Author: The Nation

  • Fed Govt launches Vision 2050 blueprint for Southeast

    Fed Govt launches Vision 2050 blueprint for Southeast

    The Federal Government yesterday unveiled a 25-year development blueprint for the Southeast, declaring the region a vital pillar of Nigeria’s economic future.

    Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who performed the ceremony at the Regional Stakeholders’ Forum in Enugu, also announced the approval of South East Investment Company Limited by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

    Shettima explained that the initiative was a deliberate shift from short-term governance to structured, long-term regional planning.

    Read Also: Tinubu, Obasanjo, Mimiko, Fasoranti, others bag Ondo golden jubilee awards

    According to him, the investment company will mobilise funds from the diaspora, capital markets and development finance institutions to close post-war infrastructure gaps and strengthen regional competitiveness.

     The company will work in synergy with the Southeast Development Commission (SEDC) to accelerate Southeast’s transformation. 

    “This forum reflects foresight, responsibility and a shared understanding that the future is not something we wait for, but something we must deliberately design,” Shettima said.

    He explained that the approval of the investment company was informed by the Southeast’s distinctive entrepreneurial culture, expansive global diaspora and historic engagement with international capital.

  • Alleged cyberstalking: Court rejects Sowore’s documents in trial on false claim against Tinubu

    Alleged cyberstalking: Court rejects Sowore’s documents in trial on false claim against Tinubu

    • Frowns at report of live-streaming of proceedings

    In two rulings yesterday, a  Federal High Court in Abuja rejected two sets of documents tendered by politician and online publisher, Omoyele Sowore, in his ongoing trial on a cyberstalking charge.

    Sowore is being prosecuted by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly making a false claim against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by referring to him as a criminal in a post he made on his “X” and Facebook accounts.

    In the first ruling, Justice Mohammed Umar declined an oral application by Sowore’s lawyer, Marshall Abubakar, that a set of documents, comprising printouts of publications, be admitted in evidence.

    The publications included media reports about DSS’ dismissal of 115 officials for misconduct, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charging five ex-governors with corruption, EFCC’s sacking 27 of its officials over fraud and misconduct and EFCC’s arrest of some former workers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) over N7.2 billion fraud.

    In the ruling, Justice Umar agreed with prosecuting lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde (SAN), that the best opportunity for the defendant to tender the documents is during his defence.

    The judge held that since the first prosecution witness (PW1), being cross-examined by Abubakar, said he knew nothing about the publications contained in the documents, such documents could not be tendered through the witness.

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    “You cannot tender a document through a witness who said he did not know anything about it.

    The document is marked as rejected,” Justice Umar said.

    In the second ruling, the judge rejected another set of documents, which comprised the printouts of publications.

    Abubakar said the documents showed that President Tinubu had in 2011 called then President Goodluck Jonathan a drunkard and a sinking fisherman; he also called former President Olusegun Obasanjo an expired meat.

    The judge marked the documents rejected for the same reason he gave in rejecting the first set of documents.

    Justice Umar frowned at the report by the prosecution lawyer that a member of the defence team had live-streamed previous proceedings in the case and urged the court to order an investigation to identify the person behind it.

    Although Abubakar denied that any member of the defence team was involved and claimed that it could have been done by the DSS or people in the presidency, the judge said such conduct amounted to contempt of court.

    Abubakar urged the court to only caution against a repeat of such an incident but to decline the request by the prosecution lawyer that an investigation be ordered by the court.

    Justice Umar said it was easy to identify the person behind the incident and that he could direct security agencies to investigate the issue because it was a serious matter.

  • Centre supports 10,000 survivors of sexual violence

    Centre supports 10,000 survivors of sexual violence

    Nigeria’s first Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), Mirabel Centre, has supported no fewer than 10,000 survivors of sexual violence since its establishment in 2013.

    A statement by the centre said the milestone highlighted both the trust survivors placed in the centre and the scale of sexual and gender-based violence in the country.

    It noted that many survivors face stigma, fear, limited access to services, and weak justice outcomes, leaving countless cases unreported.

    The centre said it provides free, survivor-centred medical, psychosocial, forensic, and legal support, regardless of age, gender, or background, adding that for many survivors, it is the first place where they are believed, protected, and treated with dignity.

    Read Also: Tinubu, Obasanjo, Mimiko, Fasoranti, others bag Ondo golden jubilee awards

    The centre’s Founder, Itoro Eze-Anaba, described the milestone as a moment of impact and reflection.

