholm mosque earlier by an Iraqi immigrant. Were these two Quran and Bible-burning exercises of freedom of expression? Did the culprits, in the process, infringe on the harm principle? The harm principle holds that actions of individuals should be limited only to preventing harm to other individuals. So, what harm is inflicted on a Christian or Muslim if the Quran or the Bible is burnt? Why are they bothered by outward appearances that do not endure, at the expense of the more enduring subject of the soul and humanity?

The defence by religionists is that burning those religious texts is deeply offensive and incites violence or hatred against some individuals or groups. Why can’t Bible and Quran burning incidents be seen as freedom of expression? Why must religionists go violent because a non-living object has been burnt but, in the same vein, see it as the wish of God when a human being is murdered? Does burning of a religious text, in any way, de-masculinize the religion? It has often been said that Muslims see the Quran as not just a book, but a sacred text which holds great spiritual and religious significance and a symbol of the Islamic faith. Its burning is then seen as a visceral attack and insult on Allah, as well as a desecration of Islam. If that is the case, why don’t we leave the all-powerful God to avenge infidels who desecrate the text? Is the God/god of a religion worthy of being worshipped if we have to fight for him?

In Nigeria, so many people have been killed by fanatics on the pretext of fighting for God. Gideon Akaluka was beheaded in Kano in 1995 by a group of nine Wahabists. A man who eventually rose to the zenith of Nigerian banking was even alleged to be part of the conspiracy. In May last year, Deborah Yakubu, a Home Economics sophomore at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was gruesomely murdered for having “blasphemed” Islam and Prophet Muhammed through a voice note on a WhatsApp group she left in response to another student’s post on Islam. She was forcibly pulled out of a room and her student colleagues repeatedly bayoneted her with stones and clubs. They then set her lifeless body on fire as they shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great). Till today, Nigerian government’s connivance in this horror is manifest in that, no one has since been brought to book.

There is no difference between the intolerance of those who killed Deborah, those who beheaded Akaluka, the ones calling for Davido’s head over his song and those heaping invectives on Oshoala. They are all united by pristine ignorance and Stone Age sheepish abidance to religious exegeses. One of such was a fellow called Bashir Ahmed, an ex-President Muhammad Buhari’s aide who labeled the video “hurtful" and “disrespectful.” To who? Must he listen to the song? Why not concentrate on listening to the usual Quranic recitation rhymes and leave those who wanted to enjoy Davido’s songs to bother about it? Why should it bother me that someone is tearing the Bible? Those religious texts are not in any way different from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Says Zarathustra. They only assume greater importance in the way we deploy them for the betterment of our lives. The problem is tyranny of the mind, a war that the two religions – Christianity and Islam – inflict on the other person. Why not be content with what you believe in and go to heaven and give others the freedom to go to  hell if they so wish?  Why play God?

The Niger coup, Emefiele and the president’s friend, Asari

Africa slumped again last week into the hands of its traditional enemies. The continent has not been the same since midnight of January 13, 1963. On this day, a band of military putschists, led by Etienne Gnasingbe Eyadema and Emmanuel Bodjolle, shot and killed the civilian president of Togo, Sylvanus Olympio and his wife. Togo then became the first of such violent takeover of men in Khaki in the French and British colonies of Africa, thus breaking the symbolic hymen of the innocence of Africa. The wave of democratization in those erstwhile colonies in the 1990s and 2000s had however made many believe that coups d’etat had become unfashionable and otiose. However, Africa’s turbulent Sahel region, since 2020, has been confronted with a rampaging jihadist insurgency that birthed and nurtured coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. Its latest rupture is Niger. Right now, President Mohamed Bazoum is being confined to his residence by his presidential guard, commanded by 10 coup leaders led by Colonel Amadou Abdramane.

A lot has been written about why the Nigerien coupists struck. International organizations and allies, France, Germany and the United States have also condemned the coup. Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, (ECOWAS) convoked an emergency meeting in Abuja on Friday. Earlier on Thursday, ECOWAS had “demanded the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum who remains the legitimate and legal President of Niger.” Tinubu also sent the president of neighbouring Benin, Patrice Talon, to Niamey to seek restoration to status quo. Apparently heeding the menacing threat from Colonel Abdramane to any nation not to interfere, Talon has tarried.

From the pattern of coups in Africa, Tinubu and his African leadership can only huff and puff as there is little in form of remedy that can be offered Bazoum. Already, general acceptance of the coup is at a frightening and dizzying point. Youths in Niamey were shown on global television ransacking the headquarters of Bazoum’s PNDS party and setting fire to vehicles kept in it. Youngsters numbering about 1,000 had matched towards the country’s National Assembly, as well as several hundred others who matched out to Dosso town to show solidarity for the coup plotters. The super-power angle to the coup is reflected in Russian flags that were being flung by pro-Abdramane Nigeriens and anti-French, pro-Russian slogans being sung by the protesters.

Aside the probable super-powers angling for the soul of Niger, Bazoum was reported to have run a very fragile government. Several attempts were also made to de-legitimize his government due to contestations over his election outcome. Since taking over power two years ago in what was said to be Niger’s first-ever peaceful transition since independence, Bazoum had been encumbered by legitimacy crises, with some top echelon of the military displeased with him. Niger is also torn apart by dual jihadist onslaughts.

