History is endangered in Nigeria and those who research or teach it as their vocation are at risk of extinction. Every opportunity to celebrate or learn from history or historians in a country like this, therefore, is not one to be spurned.

When the Usman Dan Fodiyo University (UDUS) in Sokoto, north-west Nigeria, announced that the latest instalment of its Inaugural Lectures would engage with the universe of history, a coincidence of three factors guaranteed them more than the usual bandwidth reserved for such events.

First, this was advertised as the 50th Inaugural Lecture in what is effectively the 50th year of the university. UDUS began life in 1975 as one of twelve federal universities established by the military in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War with a mission to disperse the frontiers of enlightenment across the country. Usman Dan Fodiyo after whom it is named was the founder of the Caliphal system and a scholar of some repute.

Second, the subject matter of the Inaugural Lecture had audacity written all over it. The framing was: “The Igbo Factor in the History of Inter-Group Relations and Commerce in Kano.” It departed from the usual preoccupation with academic comfort levels and promised a peek into delicate recesses of the Nigerian narrative.

Third, this was only the second Inaugural Lecture from the History Department of UDUS and the lecturer was a man who had spent over 43 years teaching and researching Nigerian history. He had every right to be taken seriously. Moreover, this was the teacher of Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), no less. Here was an opportunity to find out whether the legend of the INEC chairman as an alchemist of fantasy was a product of nature or nurture.

By the time he stepped up to the podium in Sokoto for his lecture on 5 September, Ahmed Bako was guaranteed an audience like none that he had encountered in nearly four and a half decades as a university teacher. A full auditorium in the university was more than outstripped by the remote audience.

The esteemed lecturer began by acknowledging that his subject matter was one steeped in “extreme prejudice and emotions”, particularly, “in recent years when a lot of stories are being told or rumours being peddled on Igbo Community in different parts of the country.” Far from fidelity to his promise to put matters “in proper perspectives” (sic), the lecturer wasted no time in fulsomely embracing the prejudice.

Growing up, he confessed, he “heard a lot of frightening stories about Igbo as wicked people who killed Sardauna.” On the evidence of his rendition, this tragedy was not the origin of their wickedness; it was proof of it.

According to Bako, the Igbo in Kano are a “diaspora”, which calls into question any claims they may have to Nigerian citizenship. The pioneer Igbo cultural organisation in Kano, the Igbo (State) Union, was both clannish and “extremely militant” and the contemporary pan-Igbo socio-cultural institution, Ohanaeze Nd’Igbo, is a “separatist” organization.

He was only warming up. The Igbo, he theorised, “embarrassed” (sic)education “all with the hope of eventual domination of the country; not necessarily for developing it for the benefit of the nation.” Deploying “ethnic solidarity”, he claimed, the Igbo “gradually marginalized or even displace (sic) large number of Hausa traders.”

Far from an Inaugural Lecture, this read very much like a 21st Century Bill of Attainder. There was hardly a constructive contribution to be gleaned from his study of or occasional interaction with the Igbo. Even the Igbo Union School built entirely form community resources of the Igbo and launched in 1959 was dismissed as “exclusively meant for the Igbo, the school had only 9 non-Igbo students.”

In the absence of any organizing theoretical or philosophical framework, the lecture read like a long-suppressed eruption that finally found an occasion to occur. Its context, sub-text, and texture belied its ostentatious claim early in the text that it was “purely historical not political. It is base (sic) on Archival (sic) and field research.”

Blinkered by prejudice, Bako could not muster the curiosity to interpret his own evidence. Earlier in his lecture, he acknowledged “the colonial residential segregation policy that established different enclaves for migrants”, which effectively binned the Igbo in Kano into an ethnic ghetto in Sabon Gari. He could not have been so bereft of imagination as to be unable to discern it was ethnic discrimination that forced the community to build the Igbo Union School. In striving parents who sought to afford education to their children who may otherwise have missed out on it altogether, all he had the capacity to see was ethnic malevolence.

Bako trotted out hackneyed tropes with a recklessness that dispensed with evidence, authority or comparison. For instance, he claimed that “searching for economic power and dominance make the Igbo to be desperate and aggressive. Desperation is what make (sic) them to not only be disliked by host communities in several of the areas of their dominance in Northern Nigeria but to pushed (sic) some young Igbo into criminal activities.” In support of this claim, he provides neither archival material nor evidence from anthropology, criminology or comparative criminal justice research. It was difficult to believe this was an Inaugural Lecture.

In Bako’s fantastic world, these Igbo are an ethnic group in perpetual conspiracy. In reality, he comes across as projecting his own ethnic self-image onto the Igbo, reflecting at the same time the crisis of a country that cannot make up its mind about this ethnic group. The classic Nigerian tropeabout the Igbo is of an ethnic nationality almost congenitally incapable of unity. In Bako’s world, however, all they do is conspire on the altar of ethnic solidarity and before the god of domination.

Blinded by this, the professor could not imagine alternative explanations outside his conspiratorial theory of Igbo domination. The lecture mentions “Igbo” 427 times and contains 16 references to words “dominate”, “dominance” or “domination” but finds no citation, authority or evidence to support its connection between Igbo and domination.

The only currency it trades in is homogenization. Magically, it deploys “Igbo” as singular, plural, and collective. It’s a sorcerer’s epic.

Bako’s history of Igbo interaction with Kano coincides rather conveniently with the onset colonial urbanisation in Nigeria. The text is too lazy to even speculate as to whether or not there was any interaction before this time. If he had allowed himself to think outside the frame of homogenized Igbo identity, the professor may have realized that different Igbo communities came to education (and to Kano) at different times.

The Onitsha on the banks of the Niger, for instance, were relatively early recipients of Western education. Their neighbours in Obosi came to it a little later and pursued it aggressively not to dominate Nigeria (a notion that was alien to them) but to compete more equitably with the Onitsha. The idea that the Wawa, the Aro, the Ngwa and the Onitsha (all Igbos sub-groups) conspired to head to Kano to pursue domination makes meaning only to someone who is willfully illiterate about Igbo inter-group relations.

