Bethlehem is gearing up for a subdued Christmas, without the festive lights and customary Christmas tree towering over Manger Square, after officials in Jesus’ traditional birthplace decided to forgo celebrations due to the Israel-Hamas war.

The cancellation of Christmas festivities, which typically draw thousands of visitors, is a severe blow to the town’s tourism-dependent economy. But joyous revelry is untenable at a time of immense suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, said Mayor Hana Haniyeh.

“The economy is crashing,” Haniyeh told The Associated Press on Friday. “But if we compare it with what’s happening to our people and Gaza, it’s nothing.”

More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50,000 wounded during Israel’s blistering air and ground offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, according to health officials there, while some 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced. The war was triggered by Hamas’ deadly assault Oct. 7 on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took more than 240 hostages.

Since Oct. 7, access to Bethlehem and other Palestinian towns in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has been difficult, with long lines of motorists waiting to pass military checkpoints. The restrictions have also prevented many Palestinians from exiting the territory to work in Israel.

City leaders fret about the impact the closures have on the small Palestinian economy in the West Bank, already struggling with a dramatic fall in tourism since the start of the war. The Palestinian tourism sector has incurred losses of $2.5 million a day, amounting to $200 million by the end of the year, the Palestinian minister of tourism said Wednesday.

The yearly Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem — shared among Armenian, Catholic and Orthodox denominations — are major boons for the city, where tourism accounts for 70% of its yearly income. But the streets are empty this season.

With most major airlines canceling flights to Israel, over 70 hotels in Bethlehem have been forced to close, leaving some 6,000 employees in the tourism sector unemployed, according to Sami Thaljieh, manager of the Sancta Maria Hotel.

“I spend my days drinking tea and coffee, waiting for customers who never come. Today, there is no tourism,” said Ahmed Danna, a Bethlehem shop owner.

Haniyeh said that while Christmas festivities have been cancelled, religious ceremonies will take place, including a traditional gathering of church leaders and a Midnight Mass.

“Bethlehem is an essential part of the Palestinian community,” the mayor said. “So at Midnight Mass this year, we will pray for peace, the message of peace that was founded in Bethlehem when Jesus Christ was born.”

George Carlos Canawati, a Palestinian journalist, lecturer, and scout leader, called his city “sad and heartbroken.” He said his Boy Scout troop will conduct a silent march across the city, in mourning of those killed in Gaza.

“We receive the Christmas message by rejecting injustice and aggression, and we will pray for peace to come to the land of peace,” said Canawati.

The enthusiasm of Bethlehem’s Christmas festivities have long been a barometer of Israeli-Palestinian relations.

Celebrations were grim in 2000 at the start of the second intifada, or uprising, when Israeli forces locked down parts of the West Bank in response to Palestinians carrying out scores of suicide bombings and other attacks that killed Israeli civilians.

Times were also tense during an earlier Palestinian uprising, which lasted from 1987-1993, when annual festivities in Manger Square were overseen by Israeli army snipers on the rooftops.

The sober mood this year isn’t confined to Bethlehem.

Across the Holy Land, Christmas festivities have been put on hold. There are 182,000 Christians in Israel, 50,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem and 1,300 in Gaza, according to the U.S. State Department. The vast majority are Palestinians.

In Jerusalem, the normally bustling passageways of the Old City’s Christian Quarter have fallen quiet since the war began. Shops are boarded up, with their owners saying they are too frightened to open — and even if they did, they say they wouldn’t have much business.

The heads of major churches in Jerusalem announced in November that holiday celebrations would be canceled. “We call upon our congregations to stand strong with those facing such afflictions by this year foregoing any unnecessarily festive activities,” they wrote.

At the altar of Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran church, a revised nativity scene is on display. A figure of baby Jesus wrapped in a Palestinian keffiyeh is perched atop a pile of rubble. The doll lies underneath an olive tree — for Palestinians, a symbol of steadfastness.

“While the world is celebrating, our children are under the rubble. While the world is celebrating, our families are displaced and their homes are destroyed,” said the church’s Pastor, Munther Isaac. “This is Christmas to us in Palestine.”

AP

Netanyahu says Israel is as 'committed as ever' to war after soldiers mistakenly killed 3 hostages

Three Israeli hostages who were mistakenly shot by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip had been waving a white flag and were shirtless when they were killed, military officials said Saturday, in Israel’s first such acknowledgement of harming any hostages in its war against Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a nationwide address that the killings “broke my heart, broke the entire nation’s heart,” but he indicated no change in Israel’s intensive military campaign. “We are as committed as ever to continue until the end, until we dismantle Hamas, until we return all our hostages,” he said.

Anger over the mistaken killings is likely to increase pressure on the Israeli government to renew Qatar-mediated negotiations with Hamas over swapping more of the remaining captives, which Israel says number 129, for Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

A senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, reiterated that there will be no further hostage releases until the war ends and Israel accepts the militant group’s conditions for an exchange. Netanyahu said Israel would never agree to such demands.

Israel’s account of how the three hostages were killed also raised questions about its soldiers’ conduct. Palestinians on several occasions have said Israeli soldiers opened fire as civilians tried to flee to safety. Hamas has claimed other hostages were previously killed by Israeli fire or airstrikes, without presenting evidence.

An Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters in line with military regulations, said the hostages likely had been abandoned by their captors or had escaped. The soldiers’ behavior was “against our rules of engagement,” the official said, and was being investigated at the highest level.

The hostages did everything they could to signal they weren’t a threat, “but this shooting was done during fighting and under pressure,” Herzi Halevi, chief of the military’s general staff, said in a statement.

Halevi added: “There may be additional incidents in which hostages will escape or will be abandoned during the fighting. We have the obligation and the responsibility to get them out alive.”

The hostages, all in their 20s, were killed Friday in the Gaza City area of Shijaiyah, where troops are engaged in fierce fighting with Hamas. They had been among more than 240 people taken hostage during an unprecedented raid by Hamas into Israel on Oct. 7 in which around 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians.

Speaking at a rally in Tel Aviv, Rubi Chen, father of 19-year-old hostage Itay Chen, criticized the government for believing hostages can be retrieved through military pressure. “Put the the best offer on the table to get the hostages home alive,” he said. “We don’t want them back in bags.”

The Israeli military official said the three hostages had emerged from a building close to Israeli soldiers’ positions. They waved a white flag and were shirtless, possibly trying to signal they posed no threat.

Two were killed immediately, and the third ran back into the building screaming for help in Hebrew. The commander issued an order to cease fire, but another burst of gunfire killed the third man, the official said.

Israeli media gave a more detailed account. The mass circulation daily Yediot Ahronot said that according to an investigation into the incident, soldiers followed the third man and shouted at him to come out, and at least one soldier shot him when he emerged from a staircase.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the soldiers who followed the third hostage believed he was a Hamas member. Local media reported that soldiers earlier saw a nearby building marked “SOS” and “Help! Three hostages” but feared it might be a trap.

Dahlia Scheindlin, an political analyst, said it was unlikely the killings would massively alter public support for the war. Most Israelis still have a strong sense of why it is being fought and believe Hamas needs to be defeated, she said.

“They feel like there’s no other choice,” she said.

The killings emphasized the dangers hostages face in areas of house-to-house combat like Shijaiyah, where nine soldiers were killed this week in one of the war’s deadliest days for Israeli ground forces. The military has said Hamas has booby-trapped buildings and ambushed troops from a tunnel network it built under Gaza City.

