The torment of incessantly escalating petrol prices and the consequent surge in the cost of everything have plunged Nigerians into a precipitous decline in quality of life. This dire situation is exacerbated by insensitive, almost mocking remarks from those responsible for inflicting this pain.

President Bola Tinubu, aptly nicknamed “T-Pain,” recently stated from London that Nigerians would, in the future, appreciate the wisdom of his “reforms.” Such a statement is both callous and mendacious.

It is callous because these “reforms” are literally destroying the livelihoods of millions and causing the deaths of many. What possible benefit could the deceased derive from economic reforms that precipitated their untimely demise?

It is mendacious because, as evidenced by the history of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP) in Nigeria—and the experiences of other nations implementing similar neoliberal economic reforms—such policies invariably erode the middle class, exacerbate poverty among the lower classes, yet please the markets, thereby benefiting the upper classes.

Almost without exception, neoliberal policies—such as the elimination of subsidies, deregulation, reductions in social spending, and fiscal austerity—exacerbate economic inequality and hinder sustainable development in developing economies. These policies often benefit large corporations and the wealthy, which creates an inequitable concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and widens the chasm between the rich and the poor.

Thus, the deferred benefits for which Tinubu wants Nigerians to endure mass deaths and hopelessness are the opening of Nigerian markets to international competition—which may please global markets but will overwhelm local businesses lacking the resources and technology to compete—and the freeing up of resources to invest in infrastructure.

However, the reality is that contemporary Nigeria is inhospitable to foreign investment due to the absence of security, social, and physical infrastructure, and because Tinubu's policies have so impoverished the majority that they cannot afford to purchase what foreign businesses produce. This explains the mass exodus of foreign companies since 2023.

Furthermore, given the culture of endemic corruption entrenched within the upper echelons of power, most of the funds saved from subsidy withdrawals, tariff increases, intensified taxation, and cuts in social programs will likely be misappropriated. The government will still resort to borrowing from the World Bank and the IMF to finance its operations.

We are already witnessing this phenomenon. Despite massive inflows of cash into government coffers, no new projects are being constructed or even initiated. In fact, governments at all levels are procrastinating over implementing the ₦70,000 per month minimum wage. State governors convert the excess funds they receive from federal allocations into dollars and stash them away, thereby putting pressure on the naira.

Now, the vast majority of Nigerians have resigned themselves to the fact that death, starvation, and hopelessness are the only certain outcomes of Tinubu's “reforms” and are seeking a way out. Middle-class citizens are saving up to leave the country, and, for the first time ever, even the majority of northern Nigeria's middle class is investing in plans to escape from Nigeria.

In response, Senate President Godswill Akpabio declared that Nigerians fleeing the blazing neoliberal hellhole that Tinubu has created are ungrateful and unpatriotic cowards who should be stopped. “I believe people should place love for their country above financial gains. That is why many of us choose to remain here,” he said.

Akpabio and his ilk choose to stay in Nigeria not out of love for the country but because they thrive off it and are insulated from the harm they inflict upon it. The professionals leaving Nigeria in droves are not doing so because they lack love for their country. They love their country; they simply abhor the raging neoliberal inferno it has become. British Somali poet Warsan Shire once pointed out, “No one leaves home unless/home is the mouth of a shark.”

It is insulting to suggest, as Akpabio did, that Nigerian emigrants are motivated by base and unpatriotic motives. Even more insulting is Akpabio's proposed solution to halt emigration: that dissatisfied Nigerians should reduce the number of cars they own.

At times, one wonders whether Akpabio retains any functioning brain cells.

Meanwhile, Remi Tinubu, Bola Tinubu’s wife, continued this pattern of insulting Nigerians amidst their suffering. On Thursday, she told the Ooni of Ife that her husband is not responsible for Nigeria’s current travails, which contradicts her husband’s own acceptance of responsibility for the hardships Nigerians are enduring—with a promise of an illusory better tomorrow as compensation for the pain he is inflicting.

“We are just 18 months into our administration,” she said. “We are not the cause of the current situation. We are trying to fix it and secure the future."

She then inverted logic and implied that Nigerians are suffering not because her husband has increased petrol prices more times and at higher rates than any previous president, but because prior presidents did not do what her husband is doing.

“We know that subsidy has been removed, but with God on our side, in the next two years, Nigeria will be greater than this,” she said. “Those who attempted removing subsidies before could not see it through. But with your prayers in the next two years, we will build a nation for the future.”

The rage that overcame me upon reading this is beyond description. Do these insensate individuals utilize their cognitive faculties at all?

I have long harbored a suspicion that the upper echelons of Nigeria's power structure have been displeased with the emergence of a middle class since 1999. The markers of middle-class status—such as car and home ownership, fine dining, foreign education, and sartorial sophistication—have deprived the upper class of privileges they believed should remain exclusive to them.

In the early 2000s, they used to speak derisively of “Obasanjo drivers”—individuals who could afford to own cars due to minimum wage increase and arrears of the minimum wage during Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency. It isn’t Obasanjo who gave people cars or created the middle class, of course. By its nature, the practice of democracy creates certain jobs and circulates opportunities that foster the middle class.

Now, Tinubu's neoliberal policies are eradicating the middle class and plunging the poor into deeper, more excruciating poverty, reminiscent of the days of military dictatorship. I wonder how much longer this can continue. Yet we will be observing from afar, as nothing that is happening now comes as a shock. I forewarned that this would occur even before Tinubu assumed power.

