Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) says it will embark on a nationwide protest next week Wednesday over the removal of petrol subsidy.

On Friday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) issued a five-day ultimatum to the federal government to revert to the old price of petrol or face a nationwide protest.

Joe Ajaero, NLC president, said the federal government had until Wednesday to revert to the old price of N185.

Reacting in a statement on Saturday, Shuaibu Leman, NUJ national secretary, said an emergency central working committee (CMC) meeting of the union was convened virtually.

Leman said discussions at the meeting centred on issues surrounding the decision by the federal government to remove fuel subsidy and the position taken by the NLC.

He said members unanimously adopted the position of the NLC.

“CWC reiterates the argument that although the removal of fuel subsidy will free allocations which can be channelled to the provisions of infrastructure and creation of additional jobs, the sudden removal could, however, lead to social unrest and protests as people may perceive Government as being insensitive to their plight,” the statement reads.

“CWC also notes that already there is an astronomical increase in the prices of petroleum products and high inflation which have drastically reduced the purchasing power of citizens.

“Accordingly CWC directs all State Councils of the Union to mobilise members to withdraw their services and commence protests nationwide from Wednesday next week, 7th June 2023, if the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNCPL) refuses to reverse the new price regime in the oil sector.”

 

The Cable

Bauchi State Governor, Bala Muhammed, has been elected as the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governors Forum (PDP-GF).

Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, emerged as the vice chairman of the forum.

They were elected on Saturday at a retreat for elected PDP officials held in Bauchi State.

Mohammed replaced Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, also at the retreat.

At the retreat, the Acting National Chairman of PDP, Umar Damagum, urged the party’s governors to work together and support the party’s senators-elect.

“I want to reiterate, on the issue of the National Assembly, we have to know we are an opposition. To remain relevant, we must work together as one family. That is the only way you will be able to ensure that your relevance is being determined.”

Atiku criticises Tinubu over Fuel subsidy

In his remarks, the presidential candidate of the PDP in the last election, Atiku Abubakar, criticised the removal of subsidy by the administration of Bola Tinubu.

“Between 1999 and 2007, the PDP government initiated the petroleum subsidy removal, and I chaired the committee. We achieved subsidy removal in two phases but only after providing palliatives to those most affected by the subsidy removal.

“We have the experience as a party in government. That is what we would have done and not just announced subsidy removal without discussion with the affected sectors of the economy. I think Nigerians should appreciate what they have temporarily lost.”

Wike absent

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, was conspicuously absent at the retreat.

Governors present at the retreat were Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, Umaru Fintiri (Adamawa), Duoye Diri (Bayelsa) and Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta).

Others were the Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang; Governor of Taraba State, Agbu Kefas; Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State.

Kogi State governorship candidate, Dino Melaye, serving senators and House of Representatives members of the PDP were in attendance.

Senators-elect and members-elect elect of the party were also at the retreat.

 

PT

Federal Government has announced the recommencement of two additional train trips on the Abuja-Kaduna Train Service (AKTS) which was earlier suspended.

The Board and Management of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) made the announcement in a statement by the Manager of AKTS, Pascal Nnorli, on Saturday.

“The additional train service will resume on Sunday, June 4 with the following train trips: AK1 departs IDU (Abuja) at 0945hrs, KA2 departs RIGASA (Kaduna) at 1330hrs, AK3 departs IDU (Abuja) at 1500hrs.

“Subsequently from Monday, June 5, KA2 will depart RIGASA (Kaduna) at 0800hrs, AK1 will depart IDU (Abuja) at 0945hrs, KA4 will depart RIGASA, (Kaduna) at 1330hrs and AK3 will depart IDU(Abuja) at 1500hrs.

“However, on Wednesdays, only KA2 will depart RIGASA (Kaduna) at 0700hrs and AK3 will depart IDU (Abuja) at 1500hrs,” Nnorli said.

According to the manager, the Corporation regrets any inconvenience its esteemed passengers may have experienced as a result of the temporary reduction in train service.

 

NAN

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Western weapons used in Ukrainian raid inside Russia – WaPo

Military equipment and small arms provided by several NATO nations, including the US, ended up in the hands of militants who launched a cross-border raid into Russia's Belgorod region in May, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing sources linked to US intelligence. 

At least four tactical vehicles initially supplied to the Ukrainian military by the US and Poland were employed in the May raid, raising concerns about Kiev's commitment to fulfilling the demands of its Western supporters, the sources told WaPo.

The US and its Western allies have consistently expressed opposition to the use of Western arms by Ukraine in attacks on Russian territory. They also urged Kiev to "carefully track the billions of dollars’ worth of weapons that have flowed into the country," WaPo reported. 

The attack in question occurred in late May, and in response, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that "over 70 Ukrainian terrorists, four armored combat vehicles, and five pickup trucks" had been destroyed in the clash in Belgorod. The remaining militants were subsequently forced back into Ukraine and targeted by Russian artillery. The incursion resulted in one civilian death and 12 injuries, according to Russian authorities.

The Russian military shared a series of photographs showing what appeared to be destroyed Western equipment abandoned by the militants. Some of the images depicted two M1151A1 Humvee armored cars stuck in bomb craters, while others displayed two M1224 MaxxPro armored vehicles. An AMZ Dzik-2 armored car, manufactured in Poland, was also visible in the images.