    “It tells us that survivors trust us. But it also reminds us of the scale of sexual violence in our society and how much more work remains,” she said.

    The centre urged the government, healthcare providers, law enforcement, the private sector, and communities to treat sexual violence as a national emergency and prioritise survivor-centred responses.

    “Beyond crisis response, the centre works in prevention education, professional training, and advocacy to improve survivor care, accountability, and long-term outcomes. However, demand for services continues to grow, underscoring the need for sustained funding, stronger policies, and collective action,” the statement added.

  • Alleged N80.2b fraud: Lawyer alleges political undertone in Yahaya Bello’s trial 

    Alleged N80.2b fraud: Lawyer alleges political undertone in Yahaya Bello’s trial 

    The lead lawyer to former Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN), has claimed that the trial of his client is political.

    He also claimed that it has nothing to do with the money laundering charge filed against the ex-governor.

    Daudu made the claims yesterday at the resumed hearing in Bello’s money laundering trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

    Bello is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a 19-count charge bordering on money laundering, breach of public trust, and misappropriation of public funds estimated at N80.2 billion.

    Daudu was reacting to the remarks by the prosecuting lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), who alleged that what happened in the manner local government areas in Kogi State made payments was stealing by disguise.

    In the course of the proceedings, the seventh prosecution witness (PW7), Olomotane Egoro (a Compliance Officer with Access Bank), said the defendant did not serve as a Local Government Chairman in any of the local governments in Kogi State.

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    Egoro stated that the contracts for which payments were made were awarded by local government chairmen for various purposes to contractors, as shown in the statements of the bank accounts of some companies tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court.

    The witness, who spoke when Daudu cross-examined him, stated that there was no mention of the defendant’s name in any of the local government transactions under investigation.

    Looking through the bank statements, the witness said the name, Yahaya Bello, did not appear, either as a sender or a recipient of local governments’ funds.

    He confirmed that on the face of Exhibit 33(11), the entries in the transactions between the local governments and Keyless Nature Limited were consistent with normal banking transactions.

    Egoro denied knowing the purpose for which all the payments were made, maintaining that he did not know, from the bank statements, whether there was any business or contractual relationship between the local governments and a firm, Keyless Nature Limited.

    The witness also stated that a customer has the right to spend his money any way he likes unless there is an issue of fraud.

  • Hashim: New tax reforms will put Nigeria in global GDP league

    Hashim: New tax reforms will put Nigeria in global GDP league

    • IMF projects 1.5% Nigeria’s contribution this year

    An alumnus of Harvard University and Chief Executive Officer of Cubical Vertex Solutions Limited, Abdullahi Hashim, has said Nigeria’s new tax reforms have begun to reshape global perceptions of the nation’s economy.

    He alluded to the projection by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that Nigeria will contribute 1.5 per cent to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year.

    Hashim, who is also a member of Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) and the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), said the IMF’s outlook reflected the growing international confidence in Nigeria’s economic direction, provided that the reforms are properly implemented.

    Hashim said this while addressing reporters on Tesday in Abuja.

    Read Also: PDP condemns Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of results

    The engineer explained that the projection was directly linked to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu adminisration’s new tax reforms, which have signalled to the international community that Nigeria is attempting to fix long-standing structural weaknesses.

    He said: “The issue now is that IMF also puts Nigeria as a real global GDP contributor of 1.5 per cent. Do you know the reason? It’s based on this particular new tax reform laws. In its projection for 2026, it said Nigeria will contribute to the global GDP 1.5 per cent,” Hashim said

    The former top official on Public Private Partnerships (PPP) under former Presidents Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan stressed that beyond the global recognition, the potential domestic gains could be significant, especially in employment creation and foreign direct investment inflows.

    When asked about the advantages and disadvantages of the new tax reforms, Hashim said: “Yeah, there are certain disadvantages. But the main advantage is if truly implemented and the factors put in place are realistically adhered to.

  • U.S. to deport 79 Nigerians named among ‘worst’ criminals

    U.S. to deport 79 Nigerians named among ‘worst’ criminals

    The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has arrested 79 Nigerians described as among the “worst of the worst” criminal offenders.

    The suspects face allegations ranging from sexual assault, fraud, manslaughter, cocaine smuggling, kidnapping and robbery, an online publication indicated.

    Of the 79 arrested, six are women.

    The DHS said it would fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise and carry out mass deportations “starting with the worst of the worst – including the illegal aliens you see here.”