In 2012, an evidently unwell Emir Ado Bayero traveled to Enugu to attend the funeral of Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, whose leadership in the Nigerian Civil War has Bako throwing hissy fits. In January 1966, Ojukwu was the Brigade Commander in Kano who saved Bayero’s life and precluded Chukwuma Nzeogwu’s subaltern, Captain Ude, from coup operations in Kano. Ojukwu was himself fluent in Hausa and may indeed also have fathered a child in Kano. None of this merited acknowledgement in Bako’s elevated piece of pitiable hatchetry. The students who endured him for over four decades deserve our thoughts and prayers.

One thing is clear, however, after surviving Bako: the provenance of this current INEC Chairman is settled.

** Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a professor of law, teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and can be reached through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Key Takeaways
Dream big and don't try to please everyone. You can chart your own course, challenge the crowd mentality and ignore the status quo.
Hire people who will elevate you and your business, not just those who think exactly like you.
Don't overcomplicate or catastrophize issues. Most problems have simple solutions, but you need to pause to think about it.
You will fail if you seek perfection, because it doesn't exist. Sometimes you have to "just do it." And when you do have to make a decision, live up to your values 100% of the time.

Forty years ago, I started my business, ComPsych, with an idea and $1,000. Fast forward to today, and it's the largest provider of mental health services in the world, serving 78,000 organizations of various sizes from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, helping more than 163 million people across 200 countries.

I often get asked how I did it, and I always come back to my guiding principles for business and life. Here are those seven principles that guided me as I built my company from a startup to what it is today — fulfilling my wildest financial dreams and the commitment to my mission — that can also help you build a lucrative and personally fulfilling business, too.

1. Imagine the unimaginable

It's imperative for entrepreneurs to set their sights not just high, but into the stratosphere. When starting out, don't limit yourself by setting too modest of a vision. "Dream big" sounds like a cliché, but it can also become a self-fulfilling prophecy. History is littered with entrepreneurs that others thought were crazy before they ultimately achieved unimaginable success.

You will of course need to set incremental goals along the way, but throughout your journey as a business owner, remember that the only person who can truly put a cap on your business's potential is you.

2. Commitment vs. committee

One business school trap I see entrepreneurs fall into is spending too much time trying to build consensus. Instead, focus on building commitment to your vision. Why? Because bold ideas often aren't embraced by consensus. I frequently say that reversion to the mean is a compromise for mediocracy: Trying to satisfy everyone often results in your ideas becoming a shell of their original concept. A classic example of a "committee" project is where everyone is heard and no one is happy.

Instead, hire a group of people who believe in you and your unimaginably large vision, and who are inspired by the future and the potential you see.

3. The crowd is usually wrong

Challenging the crowd mentality is not only positive, but essential. If you want to differentiate yourself, why would you do exactly what competitors are doing? My advice: Chart your own course.

When I started my business, everyone else was trying to provide care to every corner of the country through their own disparate offices and internal clinicians, which is impossible to do effectively. I bucked the trend, embracing a nationwide network model. This centralized approach allowed us to offer broader services at a lower pricepoint while decreasing bureaucracy and overhead. We were instantly competitive, and grew rapidly as a result.

Fast forward to today, when online-only tools have become the status quo, and we're still going against the grain as a hybrid provider who offers both digital tools and telehealth services as well as the industry's largest in-person network and comprehensive organizational support services.

4. Hire for elevation

As you grow from a small team (or even a team of one!) to a business with dozens, hundreds or thousands of employees, you'll see how important it is to hire with intention. I believe the people you bring on board make or break your company. Seek out people who will push the business forward.

These people won't all look the same. Some will have a wealth of valuable experience in the field while others will come from different backgrounds. What's most important is that they exemplify the characteristics that are central to your mission and culture. Frankly, I value qualities like intellectual curiosity, tenacity and rigor as much, if not more, than traditional experience because I know those are the type of people who thrive at my company.

5. Be smarter than the problem

Most issues in business have relatively simple answers. We're the ones who overcomplicate them. As humans, we have a tendency to catastrophize. This can lead to a ton of extra work and heartache.

Instead of spinning in circles, I lean on the old Navy axiom, "Keep it simple, stupid." Think simply about what the problem really is (hint: it's usually notwhat everyone is talking about) and how to solve it. This straightforward, thoughtful approach is often not only the most expedient, but also the most effective.

6. Perfection is the enemy of success

While we all strive for excellence, remember that focusing too much on perfection will be to your own detriment. Like the iconic Nike slogan, sometimes you have to "Just do it." There will be opportunities to iterate and improve in the future. In the meantime, work to execute your vision as best you can while recognizing there will literally always be room to grow and improve.

If I waited until everything was perfect, I would not have done most things. Executing quickly but thoughtfully is the key. Over time, you'll hone your instincts, see continuous patterns and learn to trust your gut when it comes to taking decisive action. The biggest thing is to not agonize unnecessarily or become immobilized while you weigh your options. The worst decision you can make is no decision at all.

7. Be bulletproof

I believe integrity, and hence, your reputation, is the most important thing in business and in life. When I say "be bulletproof," that means live your values 100% of the time. This ensures your business never waivers from its mission while building a reputation people trust. It also fosters a culture of accountability and helps insulate you from criticism stemming from hypocrisy.

Nearly 20 years ago, Warren Buffett popularized the notion of the "newspaper test" — the concept that if you wouldn't want something you did published on the front page of a newspaper, then it isn't the right thing to do. It's an easy way to ensure your actions match your words.

These may seem like straightforward concepts, and they are. The challenge comes from implementing them as you navigate unforeseen adversity. It's the rigor and discipline of applying the same set of principles to every situation that will make the difference over time. After 40 years in business, I've come to realize that nothing is insurmountable. With unabashedly large dreams, an unwavering commitment to your vision, confidence to chart your own path, the right people beside you, a bias towards simple, smart action and strong values to guide you, you're likely to succeed in not just business, but in life.

** Chairman and Founder

Richard A. Chaifetz is the founder and chairman of ComPsych, the world’s largest provider of mental health services. He is also the chairman and managing partner of Chaifetz Group, a venture capital and private equity firm, and the owner of the St. Louis Shock of Major League Pickleball.