Why African leaders must be bothered about the coup in Niger is the widespread public support it is getting from Nigeriens. While many parts of Africa have realized that coup plotting is evil and the putschists not necessarily as Messianic as they profess, it will be difficult to canvass this in an Africa suffering from the high-handedness of its leadership and the absence of apt mental component in the administration of Africa that can stem descent into hunger by the populace. Rather than flexing muscles in post-coup scenarios, African leaders must run inclusive, people-oriented and developmental governments that will make life livable for their people.

In today’s Nigeria, phenomenal hunger is wracking the bellies of the populace while government keeps on urging the people to salivate an ayangbe aja – grilled dog meat – that they claim awaits the populace at the end of its harrowing economic policies. Meanwhile, principal elements of the government are growing rotund cheeks and wriggling in alleged corruption bazaar in the last two months or so.

In Nigeria last week, for example, the country presented a perfect effigy of Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colours. Colour red however dominated the rainbow picturesque. The treatment given to Godwin Emefiele and Abdulbashir Bawa, erstwhile heads of CBN and EFCC, appears principally vendetta driven. Some say it is indicative of the fact that Nigeria may be going gradually down River Road – apologies to Kenyan writer, Meja Nwangi. At the Federal High Court in Abuja last week, raw brunt of crude power was hoisted for all to see and probably a feel of the governmental engagements to come. Not only was the pronouncement of the court granting Emefiele bail not heeded by a so-called democratic government, but government has also since kept mute as the DSS and the prisons engaged in a show of shame to the chagrin of the whole world. No matter how execrable Emefiele may have behaved as the CBN governor, we owe ourselves the duty of calling for the protection of his human rights. The same man that the DSS, a few months ago, charged for terrorism and terrorism-financing is being charged for possessing a sparrow-hunting dane gun!

The quotation ascribed to the famous Lutherian pastor, Martin Niemollar, should be our national guiding principle. We must not abet high-handed vindictiveness in any guise. After being in Nazi prisons and concentration camp for eight years, Niemolla had made the poetic statement, “first, they came for the socialists and I did not speak out, because I was not a socialist… then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew; then they came for me and there was not one left to speak for me.”

Down there in the creeks is an infamous terror-baiting, octopus-statured militant by the name of Asari Dokubo. He has openly wielded AK-47 Assault rifles and has flaunted a rag-tag militia he is training. Right there in Nigeria’s hallowed seat of power, where president of the republic seats, this barrel-chested individual, smarting from an openly advertised visit to the president, insulted Nigeria’s military, claiming that they were not only responsible for stealing the nation’s crude oil, but that he is the one providing security for Nigerians. Our President is still enjoying this raw, dry joke.

Rather than their huff and puff over military hijacks of democracy, African leaders need to be told that the only antidote against coups is good governance. We have had Baby and Papa tyrants in Africa and regimes of massive corruption that have denied the continent of its flourish. We cannot afford to continue on that route. Military adventurers have blighted the vine of Africa. They are responsible for why Nigeria and Africa are this anemic.

If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge ~ Job 36:11-12.

Introduction

God doesn't ever want His children to be poor; no, not at all. He rather wishes for us to be saved, free, healthy and wealthy (3 John 2). However, we must first lay down our traditional views, and start thinking as God thinks, before we can expect to be imbued with the anointing for supernatural breakthroughs (Jeremiah 29:11).

Money is not the root of evil as some wrongly suppose! It’s what we do with money that’s either good or evil. Money is just a means of exchange for goods and services. In fact, God takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servants (Psalms 35:27).

Today, many people are showing desperation to get money in one of three ways: steal, beg, or borrow. I am quite sure you won’t want to steal: it distills the curse of the Lord upon the entire household of the thief (Proverbs 3:33; Zechariah 5:3-4).

You won’t like to be a beggar either. Chronic beggars dwell and squeak on social dunghills (1 Samuel 2:8). Besides, living like a compulsive beggar is one of the commonest labels on those who carry in their genes the curse of wickedness (Psalms 109:1-10).

Even borrowing is often discountenanced in the Bible because it can put princes in the class of servants (Proverbs 22:7). The best and the most laudable biblical way to get money is to “earn” it honorably, honestly, legally, earnestly and, especially, through covenant blessings!

Earners are learners, though. Great wisdom is required to produce great wealth; prosperity is a choice, not by chance. Your choices have consequences, and they determine your future.

Meanwhile, many people remain poor, not because of their genders, places of birth or abode, socio-educational backgrounds etcetera, but because they refuse, knowingly or unknowingly, to be delivered by God’s Word.

It’s quite possible to achieve greatness like some great Bible characters (James 5:17). However, we must be ready to do what they did with God’s Word, and live as “kingdom-addicts” like they did.

God is able to make you rich! He owns everything, anyway (1 Samuel 2:7-8; 1 Chronicles 29:11-12). But, if you reject this part of the Gospel, you may not be able to fully reach the goal that God has set for you.

It will require pure faith in God to supernaturally attract the benefits of supernatural provisions, including wealth. Happily, this kind of faith comes with God’s Word, just like wetness comes with water (Romans10:17).

Jesus Christ, True Prosperity and You!