    The list referenced includes over 1,000 convicted individuals from different countries, including 53 Liberians, 28 Kenyans, 18 Ghanaians, six South Africans, and five Burkinabes.

    Read Also: PDP condemns Senate’s rejection of electronic transmission of results

    The arrests follow an intensified crackdown by officials of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who, in many cases, enforced door-to-door operations.

    Last week, there were reports that the heightened raids forced Nigerian immigrants off U.S. streets into hiding for fear of arrests.

    Some immigrants were said to have skipped work, while others reportedly began arrangements for quiet, self-arranged departures from the country.

    In May 2025, Richard Mills, former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria, told Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, minister of state for foreign affairs, that the country pencilled 201 Nigerians for deportation.

  • Gadaffi’s son shot dead

    Gadaffi’s son shot dead

    The son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gadaffi, Seif al-Islam, was shot dead in the northern African country, it was learnt yesterday.

    Seif al-Islam was killed in the town Zintan, 85 miles south-west of the capital, Tripoli, according to Libya’s chief prosecutor’s office.

    The office said in a statement that an initial investigation found that Gadaffi was shot dead, but did not provide further details about the circumstances of his killing.

    Khaled al-Zaidi, a lawyer for Gadaffi, confirmed his death on social media, without providing details.

    Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, who represented Gadaffi in the United Nations-brokered political dialogue which aimed to resolve Libya’s long-running conflict, also announced the death on social media.

    Read Also: Tinubu, Obasanjo, Mimiko, Fasoranti, others bag Ondo golden jubilee awards

    Gadaffi’s political team later released a statement saying that “four masked men” stormed his house and killed him in a “cowardly and treacherous assassination.”

    The statement said that he clashed with the assailants, who closed the CCTV cameras at the house “in a desperate attempt to conceal traces of their heinous crimes.”

    Muammar Gadaffi was toppled in a NATO-organised uprising in 2011 after more than 40 years in power. He was killed in October 2011 amid the ensuing fighting that would turn into a civil war.

    The country has since plunged into chaos and divided between rival armed groups and militias.

    Seif al-Islam was captured by fighters in Zintan late in 2011 while attempting to flee to neighbouring Niger. The fighters released him in June 2017 after one of Libya’s rival governments granted him amnesty. He had since lived in Zintan.

    In November 2021, Gadaffi announced his candidacy in the country’s presidential election but he was disqualified by the country’s High National Elections Committee.

    The election was never held over disputes between rival administrations and armed groups that have ruled Libya since the removal of Muammar Gadaffi.

  • Donald Trump, Xi discuss Iran

    Donald Trump, Xi discuss Iran

    • U.S. presses nations to break from Tehran

    President Donald Trump said yesterday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Iran in a wide-ranging call that comes as the U.S. administration pushes Beijing and others to isolate Tehran.

    Trump said the two leaders also discussed a broad range of other critical issues in the U.S.-China relationship, including trade and Taiwan and his plans to visit Beijing in April.

    “The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way,” Trump said in a social media posting about the call.

    The Chinese government, in a readout of the call, said the two leaders discussed major summits that both nations will host in the coming year and opportunities for the two leaders to meet. The Chinese statement, however, made no mention of Trump’s expected April visit to Beijing.

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    China also made clear that it has no intention of stepping away from it’s long-term plans of reunification with Taiwan, a self-governing, democratic island operating independently from mainland China, though Beijing claims it as its own territory.

    “Taiwan will never be allowed to separate from China,” the Chinese government statement said.

    Trump and Xi discussed Iran as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran after the Middle East country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

    Trump is now also pressing Iran to make concessions over its nuclear program, which his Republican administration says was already set back by the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

    The White House says that special envoy Steve Witkoff is slated to take part in talks with Iranian officials later this week.

    Trump announced last month that the U.S. would impose a 25% tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran.

    Years of sanctions aimed at stopping Iran’s nuclear program have left the country isolated. But Tehran still did nearly $125 billion in international trade in 2024, including $32 billion with China, $28 billion with the United Arab Emirates and $17 billion with Turkey, the World Trade Organization says.

    Separately, Xi also spoke  yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    Xi’s engagement with Trump and Putin comes as the last remaining nuclear arms pact, known as the New START treaty, between Russia and the United States is set to expire Thursday, removing any caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century.

    Trump has indicated he would like to keep limits on nuclear weapons but wants to involve China in a potential new treaty.

    “I actually feel strongly that if we’re going to do it, I think China should be a member of the extension,” Trump told The New York Times last month. “China should be a part of the agreement.”