Kiev attempted to distance itself from the raid by claiming it was carried out by the "Freedom of Russia Legion" and the "Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK)," the neo-Nazi units responsible for a similar attack in the Bryansk Region in March. The Pentagon and the US State Department expressed doubts regarding the authenticity of the images.

The State Department also said that the US "does not encourage or enable attacks inside of Russia." Washington also does not "support the use of US-made equipment … for attacks inside of Russia," it added. 

According to the Washington Post, videos published by the "Freedom of Russia Legion" and the RDK militants themselves showed fighters using the Czech-made CZ Bren and Belgium's FN SCAR assault rifles. Both types of weapons were provided to Ukraine by the respective nations, the paper said, adding that "Bren and SCAR rifles are commonly distributed to Ukraine’s soldiers" and foreign fighters who travel to Ukraine to combat Russian forces. 

A spokesperson from the Belgian Defense Ministry informed the Washington Post that they only provided weapons to "official authorities and the regular army" in Ukraine, placing responsibility on Kiev for their usage. Poland and the Czech Republic declined to comment on the findings presented by the Washington Post.

The use of Western military supplies in an attack on Russian territory raises the issue of Kiev’s accountability, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think-tank, told WaPo. The Ukrainians "are clearly complicit here," Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps officer, added.

** Kiev rebuffs Indonesian peace efforts

Ukraine has rejected Indonesia’s proposal for a peace settlement with Moscow, arguing that Jakarta’s plan would only serve Russia’s interests. 

President Vladimir Zelensky’s top adviser Mikhail Podoliak wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the roadmap “frankly looks like a twin of the Russian proposal … about the surrender [of Ukraine].” 

The adviser reiterated Kiev’s position that the “only one realistic proposal” would be for Russia to “withdraw from the sovereign territory of Ukraine.”  

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko also insisted that Russia should surrender its newly incorporated regions, which Kiev says were illegally occupied. “There can be no alternative scenarios,” he said in a post on Facebook. 

“Ceasefire without the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine will allow Russia to win time, regroup, fortify the occupied territories and accumulate forces for a new wave of aggression,” Nikolenko wrote.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on Saturday, Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto suggested that both Russian and Ukrainian troops withdraw 15km (nearly 10 miles) from their current positions, creating a demilitarized zone that would be monitored by UN peacekeepers. He also proposed holding UN-sponsored referendums to determine the future “disputed” territories.

Moscow has so far not commented on the proposal. Russian officials stressed in the past that, in order to achieve a lasting peace, Ukraine must drop its bid to join NATO in favor of neutrality and recognize Russia’s recent territorial acquisitions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that there was “no basis” meaningful negotiations at the moment because Kiev and the West “don’t have any political will to take into account our country’s goals and concerns.”

** Russia's newest satellites to change course of Ukrainian conflict — former UN inspector

Russia's new radar surveillance satellites will allow Moscow to change the course of the conflict in Ukraine, former US intelligence officer and UN weapons inspector to Iraq Scott Ritter said.

Ritter pointed out that the Russian Federation recently launched "the first of several radar surveillance satellites that have a resolution of up to one meter, which means it can see everything." "It can see through clouds, it can see through rain. It can see through everything. High resolution radar, and they are seeing everything right now," he said.

"You can't hide anything from the Russians anymore," Ritter stressed. "And it's going to have a fundamental shift in how this [Ukrainian] conflict goes because all that stuff that's been brought - can't hide it," he continued, referring to Western weapons coming into Ukraine.

"They [the weapons] are all detected now and they're all getting programmed into the Russian target database. And the Russians are gonna start hitting this stuff, more and more and more and we see evidence of this already," Ritter pointed out, adding that in his opinion this conflict would become "unsustainable for the Ukrainian sometime by the end of summer, early fall.".

 

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia has enough Iranian suicide drones to launch attacks every day to deplete Ukraine's air defenses - Ukraine AirForce spokesman

Russia has enough Iranian-made suicide drones to keep up attacks on Ukraine every day, a Ukrainian Air Force official warned.

Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said Russian forces have more than enough supply of Shahed-136 drones to keep up the attack, Ukrainian news outlet NV reported.

"Shaheds are now launched so often that it is not clear whether they are (supposed to be) detecting or depleting our air defense," Ihnat said, according to NV. "It's all in one: both detecting and, surely, depleting."

Russia has been using the unmanned loitering munitions to relentlessly bombard Ukrainian cities and targets in recent weeks.

The explosive drones have a range of 1,250 miles and are packed with explosives, Insider previously reported. The relatively small drones can then stay flying above their targets, lingering for the correct moment to strike, before crashing down and exploding on impact like a traditional missile.

Ukrainian defense minister Volodymyr Havrylov told Reuters that despite the barrage of drone and missile attacks, Kyiv's forces were still ready to start their counterattack against Russian troops occupying the eastern part of the country.

Havrylov said Russia was trying to distract Ukraine from its planned counteroffensive, but said the missile attacks were a "last strategic resort," Reuters reported.

Havrylov also told reporters that Ukraine's air defense systems were "more than 90 percent effective" at stopping the attacks, according to Reuters.