I firmly believe that the greatest goal of every normal Christian is to be like Jesus Christ. Hence, it is both normal and wise for us to investigate how Christ related with prosperity.

Jesus was not poor in the sense that some people imagine. He only became temporarily poor for our sakes in order that we might be enriched and abundantly supplied (2 Corinthians 8:9).

How could Jesus Christ be poor? All things were made by Him (John 1:1; Colossians 1:17)! He’s heavenly Royalty!! Excitingly, you and I belong to this same heavenly Royal Family, and God is ever ready to form our ways unto financial freedom (1 Chronicle 29:23-25).

Unmistakable Signs on the Path To Breakthrough

Every man is rich or poor according to the degree to which he can afford to fulfill the necessities of life, or enjoy the conveniences of human living. Wealth is power. But, a foremost signpost on the way to wealth is diligent labour.

A foreman cannot do the work of four men! Thus, the greater part of any man’s wealth is derived from the quantity of labor which he can command, or afford to purchase. The real price of every thing is the toil and the troubles it takes to acquire it.

All the wealth of nations — gold, silver, etcetera — were originally purchased by labour. Money equals labour! Now, God wants His people to enjoy abundance, hence He commanded us to “arise and work” (1 Chronicles 22:16). To earn more money and to arrive at the port of wealth, you must work more diligently (Genesis 2:5; 3:23).

Laziness is the undoing of many poor people today (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Sitting idle and refusing to work can only lead to weeping (Psalms 137:1). You must arise and work on God’s plan and vision for your life. You are what you do particularly, not what you say you'll do!

There’s great dignity in diligent labour, physical or spiritual (Proverbs 14:23; Hebrews 6:10; 1Corinthians 15:58). However, by all means, please avoid foolish labour: it wearies destinies (Ecclesiastes 10:15).

Another quintessential signpost on your path to breakthrough is your love for God (Psalms 112:1-10; John 4:38). Our rational love for God is very foundational to provoking our atmosphere for wealth advantages.

This was the foremost secret of Solomon’s dizzying wealth (1 Kings 3:3-5). Peter too. All his labour to catch fishes at some points only yielded frustrations until he encountered the undercurrents of God’s favour through Jesus Christ (Luke 5:1-7). Thereafter, it was a net-breaking and boat-sinking draught!

With God’s input, any man could actually command more earnings with less labour. Why? The quantity of goods which any particular quantity of earning or labour can purchase or command always depends on certain supra-natural factors, which only God can truly control: the weather and the fertility index of the “soil” at the time of the transaction (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

When you trade in the secrets of loving God and drawing His assistance, prosperity will no longer remain a mystery to you. For the avoidance of doubt, genuine love for God shows itself in our kingdom services, kingdom addiction and zeal for the things of God (Psalms 102:14).

Now, a great pillar in the school of prosperity is kingdom promotion through giving. Givers gain (Luke 6:38; Proverbs 3:9-10). Your seed truly leaves your hand, but it never leaves your life. He who plants a seed becomes a partner with God (Genesis 8:22). No one, for instance, can easily forget the sacrifice of Abraham, and the stupendous blessings he attracted (Genesis 22:15-18).

You must become seed conscious if you must be harvest assured. There can’t be any desirable harvest from an unplanted field. Plan your giving (Proverbs 24:3). Be sacrificial in your freewill offerings (Matthew 5:23; Exodus 35:4-5). Give to your “prophet” (Matthew 10:4; 2 Kings 4:8-17). And, “distribute” to the poor (Deuteronomy 15:17; Proverbs 28:27; 1 Timothy 6:18).

Meanwhile, in your covenant walks with God, it’s your attitude that determines your altitude. God looks at your heart (Exodus 35:5). He accepts only offerings that are willingly and cheerfully given (1Corinthians 9:17; 2 Corinthians 9:7).

Finally, the crowning signpost to prosperity breakthrough is implicit obedience to God and His commandments (Job 36:11; Isaiah 1:19). When you love God and keep His Word, you will naturally attract His mercy and the power of His presence (Exodus 20:6; John 14:23).

Friends and brethren in Christ, always remember that God’s blessings are command-driven. When He instructs you on a line of good works, He is actually thinking of your anticipated harvests.

As you boldly obey Him, He will bless you with an unending flow of His goodness, and stagnation will be expelled from your life space. You won’t miss this, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

** Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Twitter: www.twitter.com/bishopakinola

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

God rejects everything that is first in this world. He is even opposed to every firstborn child.

When God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt, He killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians, including the firstborn of their livestock. But He saved the firstborn of the Israelites.

Thereafter, He commanded that all the firstborn males of Israel should be sacrificed to Him. (Exodus 22:29). To avoid death, he later said they had to be redeemed with money. (Numbers 18:15-16).

Jacob and Esau

With the children of Isaac, God preferred the younger Jacob to Esau, the firstborn, even before they were born.

When Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, was pregnant with the twins, the babies struggled within her. God then told her: “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23).

God later elaborates on this strange preference for the younger over the older: “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? ‘Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.’” (Malachi 1:2-3).

In a moment of weakness, Esau then sold his birthright to Jacob. Therefore, Malachi describes the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, as: “The people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever.” (Malachi 1:4).