In Arabian folklore, the genie is a spirit depicted as being imprisoned inside a bottle or oil lamp. No matter how impregnable the walls of its captivity are, the moment it is summoned, the spirit comes out and grants the wishes of the one who invoked it. Trust them for their gift of incredible ingenuity, in the thick of their daily pain, Nigerians trip above their existential woes to summon the genius within them. Their latest invocation is a perfect-fit moniker which they affix to their president’s lapel. To them, their president’s diverse self-procured prefixes – Asiwaju, Jagaban, etc – are miscasts today. “T-Pain” is his super fit. To be able to arrive at this moniker, Nigerians travelled through thorns and briers in search of existence. In the last 17 months, suffering and pain have been the first guests Nigerians see at cockcrow, sunset and at dusk.

Noelia Bueno-Gómez, in his journal article, “Conceptualizing suffering and pain” published in the Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine (2017) described suffering as an unpleasant, anguishing experience which severely affects a person at a psychophysical and existential level. Nigerians can relate with this definition, using the government of the day as an empirical example. Bueno-Gómez said when a human being is inflicted with this form of social and existential turmoil, like the excruciating poverty Nigerians undergo at the moment whose expiry no one can tell, the pain from it is comparable to a medical ailment.

But, why T-Pain? Are Nigerians suggesting that their president is wicked? Indeed, the last 17 months under his watch have been a very harrowing experience. Masochism occurs when one who inflicts pain on another derives pleasure and enjoyment in watching their victim experience such pain. Similar to it, sadism is the enjoyment of such inflicting of pain on someone else. By labeling their president T-Pain, are Nigerians saying he is a masochist or sadist?

The T-Pain moniker for the president is a borrowing from the stage name of an American singer named Faheem Rashad Najm. Born September 30, 1984 in Tallahassee, Florida, Najm’s professional alias of T-Pain has successfully drowned his real name. That stage name, eerie as it may sound, is a shortened form for "Tallahassee Pain”. The musician chose it to remind himself of the hardship and excruciating pain he experienced while living in Tallahassee. Songwriter and record producer, T-Pain’s musical prowess stems from popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction, a creation known to be used with extreme parameter settings in electronic-styled vocal performances. He blends R&B and hip hop throughout the 2000s and this shot him up as a prominent figure in both musical genres. The genie that pounced on those who couched Najm’s alias as moniker for the Nigerian president results from the unbearable pains the people suffer under his watch. Incidentally, “T” begins both the president’s name and his recent alias.

Countless times, the president and his minders have claimed they are reformists miscast as sadists. And that, like reformists all over the world, their heroism will come long after. But, aren’t there examples of reformists in countries of the world who deaden pains of reforms on their people? So, why did this government choose a reform model that is inhuman and inflicts maximum pain on the greatest number of the people? Is inflicting pains innate in the architects of the present reform? Against this background, the question that comes up is, how much of their president do the Nigerian people know? Did Nigerians know T-Pain enough when they voted him as their president?

In May, 1975, as Federal Commissioner for Works under Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo forcibly took over a building occupied by the US Embassy. The US Embassy building stood strategically behind the Federal Cabinet Office. Earlier in 1974, while a student of the Royal College of Defence, Obasanjo’s thesis centered on the unfavourable relationship between Britain and Nigeria. The work lamented the paucity of British economic assistance to Nigeria, vis a vis the humongous economic benefits it made from the country. To be fair to Obasanjo, for two years, the Murtala government had issued warnings upon warnings to the US to relocate from the building, stating that it wanted it for public use. So, angered by what he termed American arrogance, Obasanjo just woke up that day in May and crudely ordered soldiers of his Corps of Engineers to round up the US Embassy building. Frightened, the Americans ran like a snake escaping the gripping claws and maniacal jaws of the mongoose.

Twenty four years after, on November 20, 1999, as civilian president, Obasanjo ordered an invasion of a predominantly Ijaw town of Bayelsa State called Odi, leading to the massacre of an approximate 1000 civilians. Nigerians should have known that, as that English proverb goes, as they laid their beds, so shall they lay on it. They had elected an unrepentant dictator. Two years after, that same president ordered another massacre of unarmed civilians in Zaki-Biam area of Benue State in an invasion codenamed “Operation No Living Thing.” It was a mass execution of hundreds of unarmed Tivs by the Nigerian Army which happened between October 20 and 24, 2001. The Odi villagers had killed 12 men of the Nigerian police on November 4. In Zaki-Biam, men of the Nigerian army were ordered to avenge the killing of 19 of their men whose mutilated bodies were recovered on October 12, 2001. Till date, no soldier was ever punished for the massacres, nor did anyone suffer for this gruesome vengeance.

In the final analysis, as revealed by the above and subsequent others, Nigerians may actually be their own problem. In the criminal and wicked leadership they suffer, the Nigerian cannot be totally exonerated. The people’s undoing may actually be the general atmosphere of unscience that pervades the Nigerian mind. This has led to Nigerians’ inability to scientifically and critically appraise those who put themselves forward to lead them. The same way religious charlatans fleece them out of their ignorance, subjecting them to harrowing spiritual tasks that have no foundation in reality, is the way Nigerians are victims of political shylocks and narcissists masquerading as leaders.

Take another example. On October 13, 2000, hurting and grumpy as a result of inter-ethnic attacks between Fulani herders and their Oyo State hosts in the Oke-Ogun area of the state, General Muhmmadu Buhari, accompanied by Gen Buba Marwa, a former military administrator of Lagos State, had stormed Ibadan, the state capital. Wearing long faces, Buhari and his Arewa entourage sought and got audience with the state government under Late Lam Adesina.

When it was his time to speak, spitting fire, Buhari said: “Your Excellency, our visit here is to discuss with you and your government of our displeasure about the incident of clashes between two peoples… the Fulani cattle-rearers and merchants are today being harassed, attacked and killed in Saki. In May, 2000, 68 bodies of Fulani cattle-rearers were recovered and buried under the supervision and protection from a team of Mobile Police from Oyo State Command.” Replying, Governor Adesina expressed disappointment that Buhari, a national leader and former Head of State, could descend into such “my people…your people” narrative.