** Russia's air attack repelled on approach to Kyiv, Ukraine says

Russia launched a wave of air attacks on Ukraine early on Sunday, with air defence systems repelling all missiles and drones on their approach to Kyiv, the capital's military officials said.

"According to preliminary information, not a single air target reached the capital," Serhiy Popko, the head of the military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app early on Sunday.

"Air defence destroyed everything that was heading towards the city already at their distant approaches."

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Kyiv since May, chiefly at night, ahead of a long-expected Ukrainian counteroffensive to reclaim territory, in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to inflict psychological distress on civilians.

Reuters witnesses reported hearing several blasts in the Kyiv region, but not in the city, from what sounded like air defence systems hitting targets.

All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts for nearly three hours.

There were unverified Ukrainian social media reports of blasts heard in Kryvyi Rih in southern Ukraine, near the central city of Kropyvnitskyi and in the northeastern region of Sumy. There was no immediate official information about the reports.

 

RT/Tass/Business Insider/Reuters

Sudan fighters take over Khartoum museum, director says

Sudanese paramilitary fighters have taken over the national museum in Khartoum, its deputy director said on Saturday, urging them to protect precious artefacts from the nation's heritage that include ancient mummies.

Members of the Rapid Support Forces group that has been fighting the army since mid-April for control of Sudan entered the museum on Friday, said deputy director Ikhlas Abdellatif.

Museum staff do not know the situation inside the museum because they halted work there after the conflict suddenly erupted on April 15, forcing police guarding the facility to quit, Abdellatif said.

The RSF released a video filmed inside the museum grounds showing a soldier denying that they had done any harm to the museum or would do so, and inviting any individuals or organisations to visit the museum to check.

The video also showed RSF fighters covering up exposed mummies with sheets and closing the plain white boxes in which they were contained. It was not clear when or why the mummies had been uncovered.

The museum is in a large building on the banks of the River Nile in central Khartoum, near the central bank in an area where some of the fiercest fighting has taken place.

Among its thousands of priceless relics are embalmed mummies dating to 2,500 BC, making them among the oldest and archaeologically most important in the world.

The museum also contains statues, pottery and ancient murals, with artefacts from the stone age through to the Christian and Islamic eras, said former director Hatim Alnour.

Roxanne Trioux, part of a French archaeological team that was working in Sudan, said they had been monitoring satellite pictures of the museum and had already seen potential signs of damage there before Friday, with signs of burning.

"We don't know the extent of damage inside," she said.

Fighting has persisted despite repeated truces including one negotiated by Saudi Arabia and the United States to which both sides signed up. The latest was due to expire on Saturday evening.

On Saturday afternoon, residents reported clashes including air and artillery strikes in southern Khartoum and northern districts of its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri which lie across the Nile, as well as the Sharg el-Nil district, to the east.

After continued clashes, bombardment and occupation of civilian buildings, Washington and Riyadh suspended the talks and the U.S. said this week it was imposing sanctions on the two sides' business interests.

Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019 Sudan's government was headed by a sovereign council under army chief General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan with the RSF head Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, as his deputy.

The two are now heading rival forces in a bloody power struggle, and Burhan removed Hemedti from his post last month.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council called on the warring factions to cease hostilities to allow access to humanitarian organisations.

"The army is shelling us and the RSF are spread out in the streets, and the citizen is paying the price for war," said Sami el-Tayeb, a 47-year-old resident of Omdurman.

The war has already displaced 1.2 million people inside the country and forced another 400,000 to flee into neighbouring states, pushing Sudan to the brink of disaster and raising fears of a wider conflict.

 

Reuters

America was a pitiable sight last Thursday. That great country was crouched on the bare floor. It fell like a huge hippopotamus. President Joe Biden’s legs were wrapped over each other like a malevolent viper that had just had its backbone yanked apart by an irreverent bullet. America looked helpless. The edges of Biden’s blue suit raised their hands up in surrender, leaving the world gaping through his now visible white singlet. The only thing on him that seemed unfazed by the fall was his blue fez cap. For the first time ever, cameras pierced through the underneath of Biden’s black shoes. Those shoes lay on their sides, even as a Biden security aide was pictured attempting to lift America up. Looking at the faces of the guests on the podium, you could see palpable shock and fright. America fell!

Biden had tripped and fallen immediately after handing out the last diploma at a U.S. Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado. After he fell, the president caught himself with his hands and immediately got up on a knee. He looked backwards towards a sandbag which supported the teleprompter he used. This confirms the universality of that Yoruba proverb which says, when a child falls, he looks forward to a remedy but when elders do, they look backwards to the roots of the fall. Three of Biden’s aides then sprightly sprang up to his rescue, helped him up as he walked back to his seat. He then sat down as if nothing had happened. Back at the White House, the president joked, “I got sandbagged."