Judah and Reuben

With Jacob’s children, God preferred the younger Judah to Reuben, the firstborn. In a classical synchronicity between divine providence and seemingly independent human action, Reuben offended his father, Jacob, by sleeping with his concubine. Thereby, he forfeited his firstborn status.

On his deathbed, Jacob denounced Reuben: “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power. But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer. For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch.” (Genesis 49:3-4).

Judah then became first. He was not even next in line but the fourth child. However, Simeon and Levi, the second and third, also offended Jacob because they avenged Shechem’s rape of their sister Dinah by killing his entire family.

God ratified Judah’s new premier status. When the Israelites asked God which tribe should lead their fight against the Benjamites, God replied: “Judah shall go first.” (Judges 20:18).

Judah new pre-eminence is evident in its being the tribe that produced Jesus. Judah means praise, appropriately the divinely prescribed starting point of godly worship: “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.” (Psalm 100:4).

God preferred Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph, to Manasseh, the firstborn. When Jacob was blessing Joseph’s children, he placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head. Joseph objected, saying it should be on Manasseh: “No, my father, this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.”

But Jacob refused and said: “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations.’ He blessed them that day and said, ‘In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing: May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ So, he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.” (Genesis 48: 18-20).  

Similarly, Aaron was the firstborn son of Amram, but God chose his younger brother, Moses, to deliver Israel from Egypt. (Exodus 7:7). Eliab was the firstborn son of Jesse, but God chose David, the eighth child, to be the ruler of Israel after Saul. (1 Samuel 16:6-7).

Furthermore, Amnon was the firstborn son of David. But by divine providence, Absalom, his half-brother, killed him because he raped his sister, Dinah. Absalom himself was killed while trying to usurp his father’s throne. Thereafter, God chose the younger Solomon as king instead of his older brother, Adonijah.

Prodigal son

In Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son, the father celebrated the unfaithful younger son, who left home and squandered his inheritance on riotous living, when he finally returned home; to the annoyance of the older brother who stayed faithfully behind.

Although the father tried to comfort the older brother by pointing out that he could have thrown a party for his friends anytime he wanted, it was clear even that option would still have been inferior to the party the father threw for the younger prodigal son. If he took that initiative, he would not have had the audacity to kill the fatted calf, which is reserved for special occasions. But the fatted calf was killed for the younger prodigal son.

Accordingly, Jesus affirms the principle of God’s rejection of the firstborn, saying: “Many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Matthew 19:30).Paul also points out that: “God chooses people according to His own purposes; He calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.” (Romans 9:11-12).

God gives us what we do not deserve and not what we think we deserve. The younger prodigal son who wasted his inheritance did not deserve the father’s grace and forgiveness. Therefore, he received it. The older faithful son who thought he deserved it did not receive it. That is kingdom dynamics.

Firstborn Jesus

This divine providence whereby the firstborn is rejected assumes even greater resonance when we recognise that Jesus Himself is the firstborn son of Mary and Joseph. Spiritually, He is described as: “The firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15). “The firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29).

Therefore, what is most remarkable about the parable of the Prodigal Son is that the story is told by Jesus, our older brother in the family of God. Jesus is the firstborn; we are His younger brothers. He is the older brother who did not get what He deserved, while we are his younger brothers who get what we do not deserve.

Jesus is the proverbial older brother, and believers are collectively the Prodigal Son. Jesus is the Son that was always with the Father, the Son that never transgressed the Father’s laws in any way. He is the brother that watches as the Father and His angels rejoice over every repentant sinner.

But unlike the brother of the prodigal son, Jesus rejoices when we return to the Father. In fact, we are the joy that was set before Him whereby He: “endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Hebrews 12:2).

“(Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5).

Thanks to Jesus, despite squandering our inheritance through our sins, we are nevertheless: “Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). CONTINUED.

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

In adulthood, good friends can be harder to come by than good dates — and that's saying something. As the city office has been replaced by work-from-home arrangements for many of us, the ability to make new friends seems to be diminishing by the minute. Compare your list of friends now to the probably much longer list you had in school or college, and you're bound to wonder if you should be expanding your social circle.

But as it happens, we don't actually need long lists of friends to be content. While friendship is a powerful and non-negotiable piece of the happiness puzzle, it's the quality of those friends that matters; not the number of them.

Popularized on social media, the "7 friends theory" suggests that you actually only need seven friends, as long as they all fill a particular role in your life. TikTok user Allie Worton demonstrated how the theory applies in her own life by listing the seven roles or qualities of the rule alongside a picture of the friend that brings that energy into her life. The theory goes that as long as you have someone to fulfil the core traits — like making you laugh or listening to your relationship problems — you'll be good to go in the friendship department.

The Seven Friendship Roles

According to the theory, there are seven roles that your friends should fill. The first is the friend you've had since you were little. While you can't exactly go out and create a new one of these, you can make the effort to reconnect with someone you've drifted from along the way. The second role is a friend who can make you laugh at all times — in this dreary world, we say that one's priceless.

You will also need a friend whom you can go a long time without talking to but things still don't change between you, and of course, a friend you can tell absolutely anything to and they won't judge you. Next, you'll need a friend who's like a sister to you, a friend you can't imagine not being friends with, and finally, a friend who knows all your love life dirty laundry. This person is your sounding board when you need to vent about relationship drama, and they're there for you, even if they secretly don't want to listen to the same drama again and again.