On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum asserted that another hostage, 27-year-old Inbar Hayman, had been killed in Gaza. The group gave no details.

Hamas released over 100 hostages for Palestinian prisoners during a brief cease-fire in November. Nearly all freed on both sides were women and minors. Talks on further swaps broke down.

Hamas seeks the return of all Palestinian prisoners. As of late November, Israel held nearly 7,000 Palestinians accused or convicted of security offenses, including hundreds rounded up since the war began.

The war has flattened much of northern Gaza and driven 85% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes. Only a trickle of aid has been able to enter Gaza. Israel has said it would open a second entry point at Kerem Shalom to speed up deliveries.

The offensive has killed more than 18,700 Palestinians, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Thursday. It does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

It was the ministry’s last update before the latest communications blackout in Gaza. “Now 48 hours and counting. The incident is likely to limit reporting and visibility to events on the ground,” said Alp Toker, director of NetBlocks, a group tracking internet outages.

The war has been deadly for journalists. Mourners held funeral prayers for Samer Abu Daqqa, a Palestinian journalist working for broadcaster Al Jazeera who was killed Friday in an Israeli strike. The Committee to Protect Journalists said the cameraman was the 64th journalist to be killed in the conflict: 57 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.

In devastated Gaza City, resident Assad Abu Taha reported “violent bombardment” Saturday.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem asserted that two Christian women at a church compound in Gaza City were killed by Israeli sniper fire and that seven other people were wounded. The women were identified as a mother and daughter. Gaza has a small Christian community consisting of about 1,000 people. There was no immediate Israeli comment.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has expressed unease over Israel’s failure to reduce civilian casualties, but the White House continues to offer support with weapons shipments and diplomatic backing.

Israel and the U.S. remain far apart on who should run Gaza after the war. Washington wants to see a unified Palestinian government in Gaza and the West Bank as a precursor to eventual Palestinian statehood. A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict enjoys broad international support.

Netanyahu reiterated Saturday that Israel will retain security in a demilitarized Gaza and that a Palestinian state would pose a threat to Israel. “I am proud to have prevented the establishment of a Palestinian state,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was traveling to Israel to continue discussions on a timetable for winding down the war’s intense combat phase. But Netanyahu and military leaders vowed to continue until “complete victory,” which the prime minister noted will take time.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russian forces carry out 40 group strikes on Ukrainian military facilities over week

The Russian forces have carried out 40 group strikes on Ukrainian military airfields and ammunition depots, intercepted a Tochka-U missile and two S-200 missiles, as well as shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter and 119 drones over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

TASS has compiled the main achievements of the Russian armed forces in the special military operation over the past week.

Krasny Liman area

Russia’s battlegroup Center repelled 11 Ukrainian attacks in the Krasny Liman area over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"In the Krasny Liman area, the central battlegroup repelled 11 attacks by Ukrainian assault groups. In addition, the Russian forces hit the manpower of the 24th, 63rd, 67th Ukrainian mechanized brigades, as well as the 1st, 5th and 31st National Guard brigades near Kirovsk, Torskoye, Yampol and Grigorovka of the Donetsk People's Republic. The total losses of the enemy over the week amounted to up to 1,100 servicemen," the ministry said.

According to the Russian military, the Ukrainian forces also lost four tanks, three armored combat vehicles, 17 vehicles and two field artillery guns in this area.

Zaporozhye area

The Russian forces repelled eight attacks by Ukrainian troops in the Zaporozhye area over the past week; Ukraine’s weekly losses in this area amounted up to 335 troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "In the Zaporozhye area, the Russian forces maintained active defense and repelled eight enemy attacks near the settlements of Rabotino and Verbonoye in the Zaporozhye Region. Apart from that, Russian forces hit enemy manpower and weapons of the 128th assault and 33rd, 65th, 117th, and 188th mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian army near the settlements of Malaya Tokmachka, Novodanilovka, and Novoandreyevka in the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said. According to it, Ukraine’s losses in this area amounted up to 335 troops, who were either killed or wounded, as well as 19 cars and three artillery systems.

Kupyansk area

Russia’s Battlegroup West has improved its positions in the Kupyansk area and repelled 27 attacks by Ukrainian troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "In the Kupyansk area, units of the Battlegroup West have improved their frontline positions and repelled 27 enemy attacks. The enemy’s weekly losses amounted to more than 425 troops, five tanks, including one Leopard, 11 armored combat vehicles, 12 cars, and three artillery systems," it said. According to the ministry, Russian aircraft and artillery hit manpower of the Ukrainian 113th territorial defense brigade, the 57th motorized brigade, the 14th, 21st, 41st, 43rd, 60th, and 115th mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian army near the settlements of Sinkovka, Ivanovka, Yagodnoye, Petropavlovka, and Kupyansk in the Kharkov Region.

Donetsk area

The Russian forces wiped out over 1,580 Ukrainian servicemen over the past week near Artemovskoye, Kleshcheyevka, Kurdyumovka and Georgievka, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "In addition, in the areas of the settlements of Artemovskoye, Kleshcheyevka, Kurdyumovka and Georgievka of the Donetsk People's Republic, the Ukrainian personnel and equipment was hit. The enemy's losses over the week in this area amounted to more than 1,580 servicemen, two tanks, 16 armored combat vehicles, 13 vehicles and 31 field artillery guns," the statement said.

The Russian military has thwarted 49 attacks by Ukrainian troops and improved its positions on separate frontline sections in the Donetsk area, the ministry added. "In the Donetsk area, Battlegroup South units, supported by aviation and artillery, have improved the frontline situation in certain sectors as well as repelled 49 enemy attacks over the past week," the military said.

South Donetsk area

The Russian forces repulsed two Ukrainian attacks in the south Donetsk area over the past week and defeated three enemy brigades near Novomikhailovka, Ugledar, Makarovka, and Levadnoye, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "In the south Donetsk area, the battlegroup East repelled two enemy attacks. It inflicted a fire defeat on units of the 58th Ukrainian motorized infantry brigade, the 72nd mechanized brigade and the 128th territorial defense brigade in the areas of Novomikhailovka, Ugledar, Makarovka in the Donetsk People's Republic and Levadnoye in the Zaporozhye Region," the ministry said. It added that the Ukrianian losses over the past week in this area amounted to over 600 servicemen, three armored combat vehicles, 14 vehicles and 11 field artillery guns.

Kherson area

Russian troops have stopped all attempts by Ukrainian sabotage groups to land on the Dnieper’s islands and the eastern bank in the Kherson area, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "All attempts of the enemy’s sabotage groups to land on the Dnieper River’s islands and the left bank in the Kherson area have been foiled," the ministry said.

Ukraine’s army has lost up to 290 troops and 17 boats in the Kherson area over the past week, the military added. "As a result of the preemptive actions of Russian forces, the Ukrainian army has lost up to 290 troops, 18 cars, 17 boats, and nine artillery systems," it said. According to the ministry, Russian aircraft and artillery hit units of the Ukrainian 35th, 36th, and 37th marine brigades, as well as the 124th territorial defense brigade near the city of Kherson and the villages of Berislav and Tyaginka in the Kherson Region.

Special military operation course

Russian forces have carried out 40 group strikes on Ukrainian military airfields and ammunition depots over the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "Between December 9 and 15, the Russian Armed Forces carried out 40 group strikes with precision weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles on the enemy’s military airfield infrastructure, arsenals, depots of artillery ammunition, weapons and military equipment. In addition, strikes were inflicted on bases of Ukrainian units, the Azov nationalist formation (designated as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia), as well as the Foreign Legion. All designated facilities were hit," the ministry said.