    The call with Xi also coincided with a ministerial meeting that the Trump administration convened in Washington with several dozen European, Asian and African nations to discuss how to rebuild global supply chains of critical minerals without Beijing.

    Critical minerals are needed for everything from jet engines to smartphones. China dominates the market for those ingredients crucial to high-tech products.

    “What is before all of us is an opportunity at self-reliance that we never have to rely on anybody else except for each other, for the critical minerals necessary to sustain our industries and to sustain growth,” Vice President JD Vance said at the gathering.

    Xi has recently held a series of meetings with Western leaders who have sought to boost ties with China amid growing concerns about Trump’s tariff policies and calls for the U.S. to take over Greenland, a Danish territory.

    The disruption to global trade under Trump has made expanding trade and investment more imperative for many U.S. economic partners. Vietnam and the European Union upgraded ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership last month, two days after the EU and India announced a free-trade agreement.

  • Nigeria’s digital asset reform: From regulation to coordination

    Nigeria’s digital asset reform: From regulation to coordination

    By Kike Gbajumo

    Nigeria’s first encounter with the digital frontier of finance was reactive rather than strategic, characterised by episodic interventions rather than a coherent institutional design. That era—marked by “episodic constraint” and “shadow regulation”—saw authorities issue circulars restricting banks and telecommunications operators, creating a patchwork of control that was more reactive than anticipatory. Over time, however, this approach has given way to a structured legal and regulatory framework grounded in statute, fiscal oversight, and coordinated supervision. In its place, a new architecture of “sustained supervision” is taking shape. Yet anyone familiar with bureaucratic processes knows that the distance between enacting a law or issuing regulations and seeing a functioning system in practice is measured in friction, administrative deadlines, and the unyielding march of the calendar.

    By formally bringing virtual asset regulatory coordination under tax administration via Section 79 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025, authorities have signalled a pragmatic recognition: digital assets have grown too economically significant to be ignored. The classic sequence of regulatory power is on display here—first, make the market observable; then, stabilise it. Observability allows regulators to shift from suppression to market hardening, using oversight to enforce rules and ensure systemic integrity. Yet visibility is a double-edged sword. While the Securities and Exchange Commission’s jurisdiction has been clarified and constrained by Section 79, the statutory design effectively produces a model of “distributed supervision,” in which no single agency has full oversight. Coordination, therefore, becomes not just desirable, but essential—the difference between a functioning market and a regulatory bottleneck. What this architecture now requires is not further policy elaboration but clear command intent to ensure that agencies with intersecting mandates act in sequence rather than at cross-purposes.

    It is against this backdrop of fragmented authority and tightening timelines that regulatory measures have begun to stack, producing what can be described as a pincer movement. Fiscal, market-supervisory, financial-access, and security pressures now converge under overlapping, time-bound regulatory calendars, amplifying the need for precise sequencing.

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    On January 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued Circular No. 26-1, materially raising the cost of entry into Nigeria’s digital asset market. Minimum capital requirements for Digital Asset Exchanges and custodians were set at N2 billion, with a compliance deadline of June 30, 2027. Operators now face a stark choice: recapitalise, consolidate, or exit. This regulatory hardening coincides with parallel domestic and international pressures. Nigeria was removed from the FATF Grey List on October 24, 2025, after implementing a 19-point action plan, but obligations remain to strengthen virtual asset monitoring and inter-agency intelligence coordination. Concurrently, banks face a March 31 recapitalisation deadline under Central Bank, while a December MoU with France’s DGFiP highlights international coordination in digital tax enforcement.

    The challenge of poorly coordinated reform lies in the “ghosts” that inhabit bureaucratic machinery—conditionalities and procedural gaps that sit outside the formal permitting pathway. Consider a virtual exchange that meets the SEC’s N2 billion capital threshold, only to find that banks refuse to host its accounts because the CBN has not lifted restrictions on banking access. In this scenario, a SEC licence becomes operationally meaningless. Here, coordination is a matter of survival. Fortunately, the CBN occupies a central regulatory role in virtual asset oversight, whereas other agencies, such as National Communications Commission (NCC), occupy enabling roles. Telecommunications infrastructure—the digital arteries through which customers access platforms—remains pivotal. Unlike banks, whose regulatory obligations are directly enforced by CBN, telecommunications restrictions require additional action from NCC, following guidance from the wider security and financial-integrity apparatus.