Some TikTok users have taken to the comment sections of videos like Allie Worton's to point out that they have friends who fill multiple rolls. In other words, their friend who is like a sister is also the same person who can always make them laugh. Others note that they don't even come close to having seven friends. So if you fall into the latter category, does that mean you're doomed to a life of unhappiness?

What If You Don't Have Seven Friends?

While the theory makes some people feel better for not having a never-ending list of friends, others have been left feeling even more insecure because they have fewer than seven friends. But that's okay, too.

As the discussions on TikTok's comment sections show, numbers and specifics aren't important. You don't need seven friends, per se, as long as you have those seven types of energies in your life. It may be that you only have two friends, but they fulfill every role that the theory outlines. The role descriptions are broad and may not directly apply to you, but the concepts behind them are still valid. For example, you might not have a friend who feels like a sister because of their gender identity, but they still are close enough to feel like family.

But if you don't have all seven types of energy in your life, don't panic! Other theories suggest that the ideal number of friends you need in your life is actually closer to somewhere between three and five. According to Social Self, studies have shown that this number of friends is enough to leave you feeling happy and fulfilled. In 2021, the Survey Center on American Lifefound that nearly half of Americans had three of fewer close friends, so don't be fooled by social media posts that make it seem like your friendships are lacking compared to everyone else. You don't need an army of friends to be happy, and you're probably in good company with the handful you have.

Glam

The organised labour, on Friday, walked out of a scheduled meeting of the Presidential Steering Committee on subsidy palliatives at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), had led his delegation to the Chief of Staff’s office, venue of the meeting, but were soon on their way out of the villa.

The Steering Committee had met with the government delegation on Wednesday where the two parties agreed to reconvene on Friday to get brief from the three subcommittees set up to look into various demands.

The committee was constituted by the government to come up with palliatives that would cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on the workers.

But the meeting could not proceed because according to some members of the Steering Committee, there was no quorum.

The labour union accused the federal government of using the meetings as a pretext to deceive Nigerians.

A source at the meeting confirmed that three subcommittees, the Mass Transit, the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Cash transfer subcommittees, were supposed to be present to brief the Steering Committee on the measures put in place to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on the workers.

But labour claimed that government officials, who are members the subcommittees were nowhere to be found.

The member of the Steering Committee from labour who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “They are not prepared for the meeting. That’s the truth. The government representatives had insisted that the meeting should proceed even though no quorum was formed.

“They are using cover to deceive Nigerians. There are supposed to be three subcommittees, mass transit subcommittee, the CNG, and the cash transfer, to brief us, the steering committee but government was not prepared for the meeting.

“In their introductory remarks they made excuses and they wanted the meeting to continue, the meeting did not form a quorum. We are a people that operate on the basis of process. So, if there’s no quorum in a meeting what do you do? You will adjourn for lack of quorum.

“There was nobody to meet with. The Chief of Staff was not there, they are treating us as children.”

It was, however, gathered that the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, had earlier waited for the labour delegation with other members of the team at his Conference Hall.

He later stepped out to attend to other official matters within the Villa while other members of the government team were waiting for the organised labour to arrive

The representatives of the organised labour from the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) were said to have been delayed at the State House entrance gate otherwise known as Mopol gate for clearance.

Information had it that the names of the labour delegation were not sent to the gate for clearance which led to their delay for the meeting.

One of the leaders of the labour delegation had told journalists, “We were detained at the gate.”

The botched meeting would have been the fourth on the series of meetings they have held since the implementation of the petroleum subsidy removal.

It was a continuation of the previous meetings over the initial increase of the pump price of petroleum to N520 per litre.

The organised labour has already scheduled a nationwide protest for August 2 to press home their demands over the petroleum subsidy removal.

The last meeting of the steering committee held last Wednesday but government representatives were unable to convince the labour leaders to shelve their plan for the action.

Daily Trust

Anger has continued to trail the sarcastic “Let The Poor Breathe joke” by the Godswill Akpabio-led Senate amid the prevailing economic hardship in the country.

Nigerians have been complaining about petrol price hike and its effect on commodities.

Some schools had increased tuition fees while electricity companies had moved to raise tarrif.

On Tuesday, Akpabio, while urging the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the electricity distribution companies to stop their proposed electricity tariff increment, passed a motion in a manner many considered as ridiculing poor Nigerians.

“The prayer is that, let the poor breathe, and Senator Mustapha has seconded that the poor should breathe. Those who are in support of the additional prayer that the poor should be allowed to breathe, say ‘ayes’ and those who are against say ‘nay,’” Akpabio had said jocularly as echoes of laughter reverberated at plenary.

In response, the senators said, “aye”, to which Akpabio said, “The ayes have it! The poor must be allowed to breathe.”

Reacting on ARISE TV’s Breakfast Programme, The Morning Show, Rufai Oseni, the host, said, “I don’t know what is so funny about a bunch of guys that got 17 billion while others didn’t get anything. And I don’t know what’s funny about a bunch of guys that are constantly fleecing this country with everything they have or this country has to give to them and I don’t know what’s funny about a bunch of guys that just sit up there and big fat salaries that they don’t know how much and they can’t even state how much.