In 2015, Nigerians went ahead to elect that same man, with such narrow-minded obsession with an ethnic superiority mentality, as president. The rest, as they say, is history. Buhari ran one of the most closet-minded governments in the history of Nigeria. He preferenced his northern people ahead of every other tribe and dealt with others as expendable specimens.

Before coming into office, the duo of Goodluck Jonathan and Umaru Yar’Adua also demonstrated tendencies which shouldn’t make their eventual manifestations in power strange. If, in spite of widespread knowledge that they harboured personal traits unbecoming of national leadership, the people still went ahead to elect such characters into office, such people can be likened to a farmer who knew that the farmland he ploughed and planted groundnut seeds on was squirrel-infested, yet howled helplessly when squirrels make mincemeat of his groundnuts. To avoid this, as America matches towards the November elections, every effort is being made to expose character traits in Donald Trump and Kamala Harris which may impact negatively on the quality of the presidency of America.

Unless they want to deliberately deceive the world, those who have had close association with our president, especially before his coming into office, will confess that he is a cold-hearted political calculator. A great giver who gave in a way that positively embarrasses the receiver, there is hardly any state in Nigeria where there isn’t someone or a group of people who have benefitted from his giving. In accepting his bucks, however, no one asks for his shop. It is said that he patterned his giving after MKO Abiola who was known for such eye-popping generosity. Though he was a bit thrifty in the first few months of being in office as governor of Lagos State, the tsunami of his Chicago certificate scandal in the year 2000 was an about-turn for him. He emerged therefrom with the Yoruba philosophy that whoever pre-pours water on the intended path they hope to tread will navigate through an already comfortably wet route.

From journalists to judges, lawyers, political icons to government officials – name them – the extent of IOUs that T-Pain accumulated in the hearts of the high and mighty in Nigeria is unbelievably massive. However, he does most of the giving with an eye on self, something in the realm of narcissism. How do you think T-Pain was able to navigate through a hostile presidency under Muhammadu Buhari, to emerge the Nigerian president? Unbeknown to the somnambulist president, Tinubu the candidate had run a water-tight ring round him. Buhari was probably the only one in Aso Rock who had not been swept off his feet by the T-Pain person-purchase mystique. Even in running his presidency, T-Pain still believes in this person-purchase mystique as device of rule.

In 2010, T-Pain invited a gubernatorial candidate to his Bourdillon home. He gave him such money (an amount I don’t want to mention) that the politician almost fainted. The cash filled a whole bus. Fazed and as if hit by a tempest, the candidate prostrated in appreciation. The politician told me that T-Pain coldly upbraided him for thanking him. He didn’t give the money because he was Santa Claus, T-Pain said in a voice devoid of blood which grated like that of an underworld Capon. “I gave you the money because you are the one who can take that state for me,” he told the candidate. The politician won and throughout his eight years in office, T-Pain was exposed to plum cheese of the state.

My reading of Nigerians and the Nigerian electorate is that they have very poor reading of their subjects, leading to warped choices. T-Pain’s giving obviously towers more than his failings. It was the giving that Nigerians saw in their assessment of him at the polls, rather than his ability or a pedigree of pro-people interventions. No one bothered to come to the right conclusion that T-Pain is a functional giver who gives because of himself. It is why, in the last 17 months, apart from a coterie of aides and hangers-on who have benefitted tremendously from his presidency, the common man has not fared well in it at all. Apart from accidental benefits, I have asked, without answer, to be shown what good T-Pain has done for the people since he began politicking. And I am not talking about dashing out money.

Last Thursday, the First Lady, T-Pain II, also threw money at the situation. It was a perfect proverbial situation. As the Yoruba say, “Òwú tí ìyá gbòn lomo ń ran” meaning, you cannot stop a familial motherhood trait from emulation by the offspring. At the Palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, T-Pain II was said to have pledged N1 billion while inaugurating a hostel and a 2.7 kilometer road donated to the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) by Ogunwusi. Thereafter, she went on a bumbling spree. According to her, the T-Pain-led administration was still very young and it should not be blamed for the current economic pains. Mrs. T-Pain has been variously pilloried for that unfeeling statement. “We are just 18 months into our administration; we are not the cause of the current situation; we are trying to fix it and secure the future” she said. This is a converse to her husband’s more realistic claim that he was not complaining as he knew the massive nature of the problems Nigeria faced before he opted for its leadership.

If you ask me, Mrs. T-Pain’s claim oscillates within the orbit of the usual anti-people assumption and self-righteousness of a larger mindset. Does she feel the pain of suffering Nigerians? Does she know that Nigerians are dying due to her husband’s very inhuman reforms? As usual, just like colonialists who sold God to us while filching our commonwealth, Madam T-Pain mumbled that same recourse to the Omnipotent at the OAU event. “With God on our side…” she assured of a better Nigeria. Yet, while the people wait and die waiting, it is fair for them to continue to die in droves? In the final analysis, I hope Kabiyesi will stop descending into the arena of matters pertaining to a federal institution as the OAU. He was quoted to have named a road in OAU after Mrs. T-Pain. What right has he to do this? Is he the OAU Chancellor?

That same Thursday when we got that bumbling from Mrs. T-Pain, Godswill Akpabio also came with his own bumble. He urged Nigerians to cut back on the number of cars they own and embark on belt tightening measures. Akpabio spoke while addressing journalists in the senate. The paradox that juts out of this unfeeling statement is huge. The senate that Akpabio heads is the topmost demonstration of wastage, constituting a big drag on the Nigerian economy. Nigerian lawmakers own fleet of cars purchased from the laxity of Nigerian economy.