    In short, the tax authorities, securities regulators, banks, and telecommunications operators must move in a single, synchronised formation. Without such coordination, the reform risks losing credibility. In a low-trust environment, legal compliance that is obstructed by infrastructure gaps is perceived as institutional failure, even if policy intent is clear. Coming after controversies surrounding passage of tax reform statutes and the MOU with France, operationalising Section 79 without a glitch is essential to maintain market confidence.

    At this stage, calendar and coordination converge, creating a unique urgency. The foundational laws are, however controversially, on the books, and institutions are adjusting to the realities of Section 79. What remains unannounced is the exact mechanism to operationalise coordination, even as sectoral reforms reach a critical point in banking, capital markets, and international fiscal cooperation. Capital is being raised, regulatory scrutiny has intensified, and operators are moving to comply. Yet the final test of reform will be whether a newly licensed digital firm can actually open a bank account and reach customers via the internet. Coordination is no longer a convenience—it is an essential condition for credibility.

    Since the formal lifting of CBN restrictions in late 2023, Nigeria has enacted at least three major statutes incorporating digital assets into multiple regulatory and fiscal regimes. Capital gains taxation, securities licensing, financial and compliance reporting, and revenue-led coordination are now grounded in law. Despite this momentum, residual access constraints have persisted in practice, prolonging a costly period of legal limbo for compliant operators while unregulated actors continue to serve the market. The central challenge is execution—aligning policy intent with operational reality.

    Ultimately, the Gordian Knot is not legal but coordinative. Policy intent is clear, statutory foundations are in place, and institutions are aligned in principle. What remains unresolved is the authority to translate intent consistently across organisational boundaries at a moment when mandates overlap and incentives diverge. Historically, Nigerian reforms move fastest when clear presidential direction reinforces sequencing and inter-agency alignment. Where the “Commander’s intent” is understood, execution follows.

    ·         Gbajumo, a crypto analyst, writes from Lagos

  • New year resolutions: Nourishing your chakras (4)

    New year resolutions: Nourishing your chakras (4)

    Are you a “ higher animal”, as the disciples of CHARLES DARWIN say, or a human being, Self conscious, not just concious of existence, and LIVING? This is a serious existential question many of us are unable to crack even till ripe, old age, and take away, wherever we go after earth- life, like a rottening fruit with an immature kernel. Yet, we have a task to answer the question, using abilities with which we are endowed for this purpose from about the age of 15 to 21, according to the syllabi of the SCHOOL THAT EARTH LIFE earth life is all about. It is the MANDATE of the THIRD CHAKRA for which the first three parts of this series have been like rungs of a step ladder. ( If you missed them, you may wish to see them at THE NATION ON-LINE or at JOHN OLUFEMI KUSA on facebook).

    The THIRD CHAKRA stage or class in the Earth SCHOOL OF LIFE agrees that we are “ not higher animals”, but the kernels of subconscious spiritual creatures implanted inside their respective physical earth bodies. The physical earth body was derived from the highest developed animal, when the subconscious spirit kernel, as man, descended from its home into the material world. This was where, confused, Charles Darwin and his disciples got stuck in their descriptions of a great epocal event, the coming into being of man on earth, which I cannot discuss today. Suffice it to say, however, that these subconcious kernels or spirit seed Germs are visiting the earth, lodged in physical vessels with HUMAN forms. The kernels, as HUMAN spiritual seeds, are on earth to gather experiences which would make them come ALIVE and fully self conscious, the only condition for developing into HUMAN FORMS and becoming HUMAN BEINGS! That is suggesting that not all of us existing in physical HUMAN forms are as yet HUMAN BEINGS. The journey to become a human being may not be as arduous as we may imagine, if we strive to understand THE THIRD CHAKRA in a 2026 New Year Resolution.

    The Third Chakra

    This is the “energy plant” which maintains all organs of the physical body above the belly button or the navel and are below the rib cage. They include the small intestine, the liver, gall bladder, adrenals, spleen, stomach and the pancreas, along with the NERVE JUNCTION called THE SOLAR PLEXUS, a very important zone of the physical body. The big intestine and the kidneys do not belong here, but to the FIRST CHAKRA, being organs of elimination. I described the solar plexus as a very important zone of the physical body because it is at this point that the spiritual body of man which some persons call the “soul” and other persons say is a “ghost”, that is the earth visitor, man, Spirit, is connected to his or her earth body.