Entrepreneur

Google, Netflix, Facebook and other foreign companies operating in Nigeria paid N2.55tn in taxes to the Federal Government in the first six months of 2024.

The amount represents an increase of 158.76 per cent from N985.27bn collected in the preceding period of 2023.

The figure includes Company Income Tax and Value Added Tax, collated from data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics.

According to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, CIT is a 30 per cent tax imposed on companies’ profit, and VAT is a 7.5 per cent consumption tax paid when goods are purchased, and services are rendered and borne by the final consumer.

In 2020, the Federal Government had indicated plans to begin tax collection from foreign digital service providers offering services and earning revenue in naira due to its high acceptance by the Nigerian populace.

Some of these service providers, which are video streaming sites, social media platforms, and companies that offer downloads of digital content, are expected to pay digital tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, among others, which have been operating without a physical office in Nigeria, offer digital video and advertising services to Nigerians.

Others, like Alibaba and Amazon, generate revenue from Nigeria by processing and transmitting data collected about users in Nigeria, providing goods or services directly or through a digital platform, or offering intermediate services that link suppliers and customers in Nigeria.

Also, in January 2022, the Federal Government disclosed that it would charge offshore companies providing digital services to local customers in Nigeria a six per cent tax on turnover as provided in the 2021 Finance Act.

A breakdown of the reports showed that the companies paid N1.72tn as CIT while N831.47bn was collected as VAT between January and June 2024.

On a quarterly basis, Nigeria’s earnings from CIT increased by 87.2 per cent from N598.13bn in Q1 to N1.12tn in Q2.

Checks by our correspondent also revealed that the amount was the highest sum paid by the companies, contributing more than 45.3 per cent to the N2.4tn collected in the second quarter.

A breakdown of VAT showed that Nigeria earned N435.73bn in Q1 and N395.74 in Q2, marking a reduction of N39.99bn.

On Tuesday, the Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed that the Federal Government’s revenue for the first quarter of 2024 increased to N9.1tn, more than doubling the amount recorded in 2023 without increasing taxes.

Punch

At least 64 people were feared dead following a boat accident on a river in Zamfara State in northwest Nigeria, local officials said on Saturday.

A wooden boat carrying 70 farmers capsized as it was transporting them across the river to reach their farmlands close to Gummi town on Saturday morning. Local authorities swiftly mobilised residents for a rescue operation, and after three hours, six survivors were pulled from the water.

"This is the second time such an incident has occurred in the Gummi Local Government Area," said Aminu Nuhu Falale, a local administrator who led the rescue efforts.

He added that emergency teams were intensifying their search in the hope of finding more survivors.

More than 900 farmers rely on crossing the river daily to access their farmlands, but only two boats are available, often leading to overcrowding, said the local traditional ruler.

Zamfara State, already plagued by criminal gangs seeking control of mineral resources, has also been severely affected by flooding caused by heavy rains. Two weeks ago, floods displaced more than 10,000 residents, local officials said.

Reuters

Hamas leader sends letters from hiding after almost a year of silence

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has written a rare letter to Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, according to the Lebanese militant group, in which he reaffirms his commitment to fighting Israel and supporting the Iran-backed alliance of regional militants known as the “Axis of Resistance.”

Sinwar, Hamas’ political leader who is believed to be hiding underground in Gaza, told Nasrallah that the group is committed to the path of resistance taken by his slain predecessor Ismail Haniyeh and to the “unity of the Ummah (Islamic nation), at the heart of which is the Axis of Resistance, in the face of the Zionist project.”

The letter, shared by Hezbollah’s Telegram channel, was written to show gratitude for Hezbollah’s ongoing fight against Israel, which began on October 8, just a day after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel that triggered a devastating Israeli assault on Gaza.

One of Israel’s most wanted men, Sinwar hasn’t been seen since the war. He also hadn’t been publicly heard from for almost a year – until this week. On Tuesday, he issued his first statement since the war, congratulating Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune for his election victory, according to Hamas’ Telegram channel. The next day, his office said he wrote letters thanking those who offered condolences for Haniyeh’s death. And on Friday came the letter to Nasrallah. CNN cannot verify if Sinwar is indeed the author of the letters.

“He’s trying to say I’m here, I’m alive, I’m very much in command. I’m constantly updated and aware of everything happening outside Gaza,” said Muhammad Shehada, a writer and analyst from Gaza. “He wants to show that he is able to operate on multiple fronts, the domestic front – the battlefield in Gaza – and the diplomatic front – mediations.”

The target audience for such letters, he said, is primarily Israel, to whom Sinwar is attempting to show that despite efforts to find him, he is still able to continue working without interference.

The other target, Shehada added, is Hamas, including “skeptics from inside the movement or even mediators like Qatar, the US and Egypt, who doubt that he might be able to fulfill his leadership role from the tunnels in Gaza.”

Sinwar was named political leader of Hamas after Haniyeh was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran in July. He is seen as more hardline than his predecessor in dealings with Israel and favors cooperationand closer ties with Iran and allied Islamist groups such as Hezbollah.

Shehada said Sinwar is “one of the strongest advocates of a stronger relationship with Hezbollah and Iran, and deepening the alliance with the Axis of Resistance.”

“He is perceived in the movement as pragmatic, but at the same time very unpredictable and impulsive. But pragmatic nonetheless,” he said.

In his letter to Nasrallah, Sinwar vowed to continue defending Islamic holy sites, particularly Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque “until the expulsion and eradication of the occupation from our land, and the establishment of our independent state with full sovereignty and its capital Jerusalem.”

The October 7 attack, he said, was “one of the most honorable battles in the history of our Palestinian people.”

CNN

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia had reason to use nukes, but showed restraint – Medvedev

Throughout the Ukraine conflict, Russia has had ample reason to use nuclear weapons, but has so far exercised restraint, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has said. He warned, however, that Moscow’s patience is not limitless, suggesting that Russia could respond harshly if Western nations allow Kiev to use the missiles they have provided to strike targets deep inside Russian territory.

Kiev has been demanding that these limitations be lifted since at least May. Several media outlets have recently alleged that Washington and London will soon do so, or secretly have already.