Russian air defense systems have intercepted a Tochka-U missile and two S-200 missiles, as well as shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter and 119 drones over the past week, the Russian military pointed out. "Air defense systems shot down a Mi-8 helicopter of the Ukrainian air force near the settlements of Tyaginka in the Kherson Region. Over the week, Russian forces intercepted a Tochka-U tactical missile, two S-200 guided missiles, 17 HIMARS rockets, as well as 119 unmanned aerial vehicles," it said.

The Defense Ministry also revealed that eighty-two Ukrainian servicemen have been captured or surrendered to Russian forces over the past week. "Over a week, 82 Ukrainian troops have either been captured or voluntarily surrendered, with 25 of them over the past day alone," the military said.

According to the ministry, as many as 550 planes, 258 helicopters, 9,696 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 air defense systems, 14,078 tanks and other armored vehicles, 1,188 multiple rocket launch systems, 7,338 artillery systems and mortars, and 16,1336 special military cars have been destroyed since the beginning of the special military operation.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine shoots downs 30 Russian drones over 11 regions -air force

Ukraine's air defence and mobile groups of drone hunters shot down 30 out of 31 Russian drones over 11 regions across the country on Saturday, the air force said.

A series of explosions resounded throughout the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as air defence units engaged Russian drones, Reuters witnesses said.

"This is the sixth air attack on Kyiv since the start of the month," said Serhiy Popko, head of the city's military administration.

"Tonight, after three days of ballistic threats, the enemy again launched Shaheds on the capital. The drones attacked in groups, in waves, and from different directions," Popko said.

There were no casualties and no major damage reported in Kyiv, Popko said.

The Ukrainian air force said the Russian military launched Iranian-made Shahed drones from three different directions in Russia targeting 11 different regions in the centre, north and south of the country.

The air force said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that fighter jets, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups of drone hunters repelled the Russian drone attack.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said anti-aircraft units went into action as groups of the Russian drones flew across the outskirts of the city and targeted areas near the city centre.

Anti-aircraft activity was heavy, Klitschko said, in the Darnytskyi district on the east bank of the Dnipro and explosions also struck historic Podil on the opposite bank.

The Reuters witnesses reported loud blasts just after midnight. A new series of explosions over the next 45 minutes also hit areas near Kyiv's central districts.

Overnight air alerts in many Ukraine regions lasted for about five hours.

Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and regions have become increasingly frequent. Ukrainian officials have said Russia is targeting the nation's power and energy infrastructure during and ahead of the critical cold months of winter.

Tass/Reuters

If Nyesom Wike had read the character portrait of the Ijaw man as sketched by Percy Amoury Talbot, an early 20th century British historian and colonial administrator, he would most probably have thought twice before settling for Simnalaya Fubara as his third term placeholder. Wike was a two-term governor of Rivers State and today, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. In his highly authoritative 1926 book, Peoples of Southern Nigeria: a Sketch of their History, Ethnology, and Languages, with an Abstract of the 1921 Census, Talbot reserved an unflattering description for the no-nonsense Ijaw race. Hear him at page 333, “Up the various creeks and branches, the waters are infested by a wild piratical set who live almost entirely in their canoes, and who subsist by plundering traders while on their way to the markets, often adding murder to their other crimes.”

Talbot was, aside his colonial brief, a British anthropologist and botanical collector. Born in 1877, he lived in the creeks for years to undertake his study and died in 1945. While in Nigeria, he was the Acting Resident of Benin Division in the 1920s. Aside the frightening sketch of the Ijaw above, Talbot went on to say this of the race, “this strange people, (were) a survival from the dim past beyond the dawn of history, whose language and customs are distinct from those of their neighbours and without trace of any tradition of time before they were driven southwards into these regions of somber mangroves,” and in another context, said of them: “their (Ijaws) origin is wrapped in mystery. The people inhabit practically the whole Coast, some 250 miles in length, stretching between the Ibibio and Yoruba. The Niger Delta therefore, is… occupied by this strange people.”

Many other scholars who studied this very unique race couldn’t understand its abstruse origin and piratical ancestry. While a school of thought claimed that Ijaws had a Judo-Christian origin, another contended that their ancestors originated from Palestine. They base this argument on the assumed similarity between Ijaw’s initial name, Ijo and one of the ancient cities in Palestine known as Ijon. In concluding on this similarity, the scholars drew a nexus between the cultural practices of the Ijaw which are noticeably, male circumcision, ritual laws and abstinence from sex during menstruation and Palestinians’ war mongering and maniacal tendencies. They said that both races draw strength and resilience from their identical link with Zionism. This assumed connect is based on Palestine’s adherence to Mosaic laws, similar to those of the Ijaw people’s self-styled creek freedom fighters. In the 1940s, an amateur historiography also linked the Ijaws with the Benin, Ife and Egypt and then to the mythological Oduduwa of the Yoruba peoples.

Ijaws were almost unconquerable to the British colonial government, especially the Western Ijaw, so much that British officers hardly visited Ijaw clans. This was as a result of the gruesome killing of the District Commissioner of Forcados in 1911 in the Ijaw communities of Benni and Adagbabiri. Even as late as 1926, there was a confession by British officers in Warri complaining about the 'truculent Ijaws' who they owned up they had not succeeded in conquering. Ijaw were also considered to be people of 'bad-manners' by the colonial administrators because they refused to turn up at the coast to welcome visiting administrators.

In the nineteenth century, pirates gained utmost notoriety by roaming the seas as sailors, attacking other ships and stealing property from them. Thus, living true to Talbot’s character profiling, in an act similar to pirates’, Fubara, the governor of Rivers State, last Wednesday pressed the nuclear button. He did this by attacking the hallowed rendering of democratic ethos when he pulled down the state’s legislative chamber, the Assembly complex. Before this demolition, the complex, comprising about six buildings and a main chamber, constructed by the government of Peter Odili, was an insignia of democracy. The Fubara government’s alibi for the demolition, as provided by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, was that the complex had become unsafe for human habitation as a result of the explosion and fire that rocked it in October.

Since the pulling down of the complex, it is instructive that Wike hasn’t said a word. He must have been very proud of his political son who took after his father. Wike’s eight-year administration of Rivers was pockmarked by similar governmental intransigence. In April, 2023, after losing his bid for the presidency, Wike ordered African Independent Television (AIT) out of its Port-Harcourt premises and demolished the sprawling building. His grouse was that owner of AIT, Raymond Dokpesi, took sides with ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar. In May this year too, he also demolished the Bayelsa State Government’s (BASG) property which was located in Akasa Street, Old Government Residential Area in Port Harcourt.

Rivers State had been quaking since the disagreement between Wike and Fubara, his protégé, came into public glare. It became so messy to the point that four lawmakers, led by factional Speaker, Ehie Ogerenye Edison, who swore loyalty to Fubara, sacked 27 other members, led by factional Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, who had earlier defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). It has gone even messier, with a number of resignations from commissioners believed to have been nominated by Wike and the dual sittings by the two factions of state legislators.