“They collect over N100billion every year to run a bunch of less than 500 guys and they sit and mock the poor people of this country. It’s just reflective of the insensitivity of these bunch of guys. Their fat over bloated pockets with their fat ‘Babaringa’. They laugh at the insensitivity of the pain of Nigeria.”

Pat Utomi, notable scholar and critic, also expressed displeasure over the controversial remark.

“I am traumatized by this mocking of the poor by our Senate. In a decent society we should have had resignations by now. To mock the poor is to mock God. I know where Godswill Akpabio was before Victor Attah gave him a hand. Better an honest poor than a rich thief politician.

“I wonder what it will take to make people realize that values shape human progress. Sustainable progress is not possible where culture is in collapse and institutions are dysfunctional. Sadly this seems extant in Nigeria. Citizens need to be awakened to where we are.

“To abuse public trust and mock the victims as is becoming a habit of the criminal network of our politicians is to forget how transient power is. All will do well to remember the Judgment of Conscience, the judgment of history, and the Judgement of God. He reigns,” he tweeted.

Tweeting via @yusdgyd1, one Yusuf Dingiyadi, wrote: “They shouldn’t joke about it, because Nigerians are watching them. @oficialGAkpabio must do the needful action through his power. You can’t banter on issues of imminent importance like suffering.”

@AUmarsafana2917: “This isn’t a joke matter ooh. The masses are suffering and you’re sitting there making a joke of it.”

@Sir_Shehu: “There’s Nothing ironic about this mockery or unnecessary/Insensitive joke made by Akpabio, that seat doesn’t deserve a comedian and not even in this disputable times.”

@XBlackSparrow: “They impoverish you, then go on to make a mockery of your sufferings. You in turn laugh it off, recognizing the Nigerian ability to find the cruise in everything. Amid the regional pockets of unrest, you won’t find a more acute confirmation that we as a people are peaceful.”

@Ibrahymlekan: “This is the highest degree of insensitivity to the plight of downtrodden Nigerians striving to make meaning and living from this economic starvation without a human face.”

@afamsson: “Our political elites are cut away from the reality of Nigeria of today yet we feed them with money from taxpayers, sadly they are enabled by some stomach infrastructure Nigerians. Babylonians in power.”

@comtivist: “Those who think that making a comedy of the suffering in the country is the only way they can perform their legislative duty must be prepared to face the backlash from the people they are suffocating by their inaction. Security agencies should note its security implications.”

@emmanuel_yours: “Nigerians facing hardship due to government’s policy of fuel subsidy removal are being mocked by those awaiting luxury SUV’s purchased with loans.”

@medan_laban: “He has to tender an unreserved apology to Nigerians. Using our money to enrich themselves. Pure wickedness”

@isaiah_eda18155: “These men are jokers. They have nothing to do in the chamber other than cracking jocks.”

Daily Trust

Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, on Friday, declared an end to all sit-at-home order in the Southeast and any other proposed means aimed by the group at forcing government to release him from detention.

Kanu made the declaration in a handwritten letter authorised to his special counsel, Aloy Ejimakor, to be read out to journalists during a world press conference held in Enugu on Friday.

The IPOB leader unequivocally stated that anyone henceforth engaging in any sit-at-home in the region is no longer his disciple.

Kanu, in a written declaration dated July 24, 2023, which Ejimakor read, followed the refusal of a factional leader of the group, Simon Ekpa, to announce the cancellation and further declaration through his media platforms.

Kanu, however, warned Ekpa to “desist from calling for any sit-at-home henceforth” and “to make a public announcement to the effect that he (Ekpa) is in receipt of a direct order from him (Kanu) to cancel any pending sit-at-home in place at the moment”.

The statement read, “Simon, this is a direct order from me. I hereby instruct you to desist from calling for any sit-at-home henceforth. Equally, refrain from antagonising governors or persons in political positions because you are not in a position to know what they are doing on my behalf. I am ordering you to make a public announcement to the effect that you are in receipt of a direct order from me to cancel any pending sit-at-home in place at the moment.

“I embarked on this movement to liberate our people not to enslave them. I despise and will despise any person or entity that wishes to inflict unnecessary hardship on our people. I have authorised Alloy to issue a press statement if you fail to make this announcement on your platform.

“Anybody still engaging in sit-at-home is not my disciple. Haters of Biafra and mindless murderers in uniform are hiding under the cover of combating enforcers of sit-at-home to unleash mayhem against the same people we swore to defend.

“I have sent countless messages to those purportedly enforcing sit-at-home that they are not doing so in my name. I am not begging anybody to release me just that Nigeria should have the decency to obey their own laws.

“The main issue which our people should address their minds to is the unconscionable delays in hearing the govt’s appeal at the Supreme Court, which is a situation not amenable to any sit-at-home. Therefore, sit-at-home is a waste of time, resources and energy.

“Those who may not understand the genesis of the sit-at-home should refer to my younger brother’s press statement on the eve of the commencement of the original order issued by the IPOB family. My brother made it clear to the DOS that I was against the order for people to stay at home under whatever guise. This caused a rift between my siblings and DOS till date.

“Aloy should use the above contributions to form the main body of the press statement. I want our people to know how this whole sit-at-home brouhaha started. Had DOS obeyed my direct instructions to cancel the first Monday sit-at-home, opportunistic scavengers would not have jumped on the bandwagon to wreak havoc on our people.