In a post on his Telegram channel on Saturday, Medvedev wrote that Western leaders have lulled themselves into a false sense of security, thinking that Moscow is bluffing when it warns of dire consequences for allowing long-range missile strikes. The official, who was also the Russian president from 2008 to 2012, said Russia is fully aware that conducting a nuclear strike would be a momentous decision.

“It is precisely because of this that a decision to use nuclear weapons… has not been made so far,” Medvedev stressed. He added that the “formal prerequisites for this, which are understandable to the entire global community and that are stipulated by our nuclear containment doctrine, are in place.” He cited the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk Region as one example.

“Russia is showing patience,” he said, while warning that “there is always a limit to patience.”

Medvedev went on to suggest that Russia could also respond to Western escalation with some sort of new weaponry – not necessarily nuclear, but still devastating.

Speaking on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin argued that the Ukrainian military is not capable of operating Western long-range systems on its own, but needs intelligence from NATO satellites and Western military personnel. For this reason, if the West allows Kiev to hit targets deep inside Russia, “this will mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries are fighting against Russia,” Putin said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's spy chief says North Korean military aid to Russia presents major battlefield problem

Ukraine's spy chief said on Saturday that Russia's increased production of guided bombs as well as artillery ammunition deliveries from North Korea present major problems for Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.

The head of Ukraine's military intelligence agency GUR, Kyrylo Budanov, said North Korean military aid to Russia presented the biggest concern compared to support provided by Moscow's other allies.

"They supply huge amounts of artillery ammunition, which is critical for Russia," he said, pointing to the ramp up in the battlefield hostilities following such deliveries.

Ukraine and the United States, among other countries and independent analysts, say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is helping Russia in the war against Ukraine by supplying missiles and ammunition in return for economic and other military assistance from Moscow.

Russia's boost in the production of guided bombs also presented a "huge problem for the frontline", Budanov said at the Yalta European Strategy conference organised by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Kyiv.

Ukraine's forces are stretched thin more than 30 months into the full-scale invasion, working to stave off Russian advance toward key towns in the country's east. Ukrainian forces have also made an incursion into the western Russian region of Kursk.

A ramp up in the production of the Iskander-type missiles has resulted in Russia's "massive use" of weapons to attack Ukraine, Budanov said.

This year's strikes on Ukraine's critical infrastructure have caused significant damage to the country's power grid, leading to power cuts. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has renewed pleas for air defence support from Ukraine's allies.

Budanov said Russian internal planning showed that Moscow will face a recruitment crunch in the middle of next year.

"During this period (summer 2025) they will face a dilemma: either to declare mobilisation or to somehow reduce the intensity of hostilities, which may ultimately be critical for them," Budanov said.

RT/CNN

One of the thematic preoccupations of the book, What the forest told me: Yoruba hunter, culture and narrative performance, (2014) is that, inside the forest, there is a consistent superiority war, often fierce, between man and animals. Written by Ayo Adeduntan, Research Fellow at the University of Ibadan, the book averred that, while animals sometimes win this war, succeeding in crushing hunters for supper, many atimes, hunters vanquish these forest dwellers. They fell these notorious animals renowned for bathing in the blood of their human victims. In pursuit of this theme of a superiority duel in the wild, Adeduntan was in a forest called Ìgbẹ́ Alágogo. Hunting expeditions to the Ìgbẹ́ are seasonal excursions that take hunters to Òj̣é-̣Owódé in the Òkè Ògùn area of Oyo State. There, Adeduntan interviewed a hunter called Òjó Ògúnkúnlé of Agúnrege village. Ògúnkúnlé’s narration of how his hunter-master, named Ògúnòṣ̣un, a very powerful hunter, married a buffalo and was eventually demystified by the animal, painted the picture that a mutual damage often occurs in the duel between animal and man.

The narration goes thus: One day, Ògúnkúnlé went hunting and felled a huge buffalo with his gun. Unable to process what to do with his mountainous game, the young hunter walked back kilometers to announce his kill to his master named Ògúnòṣ̣un. While they were both walking back to where the buffalo was felled, about a mile to the scene, a pretty lady walked past them and saluted on her two knees. In a magical reality that may be hard to believe, Ògúnkúnlé inferred that the buffalo was the one who morphed into the pretty lady. He told the researcher, “all of a sudden, we met the animal, the pretty woman” – “àfi pẹ̀kí n la bá pàdé ẹran l’ọ́nà, èyuùn ìyàwó. Arẹwa obinrin ni”. If Ògúnòṣ̣un had listened to Odolaye Aremu, the Ilorin musician who warned that there is always a suddenness to calamity, (pèkí làá ko èèmò) he probably would have been wary of a beautiful woman suddenly encountered in a dense forest. From wooing the buffalo-woman and taking her home, Ògúnòṣ̣un ended up marrying her. Before the marriage solemnization, according to Adeduntan’s account, the buffalo-woman gave a caveat, which I paraphrase: “Now that I’ve agreed to marry you, the day you recklessly call me an animal, you are done for.”

The buffalo-woman gave birth to children for Ògúnòṣ̣un. However, one day, the wife enraged her husband, so much that he thundered, “You good-for-nothing unlucky daughter of an animal!” (‘Àb’órí ì rẹ burú ni, ìwọ ọmọ ẹranko yìí!). A very mysterious anger immediately seized the woman who instantly morphed into her original buffalo form. As she charged at Ògúnòṣ̣un with her menacing horns, the hunter quickly reached for his hunter talisman (Ìgbàdì).The Ìgbàdì is the phial belt which hunters have recourse to, while on hunting expedition. If a ferocious animal suddenly attempted to harm them, they untied the belt. They then chanted some metaphysical verses which enabled them escape the animal’s deadly ferocity. As Ògúnòṣ̣un chanted the incantations, he landed in a prehistoric mountain on the outskirts of the village. He was however not fast enough for the buffalo which used its horn to gore him and tear his ligaments. The buffalo thereafter ran into the mountains and never returned. Ògúnòṣ̣un, said the narrator, as reported by Adeduntan, carried with him for life the cicatrices of a fractured leg. This motif of a superiority duel between animals of the forest and man is also present in D. O. Fagunwa’s Igbo Olódùmarè where the hero of the book, Olówó-Aiyé, fought the spirit, Anjonnu-Iberu, who transformed into a boa and, helped by a ravishingly beauty witch named àjẹ́diran, who gave him a magic fruit, Olówó-Aiyé transformed into an elephant and crushed the boa constrictor.