The Fubara-ordered demolition of the House of Assembly was blood-curdling. Never had this democratic governance witnessed such massive propitiation of a collective monument to the god of personal political survival. This act reminds people of Qin Shi Huang, founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Also known by the sobriquet Qin Shihuangdi, he ordered the killing of Chinese scholars because he disagreed with their ideas. He was also renowned for ordering the burning of books he saw as critical to him. While he reigned, Qin ordered the construction of a great wall which perceived as prequel to the modern Great Wall of China, as well as an enormous mausoleum which had over 6,000 life-size terra-cotta soldier figures. He conscripted thousands of people who worked on the wall who eventually died in the process of building the Wall. He also ordered the killing of workers building the Chinese mausoleum for the preservation of the secrecy of the tomb. Whenever Qin captured foreign hostages, he ordered them castrated as a mark to delineate them as slaves. When the blood-curdling acts are considered, they seem like higher version of the destruction of legislative memory that the demolition of the Rivers House of Assembly appears to be. This is so when you bear in mind that all the documents, memories and codified acts of the Rivers legislature are today buried in ruins to keep Fubara in office and keep him at bay from the fangs and incisors of his Dracula nemesis, Wike.

In an earlier piece I did on the Wike-Fubara tango (Why was Wike admiring Adedibu’s bust? November 5, 2023), I sketched how Nigeria’s Fourth Republic had been replete with outgoing governors planting their puppets as successors and how this puppeteering had boomeranged colossally against them. It is only in Lagos and Borno State (between Kashim Shettima and Babagana Umara Zulum are predecessor and successor) where a veneer of amity between godfather and godson is being maintained. In virtually all the states where this godfatherism is practiced, immediately the hands of these assumed puppets, in the words of a Yoruba aphorism, firmly clutch the handle of the sword, they get emboldened enough to stand up to their puppeteers and ask upsetting questions.

The last 23 years of godfather politics in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic have also been sustained by a clone of Niccolo Machiavelli’s political theory, which is in effect a theory of autocratic governance. Machiavelli, an Italian historian and political philosopher, is notorious for his treatise on governance and statescraft through his 1532 book, The Prince. The book advocated cunningness and craftiness as weapon of political power and legitimized deceptive means as ladder to climb to attain and retain power. Machiavelli taught that, to attain and sustain political leadership, irrationality and immorality are two major weapons to be deployed. Anything other than this for the ‘Prince’, says Machiavelli, is catastrophe.

The Wike-Fubara episode however promises to brim with weeping, wailing, mourning, blood and gnashing of the teeth. Since the advent of the Fourth Republic, Rivers has oscillated dangerously on the governorship curve, reflecting an uptick from the sublime to the outright deadly. Beginning with Odili, a medical doctor who is generally perceived to wear the visage of a gentleman, successful occupants of the governorship stool after him have mirrored the anti-feminist, patently patriarchal Yoruba saying that, rather than the woman perceived to be a witch being weaned of her witchcraft, she has kept giving birth to female children, who are potential witches as well. While Rotimi Amaechi appeared a deadly and no-nonsense politician, he was an apprentice when placed by the side of Wike, a pesky, authoritarian totalitarian who brooks no dissenting voice. Like all governors of Nigeria from 1999 who installed their puppets to prevent roaches in their cupboards from peering out for the world to see, Wike’s place-holding rulership of Rivers State, using his former Accountant General, Fubara has hit a deadly rock and violence is being deployed for its sustenance.

As said earlier, if Wike came to Fubara’s choice as the one to carry his piss-can simply on account of his pliable, gentlemanly demeanor, he must by now be reaping the fruits of his narrow-minded judgment. What Fubara lacks in not wearing a bellicose visage, he makes up for it in his piratical meanness, a reincarnation of sort of Qin. In Fubara is the first time the Ijaw are occupying the Brick House, apart from Alfred Diete-Spiff, an Ijaw who was the was the first military governor of Rivers State after it was created from part of the old Eastern Region. Diete-Spiff held office from May 1967 to July 1975 in the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon.

Machiavelli’s Prince and the cruelty of the theory have since been occupying Rivers’ Bricks House. For the rulers of Machiavelli’s theory, the governor is a ruler and he must act contrary to truth, charity and humanity. The religious exposition of meekness should have no place in his dictionary. To stay continually in power, so counsels Machiavelli, the ruler should act like ‘man’ or ‘animal’. When you look at the demolition of the Rivers Assembly complex last week, you can judge by yourself who out of Machiavelli's man or beast had the audacity and temerity to do so. This is because, for the Prince to rule, it is even not enough to act like an ordinary animal. Marchiavelli recommends that he is to act like the beast, the fox and the lion, because he must imitate the ferocity of wild animals. There is nothing like rule of law but anti-people acts in Machiavelli’s leadership conjuration.

Nevertheless, as dangerous and unexampled as the Fubara meanness in destroying the House of Assembly complex appears to be, Fubara deserves to vanquish Wike as lesson to future gubernatorial godfathers that they can fool some people sometimes but cannot fool all the people all the time. The resignation galore from the Rivers State government by key commissioners in the cabinet has also revealed the palpable danger in and cruelty of gubernatorial godfathers. While Wike unabashedly told the world that he personally collected forms of expression of interests for all the state elected representatives, the resignations have confirmed the claim that he appointed the bulk of special advisers and commissioners in the Fubara government.

How Wike will wriggle out of this trap he entered into is a million dollar question. Already, his fight against Fubara has been weaponized as an ethnic war against the marginalized goose that lays the golden egg of Nigeria’s oil hub, the Ijaw. If the age-long creek prowess of the Ijaw, their unanimity in construing the Wike fight as war against the Ijaw people, will drill a huge hole in the barge of the fight. Arguably Nigeria's fourth largest ethnic group who live in the coastal fringes, the Ijaw still maintain their pre-colonial kingdoms of Opobo, Kalabiri, Nembe, Brass and Bonny which is now elongated to the creeks of Ondo State.

In the pre-colonial time, Ijaws, said to have existed over 700 years ago, were reputed to have had early contacts with Europe and were by that very fact more prosperous than their hinterland neigbours. They were however marginalized in the states where they live. The exception is Bayelsa that is largely an Ijaw state. The activism of Ijaw youths who began their revolt against the Nigerian state in the 1990s showed their capacity to fight war of any hue. This fight yielded fruits when President Umaru Yar’Adua granted them amnesty. The revolting youths had earlier formed pan-ethnic youth organizations like the Movement for the Survival of Ijaw Ethnic Nationality (MOSIEN), the Movement for Reparations to Ogbia (MORETO) and the Ijaw Youth Council (IJW). They also had the Egbesu Boys of Africa and FNDIC. It will be recalled that the Egbesu Boys gained public notoriety when a military onslaught was launched against them during the Kaiama Declaration. It was there that the perception of invincibility of its members grew, with tales of the inability of bullets to penetrate the warring boys, all thanks to the Egbesu deity, Ijaw’s god of war. Ijaws have frightful but notable sons like Asari Dokubo, president of IYC who established the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force, (NDPVF) and Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, known more by his sobriquet 

Tompolo, ex-MEND militant commander and  chief priest of Egbesu.

Unlike the choleric Wike who overtly advertises his anger, Fubara is calm, hiding his Ijaw ancestral prowess under the veneer of this calmness. He still projects his underdog stand in the fight while allowing Wike to bark out his bad temper and be seen by the whole world as an unpretentious totalitarian.  

How long this fight will endure is difficult to determine. In spite of Fubara’s mean demolition of the State Assembly Complex, the general mood is tilted against Wike. Many are glad that he has finally met his comeuppance and the arrogant quills of his turtle dove have been lowered. Where the presidency’s sympathy lies in this whole fight, especially the political implication of government making enmity of the Ijaw, is also unclear. What is however clear is that, like the Yoruba say of one who has met their equal, the pigmy Wike has elected to buy his corn meal kept in a raffia palm-made basket that is far higher than him, where his hands and eyes could not select for him.