“You (Aloy) must release the press statement tomorrow with the screenshot of the handwritten note I gave to you unfailingly,” the letter partly reads.

Punch

Leaders of a coup in Niger declared General Abdourahamane Tiani as the new head of state on Friday days after saying they had ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in the seventh military takeover in West and Central Africa in less than three years.

African countries, Western powers and regional and international organizations have voiced support for Bazoum and called for democracy to be restored. Some officials suggested the outcome was not yet final.

France's Foreign Minister Catherina Colonna explicitly referred to it as an "attempted coup" on Friday, while White House national security spokesman John Kirby said there was still room for intra-African diplomacy.

The upheaval has raised concerns about the security of a region where Niger has been a key ally of Western powers seeking to contain insurgencies by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

"A military takeover may cause the United States to cease security and other cooperation with the government of Niger," Kirby told a briefing.

Tiani was the head of the presidential guard whose soldiers shut Bazoum inside his palace on Wednesday, causing confusion over who was in control.

Bazoum has not made a statement since Thursday morning, when he vowed to protect "hard-won" democratic gains in a post on social media.

Several world leaders said they have spoken to him since the coup, and that he is still detained in the palace with his family but "fine".

Former colonial power France said it still recognised Bazoum as the legitimate leader.

The general appeared on state television on Friday with a banner on the screen that described him as the president of a newly formed military body, the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP).

"The President of the CNSP is the head of state," an officer said, reading out a statement.

The constitution has been suspended, all government institutions dissolved and the CNSP will exercise all legislative and executive power until constitutional order returns, the statement added. It gave no timelines.

Tiani met with the heads of all ministries at the presidential palace on Friday afternoon. A CNSP member told journalists after the meeting the ministries will continue to provide services.

TRADITIONAL TIES AT STAKE

Before the uprising, Niger was seen as the West's most stable ally in an unstable region.

It borders three countries - Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad - hit by coups in the last two years. Some were spurred by frustration over growing insecurity.

France, Germany, Italy and the United States have troops in Niger on military training and counter-insurgency missions.

Niger is also the world's seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the radioactive metal widely used for nuclear energy and in nuclear weapons, as well as for treating cancer.

Like the military rulers of Mali and Burkina Faso, Tiani justified the coup by saying that the government had been failing to contain the Islamist insurgency.

In the capital Nimaey, reactions to the coup have been mixed.

"We need to be very vigilant to ensure that this fight against terrorism does not give them a position or an opportunity to stay in power forever," said resident Ousmane Kansey.

Another passerby, Ibrahim Hamidou, saw the takeover as a positive move against bad governance and insecurity he blamed partly on the presence of foreign boots.

"The results are not good... this means that their presence is of little use," he told Reuters.

Jihadist militants have been spreading across West Africa's Sahel region for years. Niger so far has held them off better than Mali and Burkina Faso, where violence has only worsened since the military takeovers.

The juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso have increasingly turned toward Russiaas a strategic ally and distanced themselves from traditional partners such as France, which has faced a growing wave of resentment towards its influence in the Sahel.

There were some Russian flags among coup supporters who took to the streets in the capital Niamey on Thursday.

One of the few international voices to welcome the takeover was Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army's top brass last month. He described the coup as an uprising against colonizers and offered his fighters' services to bring order.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said constitutional order should be restored.

FOREIGN RESPONSE

Foreign countries have not announced any plan to intervene in Niger but Tiani warned against any attempts to extract Bazoum, saying foreign military intervention would result in "the massacre of the Niger population and chaos".

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold an emergency summit in Nigeria on Sunday to discuss the situation.

Niger will test for the regional bloc, which has struggled to convince soldiers to give back power after the latest wave of coups in member states Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

ECOWAS has wrangled with the juntas on transition timelines it deemed too lengthy and imposed sanctions on Mali and Guinea over their reluctance to cooperate.

The European Union has threatened to cut budgetary support to Niger, while the United States said its cooperation with Niger's government was contingent on "democratic standards".

The United Nations said it would still deliver aid in Niger even though it had not had any contact with the military since the coup.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Neutral status for Ukraine ‘fundamental’ to Russia – Putin

Kiev becoming a member of NATO is an existential threat to Russian national security and will not be tolerated, Russian President Vladimir Putin told representatives of several African countries on Friday.

In the document that ushered in Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, “it is written in black and white that Ukraine is a neutral state,” Putin reminded the visiting African leaders, during the public part of their meeting in St. Petersburg. The president was referring to the 1990 declaration proclaiming Soviet Ukraine a sovereign state that would strive to become “a permanently neutral country.”  

“This is of fundamental importance. Why the West began to drag Ukraine into NATO is not very clear to us. But this created, in our opinion, a fundamental threat to our security,” Putin added.

We cannot accept the advance towards our borders of military infrastructure of a bloc that is de facto hostile to us.

Putin and several members of the African Union peace mission met to discuss the Ukraine conflict, after the two-day Russia-Africa summit attended by representatives of 49 states from the continent. 

While Russia has always said it is ready to negotiate an end to hostilities, Kiev has passed a law prohibiting talks with Moscow and reneged on the agreement negotiated in March 2022 in Istanbul, Putin stated. 