Whoever couched that T-Pain alias deserves a Nobel. Doesn’t it sound like Xi Jinping, warts and all?

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live ~ Deuteronomy 30:19.

Introduction:

Excellence in life is all about trade secrets. The more you trade with them, the more excellent you become. All who hope, therefore, to enjoy secure access to a lifeline of breakthrough and fulfillment on earth must enthusiastically search out noble Biblical secrets, and especially engage them in their day-to-day living (Deuteronomy 29:29).

God’s kingdom principles constitute the major keys in the music of our lives, even when they appear minor or old and well-worn. A very crucial one among these is the principle of man’s personal choices.

Life is full of choices, and these choices make the man. Your destiny is still very colorful, but you steer it by the choices  you make. Choices are daily options, and options are daily phenomena. To be or not to be is by choice.

The power of choice is one of the divine distinctiveness, which God bequeathed on man at creation (1 Chronicles 21:11). God Himself makes choices, and He gave man the same honor so to do (Deuteronomy 30:15-20; 31:11).

Today, man occupies a peculiar position that sets him apart from all other entities on our planet earth. He enjoys a certain amount of freedom, controls his way of living, speaks his own language, perceives and learns great amount of knowledge, manages his emotions, and deals properly with problems he faces as he chooses.

In fact, within the infinite expanse of the universe, man's conscious conducts can change the course of events. Even then, all these are subject to our choices and the mindsets we allow (Philippians 2:5). Hence, man is often referred to as a free moral agent.

This fact above can simply make you or break you, depending on the choices you make. Right choices make right men, but wrong ones can mar even great destinies. Until you choose right, you cannot act right; unless you act right, you readily lose your rights, and therein lie both the bliss and the dilemma of choices!

A long time ago, I read the story of two brothers who were twins. One grew up to become an extremely successful businessman, but the other was a chronic alcoholic. When the alcoholic was asked why he became a drunk, he replied, ‘My father was a drunk.’ And, when his twin brother was asked why he became successful, surprisingly he also said, ‘My father was a drunk.’ Same background, same upbringing, but different choices.

The brothers chose different thoughts regarding their identical experiences, and those thoughts shaped their divergent outcomes. In the same way, whatever thoughts you choose to allow in your mind can, with time, be fully and precisely reflected through your actions.

Images control feelings, feelings cause actions, and actions create results. Hence, it is commonly said that “you are what you think!”

Opportunities, Choices and Consequences

Choices come when opportunities present themselves. But, your choices, either good or evil, have consequences and they determine your future (Joshua 1:8).

Adam was carefully, fearfully and painstakingly created by God. He was blessed with a dominating influence upon the earth, but he chose to obey his wife rather than God, and he immediately fell out of the grace of God and was driven out of the Garden of Eden. Heavy consequences! But thank God for His program of redemption through Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:13-16).

Even then, the redemption program in Christ is also rested on man’s choices. Hence, God’s Word never fails to remind us that it is our responsibilities to deliberately make judicial separation between the good and bad, and to stick to the right choices (Matthew 13:47-48).

The Incredible Power of Your Choices

Choice is the strongest principle of growth, and the biggest business of life. Life is actually made of our choices. Regardless of circumstances, each man lives in a world of his own making. Decisions, choices and perseverance are the noblest qualities of man.

In every success story, you find someone who made a courageous decision. We make decisions, and then our decisions turn around to make us. Choices define human destiny, and nothing ranks a man so quickly as his skill in selecting things that are really worthwhile (Job 34:4; Isaiah 56:4).

If you would achieve your goals and be a successful, dynamic person, then your very first step must be to make up your mind to firmly choose the right courses in life, or else ceaseless drifts of events may present you with unpalatable results.

You are the one who is responsible for the decisions you make. And, you are free to make wrong decisions if you are ready for the consequences. Whichever road you choose, be sure you know that you may be in it for a very long while.

Happily, making right decisions is simple after all. Get the facts. Deeply reflect on your ways, styles and attitudes that are due for review (Psalms 90:12). Crosscheck your past notes to detect those abandoned visions and vows. Rearrange the cabinets of your mind, and get rid of the trash.

Go to the Lord to receive a right focus. Seek God until you obtain His guidance. He is the Way-Maker! Be calm in His Presence, having a clear vision for His glory all the way through.

Moreover, you must choose your friends responsibly. Certainty, there is a nexus between the quality of life we live, and the type of friends we choose (Proverbs 9:6; 12:26). Don't fool yourself, bad friends will destroy you. And, don't let anyone deceive you about it: associating with bad people will ruin your godly decency, and wicked friends will lead you to evil ends (1Corinthians 15:33). The old idiom says, "birds of a feather flock together."

Set higher goals for a new level of divine relevance. Form judgement, act on it and worry no more. Then, going forward, create room for new things bothering on supernatural expansion.

Now is the best time for you to make needful adjustments, especially in your belief system. The good old song says, “Oh happy day, that fixed my choice, On Thee, my Saviour, and my God!” The most beautiful things in life happen to you when your choices tally with the choices of God. Choose wisely. Choose to win. Choose Jesus Christ above all else in the world. He loves you most of all.

No devil can hinder or oppress you if you are on the right track with God. Joshua said, ‘as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’ (Joshua 24:15). Nullify every contradiction, and make Jesus Christ your everlasting choice today. Those who stand for Him fall for nothing else. You will never fail again, your glory will burst forth and many generations shall glorify God through you. 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

God, Himself, resides in the heart of the believer in the person of the Holy Spirit. By keeping your heart, you are keeping God.

Solomon says: “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23).

Guard your heart against what? Guard your heart against sensualism, covetousness, materialism, greed, pride, bitterness, anxiety, rebellion, defiance, and self-pity.