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God ~ 1Corinthians 1:23-24.

Introduction

In life, we all have to deal with the unexpected once in a while. See, it is one thing to boast of faith when all things are going great and wonderful, but it’s an entirely different ballgame when all vital indices are looking desperate, and one can only walk in the triumph of trust (Psalm 55:23).

Remember Job! For as long as the ugly situations around him lasted, it was like he was stuck in a bad deal, and his condition was only getting worse by the day.

Until God intervened to give him an historic turnaround, he was only painfully aware of his own grim powerlessness! He didn’t even have the option of running away, or hiding somewhere, though he wanted to, badly (Job 14:13-14).

The stark and shocking reality of life is that being holy, doing the right thing, serving God or even having faith doesn’t always exempt you from such challenging and disgusting scenarios. Paul & Silas were even jailed for being active in their kingdom duty posts, preaching the Word, casting out devils and leading people to Christ.

Meanwhile, oftentimes, whatever we see as an unexpected crisis is really never a surprise to God. Nothing surprises God, not even your present challenges. He knows it all from the beginning, and He has the Wonderful Solution, a divine “joker” so to say, suited for all challenges and situations of life, no matter the forms they may take.

Now, whenever challenges show up, anyhow and from anywhere, the wisest route out of the downward spiral situations of anguish is to know and to fully embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. And, it is crucial that we understand that!

All in all and in it all, Jesus Christ is our everything! He is the most important person in all our life-spaces, and He’s extremely pertinent to our lives and godliness, now, here and hereafter. Please hold that fact tight!

He is our Saviour, our Healer, our Deliverer, our Baptizer, our Provider, our Guide, our Guard, our Source of joy, our Fountain of inspiration, our Coming King: He’s our Everything (Isaiah 9:6). Indisputably, He’s Emmanuel, the only true and lasting peace in our world (Luke 2:14; John 17:13).

Consequent upon Christ’s finished work of redemption on Calvary’s Cross, one of the irreversible verdicts of scripture is that the believers’ perpetual triumph is now a forgone conclusion (2Corinthians 2:14). Nevertheless, the real secret here is in the valiant Spirit of God’s power and wisdom, which is summed up in Christ Jesus.

Yes, Jesus Christ is clearly set forth as the Wisdom and the Power of God (1Corinthians 1:24). In other words, both the logos and the logics of heaven are lumped together in Jesus Christ! Isn’t that absolutely thrilling?

Nevertheless, the most dizzying and clearly mind-boggling thing here is that this same Christ — the Power and the Wisdom of God — is actually domiciled in us, now!

Thus, whenever the unexpected happens, or you find yourself facing a crisis moment, you shouldn’t automatically go into panic mode or become emotionally wrecked, because you’re equipped with the ultimate solution.

If you are a believer in Christ, both the power and the wisdom of God dwell within you, now! The devil cannot gain the upper hand against you, and his weapons shall never prosper in your life again (Isaiah 54:17). Alleluia!

No matter the situation, like He did unto David, the One who is called “Wonderful” shall surely make you a wonder unto many, and you shall enjoy His tangible goodness within and all around you, in Jesus name (Psalm 71:7)! But, we must know this for real to fully enjoy it!

Maturing Ourselves In the Use of the Name of Jesus Christ!

I believe Job was making very clear allusions to the wonderfulness of Jesus Christ, even in the days of his trials, when he said: “I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number” (Job 5:8-9).

Yes indeed, Jesus Christ is capable and ever ready to do for us and through us incredible things and wonders without number (Job 9:10).

However, the greatest joy here is that the believers everywhere are His authorized representatives and ambassadors of goodwill on the earth today. He dwells within us to restore man back to the image of God and to the platform of wonders in the world.(Colossians 1:27; 1John 4:4).

Meanwhile, as members of God’s great family, we must never lose sight of our most precious possession and choicest treasure: the Name of Jesus Christ. We must rather give it all it takes to firmly mature ourselves in using it to glorify God on earth!

With the name of Jesus Christ, God has equipped the believers for victory in every battle of life, granted us access to His treasure house of answers when we pray, and He goes before us to make our crooked places straight!

Friends and beloved brethren, instead of focusing on your problem, focus on the Almighty God in Christ Jesus. He is with you, and He wants to walk with you, leading and guiding you to a place of peace and victory.

Happily, as He is, so are we in this world (1John 4:17). Since Jesus never failed, you shall not fail again. He knew no sin, sin shall not dominate you again! He was never sick, believe God that sicknesses shall no longer exact upon your health again!

Jesus Christ lives in majesty, we should not live in poverty and lack. He dominated situations and circumstances, even nature; we should not be overruled by any situation or circumstances anymore.

This is your day: you shall rule and reign by Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17). No matter what happened before, trust in God evermore. He could still take whatever the enemy meant for evil and turn it around for your good.

Contrary winds may be howling, and demons may be growling, just keep in mind that God never runs out of supernatural supplies (Philippians 4:19). He always leads His own forward in victory! So keep moving in faith, knowing that He has a good plan for you! You won’t miss it, in Jesus name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

____________________

Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

Even though God is always justified in whatever He does, nevertheless, we must forgive God for whatever action He takes against us. It is in our best interests to do this. Jesus says: “Blessed is that man who is not offended because of Me.” (Matthew 11:6).

A lot of the time, when we are angry with God, we do not acknowledge this to ourselves. But our actions express fulsomely our displeasure. We stop going to church. We stop reading the Bible. We stop walking in the spirit and thereby fulfil the lusts of the flesh.

We stop praying and spending time with God. We stop making melodies to God in our heart. Resentment against God can even sometimes send us into depression.

Besides, when we are angry with God, we want to hurt God. We consciously or subconsciously do the things we know He does not like. Thereby, we sin against God and against our own souls.

Judas Iscariot

When we are angry with God, we grumble and complain about Him. We maintain that there is no benefit to godliness. The upshot of this is that we might end up denying God, just like Judas did.

Judas bore a grudge against Jesus. Discipleship did not provide him with the dividends he anticipated. It did not make him wealthy, so he stole regularly from the common purse.

His discontent reached a peak when he saw a woman “waste” an expensive perfume (worth a year’s salary) by pouring it in one go on Jesus’ head. He asked indignantly: “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” (John 12:5).

John noted that Judas had no interest in the poor. If the perfume had been traded for cash, it would only have given him the opportunity to steal part of the money.

Judas was so disgusted with this “waste” that he apparently concluded that Jesus was not a good bet for financial enrichment. Therefore, immediately after this incident, he decided on the quicker and surer option of betraying Jesus for money.

He went to the chief priests and said to them: “What will you give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.” (Matthew 26:15).

God is Responsible

God accepts responsibility as the cause of our anger. He never denies responsibility for the afflictions we endure. The Bible declares that nothing happens without God’s say-so. He works all things according to the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:11).

That means God is guilty. He is responsible for our adversities, even including those we bring on ourselves.

Accordingly, God told me He was the One who sent robbers to waylay and shoot me. At the same time, He was also the One who saved me from the robbers He sent. He made sure they did not do more damage than He intended. So, the bullet they shot at me hit me in the leg and not in the chest.

But one thing remains certain despite the afflictions God brings, He loves us with perfect love. He goes to great lengths to assure us of this in life and in the scriptures. Paul says:

“Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39).