Olusegun Obasanjo didn’t have such joke as riposte. He had a sound rebuke. In 1995 circa, he had attended a political event at the Gateway Hotel, Sango-Ota, Ogun State. He was ostensibly under the weather but reluctantly elected to come and honour organizers of the event, in spite of his failing health. As he sat on the high table, with the event afoot, human nature took its toll. Vomit daringly coursed through his esophagus, irreverently unmindful that this was once a Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. This was an office that imbues its occupant with power of life and death. Like the Yoruba Anikulapo, he had death imprisoned inside his pouch. Obasanjo momentarily grabbed one of the cups in his front on the high table, inside of which was hemmed a serviette paper. By then, the goddamn vomit had burst the door of his mouth open and was ready to spill the content of its cistern. Obasanjo merely offered the glass cup as sacrifice to this rude guest. Then, the vomit forcefully gushed out of his guts.

Ace photographer of the then Third Eye and later, Tribune newspapers, Tomi Adegbite, just like those photographers in Colorado who clicked on as America fell, sprang up his feet and unto the scene. He immediately drew out his camera. Click-click-click, this audacious professional thumbed the button of his camera, photographing Nigeria’s ex-Head of State at his most vulnerable moment. Obasanjo couldn’t care. He soberly attended to the unseen hand that ruled him at that moment. After his Lord and Master, the vomit, had finished its assignment and the cup was filled up, the ex- Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces looked up to behold the photographer. “Ta lo ran e ni’se? Foto lo de nya loju ara e yen o?” – Who sent you? You must think you are taking a shot? he demanded. It was indecipherable. Was it a question, threat or a remark? The photographer didn’t wait to give a reply. As the Yoruba would say, he “na papa bo ra” – literally, disappeared into void. Like Biden’s photo, this too was later published in the Third Eye.

The Biden fall became a piece of narrative to justify Nigeria’s tottering last week. It was spearheaded by those who believe in the Messiahnism of the current landlord of Aso Rock. A few days before Biden’s, Nigeria almost fell too. It was on May 29, 2023 at the Eagle Square. A clandestine video recording said to be of President Bola Tinubu at his swearing-in, went viral. As celebration enveloped Nigeria and the atmosphere of conviviality wrapped the Eagle Square, the president allegedly made for the podium to address the world. From the video, we saw a president who shook tremulously like a storm-propelled chandelier. His ADC briskly fled after him as he tottered like one in the dark, seeming to want to fall. Or, could the president have been drunk that early morning? This reminded the audience of the biblical apostles accused by their Jew brethren of being drunk early in the morning. The charge was later disputed by Peter the apostle who reminded them that Jews seldom drank alcohol before nine in the morning. So, was Nigeria’s president drunk on the day of his joy?

Or, was he drunk on something? Or, ill? After his fall last June in America, Biden’s doctors came out to tell the world that he does not drink alcohol nor use tobacco and exercises "at least" five times a week. The fall came as Biden dismounted his bicycle and snared a foot in a toe clip of the cycle. He had taken a weekend trip to the Gordons Pond area of the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Just as he did in Colorado, Biden stood up immediately, waved and said, "I'm good. I got my foot caught up."

Immediately, his doctors declared him healthy and fit for duty after they conducted physical examination on him. The White House thereafter issued a release saying the president did not require any medical attention. Nigerians were not that lucky. After Nigeria tottered at the Eagle Square last Monday, mum was the word. There was even no official reaction to the viral video. We expected to be told, as usual, that the video was photo-shopped; and that some shaky and tremulous character, not our president, was imported into that viral video. Neither did we get a medical reaction similar to the one from Biden’s physicians telling us that “President Tinubu does not drink alcohol nor use tobacco or any other harmful substance and exercises on the treadmill ‘at least’ five times a week.”

Tinubu wasn’t the first leader of a people to totter that pitiably. Indeed, he has no reason to worry about falling. Falls have almost become an imprimatur of the world presidency. One world leader, who once fell or nearly fell, was Boris Johnson. Curated by the British press as having a nonchalant approach to governance with his hair uncombed and shirts flown out, untucked, in 2015, Boris hit tabloid headlines as he slipped at a charity tug-of-war game organized for a World War I commemoration event holding at the Thames River. Clenching his teeth and grimacing, Johnson pulled hard in the game as he fell, losing his footing on the muddy grass. He exclaimed, “oh bugger!”

Then another photograph emerged. It was of President Tinubu at a meeting with CBN and NNPCL heads. He was cosseted by his wife, Remi. Though they claimed it was not an official meeting, what was Mrs. Tinubu doing at an official meeting presided over by her husband? Was Nigeria about to witness an imperial presidency where the queen and king reigned? This question accompanied the viral photograph of the event. It reminded me of one verse of the Ifa corpus that inveighed leaders who import their women into the theatre of power.

The narrative went thus: The Olufimo, who was a king, got pestered by his newly wedded wife to take her to the Oro cult, a ritual that forbade the presence of women in traditional Yoruba society. When the pestering became almost like a pestilence, Olufimo, in the bid to wave off a far more pestilential matrimonial crisis, had no choice than smuggle the woman into the Oro groove. He did this by hiding her inside the apere – the traditional seat of the king. As the initiates gathered for the ceremony, the babalawo 

struck the chord of the Ifa deity thrice on the pouch but the deity refused to communicate with the initiates as it used to do. Then, the Ifa priest sought the face of the god in a different way and commanded that the Olufimo’s apere be ransacked for the cause of the blockage of communication by the Oro cult from the living. The Ifa narrative expressed this thus in Yoruba – Ohun lo di’fa fun Olufimo Akoko ni’jo ti o f’aya e j’oye; ape’fa, ifa o je o, a p’oro, oro o mi titi o, e je a ye’nu apere oba wo. The Olufimo and his wife were then beheaded for the sacrilege they brought upon the land.