Many things are vying for your heart’s affection: the desire for money, lust, envy, pride, and self-promotion. If you are not careful, the basic desire of your heart will switch from pleasing God to pleasing yourself.

In the same way that we avoid second-hand smoke and fatty foods, you must avoid those thoughts, attitudes and actions that corrupt the heart.

Sow a thought, reap an attitude; sow an attitude, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.

Watch what you watch, what you listen to, and what you set your affections on. Root out bitterness, immorality, unforgiveness, lust, and gossip.

Practice makes perfect: therefore choose your habits wisely.

Heart of Man

The heart of the natural man is evil. Man is born with blindness of the heart. Moses says: “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (Genesis 8:21).

The devil fills our hearts with evil things. Jeremiah says: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

We are often concerned about what we eat but Jesus says what we eat or drink cannot defile us. (Mark 16:17). However, He says: “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.” (Matthew 15:18-20).

New Heart

Jesus needs a home in us. Make room for Him in the inn of your heart. But He cannot live with evil thoughts, murders, adultery, and fornication. Therefore, God says: “My son, give Me your heart, and let your eyes observe My ways.” (Proverbs 23:26).

What does God want to do with your heart? He wants to destroy it and throw it away. He wants to give you a completely new heart.

“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 18:31).

That is the promise of the New Covenant in Christ Jesus:

God says: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:26-28).

God, Himself, resides in the heart of the believer in the person of the Holy Spirit. By keeping your heart, you are keeping God.

Let me foolishly present it like this. You are now responsible for protecting the Holy Spirit who dwells in your heart. Protect Him from the filth and vanities of the world. He does not want to see them and He looks through your eyes so He sees what you see.  

“(God is) of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” (Habakkuk 1:13).

It is like the baby Jesus is asleep in a cot in your heart. Do not disturb Jesus with rubbish, vanity, and worthlessness. Worship Him.

“Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1).

Paul says: “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians 3:7-8). 

You must be very jealous for the Holy Spirit that lives in Your heart. You do not want to grieve Him under any circumstances. He is the One who marks you as present in the Day of Redemption.

“Do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4:30).

When David sinned, he prayed: “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11).

Yes, you know that once given, the Holy Spirit will never leave and will never forsake you. Nevertheless, you must ensure that He does not depart. You must behave in a way that implies the worst thing that can ever happen to you is if the Holy Spirit leaves. 

Guard Your Jewels

God has poured His love into you by giving you the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5). The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. You must express that love to all, first to God and then to everybody else. You must not allow anything to diminish your love, confident that nothing can separate you from the love of God. (Romans 8:35-39).

As a result of your redemption, God has put gladness in your heart. 

David says to God: “You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.” (Psalm 4:7).

The Holy Spirit is in your heart, so the joy of the Lord is in you. Do not allow the devil to replace this with sorrow by manipulating situations and circumstances. Do not let him distract you from your joy by creating bad situations and circumstances.

Jesus says: “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).

He prayed to God the Father: “These things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” (John 17:13-14).

The joy of the Lord is fulfilled in us. It is not contingent upon external variables. Indeed, it is immune to them.

The joy in your heart is a mighty weapon for overcoming unpleasant situations and even grief. Your joy tells you: “It is well with my soul,” even though I have a headache and stomach cramps. “It is well with my soul, even though someone just stole my cell phone.”

Let Hannah’s Magnificat sing loudly in your heart at all times:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in Your salvation.” (1 Samuel 2:1).

God’s peace that surpasses all human understanding is in your heart. Do not allow anything to steal your peace. Your peace of mind is a very precious gift of God. Jesus says:

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27).

Don’t allow your heart to be troubled. Whether you are troubled or not is entirely dependent on you. If you let your heart be troubled, you will lose your peace. So, guard your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life.

Keep the Garden

Adam failed to keep the Garden of Eden, otherwise he would have seen the serpent lurking in the shrubs.

The Lord said to me:

´Femi, I have planted another garden in your heart. Keep the garden.

Tend it:

“Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted must be uprooted.” (Matthew 15:13). 

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

Exceeding a certain number of hours per night could have negative effects, says sleep specialist

Sleep is known to have amazing health benefits – but how much shuteye is too much?

The answer isn’t so straightforward, Dr. Chris Winter, a Virginia-based neurologist and sleep medicine specialist with Mattress Firm, told Fox News Digital.

"This is to some degree an impossible question to answer," he wrote. 

As with food and other lifestyle factors, Winter explained that the ideal amount of sleep is a "dynamic range."

"What is too much food for me might be an amazingly inadequate amount for an Olympic swimmer," he said as an example.

For the average adult, sleep durations exceeding 11 to 12 hours would be considered "too much" and would start "prompting questions about sleep quality and sleep consistency," Winter said.

While getting too little sleep can cause many negative effects, an excess of slumber can pose risks like sleep inertia, which is the feeling of grogginess that occurs after sleeping in for too long.

"For many individuals, it's less about ‘too much sleep’ and more about compensatory sleep," he said. 

"In other words, you got inadequate sleep during the week and are trying to ‘make up’ for the lost sleep on the weekend."

Sleeping too much on a regular basis is more a reflection of "inadequate sleep quality" overall, Winter said.

Even so, the expert recommends catching up on sleep when there’s been a deficit.

"Studies have shown that if you pay that sleep debt back quickly, it probably keeps the deficit from impacting your health," he said.

"While it should never be Plan A, making up lost sleep via napping or sleeping in, when possible, can be a good fallback plan."

Although some studies have suggested negative health outcomes from both inadequate and excessive sleep, Winter emphasized that it's better to get too much sleep than not enough.

"Trying to create consistency in sleep is important, too," he said. 

"Sleeping a different seven hours every night is not nearly as healthy as sticking to the same seven hours night after night."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night.