We will never know exactly why God loves us this much. But Jesus coming down to earth to be beaten and to die for our sins is enough to remove any doubt that God loves us. Thus, the psalmist asks: “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:4).

But God does not butter us up so we can know He loves us and, therefore, love Him back. He expects us to love Him, no matter what. He is glorified when we love Him despite our adversities. In any case, He is God, so He reserves the right to treat us in whatever way He chooses. And He insists we must not grumble or complain.

Jeremiah’s Lamentations

Nevertheless, a whole book in the Bible is devoted to complaining about God. In “Lamentations”, Jeremiah brings extensive charges against God. Among other things, he says:

“(God) has turned His hand against me again and again, all day long. He has made my skin and flesh grow old. He has broken my bones. He has besieged and surrounded me with anguish and distress. He has buried me in a dark place, like those long dead. He has walled me in, and I cannot escape. He has bound me in heavy chains. And though I cry and shout, He has shut out my prayers.” (Lamentations 3:3-8).

Nevertheless, he maintains that:

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So, it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:23-26).

If we have truly forgiven someone, we will not complain again to anybody about what he did. The same principle applies to God. Complaints about God must be made directly to God, Do not make the mistake of complaining about God to someone else. God does not take kindly to this.

David says: “I cry out to the Lord; I plead for the Lord’s mercy. I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles.” (Psalms 152:1-2).

But those who complained about God to others were destroyed by the destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10:10).

Atonement With Man

One of the most beautifully enigmatic passages in the Bible describes Jesus’ anguish at the tomb of Lazarus.  In the shortest verse in the Bible, it simply says: “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35).

Why would Jesus weep at the grave of Lazarus when He planned to raise him from the dead?

The truth is that God is hurt when His people are hurt. Isaiah says of God concerning Israel: “In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them.” (Isaiah 63:9). Indeed, Isaiah prophesied that that Jesus would bear our griefs and carry our sorrows.

Jesus came down from heaven to earth precisely to enter into our pains and anguish: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).

Indeed, the greatest expression of God’s identification with man in the Bible is Jesus’ repetition of the cry of David on the cross of Calvary: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46/Psalms 22:1).

By this cry, God entered into the mainstream of the human experience. God Himself cried out on man’s behalf for salvation and redemption. Man, in Christ, cried out to God in desperation, in confusion, and in disappointment. 

“Why, if you are God; why, since you are God, are you allowing all this calamity to happen to us?”

On the cross, God entered so completely into the human experience and validated human suffering. 

Purpose for Affliction

Certainly, God has a purpose for every affliction He ordains. It is our responsibility to find out the purpose if possible, or to accept His purpose, even when we do not know the reason behind it. Even in his lamentations, Jeremiah acknowledges that:

“Though (God) causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” (Lamentations 3:32-33).

Therefore, in our afflictions, we must not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5). We must continue to trust God. This is what makes Job so exemplary. Even in the bitterness of his soul, he maintains his commitment to God, saying: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” (Job 13:15).

Paul assures us that: “No temptation has overtaken (us) except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow (us) to be tempted beyond what (we) are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that (we) may be able to bear it.”(1 Corinthians 10:13).

God told the devil: “You can deal with Job, but you cannot take his life.” (Job 2:6). God dealt severely with Assyria because it had no pity on Israel and wanted to afflict the Israelites beyond what God had in mind.

Even though it is God Himself who orchestrates our afflictions, Zechariah reveals that those He uses to afflict us are in trouble. God will repay them: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.’” (Zechariah 2:8).

The last word here belongs to Habakkuk’s doxology:

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19).

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

It's the trans rights row that has gripped Ireland for well over a year – putting an otherwise unremarkable history teacher at the heart of the country's culture wars for his refusal to use a trans pupil's pronouns. 

Enoch Burke – who taught History and German – refused to refer to a transitioning transgender student as 'they' rather than 'he' in May last year.

It sparked a chain of events that has led to him being jailed for repeatedly showing up at Wilson's Hospital School in County Westmeath after being sacked, and entering the staff room saying he was there to do his job. 

Now he remains in Dublin's Mountjoy Prison with no prospect of release because he refuses to comply with a court order to stay away from the school premises. 

Meanwhile, Burke's loyal family continue to protest at the school, maintaining he's being persecuted for his Christian beliefs – while supporters insist the whole 'country is behind him'. 

However, others less sympathetic to the cause view his stubborn refusal and his family's protests as attention seeking, with one newspaper columnist pointing out that the Burkes 'like to get their own way'.  

The row broke out more than a year ago, when during a meeting with the headteacher and his deputy, Burke said that his Evangelical Christian beliefs meant he 'opposed transgenderism'.

Following this, Burke publicly criticised the headteacher's 'demand' that staff use students' chosen pronouns, following a service at the Church of Ireland school to celebrate its 260th anniversary

Burke was accused of 'breaching the confidence' of the transitioning student, and as a result, the teacher was suspended with pay and later fired for gross misconduct in August last year.

However, Burke continued showing up at the school – prompting his former employer to obtain a court order to get him to stay away.

In September last year, Burke was jailed for 100 days for ignoring the court order.

During an appeal, the teacher argued that he was being imprisoned because of his Christian beliefs.

After being released, Burke was imprisoned for the second time in September this year for refusing to stay away from the school again – and has been told he will remain in prison indefinitely until he agrees to comply with the court order.

Here FEMAIL delves into the case that has gripped Ireland – as Burke's family campaigns for his release without having to 'endorse transgenderism'.

Beginning of trans row

Last Spring, headteacher Niamh McShane sent an email to her staff informing them of the student's new name and pronouns.

After receiving the email, Burke is said to have raised his issue with the change of pronouns during a staff meeting on May 10 last year. 

While giving evidence in a later trial, deputy headteacher John Galligan said that Burke 'erupted' during the meeting and 'changed colour completely'.

According to the former deputy head, Burke – whose 'forte' was said to have been extracurricular debating – spoke for a 'good five to eight minutes'.

After this, guidance counsellor Freda Malone told a court that she approached Burke to tell him she was sorry he was so upset and noted that he had tears in his eyes. 

In a follow-up meeting between the headteacher, her deputy and Burke, Mr Galligan claimed the jailed teacher repeated how he was 'opposed to transgenderism' as a result of his religion. 

Following this, Burke is said to have publicly interjected after a religious service celebrating the school's 260th anniversary to criticise Ms McShane's supposed 'demand' that staff refer to the student by their chosen pronouns.

Following the chapel service, Burke is alleged to have approached the headteacher at a meal where he asked her to withdraw her 'demand' again.

As a result of this, the headteacher believed Burke was guilty of gross misconduct – as other students may not have been aware the student was transitioning. 

Ms Freda Malone, who worked at the school as a guidance counsellor, claims Burke 'breached the confidence' of the student on two occasions during that occasion.

Speaking at a High Court hearing in March this year, Ms Malone said the headteacher was escorted home by other guests at the event and they later 'formed a ring' around her home out of concern for her safety.

Discussing the incidents in court, headteacher Ms McShane – who stepped down amid the controversy – said: 'The public statement of his refusal to accept transgenderism in the chapel… it was as [if] the school had demanded to accept transgenderism, which was not the case, so it was a misrepresentation of what happened. 

'What I asked is that we could support the student in their request, that is very different to ask the staff to accept transgenderism.'

Initial Suspension and Protest 

In August last year, Ms McShane submitted a stage-four report to the chair of the board John Rogers about Burke's outbursts – which prompted the representative to arrange a meeting with the teacher.