What provoked this excursion into the world of animals is a discussion said to be gaining currency among some intellectuals in Southwest Nigeria today. It is themed around the rhetorical question: Have current runners of Nigeria, led by a Yoruba, with their prodigal handling of Nigerian economy and society, not succeeded in demystifying the Yoruba myth of administrative and leadership competence? Same discussion, I learnt, is bandied in banters in Northern Nigeria today, amid sniggering laughter. So, in the ancient “war” between Yoruba and Northern Nigeria about administrative and leadership competence, has the North succeeded, like Ògúnòṣ̣un’s buffalo-woman wife, in demystifying the Yoruba buffalo?

Obafemi Awolowo’s Premiership of Western Region, with its sterling and highly commended leadership, opened the trough of that narrative. That leadership was followed by another one provided by UPN governors of the Second Republic. Watched over by their leader, Awolowo, those governors also significantly showed the world the colour of developmental leadership. That was the last time the Yoruba had the opportunity to showcase their ability, until Olusegun Obasanjo came in 1999. Though he demonstrated comparative competence to lead Nigeria above all his successors, Obasanjo’s pan-Nigerian claim and overt attack on Awolowo’s leadership of Nigeria made his Yoruba people disown him as theirs. In overt flaunt and gloat, Yoruba had often said to the hearing of whoever wanted to listen that, with their centuries-old sophistication, urbane character, western education and grasp of the modern system of administration, if ever they had the opportunity to lead Nigeria, Yoruba would show the world the stuff they were made of.

2023 was that opportunity. Today, under 15 months, Nigeria has fallen into tatters under a man who answers to all the physical attributes of a Yoruba. The question being asked now is, what happened? Why did people who have always held themselves as crocodiles, suddenly turn out to be lizards? Why are people with reputation of lion, King of the Jungle, now being exposed as mere rodents-eating cats? Muhammadu Buhari, whose leadership is compared to an affliction, is almost celebrated as a mascot now by Nigerians in comparison. Aso Rock claims its reforms are like a surgical operation to correct a medical anomaly. It also says that the pains Nigerians undergo are comparable to one inflicted by the Olóólà, facemark maker, whose knife, which cuts painfully deep down into the bosom of the skin, is a precursor to beauty. To the Villa, our pain is a desirable agony. None of the reform evangelists has however been able to explain the optics we see of reformers living in stupendous comfort while targets of reforms are enmeshed in indescribable hunger. Only yesterday, we were told that the First Lady, Remi Tinubu, spent N701 million on foreign trips, in a Nigeria where the people are dying and hungry.

When they are boxed to a corner, in fitful explanations, Yoruba flaunt an explanation which demarcates the Yorubaness of present Nigerian rulers from theirs. They say occupiers of Aso Rock today are mainly coastal Yoruba. These are people, they say, who are a corrupted version of their own ancestry. Theirs, they go further to say, approximates all those qualities of the Awolowo Yoruba and it is because they are from the hinterland. In my piece of April 14, 2024 entitled The Lagos Boy’s coastal highway, I attempted a description of the coastal Yoruba thus: “Writers like Cyprian Ekwensi drew the picture of a dreadful Lagos. The ‘Lagos Boy’ could mean smartness, suavity, celebration of inanity, fraudulence, erection of facades on dross to make it look real…Even before the colonialists came, Lagos, once known as the ‘Venice of West Africa,’ was dreaded by inhabitants of the hinterland… Lagos was home to money-doublers and soul-scarred gamblers. It was where you could make quick money through mere hubris. Some other writers have described Lagos as ‘a place of desperation to make it by hook or crook,’ with some others giving it the fitting description of ‘a huge Dickensian space full of heartbreak.’

Paul French, in his ‘Lagos: Africa’s Capital of Noir’, said Lagos had popularly been described as ‘the capital of crimes such as 419 and internet fraud also known as the ‘Yahoo Yahoo’’. I also made the incontrovertible claim that, “If Tinubu lost some votes of his Yoruba people in the 2023 presidential election, it may not be too far from the truth to say that his morally prude Yoruba kinsmen from the hinterland who believed that anything Lagos was fraud were the ones who withdrew their votes.” I also said “the Lagosian has come to be classified as immune to some of the traits associated with a Yorubaman. He didn’t totally represent the gentlemanly Omoluabi ethos that undergirds the value system of the children of Oduduwa. A trustworthy Lagosian is as scarce as a hen’s teeth. He would grab and run with what doesn’t belong to him. It is repeatedly said that a Lagosian would sell particle to you as an article.” There are however many exceptions to this as there are equally Lagosians of sterling pedigrees.

By trying to remove themselves from the stain of this leadership calamity, the Yoruba seem to be answering a question posed by William Butler Yeats in one of his poems entitled ‘Among School Children’. In it, Yeats had asked, ‘How can we know the dancer from the dance?’ I am of the opinion that, rather than engage in demarcation of hinterland and coastal Yorubaness, (thereby seeking to remove the dancer from the dance) Yoruba should be more frontal in demanding that those in government today should not stain their leadership reputation’s white apparel bequeathed by Awolowo. This will necessitate that they disclaim some Yoruba who have consistently licked the spittle of Aso Rock, all in the name of clapping-on an obvious failure of a child whose waist we adorn with beads not deserved. The Yoruba case in Nigerian leadership is synonymous with the narrative of a head hunter (Oluode) who was caught mourning his hunting dog killed by a tiger. Asked why he mourned, Oluode told them that a valiant tree does not ooze out cowardly secretions (ako igi kìì s’oje) and that what he mourned was his reputation that was at stake. How would the world reconcile itself to the story of a brave hunter’s dog killed by a mere tiger? It was the hunter who was literally killed!