Fox News

State governors have committed to setting aside 15 percent of their annual budgets to fund the education sector.

The United Nations recommends that its member states earmark four to six percent of their GDP or 15 to 20 percent of public expenditure (annual budget) to fund education.

Many coucuries, including Nigeria, have yet to reach this threshold.

The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) hosted its first international conference on girl child education on October 10 and 11, 2024.

At the the conference, 36 state governments committed to allocating at least 15 percent of their annual budgets to the education sector.

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Kwara state governor who serves as the NGF chairman, spoke at the event in Abuja.

Represented by Abdulateef Shittu, the NGF director-general, AbdulRazaq said there is an urgent need to invest in schools and to address the barriers to girl child education.

“Our commitment as a forum to education financing, especially girl child education funding is unwavering across the states,” he said.

“We declare our readiness to meet the international benchmark of at least 15% annual budgetary allocation to the education sector.”

The NGF’s maiden conference culminated in the launch of an initiative called the Girl Child Education Volunteers’ Advocates (GICEVA).

AbdulRazaq assured that subnationals will mobilise over 774,000 volunteers across local governments to advocate girl child education.

The UN says one in three Nigerian children is out of school, 10.2 million at primary school level and 8.1 million at junior secondary level.

It adds that insufficient domestic finance for primary education caused a shortfall of 378,000 classrooms and about 278,000 teachers.

Among the attendees at the NGF’s conference on girl child education was Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, the minister of women affairs.

Kennedy-Ohanenye said the federal government will begin a drive to rescue out-of-school children from the streets as from October 15.

“Picking those children from the street will allow us to have access to their parents, especially their mothers,” she said.

“We have a comprehensive plan to empower these women so they can adequately care for their children.

“This approach aims not only to bring children back into education but also to enhance the economic stability of their families.”

The Cable

John Tsoho, the chief judge of the federal high court (FHC), has reassigned the case of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), back to Binta Nyako.

On September 24, Nyako recused herself from the case after an oral application made by Kanu.

“I hereby recuse myself and remit the case file back to the chief judge,” Nyako had said.

However, Tsoho has reverted the file to Nyako on the ground that Kanu’s application must be brought formally before the court through a motion on notice.

It is expected that the application must also be served on the prosecution (attorney-general of the federation).

At the last court session on Tuesday, Kanu directly told Nyako that he no longer had confidence in her handling of his trial.

Facing the judge, Kanu said: “My lord, I have no confidence in this court anymore and I ask you to recuse yourself because you did not abide by the decision of the supreme court.”

“I can understand it if the Department of State Services (DSS) refuses to obey a court order, but for this court to refuse to obey an order of the supreme court is regrettable.

“I am asking you to recuse yourself from this case.”

Although the prosecution urged the court to proceed with the trial, Nyako said she would go with extricating herself from the case.

Nyako said she would be sending the case file back to the chief judge for reassignment and further necessary actions.

BACKGROUND

Kanu has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since he was re-arrested in Kenya and extradited to Nigeria in 2021.

He has been standing trial on a seven-count charge bordering on treasonable felony.

In 2017, the court granted Kanu bail on the charges filed against him by the federal government.

However, the court revoked the bail and issued a bench warrant for his arrest after he failed to present himself as required.

In April 2022, Nyako struck out eight of the 15 counts in the charge.

The remaining seven counts were also quashed by the court of appeal on October 13, 2022, with the judge ordering Kanu’s release.

However, on October 28, 2022, the court of appeal granted a stay of execution on its verdict discharging Kanu after the federal government filed an appeal at the supreme court.

In March, Kanu was denied bail. In May, his bail request was again turned down.

The Cable

The Nigerian Electricity Distribution Company (NERC) has stated that revenue generated by the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) increased by 48 per cent in the second quarter of 2024.

The increase was due to the hike in electricity tariff for Band A customers which NERC stated was necessitated due to the rising cost of electricity generation that would have pushed the federal government’s subsidy payment to over N2trn by the end of the year.

The regulator in its second quarter report stated that the DisCos revenue moved from N291.62bn in the first quarter of 2024 to N431.16bn in the second quarter.

The report added that the N431.16bn revenue collected represented 79.31 per cent of the N543.64bn that was billed to customers.

It stated that the revenue collection performance of all DisCos indicated that Ikeja and Eko disCos recorded the highest collection efficiencies of 94.67 per cent and 88.03 per cent respectively. Conversely, Yola DisCo recorded the lowest collection efficiency of 55.67 per cent. 

The report added that the federal government paid N380.06bn as subsidy due to the absence of cost-reflective tariffs across all DisCos.

It said the subsidy is an average of N126.69bn per month which is 52.51 per cent of total invoice payable to the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) invoice.

“The total subsidy obligation of the government was reduced by N253.24bn from N633.30bn.

“The significant decrease in the subsidy obligation of the FGN is a result of the policy directive of the government to implement reviews of tariffs charged to Band A customers while the tariffs for Band B-E customers remain frozen at the rates payable since December 2022,” NERC said.

It added that remittances made by the four international bilateral customers being supplied by GenCos in the NESI made a payment of $9.81m against the cumulative invoice of $15.60m issued by the Market Operator for services rendered, translating to a remittance performance of 62.88 per cent.

“The domestic bilateral customers made a payment of N1.29bn against the cumulative invoice of N1.99bn issued to them by the MO for services rendered in 2024/Q2 translating to 65.07 per cent remittance performance.

“It is, however, noteworthy that some bilateral customers (both domestic and international) made payments during 2024/Q2 for outstanding MO invoices from previous quarters. Cumulatively, the international bilateral customers paid a total of $16.65m; Transcorp-SBEE and Mainstream-NIGELEC have made payments towards all outstanding invoices from previous quarters.