According to Putin, during last year’s meeting in Türkiye, the Ukrainian delegation initially agreed to sign a neutrality pact that would also cap Ukraine’s heavy weapons and hardware. However, the preliminary deal had been “thrown out” shortly afterward, the Russian leader said earlier this year.

Ukrainian officials walked away from negotiations after accusing the Russian military of atrocities in Bucha and other areas around the country’s capital. Moscow had denied that its troops were killing civilians.

Kiev later argued that meaningful negotiations cannot commence until Moscow surrenders Crimea and four other territories that voted to leave Ukraine and become parts of Russia. Moscow repeatedly stressed that it was impossible. 

Speaking on Friday, the Russian president repeated his long-standing position that the current crisis was caused by the 2014 “anti-constitutional, armed, bloody coup” in Kiev, carried out with “active support” of the US and other Western governments.

Following the coup, Crimea organized a referendum to join Russia. Kiev sent the military and nationalist militias to crush dissent in Odessa and Kharkov regions, but ran into resistance in Donetsk and Lugansk, which would declare independence later that year. The 2015 Minsk Agreements envisioned a process by which the two regions could return to Ukraine with guarantees of autonomy, but Kiev never implemented it. 

Former German leader Angela Merkel claimed last December that the Minsk process was only a play for time by the West to arm Ukraine for a war against Russia. Former president of France, Francois Hollande, secondedMerkel’s interpretation.

As part of the African Peace Initiative, leaders of seven countries from the continent visited Ukraine and Russia in mid-June. Though Moscow expressed interest in exploring the African proposal further, Kiev has insisted that only its “peace formula” – a ten-point plan amounting to Russia’s unconditional surrender – would be acceptable to Ukraine.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine uses North Korean rockets to blast Russian forces - FT

Ukrainian soldiers were observed using North Korean rockets that they said were seized by a "friendly" country before being delivered to Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

Ukraine's defence ministry suggested the arms were captured from the Russians, the newspaper said.

The United States has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, including alleged shipments by sea, but has not offered proof and North Korean weapons have not been widely observed on the battlefields in Ukraine.

North Korea and Russia deny conducting arms transactions.

The North Korean weapons were shown by Ukrainian troops operating Soviet-era Grad multiple-launch rocket systems near the destroyed eastern city of Bakhmut, site of lengthy brutal fighting, the report said.

Russia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made a rare visit to Pyongyang this week to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, the first visit by Moscow's top defence official since the 1991 break-up of the Soviet Union.

During the visit, Shoigu was photographed viewing banned North Korean ballistic missiles with leader Kim Jong Un at a military expo in Pyongyang, signalling deeper ties between the two countries as they each face off with the United States.

RT/Reuters

A large study covering 37 years from start to finish has revealed something about those who tend to stay up late: These night owls are more likely to die at a younger age, but due to smoking and drinking-related causes rather than how late they go to bed.

Data on 22,976 Finnish adult twins were analyzed for the study, with 42.9 percent identifying as "somewhat evening types" or "evening types". Technically, this is our chronotype – our tendency to want to sleep or be active at certain times.

Previous studies have suggested night owls have a higher mortality risk and a tendency to prefer riskier behavior. In this study, it seems a greater chance of an earlier death isn't directly due to chronotype but to what it leads to.

"Our findings suggest that there is little or no independent contribution of chronotype to mortality," says Christer Hublin, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

Instead, "the increased risk of mortality associated with being a clearly 'evening' person appears to be mainly accounted for by a larger consumption of tobacco and alcohol. This is compared to those who are clearly 'morning' persons."

Having identified the chronotypes for the study participants in 1981, the researchers followed up in 2018, looking at death rates ascertained through nationwide registers. Factors such as education, BMI, and sleep habits were adjusted for in the analysis, as well as the amount of smoking and drinking each individual did.

By 2018, the researchers found that 8,728 of the participants had died. The chance of dying from any cause was 9 percent higher in those who declared themselves definite (not "somewhat") evening types than those who were definite morning types.

However, non-smokers who also didn't drink much in this night owl group were at no increased risk of dying from any cause. The team found that smoking and drinking (leading to alcohol-related diseases as well as alcohol poisoning) were responsible for the extra deaths.

While being an evening person doesn't necessarily mean poor sleep habits, the two often go together. Impaired sleep can lead to a host of mental and physical issues and has also previously been linked to addictions – to nicotine or alcohol, for example.

"There is a reciprocal relationship between the reward system and circadian system, and the level of alcohol and substance use correlates with the preference to stay up later at night," write the researchers in their published paper.

Unlike the earlier study that prompted this one, the team didn't find any increase in cardiovascular-related mortality risk. There are some differences in the population sample though used – the previous research involved UK adults who were generally healthier than the average UK population, while here, the cohort's health was more in line with the general population.

As always, more detailed studies involving more people across more countries will help shed more light on this relationship further. However, it seems that we need to look not just at our sleeping habits but also some of the lifestyle choices that are more likely to happen due to those sleeping habits.

"Given the associations of chronotype with lifestyle factors that are known to increase the risk of premature morbidity and mortality, the independent contribution of chronotype to mortality is of relevance when providing public health recommendations related to sleep and chronotype," write the researchers.

The research has been published in Chronobiology International.

ScienceAlert