The other explanation Yoruba could give is that what Nigeria has today isn’t the original, certainly nothing of the variant of Awolowo, Bola Ige or any of their leaders’ original copy of leadership. The owners of that original have gone with their slough. It reminds me, again, of one of the hunter-animal liaisons and contests for primacy narratives in Adeduntan’s book. Another hunter, Kìlání Alápó of Alápó village, Ibadan, tells it perfectly. For eight years, Alápó had killed a python under an àràbà tree in a forest called Ẹléṛè.̣ However, in the ninth year of harvesting the python, the snake was nowhere to be found under the àràbà. In its stead, he found the skin of a deer (awo ̣̣ ìgalà). Alápó however went home with his strange find, the àwọ̀. Apprehensive about the slough he kept and its probable consequences, he inquired of a Babalawo who warned him not to destroy it as its owner would someday ask for it (aláwò ̣ ó ̣ wàá bééré áwó). Seven days after, a pretty lady walked into Alápó village, demanding Kìlání Alápó’s home. Seeing this woman, dogs began to bark mysteriously. Adeduntan explained this as the capacity of dogs to “see the numinous.” On meeting Alápó, the woman promptly demanded, “could you please return my slough?” (Ẹ dákun, àwò ̣ mi t’éẹ̣ kó, mọ fé ̣ k’éẹ̣ kó o fún mi). The hunter walked in and handed her the skin. According to the narration, for fifteen years, Alápó consistently killed a deer under the àràbà tree.

Yoruba are in a dilemma. They have an impostor child who, unfortunately, hails from their home of noble leadership pedigree and honour. Like relished epaulettes, the honour of excellence in leadership and administration is what the Yoruba still cling on today. In the same way the python-woman walked back to Kìlání Alápó to demand what rightly belonged to her, the race must demand its àwọ̀ from the impostor.

Good night, Omodewu

On Thursday last week, in Ibadan, Oyo State, I was at the wake and tributes service in honour of Isaac Ajiboye Omodewu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Oyo State Chairman. The news of his passage on August 18, 2024, in New York, USA hit his home state almost immediately it occurred. It was like a thunderbolt, a blow to many who knew his dove-like character. It was a moment to cower at the feet of the invisible hand of death that plucked a friend, a gentleman personified. Omodewu was laid to rest the second day in his Otu town.

In the events hall where the service took place, you could feel Omodewu’s gentle voice and coy, harmless look. He almost couldn’t hurt a fly. In life, Omodewu was a dependable ally who sought out the comfort of his friends. Until you read about his pedigree, having come out of a home of politicians, Omodewu didn’t strike you as a politician, with all the combativeness and duplicity of politics. I could understand Omodewu’s service as a government appointee but it took a long time for me to connect with his subsequent and unfortunately, last political career path when he became the Oyo State APC Party Chairman. Those who witnessed him in action as party chairman pointed to a leadership he ran marked by unity and consensus-building.

I knew Omodewu in 2011 while we both served under late Governor Abiola Ajimobi. From the way he wove his “been to” status into his utterances, you knew immediately he was one of the Oyo State indigenes who came from abroad to participate in politics. It was later I learnt that he schooled at the City University of New York, USA. He subsequently served as commissioner for local government and thereafter, lands. He was humble and self-effacing.

One thing that I often remember about him was how he, at close to 60 years of age, chose to study law. When he began the course of study at the Lead City University in Ibadan, he told me bluntly that, looking at my example, he was encouraged to go back to school. We also spoke frequently when he was about to go to the Nigerian Law School, which culminated in his being called to the Nigerian Bar in 2023.

Omodewu’s passage tells all of us that death is a bus stop where all of us would alight someday. That gentleman has alighted by his own bus stop. Sleep well, brother.

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses ~ 1Timothy 6:12.

Introduction:

There is an ongoing battle in the world today. It is real, fierce and total in the realm of the spirit. It is a battle between the forces of good, personified and championed by our Lord Jesus Christ, versus the forces of evil, personified by Satan and his minions. Indeed, anyone who is mature and sensitive in the spiritual universe will be quite familiar with this reality.

Of a truth, every child of God that is poised to do the will of God is automatically involved in this battle (2 Timothy 3:12). Quite unfortunately, in the theater of this battle, many people have shipwrecked, punctured and aborted their glorious destinies because of a lack of prayerful watchfulness.

We see the battle on display everywhere around us. In fact, most of the things that people easily dabble into in this world and take pleasure in are just fronts of this raging battle. It behoves us to know that these evil forces are pretty well structured to do maximum damage to God's Kingdom and, in particular, to God’s people (Ephesians 6:12). At any rate, when the devil does evil, he is simply answering his name.

Meanwhile, Satan wouldn’t want us to understand, believe and accept the true position of God’s Word with respect to our victory in spiritual conflicts. He would rather wish that we don’t ever challenge the status quo, but that wouldn’t line up with the wisdom of God.

What then should be our attitude towards these evil forces, thrones and spiritual wickedness in high places? Basically, we must never fear them because they are disarmed entities (1 Peter 5:8). Jesus triumphed over them on the Cross, and bestowed on us the victory (Colossians 2:15; Romans 8:37).

No one can enjoy a revolution unless he first obtains a revelation. Thus, a true revelation of our position in Christ will go a long way towards shaping our orientations as to what God has made available to us on earth.

All the fighting implements we need are already at our disposal in the spirit realm, and there is nothing that God is supposed to do that He has not done (Romans 8:32)! Jesus came and died for us, shedding His precious blood to buy us back from the bondages of sin and Satan, and to reposition us in His righteousness.

Flowing from these above, the devil and his minions are now factually under our feet by reason of our supernatural relationship with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:20-23). We are majestically seated in the heavenly places with Christ, and as long as we abide in this relationship, our gracious privileges will also remain constant.

By divine averment, Jesus Christ is the Head and we are His Body. Just like the head and the body are inseparable parts of any living entity, and the legs and the feet are parts that make the body whole, so is Christ the Head and we His body, the Church.

It follows also that if Satan is under Jesus' feet, then he is automatically under our feet too, as members of Christ’s Body! Please keep in mind that whatever is under your feet lives only at your mercy.

By the reality of whom we are in Christ, everything, including the powers of darkness, are subject to us. Not only the ones that have been named, but even the ones that are yet unnamed, untapped and undiscovered, they have all been put under our feet. Simply put, this fact is mind-boggling! Alleluia!!