“Similarly, the MO received N1.3bn from the domestic bilateral customers towards outstanding invoices from previous quarters; Mainstream Energy Solutions has made payment towards all outstanding invoices from previous quarters.”

Daily Trust

Hezbollah forges new command for crucial ground war after heavy Israeli blows

Hezbollah is preparing for a long war of attrition in south Lebanon, after Israel wiped out its top leadership, with a new military command directing rocket fire and the ground conflict, two sources familiar with its operations said.

Hezbollah has been diminished by three weeks of devastating Israeli blows - most notably the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Friends and foes alike are now watching how effectively it resists Israeli troops that have crossed into Lebanon with the stated aim of driving it away from the border.

The Iran-backed group still has a considerable stockpile of weapons, including its most powerful precision missiles which it has yet to use, four sources familiar with its operations said, despite waves of airstrikes that Israel says has severely depleted its arsenal.

Hezbollah's command was disrupted for the first few days after Nasrallah's Sept. 27 assassination until Shi'ite militants established a new "operations room" 72 hours later, the two sources - a Hezbollah field commander and a source close to the group - told Reuters.

Nasrallah was killed, along with other Hezbollah leaders and an Iranian commander, when Israel located and bombed his deep bunker below Beirut.

The new command centre has kept functioning despite subsequent Israeli attacks, meaning fighters in the south are able to fire rockets and fight according to centrally issued orders, according to the sources, who asked not to be named in order to discuss sensitive matters.

A third source, a senior official close to Hezbollah, said the group was now waging a war of attrition.

Avraham Levine, an analyst with Israeli think-tank Alma, said it should be assumed Hezbollah was "well prepared and waiting" for Israeli troops and that it was no easy target.

"The fact that the chain of command has been damaged does not take away the ability to shoot Israeli communities or try to hit" Israeli forces, Levine told Reuters, describing Hezbollah as "the same powerful terror army we all know."

Fighters have the flexibility to carry out orders "according to the capabilities of the front," the Hezbollah field commander said, described the new command as "a narrow circle" in direct contact with the field. It is rare for a Hezbollah field commander to speak to international media.

He said the new command operates in total secrecy and gave no further details about its communications or structure. Hezbollah has not named a new leader after Nasrallah, with the most likely successor also killed. The Shi'ite group's deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said this week he supported ceasefire efforts, but said the group's capabilities were intact.

Another source familiar with Hezbollah's operations said the group's dedicated, fixed-line phone network was "essential" to current communications. Sources have said the network survived attacks on the group's communications in September.

A statement this week signed by the "operations room of the Islamic Resistance" said fighters were resisting incursions and "watching and listening" to Israeli troops where they least expect it - an apparent reference to concealed Hezbollah positions. The statement, the first public acknowledgment of the existence of a new command, did not name its members or say when and in what context it was established.

Hezbollah's media office did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication, which included a detailed summary of the information provided by the field commander and other sources. After this story was published, Hezbollah's media office said in a written statement that the part of Reuters' story "attributed to a Hezbollah field commander is completely false" and that there are "no sources in Hezbollah".

Asked about the situation in Lebanon, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) referred Reuters to previous public statements.

TUNNEL WARFARE

Israel announced on Oct. 1 that ground forces had entered southern Lebanon, initially with commando units, followed by regular armoured units and infantry units. Reservists from the 146th Division are now on the ground, the military said on Tuesday, bringing to four the number of divisions on Lebanese soil.

Israel has not said how many soldiers are on the ground, but an Israeli division usually consists of more than 1,000 fighters.

The troops are fighting close quarters battles with Hezbollah units, Israel says. Twelve Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Lebanon or north Israel since the start of the operation, it says.

Hezbollah possesses an extensive tunnel network in southern Lebanon, both the group and Israel say. The tunnels grew after the group's 2006 war with Israel, according to a 2021 report by think-tank Alma. Israel estimates they extend for hundreds of kilometres.

The Hezbollah field commander said the tunnels "are the foundation of the battle". Hezbollah had toiled for years to build them, he added. "Their time has come," he said.

Israel's military has released video footage it says shows deep tunnels captured by its soldiers. One video released on Oct. 5 appears to show an underground room equipped with fixed line telephones. Reuters could not verify the date or location of the footage.

The source close to Hezbollah said the tunnels detected by Israel were built for its Radwan special forces units to one day enter the Galilee region of northern Israel. The source said Israel did not know the full extent of the tunnels.

DOWN BUT NOT OUT

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King's College London, said Hezbollah's capabilities had been degraded but it was still able to fire rockets with intensity onto Israel while keeping their ballistic missiles as weapons of last resort.

Hezbollah says it has stepped up fire in recent days.

Prior to the latest conflict, the World Factbook of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency said Hezbollah possessed upwards of 150,000 missiles and rockets.

The two sources said Hezbollah had chosen not to use its most potent rockets - including precision guided missiles - to keep something in reserve for a long war and to avoid giving Israel a pretext to widen its strikes to Lebanese infrastructure, such as Beirut airport, roads and bridges.

The third source said the group had not targeted Israel's cities, such as Tel Aviv, with its most powerful weapons because such a move would give Israel a reason to hit Lebanon even harder.

There is no doubt Israel has inflicted enormous damage on Hezbollah. In September, thousands of booby-trapped communications devices used by Hezbollah members were detonated - an attack for which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Beginning Sept. 23, Israel dramatically escalated airstrikes, claiming to have destroyed tens of thousands of Hezbollah rockets mostly in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and Beirut's southern suburbs.

Israeli officials have said that the fact that Hezbollah has been firing 100-200 missiles and rockets a day on average and not the thousands expected, shows significant weakening.