On the social media, Nigerians did their own “beheading” via commentaries dragging the First Family. Questions were asked on the nature of this unfolding government. Would the First Lady be attending Executive Council meetings too? Was this part of the un-communicated handover note that Mrs. Aisha Buhari left for the pastor? “Learn lessons from my isolation in the Villa. Take charge, from the word go!” Was that what she said? Or was that Nigerian Christians’ own way of achieving a Muslim/Christian presidential parity?

Some very naughty persons however reasoned that the First Lady was cosseting her husband all over the place not necessarily to flaunt her feminine power but to physically monitor his fragile health. Didn’t Yoruba say that the plate is not displaying arrogance when it diffidently insists that it must have its own soup poured right on its face? – oju awo l’awo fi ngb’obe. No one, not even a doctor, can decipher when the indicators are going wrong like the woman who had witnessed the indicators slide dangerously in the past.

Did President Gerald Ford’s wife, like Remi, dot on him too after he fell? Ford fell exactly the same day, 48 years earlier from the day Biden fell in Colorado. On June 1, 1975, Ford had been captured in a photograph flung on the floor yakata like a castrated puppy. The very embarrassing event had occurred overseas as the president disembarked the Air Force One in Salzburg, the rainy Austrian city. His wife beside him, Ford, who was by then 61 years old, had lost his balance as he walked down the wet steps of the aircraft. He then skidded off down the remaining stairs. The almighty president of America ended up folded in a heap by the tarmac. Flummoxed, officials stampeded round themselves to get America back on its feet. Later while delivering his speech, Ford had said: “Thank you for your gracious welcome to Salzburg, and I am sorry I tumbled in.”

Falls are viewed both literally and metaphorically by people all over the world. They are even symbolic. For political foes of presidents, they narrate a bumbling and clumsy presidency. To paparazzi and the yellow journalism world, when such falls are caught on camera, they become skits for entertainment and late-night comedy shows. Stumbles are also framed as narratives of lack of fitness for the office occupied. For older presidents and leaders, they are pointers that the ones who fell had aged beyond the call of office. The cantankerous Donald Trump had seized on the Biden fall in Colorado. When asked about it at an Iowa rally, he sarcastically remarked, "He actually fell down? Well, I hope he wasn’t hurt," and added, "You gotta be careful about that," even if you have to “tiptoe down a ramp."

These falls and tottering may mean nothing to other world leaders, but they should to Tinubu. As an African, Tinubu should look back, like Biden did, to his teleprompter. Falls and tottering humanize us as the living. They show that we are mere pencil traces on a paper which can be erased in a twinkle of an eye. They guide us to remember our humble past. In traditional African reading of infirmities and death, Africans came to a conclusion that those are beyond the purview of the living. Anyone who mocks a recipient of any of such unfavourable knuckle of fate is the greatest fool. The aged and worn trees of the forest have been known to confound human understanding to stand erect while the green, luxuriating ones fell.

On Friday in Osogbo, Osun State, on a Rave FM radio sermon, an Islamic cleric, Musbaideen Afolabi Orimadegun, had narrated the story of an ex-slave by the name Ayaz. Ayaz was promoted and became the king’s favourite chief. He had been thoroughly impoverished and wore torn clothes as apparel. He now began to wear expensive clothes and shoes. Then his co-chiefs reported to the king that he usually went inside the king’s treasury, where he kept all his clothes and material property. One day, the king volunteered to go with the chiefs at the dead of the night to witness what they said was Ayaz’ nocturnal pre-occupation. There, they saw him peel himself of all those adornments of wealth, even as he wore those torn clothes and shoes he wore as a poverty-stricken man. Then murmuring, he told himself “Ayaz, don’t forget what you were before now. This is you; this is your foundation! Realize this and be humble.”

As Orimadegun, a highly revered Ustaz due to his depth of understanding of Yoruba and the Quran, said during that sermon, the native concoction that rescues one from perennial bouts with an Abiku child must never be denied its veneration. It must be constantly replenished with water – agbo to ba si’ni lowo abiku, omi ori re o gbodo gbe. In the same way, said Orimadegun, atori ta ba fi le ise wo gbe, a’i ju si’gbo – the cudgel with which poverty is chased into the forest must never be despised or thrown away. The people make and unmake leaders. As I once said, there is no difference between the ordinary cleaner on the street and the president, except that one is privileged over the other. The cleaner’s defecation smells, just as the president’s; they both take ill, trip and fall. The people are the ones who make the leader and deserve to be constantly venerated. Their welfare must be topmost in consideration. Did Tinubu factor the people into the current removal of subsidy? As desirable as the removal is, was it logical to yank it off, as peremptory and off-the-cuff as it was done, with the attendant suffering Nigerians are going through now?