Unfortunately though, even after all that God has done and freely given us to make us formidable entities in the spirit realm through Christ Jesus, many people still continue to wallow in abject ignorance (Ephesians 2:6-7). In this regard, it is always good and refreshing for us to examine some principles that will enable us access the power of the Holy Spirit, and to walk in our dominion in Christ Jesus.

First of all, we must certainly know who we are in Christ. You must know who you are in Christ Jesus, and become fully convinced of the authority you carry through Him, or else you continue to wriggle under the burden of identity crisis.

Many believers today are underachieving simply because they are very ignorant of who they are in Christ Jesus. They live like the proverbial child of a cloth-seller that is wearing rags, or like the child of a renowned butcher that has access to only bones!

We must totally agree with the Word of God in order to engage the power of His intervention in our fight of faith (Amos 3:3). Until a man readily agrees with the Word of God, he isn’t set to enjoy the wonders it can procure.

We must hold God's Word tight to our chests, allowing our lives to be shaped and ruled by it. Whenever the Word of God is actively engaged in any spiritual conflict, victory is the foregone conclusion (Hebrews 4:12). The Word of God is settled in heaven, and it must be settled in our hearts (Psalm 119:89).

Furthermore, to receive the assistance of Holy Ghost power, you must see possibilities of victory in all your spiritual conflicts. Don't stay on a spot, throwing a pity party with only yourself as the guest (Exodus 14:15).

Crying and bemoaning your fate will only glorify the devil, making him feel good and prompting him to assault you the more. You may have had a humble background, but that shouldn’t keep your back on the ground. Don't ever accept defeat, Jesus already gave you His victory.

Most importantly, you must agree with and readily rely on the Holy Spirit if you dream of engaging an unfailing power in your necessary fight of faith. Stubbornness, recalcitrancy and disobedience are major disqualifications in the course of engaging the power of the Holy Spirit.

Be sensitive to Him, tango with His instructions in all ways, and you will soon find yourself easily defeating the enemy, putting his hosts in disarray. But, on the flip-side, if you are still dilly-dallying, wavering between two opinions, you are treading dangerous paths.

Friends, men and brethren, as saints and heirs of God through Jesus Christ, we are actually loaded, strengthened and fully protected by God’s holy angels that excel in strength (Psalm 103:20; Hebrews 1:13-14). And, from this advantageous position, necessity is laid on us to regularly set the devil's ploy in disarray and frustrate his plans.

Like one wise man suggested, “it is comic treason for the Church to possess the keys of the kingdom and not utilize them to set the captives free”. Today, the kingdom keys are in your hands; I pray, therefore, that you will not disappoint God who has endowed you with so much, in Jesus Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

How can a mere mortal be right-standing in the eyes of God?

First, he has to admit that he can do nothing by himself. He must admit that he automatically does everything the wrong way. Then he must believe that God will turn the wrong things of his life into right things through the works of Jesus Christ.

We are only right when we believe in God who always does the right things and corrects our wrongs. We are only right when we believe in God to do the right things for us.

The right thing can never be what a man does. The right thing is only what God does. So, how can man get anything right? He must believe that God will get it right for him.

Faith in God is the answer. Faith in God is the key. The scriptures tell us: “Without faith it is impossible to please (God).” (Hebrews 11:6). With faith, the wrong thing becomes right. The bad thing becomes good. The only goodness in man acceptable to God is faith in God, and faith itself is a gift of God.

“You cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in him. In the Scriptures David talks about the blessings that come to people who are acceptable to God, even though they don’t do anything to deserve these blessings.” (Romans 4:5-6).

Those trying to be good fail for trying. Those who do not try succeed because of their faith:

“The Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that He would accept them if they had faith. It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God.” (Romans 9:30-32).

Saving faith

Salvation does not come from merely believing in God. It comes from believing in the word of God. This is because: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).

So, what is the word of God?

In the time of Noah, salvation was in believing what God said about the Ark. The word of God said those who went into the Ark would be saved. As a result, many who believed in God perished in the Flood because they did not believe in the Ark. But salvation was in the Ark.

Today, salvation is also not merely in believing in God. It is in believing in Jesus, the Word of God. Jesus is now the Ark. As a result, many people who claim to believe in God are unacceptable to God. To believe in the One true God, we must believe in Jesus, the Son of God and the Word of God:

“If we have faith in God’s Son, we have believed what God has said. But if we don’t believe what God has said about his Son, it is the same as calling God a liar. God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son. And so, if we have God’s Son, we have this life. But if we don’t have the Son, we don’t have this life.” (1 John 5:10-12).

(God) accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:22). “(God) declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26).

Jesus is the Way

Jesus is the only way to God. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).

The Bible does not say: “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in God should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

No! It says:

“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).

God the Father is not the author of our faith. Jesus is. (Hebrews 12:2). God the Father did not appear to Paul on the road to Damascus, and commission him to establish the church and to write two-thirds of the New Testament. Jesus did.

God the Father did not appear to John and reveal to him what is to come, which he wrote in the Book of Revelations. Jesus did.

The scriptures do not say: “Looking unto God the Father.” No! They say: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2). The righteousness of faith is in believing who Jesus is and believing in His atonement for our sins on the cross.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. He does not testify of the Father but of the Son. People are to be led to Jesus, and not to the Father. If you lead people to Jesus, they will get to the Father because Jesus is the way to Him. But if you try to lead people to the Father, they will never get to Him.

Completed Works

Today, there is still no salvation in believing in God. The apostolic creed is quite straightforward. It has a division of authority between God the Father and God the Son: 

“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21).

Moreover, faith is not believing what Jesus will do. It is believing what Jesus has done. Therefore, thank God in advance before receiving anything from Him. Faith does not mean believing God will do something. Faith is believing He has already done it. Jesus says:

“Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24).

Sin is Unbelief

Sin is not merely what men do. Sin is first and foremost what men believe. For a man to be good in the sight of God, he must believe in God. For a man to be right standing with God, he must believe in God:

“People are acceptable to God because they have faith, and not because they obey the Law. There is only one God, and He accepts Gentiles as well as Jews, simply because of their faith.” (Romans 3:28-30).