Estimates have varied about the scale of Hezbollah's losses, with one Western diplomat saying prior to Nasrallah's killing that up to 25% of the missile capacity had been lost. Reuters has previously reported that Iran had offered to restock its ally, but faced challenges in supply routes.

The Israeli military says it has killed hundreds of Hezbollah fighters, including most of the senior command of the Radwan special forces.

The United States, which deems Hezbollah a terrorist group, said deputy leader Qassem's call on Tuesday for a ceasefire showed it was on the back foot.

GUERRILLA TACTICS

In one deadly engagement last week, concealed Hezbollah fighters attacked Israeli troops as they advanced in the area of Odaisseh, a village in the south, just after Israel had pounded it with artillery and airstrikes, the source close to Hezbollah said.

The Hezbollah fighters used mines and Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missiles in their ambush - the types of weapons used against Israeli forces in a war in southern Lebanon in 2006.

The source appeared to be referring to an incident in which the Israeli military said five soldiers from a commando unit were killed and five others severely wounded in a gunbattle on Oct. 2.

The Israeli military declined to give details beyond its already published statements. That same day, two other soldiers were killed in a separate incident announced by the Israeli army.

Israel says it aims to secure the return of tens of thousands of people who evacuated northern Israel after Hezbollah began firing rockets a year ago in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza.

Lebanese authorities say Israel's offensive has uprooted more than 1 million people in Lebanon - predominantly members of the Shi'ite community from which Hezbollah draws support.

Mohanad Hage Ali of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center said he expected Israeli forces to advance. "The question is how costly will Hezbollah make it for them?"

The south is steeped in symbolism for Hezbollah. The group was founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in the early 1980s, in part to fight an Israeli invasion. It subsequently battled Israel's years-long occupation.

"Fighting Israel on the ground is Hezbollah's bread and butter," said Krieg.

"This is what they have trained to do and most of their defences on the ground were designed" for, he said.

He said Hezbollah wants to send a clear message to Israel, but also to its constituents in Lebanon and allies in the Iran-backed Axis of Resistancethat it is still intact and "can inflict considerable harm" on Israel's forces, he said.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia launches 4th aerial attack in a week against Ukraine's grain-exporting Odesa region

Russia's Vladimir Putin held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday in Turkmenistan, where the two leaders hailed their countries growing economic ties and similar views on world affairs, an entente viewed with concern by the United States.

At odds with Washington and the European Union over Russia's war in Ukraine, something he casts as part of a wider existential struggle against an arrogant and self-interested West - Putin is keen to deepen ties with what he calls the Global East and Global South.

Putin, whose country is hosting a summit of the BRICS nations in Kazan on Oct. 22-24, invited Pezeshkian to come to Russia on an official visit, a proposal the Iranian leader accepted according to Russia's state RIA news agency.

"Economically and culturally, our communications are being strengthened day by day and becoming more robust," Pezeshkian was cited as telling Putin by Iran's official IRNA news agency.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

"The growing trend of cooperation between Iran and Russia, considering the will of the top leaders of both countries, must be accelerated to strengthen these ties," he said.

In a later report from Dubai, Russia's TASS news agency quoted the Iranian president, in a video issued by his office, as saying the two sides had agreed to boost cooperation in a number of areas.

"Our talks with the Russian president lasted about an hour. And we talked again about agreements that we have concluded," the report quoted him as saying.

Advertisement · Scroll to continue

"We have constructive interaction. We agreed to speed up the completion of projects in the gas sectors, in road and rail construction, desalination and other projects linked to energy, petrochemicals and electricity."

Pezeshkian last month committed his country to deeper ties with Russia to counter Western sanctions. The two countries say they are close to signing a strategic partnership agreement, something Pezeshkian said on Friday he hoped could be finalised at the BRICS summit in Russia later this month.

[1/5]Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of a cultural forum dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Turkmen poet and philosopher... Purchase LicensingRights Read more

The United States regards Moscow's growing relationship with Tehran with concern. It has accused Iran of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in the conflict in Ukraine, something Tehran has denied.

NEW WORLD ORDER EMERGING, SAYS PUTIN

Russia says cooperation with Iran is expanding in all areas.

"We actively work together in the international arena, and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close," TASS cited Putin as telling Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the conference in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.

Pezeshkian, according to IRNA, noted that Iran and Russia had significant complementary capacities and could assist each other. "Our positions in the world are much closer to each other than to others," he was quoted as telling the Russian leader.

Pezeshkian said earlier that Israel should "stop killing innocent people", and its actions in the Middle East were backed by the U.S. and EU. Russia has also criticised Israel, which says it is protecting its own security, for bombing civilian areas.

Putin was cited by TASS as telling Pezeshkian that economic ties between Moscow and Tehran were on the up.

In comments released by the Kremlin earlier on Friday, Putin told the conference in the Central Asian country that a new world order was being formed and that new centres of economic growth and financial and political influence were emerging.

Russia supported "the broadest possible international discussion" on the emerging multipolar world and was open to discussing it within various fora, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and BRICS, said Putin.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia delivers 38 strikes at Ukrainian energy sites, military airfields over week

Russian forces delivered 38 strikes by precision weapons, including Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukrainian oil and gas and energy sites and military airfields over the week in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Friday.

"On October 5-11, the Russian Armed Forces delivered 38 combined strikes by precision weapons, including Kinzhal air-launched hypersonic ballistic missiles and attack unmanned aerial vehicles. The strikes targeted oil and gas and energy sites providing for the operation of Ukrainian military-industrial enterprises, and also military airfield infrastructure. In addition, the strikes hit production workshops and storage facilities of naval drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, fuel depots, ammunition and materiel warehouses and temporary deployment sites of Ukrainian army units, nationalist formations and foreign mercenaries," the ministry said in a statement.

AP/Tass