Nigerians expect a presidency of sobriety, and which will preference them. They want an economy that stands on its feet and may care less about a president who totters; they want a presidency that is reconciliatory and not one that wars with any part of the country. Again, Orimadegun’s counsel in that sermon, dredging deep into Yoruba chieftaincy tradition, was that, a chieftaincy attained in the thick of hues and cries deserves sobriety – Oye ti a ba fi ote je, kike laa ke. Is the Nigerian presidency listening?

 

And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount ~ Exodus 25:40.

Introduction

God intends that Christian homes should be a foretaste of heaven on earth. However, for many families these days, this ideal has become like a mirage, or like a distant echo that has lost resonance.

This sad scenario is as a result of the grievous disconnect from God's original plan and norm for the home, which is commonplace in many human communities today. Indeed, many people are toiling and struggling in vain as a direct consequence of this blatant disregard for divine order in respect to marriages and homes.

God is a God of order. He abhors disorderliness and confusion, but dwells, operates and manifests His glory in places of order. God commands His blessings and releases His goodness only in places where His order is embraced and respected. Hence, any home where disorderliness holds sway must be devoid of God's presence, and consequently, bereft of His glory and blessings.

Moses was commanded to build the Tabernacle according to a particular pattern that God showed him on the mountain, and God waited patiently until he did it properly and in accordance with His heavenly pattern. Thereafter, God came down to inhabit it and fill the tabernacle with His glory (Exodus 25:40, 40:1-34).

Someone may ask: “why do we nowadays have the problems in marriage that were not there in the olden days”? I venture to say that most of the marriage-related problems that we're presently grappling with in our world today are traceable to our modern-day “gender equality” advocacy, which subtly but steadily contradicts God's order for marriage.

Now, no matter the opinion, position, stance or reaction of the world to God’s order for family, God’s Word still stands forever!

God’s Order for Love, Submission and Responsibility in the Homes

Husbands are divinely ordered to love, admire and appreciate their wives passionately, even as Christ loved the Church and died for her. Wives are also commanded to submit to their own husbands in everything, as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:18-25). Moreover, godly children are instructed to obey their parents and submit to the authority of Christ in the homes.

Very importantly, according to God’s prerogative, the husband is instituted as the head of the family/home unit (Ephesians 5:22-25). In other words, the husband is God-ordained and set on earth as the head of the governing authority in the home.

Now, we are not at liberty to disregard, edit or dance around this heavenly ordinance, unless we’re ready for the consequences: “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Romans 13:2).

When godly, effective and responsible men take their rightful positions as the heads of their families, God’s glory and blessing will fill the homes and even overflow to our streets, cities and nations.

On the flip-side, any family where the husband, who is divinely equipped and strategically positioned to be the head in the family, is relegated or his authority usurped by the wife, the devil takes over and establishes his dark rule. Consequently, there'll be constant chaos, and God’s purposes may be hindered, delayed or frustrated in such families.

Flowing from this, it is critically important for every husband who has been displaced as the head in homes to arise and be restored as the head according to God’s divine order and pattern for family. Harmony occurs only where godly men are allowed by godly women to take their rightful positions as heads of the marital unions.

Truly, many wives never set out deliberately to usurp the authority of their husbands, but for the ignorance, failure or inefficiency of their husbands. It is the “absent fathers” and “visiting husbands” who inevitably sell their authorities on the platter of irresponsibility.

In fact, the consequences of the husband’s failure, inefficiency or irresponsibility as the head of the family are very enormous and far deeper than can be easily described in any human language. For instance, the fall of Adam in Eden was as a result of his failure or inefficiency as the head of his family. But, the consequences are still being felt by the entire human race today.

If it was Adam, with his original dominion, who confronted the devil when he came around to tempt them in the Garden of Eden, the story might have ended differently. But, he was “absent” from his home at that time, without any boundaries set for his wife. Eve was deceived and she fell into the satanic bait (1 Timothy 2:14).

Husbands must wake up to their God-given responsibilities or obligations as the heads of the human families. Albeit, the husband’s position as the head of his family, doesn’t suggest that he should now transform himself to a big boss, becoming a taskmaster at home, supercilious and domineering, ordering everybody around and bullying them at will.

For special emphasis, the man's responsibility in his home is to truly love and care for his wife, children and other members of the household. By the same class of order, the woman's call is to submit. When a couple does these appropriately, their home will become a foretaste of heaven on earth.

Very painfully, however, some partners in marital union rather unknowingly act as accessories to the untimely death of their spouses. How? Through constant nagging, criticisms and other such other unwholesome attitudes.

In an interesting article "How You Kill Your Spouse and Get Away With It" (author unknown), it is stated that the disorderly acts of nagging generates stress, hypertension, stroke and premature death.

It’s my well-considered opinion that even if a murderer gets away with his vice in the eye of the law on earth, God will still remember that he/she is a murderer, and will serve him/her a just dessert, sooner or later.

As a parting shot, let's briefly analyze the features that are contained in the physiology of the human head, and see how they can assist our understanding of the marital relationships.

As the “head” of his own family, the husband is configured with the “eye” of the family, to provide vision and direction. He’s also equipped with the “ear” to gather information for the body and to provide equilibrium, and the “mouth” for communication.