The purpose of the meeting was to decide if Burke should be suspended or face any kind of disciplinary action.

Burke's sister Ammi is said to have joined him for the meeting – which was adjourned for 15 minutes by Rodgers, who said it was 'going nowhere'.

When the representatives returned to the meeting room, the Burkes had left.

After this, the board made the unanimous decision to place Burke on paid leave while they dealt with the misconduct allegation. 

According to Galligan, there were growing concerns 'about what [Burke's] next protest might be and the form it would take' in the new school year.

Despite being put on leave, Burke is said to have attended a staff meeting at the start of the school year.

After repeatedly arriving on school grounds, Burke was allegedly asked to leave 'every hour' by the deputy head.

The ex-deputy head said: '[Burke] would be there for the day, standing in the room reading from a book. That’s where he remained.'

Galligan says Burke refused to leave the premises - insisting he was 'there to work and attend meetings'. 

In May 2023, the Irish High Court ruled that the school had acted lawfully in suspending Burke and said Enoch had been 'trespassing' on their grounds.

First prison sentence 

In an attempt to keep Burke away from the premises while they conducted the investigation, the school took out a temporary court order against the teacher – which still didn't deter him.

In August last year, Enoch was sued by the school for his failure to comply with the court order and later arrested for being in contempt of court.

At his initial hearing on September 6 that year, Burke told Judge Quinn: 'I am a teacher and I don't want to go to prison. I want to be in my classroom today, that's where I was this morning when I was arrested.'

'I love my school, with its motto Res Non Verba, actions not words, but I am here today because I said I would not call a boy a girl.'

When the case went to the High Court the following week, Burke, who was representing himself, maintained that he would not purge his contempt of court for violating the order, insisting that he was being persecuted for his faith. 

When asked by Judge Eileen Roberts if he would abide by the order, Burke said: ‘I cannot do that. I go back to jail as a law-abiding citizen of the state always. But God first.’ 

Addressing the court, Burke said: ‘The question is not will I purge my contempt but how this court order could have been granted?

‘The court is asking me to purge my contempt, but this court has robbed me of my constitutional right. It was wrong what the court did. How can I purge my contempt of that which is wrong?’

But Judge Roberts disagreed with his argument. The teacher was escorted out of the court to prison by three prison guards to loud applause from the public gallery with many hollering: ‘The country is with you Enoch.’

Dozens of people packed the public gallery shouting ‘disgrace’ and ‘shame’ following the judge’s decision.

The teacher served more than 100 days before being released on December 21 last year on an 'open-ended- basis.

Eventual Dismissal and €15,000 fine

On January 18, Burke and his family interrupted a school board meeting, which was being held at the Mullingar Park Hotel in Westmeath.

During the meeting, the board heard Ms McShane's report into Burke's misconduct. 

The family took issue to the fact that chairman John Rogers – who had held the initial meeting with Burke – was not present. In a High Court hearing, it was revealed that Rogers had not attended the meeting due to illness.

The Burkes could reportedly be heard chanting in the hallway: 'It's a sham. It's a cover-up.' 

Gardaí had to escort board members from a Mullingar hotel while they were being followed by members of Burke's family 

Two days later, it was announced that Burke had officially been dismissed from his position at the school for intimidating and harassing a colleague and breaching the confidence of the child who was in the process of transitioning.

At the time, a statement from the school read: 'He was informed in person at 3:30pm this afternoon in the presence of chairperson of the board of management Rogers and principal Frank Milling that he was dismissed.' 

One week later, the High Court ruled that Burke would be fined €700 a day if he continued ignoring the court order which requires him to stay away from the school. 

Burke appealed the board's decision to dismiss him – which resulted in the case going to the Irish High Court in March.

Justice Owens excluded the teacher on the first day after he continually interrupted proceedings and refused to comply with rules.

Scenes of pandemonium broke out at the Court of Appeal, as Burke, his parents and three of his siblings were physically dragged out of the courtroom by gardaí. 

Enoch's mother, Martina Burke, accused the judges of 'bowing to the altar of transgenderism' while waving a copy of the Constitution. 

His sister Ammi, a solicitor, also attempted to argue with the judges mid-ruling, saying her brother's constitutional rights were not being upheld.

Judge Birmingham asked her to sit down, and then requested that gardaí remove her from the courtroom.

During the hearing, Freda Malone said the school was concerned for the transgender student's safety and feared Burke would continue making public protests in front of other students.

Meanwhile, Galligan discussed Burke's initial outburst at the staff meeting and his repeated attempts to remove the teacher from the premises during his suspension.

Following the hearing, Justice Owens made an order restraining Burke from trespassing on the school premises – but noted that this did not prevent him from being outside the gates.

In July, Burke was ordered to pay €15,000 to Wilson's Hospital School to cover their legal fees and for damages.

Appearing before Justice Alexander Owens, Burke said that objecting to people being transgender was his right. 

Indefinite prison sentence 

In September, Burke was jailed for a second time after refusing to comply with the High Court order.

The school's new headteacher Frank Milling said that having to lock doors was creating a health and safety issue for faculty. 

On top of this, the headteacher said he was unable to carry out some of his everyday duties as he has to monitor Burke – who has been known to follow cars through the gates.

After gaining access by following a bus in January, Milling – who has expressed concern for how the situation is impacting current students – told Burke: 'Stop. Stop. Get off the property.'  

Despite being removed from the premises by two uniformed gardaí, Burke returned to the gates following his release later that same day. 

Speaking at the gates, Burke told local press that he had been 'wrongfully arrested' for trespassing and insisted he has 'broken no laws' and 'done nothing wrong', the Irish Independent reports.

Justice Mark Heslin said there was 'no dispute' that Burke has 'fragrantly breached' court orders to stay away from the school.

As a result, the judge ordered that Burke remain in prison 'indefinitely' until he agrees to follow the court order and not return to his old workplace.

After finding Burke to be in contempt of court, Heslin asked the teacher on three occasions if he understood the order against him. However, Burke remained silent. 

Burke was returned to Mountjoy Prison – where he spent his first prison sentence – and was told he could be released if he agreed to stay away from the school. The former teacher has been imprisoned at the facility since September 8 and has been participating in court hearings via video link.

In November, Burke's father Sean and brother Isaac were physically removed from the Court of Appeal for interrupting Justice John Edwards.

Last week, Burke's mother Martina and sister Ammi were removed from the Court of Appeal after they began shouting at barristers and the judge upon entry.

The pair demanded that Eoin Lawlor BL – who is acting as the counsel for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission – leave the courtroom.

On top of this, they accused the court of 'making a fool' of Enoch and said it was 'corrupt' that the teacher had to contribute via video-link while Lawlor was present.

Last night, Burke's family protested outside the Wilson's Hospital School, which was hosting their annual carol concert.

His mother held a sign reading: 'Enoch Burke stood for school ethos and is in Mountjoy for Christmas.'

His brother's sign read: 'Enoch Burke jailed for his Christian belief.' 

'Christmas in Mountjoy for Christian teacher,' his father's sign read. 

Daily Mail

The genes that boost fertility mean you're more likely to die younger, according to a new study.

One of the puzzles of evolution is why we peter out into old age once we can no longer reproduce.

Now, scientists believe that aging may actually be a consequence of how we evolved to reproduce, and it's all a result of natural selection over millions of years.

A study analyzing the genes of 276,406 UK Biobank participants found that people carrying gene variances promoting reproduction are less likely to survive to old age.