So, why do you do the things you do? Only one answer is acceptable. You must do what you do because you believe in Christ. Faith in Christ is the only acceptable reason for human action. Anything that does not originate from faith in Jesus is a sin. “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23).

If you give money to the poor but the reason why you did is not because of your faith in Jesus, your generosity is a sin. You sinned against God by giving money to the poor.

If you are faithful to your wife only because you love your wife, you have sinned against God. You must be faithful to your wife because you believe in Jesus and love God.

Jesus asserts the saliency and supremacy of faith in Him in every situation:

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26).

We must hate them, and then love them only because we believe in Jesus.

Jesus warns that sin is mistakenly seen as doing something bad when it is doing something that does not arise from our belief in Him:

“When (the Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” (John 16:8).

In effect, with the perfected works of Jesus on our behalf on the cross of Calvary where He took away the sin of the world, sin has now been reduced to not believing in Jesus. Only those who have the Holy Spirit know this. Others think God approves of their dead works.

Exclusionary Law

Paul asks:

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No: but by the law of faith.” (Romans 3:27).

The law of faith in Jesus is exclusionary because there are so many things that we simply will not do because we believe in Jesus. People do evil because they do not believe in Jesus.

But because you believe in Jesus, you will not steal. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not fornicate. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not murder. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not steal. Because of your faith in Jesus, you will not sin intentionally.

But people who do not believe in Jesus are liable to fly planes into buildings, killing thousands, in the belief that, by doing this, they are doing God a favour.

Jesus warns His disciples about this:

“They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.” (John 16:2-3).

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

Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, made the decision after former nurse Christine, 80, was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia several weeks ago.

The couple want to travel to Switzerland to die in each other's arms in the death capsule – known as the Sarco – to mark the end of their long and happy marriage.

Following an emotional family summit during which the couple shared their fears of suffering years of infirmity within a failing NHS, and losing their home and life savings to pay crippling care costs, their son and daughter have reluctantly said they'll respect their choice.

Peter, 86, and Christine, who have six grandchildren, are now in the process of registering with The Last Resort, a Swiss-based organisation that offers assisted dying in the Sarco, unveiled in July.

It has not yet been tried but its creator, Australian-born Philip Nitschke – nicknamed Doctor Death by right-to-life opponents – expects the first suicide to take place soon. The Scotts say they will wait until the new twin model of the machine is launched later this year.

In an extraordinarily frank interview at their home in the Suffolk village of Mellis, they revealed their plans in the hope of lending weight to the campaign to allow assisted dying in the UK, where it is illegal.

Currently, a backbench Labour MP is considering bringing forward a private members' bill after Sir Keir Starmer backed having a free Commons vote on the issue.

Peter said: 'We have had long, happy, healthy, fulfilled lives but here we are in old age and it does not do nice things to you.

'The idea of watching the slow degradation of Chris's mental abilities in parallel to my own physical decline is horrific to me.

'Obviously I would care for her to the point I could not, but she has nursed enough people with dementia during her career to be adamant she wants to remain in control of herself and her life. Assisted dying gives her that opportunity and I would not want to go on living without her.

'We understand other people may not share our feelings and we respect their position. What we want is the right to choose. I find it deeply depressing we can't do that here in the UK.

'Yet look at the alternative. The chances of getting prompt NHS treatment for the ailments of old age seem pretty remote so you end up trapped by infirmity and pain.

'I don't want to go into care, to be lying in bed dribbling and incontinent – I don't call that a life.

'Finally, the Government swoops in to take your savings and your house to pay for it all.'

Currently he is wrestling with all the paperwork required for the full application.

He is anxious about Christine's application since securing assisted suicide for dementia sufferers is harder than for people with, for example, terminal cancer.

The Sarco was invented at the request of British stroke victim Tony Nicklinson who was left conscious but unable to move or speak following a stroke. 

He approached Nitschke to make a death pod that could be operated by the blink of an eye, the only communication left to him. 

Nicklinson, who begged the courts to be legally allowed to die but was refused, eventually starved himself to death in 2012, before the Sarco was created.

The pod works by replacing air, which is 21 per cent oxygen and 79 per cent nitrogen, with 100 per cent nitrogen. This swiftly renders the occupant unconscious and they then stop breathing in a process that takes less than ten minutes. 

A camera inside the pod records their final moments and the footage is handed to a coroner.

It is anticipated that the Sarco, which is made using a 3-D printer, will be free but people must be able to pay for their body to be removed by funeral directors afterwards. Peter and Christine would like to be cremated and have their ashes repatriated and scattered in the graveyard of their local church.

The only additional currently known cost would be £16 for the liquid nitrogen used in the pod, making it more economical than other assisted dying clinics, which typically charge £10,000.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Nitschke confirmed his couple's suicide pod was ready for launch. He said: 'The capsule for two people works exactly the same as the single Sarco but there is only one button so they will decide between them who will push it. Then they'll be able to hold each other and one of them will push the button.'

Christine already has her final days planned. 'I'd like to go walking with Peter in the Swiss Alps, by a river. I'd have a beautiful plate of fish for my last supper, and enjoy a great bottle of Merlot. 

'I'd make a playlist including Wild Cat Blues and The Young Ones by Cliff Richard and I've found a poem called Miss Me But Let Me Go, which sums up exactly how I feel.'

Appropriately, the 1930s song Goodbye by the American composer Gordon Jenkins will be on Peter's playlist. A former RAF aero engineer, he worked in the aviation industry around the world before returning to his native East Anglia to carve a second career as a careers adviser. 

He and Christine fell in love at first sight after meeting in a jazz club. She was a nurse with a small daughter from a first marriage. After marrying, they had a son together.

Their children have been encouraging them to move into a retirement complex but the couple are determined to make assisted dying a possibility. 

Christine says: 'It's a lovely life but I have this diagnosis, and that's crystallised our thinking. Medicine can slow vascular dementia but it can't stop it. At the point I thought I was losing myself, I'd say: 'This is it, Pete, I don't want to go any further.'

He adds: 'I've said to her, 'You make the decision and I'll be with you.' Death holds no problem for me whatsoever.

'I'd just give her a big hug and say: 'Hope to see you later.'

MailOnline