Furthermore, he has the “nose” to breathe, smell and discern the environment. And, he houses the “brain” for imagination, coordination and recollection. Certainly, the failure of the head will result in confusion, disorientation and even paralysis of the whole body.

Going forward, we can see what the awesome responsibility the man has under God, so, he needs the cooperation of his wife to carry them out successfully. Thus, the wife is crafted as a “suitable help” for her husband, and she should willingly yield to him as it’s fitting in the Lord, gladly inclining herself to submission to the glory of God and in the general interest of her home.

Dear friends and brethren, are you a responsible and loving husband? Are you a submissive wife in your home? The blessing of enthroning divine order in the home cannot be contemned or overlooked. In a well-ordered home, there will be great peace, glorification, edification, protection, abundant provision and promotion for all.

As we all receive the divine grace needed to flow freely with God’s order in our homes, arising in strength to fulfill our roles in our various families, may ceaseless blessings begin to flow all around us and abound in our societies. You won’t miss this, in Jesus’ Name. Amen. Happy Sunday!

** Bishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

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The psalmist prophesied about Jesus’ resurrection: “You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive.” (Psalm 68:18). However, Jesus does not lead unbelievers or demons. He only leads believers. Therefore, believers are the captivity that the psalmist prophesied Jesus would lead captive. Jesus rescues us from the captivity of sin and then puts us in the captivity of righteousness.

This is how Paul expresses this kingdom dynamic:

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey — whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Roman 6:16-23).

Chained but free

Significantly, Paul, the chief exponent of the New Testament, was often a prisoner in chains. Indeed, he referred to himself as “an ambassador in chains.” (Ephesians 6:20). Paul was often in chains by God’s design to demonstrate that a man can be physically chained but spiritually free. At the same time, many people that are physically free do not know that they are spiritually chained. This means a physical slave might be spiritually free, while a physically free man might be spiritually enslaved.

The power of the gospel is that it opens the eyes of the blind to see their true spiritual condition. Thus, “Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’” (John 8:31-32).

Mystery of iniquity

The word of God reveals that a sinner is in bondage. He is a slave of sin. When we are slaves of sin, we are controlled by our passions and lusts. This is the mystery of iniquity, or the mystery of lawlessness. It is a secret power that is not known to the sinner but becomes self-evident to the saint: “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

Freedom in slavery

Jesus is the Saviour who frees us from the stranglehold of sin. He says: “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).

This freedom is the freedom of the spirit. A man who is spiritually free is free indeed, even though he might be in physical chains as was the case of Paul. A man who is spiritually bound however is bound indeed, even though he is free to go from bar to bar, and to hop from bed to bed.

It is only the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that can make a man spiritually free. This is because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every man who believes.

A man who is in bondage to sin regards himself as free. He feels he can do whatever he likes. He can sleep with whomever he likes. He can drink as much as he likes whenever he likes. He is answerable to no one.

But what he does not realise is that his presumed freedom is a sign of bondage to sin. Sin makes a man free from God. Sin makes a man free from righteousness. Sin makes a man lawless and reckless.

When somebody annoys you, you just feel the urge to slap the person and you do so. Your passions commanded you to slap him and you did. You gave him a dirty slap. You taught him a lesson. It commanded you to abuse him, so you did. Afterward you felt good and even boasted about it.

Your passions commanded you to sleep with that woman. You obeyed, and thoroughly enjoyed it. But without knowing it, you were a man under the authority of sin.

Slavery in freedom

When a man is a slave of sin, he is free from righteousness. But when he is made free from sin, he becomes a slave of righteousness.

A man made free from sin often does not realise he is now a slave of righteousness. He feels he is now free to do what he likes. This is not the case. Precisely because he is now free, he cannot do what he likes. 

His freedom is for a reason and with an objective: to serve the Lord Christ. Accordingly, Jesus spoke to Moses saying: “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” (Exodus 8:1).

Righteousness makes a man bound to Christ. Righteousness makes a man free from sin. Righteousness makes a man lawful. A man freed from sin does not wilfully return to bondage. Paul says: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.” (1 Corinthians 6:12).

A man who is made free by Christ needs to serve Christ with the same wholeheartedness with which he served sin. When we were under the bondage of sin, we were completely free from righteousness. Now that we are bound to righteousness, we must be completely free from sin.

There is just one residual problem. Sin still resides in our mortal bodies. Paul says:

“When I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.” (Romans 7:21-23).

I gave two women to a husband yesterday. Leah looks like a centenarian with her two pedals. It has a few scars on her black skin rendering her less sparkling to the eye compared to her brownish, shapely, colourful and elegant younger sister. What she lacked in terms of physical beauty was compensated for with the sonorous sound that comes from this upright piano which is bound to attract ears favoured to decipher why an older violin resonates better.

I did what a normal businessman would do to minimize risk. I offered Leah at a price that was almost 40% lower than the bride price of the three-pedal Rachael. I didn’t want it rejected this time around. It had stayed too long in our living room and I was beginning to wonder if it would ever get a suitor considering that the flower age was almost gone.

To my surprise, the suitor didn’t behave like Jacob. He was happy. Being more experienced in musical arts, he told me the older piano was better than the one I sold at a higher price and that was the one he would personally keep. Rachael would be moved somewhere else!