"We confirm a hypothesis called the antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis, which says that mutations promoting reproduction are more likely to reduce life span," said Jianzhi Zhang, of the University of Michigan in the US and senior author of the study in the journal Science.

According to the research, people carrying genetic variances promoting reproduction were more likely to die by the age of 76. The study also shows that genetic variances promoting reproduction increased over generations from 1940 to 1969, meaning humans are still evolving and strengthening the trait.

"This shows the evolutionary pattern of high reproduction and low survival [and vice versa] is still visible in modern humans. Our gene variants are the product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution. What's surprising is that despite our far better health than ever before, this pattern is still visible," said Steven Austad, an expert in aging research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in the US, who wasn't involved in the study.

Why aren't humans more fertile in old age?

Scientists have been puzzling over the evolutionary origins of aging for some time. It's unclear why, from an evolutionary perspective, our reproductive performance declines with age. Surely being more fertile in old age would be evolutionary advantageous, giving us more time to pass on our genes?

Not so, according to the antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis. The hypothesis states that the benefits of fertility in early life are responsible for the dreadful cost of aging. This new study now provides robust evidence from a huge sample of humans to back it up.

"This idea is that some traits [and genetic variants that cause them] are important when we are young, helping us grow strong and be fertile. But, when we get older, those same traits can start causing problems and make us fragile and unhealthy. It's like some mutations having two sides: a good side when we're young, and a not-so-good side when we're old," said Arcadi Navarro Cuartiellas, a geneticist at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain who was not involved in the study.

One example is the effects of menopause and fertility loss in women. Eggs, sometimes called ova, deplete during a woman's lifetime. This makes a person more fertile in young adulthood, but results in loss of fertility later in life through menopause.

Biologists think the benefits of regular cycles for reproduction may outweigh the cost of infertility in older age. The downside is that menopause speeds up aging.

"Another example is, say, a gene variant enhances fertility so that a woman is more likely to have twins. Evolutionarily that might be advantageous, because she will potentially leave more copies of that variant than women who have single babies. But having twins leads to more wear and tear on her body so she ages more quickly. That would be an antagonistically pleiotropic process," said Austad.

The converse is true as well. A gene variant that reduces fertility early in life will likely cause a person to have fewer or no children, so that the person ages more slowly, Austad added.

But how does the environment affect aging?

The antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis does have its criticisms, however. For one, it doesn't account for the huge effects of the environment and socioeconomic changes on aging, and nor does this study.

After all, humans are living longer than ever before in history, and it's mostly due to better health care rather than genetic evolution.

"These trends of phenotypic changes are primarily driven by environmental shifts including changes of lifestyles and technologies," said Zhang. "This contrast indicates that, compared with environmental factors, genetic factors play a minor role in the human phenotypic changes studied here."

Austad said a surprising outcome of the study was that reproductive genes had such a strong and observable effect on aging.

"Environmental factors are so important that I'm really surprised patterns [observed in this study] were still visible despite their importance. I think that is the advantage of having hundreds of thousands of individuals in a study," he said.

Research could have implications for aging

The antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis had "mountains of evidence before this paper but not for humans," according to Austad. But the research in humans, and with such a huge sample size, means the study could be important for understanding aging-related diseases.

"Ultimately, some of these variants could now be examined to see if they link to certain later life health problems, so that those problems can be monitored closely and possibly prevented," Austad told DW.

Scientists think the hypothesis could help explain why many serious genetic disorders are prevalent in our long evolutionary history.

Sickle cell anemia is a good example of antagonistic pleiotropy – whereby an inherited blood disorder which causes anemia actually evolved as a protective mechanism against malaria.

Zhang told DW that antagonistic pleiotropy may also be at play in Huntington's disease.

"Mutations causing Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, also increase fecundity [the possible number of offspring produced]," Zhang said.

Mutations in the gene which causes Huntington's disease have also been hypothesized to lower rates of cancer.

Zhang said the paper could also have implications for the rising science of anti-aging.

"In theory, one could tinker with those antagonistically pleiotropic mutations to prolong life, but the downside would be reducing or delaying reproduction," said Zhang.

DW

Nigeria's annual inflation rose in November for the 11th straight month to the highest level in 18 years, adding pressure on the central bank to tackle the rise amid a worsening cost-of-living crisis in Africa's largest economy.

Consumer inflation rose to 28.20% in November from 27.33% in October, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Friday.

The last time Nigerians experienced this level of inflation was in August 2005, official data shows.

On Dec. 13, the World Bank warned Nigeria to control inflation, and tasked the central bank to tighten monetary policy, build market confidence around free foreign exchange pricing and phase out so-called "ways and means" advances to the government.

Price rises for food and non-alcoholic beverages were the biggest driver of annual inflation in November, the statistics bureau said.

Food inflation, which accounts for the bulk of Nigeria's inflation basket, rose to 32.84% in November from 31.52% a month earlier.

New Central Bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso has vowed to phase out the bank's fiscal intervention programs in a bid to tame inflation.

Cardoso said the central bank plans to tighten policy over the next two quarters to manage inflation, after restarting its Open Market Operations (OMO) to help rein in money supply.

Despite President Bola Tinubu’s reforms, the country has struggled with foreign exchange shortages, low oil revenue and theft of crude oil, its main export and forex earner.

Analysts said naira depreciation, higher fuel and food prices, logistics costs and money supply growth, were some of the major drivers of Nigeria's inflation.

Inflation in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has risen to double-digits since 2016, eroding incomes and savings, despite the central bank hiking interest rates to their highest level in nearly two decades at its last meeting.

The central bank, at its last monetary policy meeting in July, opted for a smaller-than-expected 25 basis point hike, saying it preferred a moderate increase to anchor inflation expectations while continuing to support investment.

Reuters

Federation account allocation committee (FAAC) says it shared N1,088.783 trillion with the three tiers of government in November 2023.

FAAC disclosed this in a communique issued at the end of its meeting in Abuja on Friday.

The amount disbursed in November represents an increase of N181.82 billion compared to October’s allocation of N906.955 billion.

According to the communique, a total revenue of N1.620 trillion was earned in November 2023. 

Out of the gross revenue, the deduction for the cost of collection was N60.960 billion; while total transfers, interventions and refunds were N470.592 billion.  

Meanwhile, from the N1.088 trillion distributable revenue, N376.306 billion was for statutory revenue, value-added tax (VAT) revenue was N335.656 billion, electronic money transfer levy (EMTL) revenue was N11.952 billion and exchange difference revenue was N364.869 billion.  

In the communique, the breakdown of the N1.088 allocation showed that the federal government received N402.867 billion, the states received N351.697 billion, local governments received N258.810 billion, while oil-producing states received N75.410 billion as 13 percent derivation.

FAAC said from the N376.306 billion distributable statutory revenue, the federal government received N174.908 billion, states received N88.716 billion and local government councils received N68.396 billion. 

The committee added that N44.286 billion was shared with the benefiting states as 13 percent derivation revenue.

FAAC also said from the distributable VAT of N335.656 billion, FG got N50.348 billion, states received N167.828 billion, while local governments received N117.480 billion.

N11.952 billion from the EMTL, according to FAAC, was distributed to the federal government (N1.793 billion), states (N5.976 billion), and local governments (N4.183 billion).

In addition, the committee said gross statutory revenue received for the month was N882.561 billion, with various taxes such as company income tax, excise duty, petroleum profit tax, and VAT significantly increased.

FAAC said the balance in the excess crude account remained at $473.754 million.

The Cable