Really? This was beyond WhatsApp chat. I called him to understand why. He told me the frame and wood of Leah were superior to those of Rachael, hence the better voice. In other words, I sold Leah cheap, which was an interesting gain to him. Yes, a little more would be spent on cosmetics and tuning but it would provide a better food for the soul of the new owner. He explained how older drums talk better and clearer. The older a normal girl is, the better she’s able to articulate herself.

Though difficult for us to accept most of the time, we don’t know everything. What we place a high value on may be worth less than what we treat as nothing. The stone rejected today is often the chief cornerstone tomorrow. The discerning man sees more beauty in the wrinkled face of Leah than the alluring putty-filled and masked face of the strange woman in her skimpy dresses.

While new wine may taste fine, the wise know older wine tastes better! Making new friends is great but keeping old and older friends is greater. It’s cool to befriend your agemate but Rehoboam would not have lost the throne if he knew the importance of walking with the wiser older people.

Have you been tagged useless, hopeless, valueless and expired? Is the wound of rejection hurting you hard? Wipe your tears. Who says you won’t be favoured to have half of Jacob’s sons? Who says Judah and Levi won’t come from you? Judah means praise. Levi means joined in harmony. David was of the lineage of Judah. Levites were priests in Israel and these two came from the rejected Leah! Something great and wonderful is coming out of you!

Beloved, keep hope alive! Expect God to bring your way the person who values you. Let Him lead you to the market where you’re recognised. When you are polished and begin to yield great fruits, those who dump you in the pit and sold you cheaply as a slave will one day bow at your feet!

When the Lord changes your name from wounded, outcast, lonely, reproached, etc. to favoured, joyful, lovely, etc. I will be glad to listen to your testimony.

If you still wonder how ashes can turn to beauty, ask me!

Send WhatsApp chat to 08075260661 or an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A number of schools in a Utah district, United States of America, removed the King James Version of the Bible from some library bookshelves after a parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools convinced a committee the Good Book contained “vulgar” or “violent” content for younger children, officials said Friday.

The Davis School District—a public system with about 72,000 students—has largely pulled the Bible from its elementary and middle schools, but has decided to keep the book in circulation in high school libraries.

In a copy of the parent’s complaint reviewed by NBC News, they said their effort to ban the Bible was in protest against a 2022 state law that made it easier to remove “pornographic or indecent” content from schools.

“I thank the Utah Legislature and Utah Parents United for making this bad faith process so much easier and way more efficient,” the parent said in the complaint. “Now we can all ban books and you don’t even need to read them or be accurate about it. Heck, you don’t even need to see the book!”

The parent, whose identity is redacted in the complaint, expressed concern in an eight-page list that the religious text contains objectionable verses about incest, prostitution, and rape.

“Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide,” the parent wrote. “You’ll no doubt find that the Bible, under Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1227, has ‘no serious values for minors’ because it’s pornographic by our new definition.”

The parent’s challenge to the school board was first reported in March. As per the Utah Code, indecent content includes explicit sexual arousal, stimulation, masturbation, intercourse, sodomy, or fondling, according to Justia.

Christopher Williams, a Davis School District spokesperson, said the decision to remove the Bible will take immediate effect, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The review committee—which is made up of teachers, parents, and administrators in the largely conservative community—determined the Bible didn’t qualify under Utah’s definition of what’s pornographic or indecent, which is why it will remain in high schools, Williams said. The committee can make its own decisions under the 2022 state law and has applied different standards based on students’ ages in response to multiple challenges, he added.

The committee published its decision about the Bible in an online database of review requests and did not elaborate on its reasoning or which passages it found overly violent or vulgar.

Meanwhile, an unnamed party appealed the committee’s decision on Wednesday, Williams said. The matter will be discussed by a three-member committee of the district’s Board of Education before the full panel finally decides. Should the panel decide the Bible is appropriate, then the book will be returned to schools in the district.

Congressman Responds

Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory, a Republican who sponsored the state’s book ban bill, criticized the parent’s challenge in March, saying: “It’s a backhanded slap to parents that are simply trying to keep a healthy learning environment for all students in the schools. I have every confidence that no school district is going to consider The Bible as violating 76-10-1227.”

In light of the school district’s determination to limit access to the King James Version of the Bible to high school-aged students, Ivory called upon officials to “immediately and thoroughly review” the age appropriateness of all instructional materials in K-12 schools throughout Utah.

“With this determination, the Davis school district has now set the floor for the standard by which age-appropriate, sensitive, obscene, and indecent materials must immediately be reviewed, and if determined to not be age-appropriate, removed from all schools in the Davis district and throughout the state!” Ivory said in a lengthy statement on Friday.

“By this standard, every material that is equal to, or more violent, sensitive, obscene, indecent, or vulgar, must be removed immediately from all schools in classrooms and libraries throughout the K-12 schools in Utah,” he added.

The school district’s determination comes as concerned parents and conservative activists have descended on school boards and statehouses throughout the United States to sound the alarm about sensitive issues that are being taught in public schools today.

Parents who have pushed for more say in their children’s education and the curriculum and materials available in schools have argued that they should control how their children are taught about sensitive matters such as race and gender.

 

Epoch Times