    This connection is best imagined, in my view, if we imagine a baby in the womb of the mother and the UMBILICAL CORD which connects them. What connects body and soul is an ethereal SILVER CORD. Ethereal matter is a totally different species of matter from gross material matter to which belong everything that scientific instruments, eyes, ears etc can detect. The silver cord is elastic when it is healthy and is well maintained by the spiritual essence living within the earth, casing vessel or mud body.

    Knowledge of The THIRD CHAKRA enables us to understand that the spirit makes the physical body through the laws of nature and that this body is an anchorage for it on earth. It is like the anchor of a ship which holds it down and stable on water so that the waves do not toss it aimlessly Hither and tither. Without the earth body, the spirit would not be able to consciously experience Life on earth.

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    This is why the silver cord is very important to the survival of everyone and to organs in the third CHAKRA zone. When the body and spirit seperate in what we call death, the silver cord becomes inelastic, taut and, ultimately, is severed at both ends. Evidence of this is in the effort it takes in Traditional Medicine (TM) or magnetic or faith healing to recall a departing soul into the discarded body. In the Biblical Lazarus story, the Lord Jesus spent more time and energy to bring him back to life, because he had been physically dead for four days, than He needed for the daughter of the centurion’s servant who had passed only a few hours.

    The silver cord is important for human existence on earth in several ways. It offers us human dwellers in the earth body a two way communication link with the body and from our bodies to us. This is one of the lessons we are to learn in THE THIRD CHAKRA of the EARTH SCHOOL OF LIFE, which is to make our third CHAKRA organs healthy when we positively apply these lessons. For it is the pathway through which the soul or spirit imputes instructions to the body through the back and front brains and, from them, to it in reverse order, from the body to the spirit. This enables the spirit to know what is going on on earth to enable this human or spiritual tenant of this mud body take intelligent decisions and give instructions to the body via the brains. Persons who are successful in whatever they do, whether in private life or in the professions, are persons whose routine activities follow this route, consciously or otherwise. If you watch them well, they hardly suffer from diseases in their third chakra organs! They easily move in and out of their bodies, developing personal power in engagements with the Universe, generating warmth and not cold or congestion in this region. I will leave it at that today.

    In other words, THIRD CHAKRA education enables us humans to posses and control our bodies and to use them aright as prescribed in the design of creation in which we are guests. Thus, whoever does not posses and control his or her body creates a vaccum which may be exploited by other persons in or outside the flesh, as we observe in some cases of not only depression or possesion but, also, of unclarified or wrong decisions and actions. This explains the meaning of the statement that some persons “see” but do not “perceive” or “hear”, but do not “understand”.

    Why do THIRD CHAKRA Education and experience come not earlier Than the 15-21 years age bracket?

    Generative Power

    In the body, the soul lies protected from the outside World until the host vessel has matured enough to serve it as shield and sword for engagements in the inevitable WARFARE IN NATURE awaiting it outside the protection of its bodily “castle”. In this State, the soul or spirit does not interfere in events on the outside and is, also, not affected by them. The body, meanwhile, continues to grow and to build its paraphernalia which include, but are not limited to, the back or small brain (the cerebellum) and the big or front brain (the cerebrum). The soul or spirit is roaring for action, and waiting for the body to be set as well. What makes the body ready is when it has become mature enough to be able to start producing GENERATIVE POWER. This is the highest energy potential the body is capable of producing from it been glowed through and given some life by radiation of the energy of the soul or spirit and from its own resource through the diet and natural strivings. The first evidence of the onset of GENERATIVE POWER is the onset of PUBERTY, the resource of which is depleted or strangled through diversions to unworthy ends such as excessive indulgence in sexual activities, (sleeplessness, night clubbing, night walk, for example) and drinking urges.

    What happens next?

    The soul or spirit sallies out of its defensive rampart or cocoon. If it is to survive, it must find its way through the bushes, thickets and forests of the warfare in Nature, as it were, to whence it came. This battle is to educate him about what it is, whence it came and wither it goes after here in obedience to THE LAW OF GRAVITY and, ultimately, the Law of the cycle. The former makes everything sink or soar to regions corresponding to its density or lightness. The latter, ultimately, makes everything return to its starting point. Do the rotating and revolving earth, like the blood circulation, evaporation and rainfall, the seasons and daylight and nightfall not obey this Law? Overcoming obstacles and frictions of THE WARFARE IN NATURE helps the soul or spirit to develop and to grow, while succumbing to them would have opposite effects.

    Thus, if we are sick in body and soul today, if we experience poverty in our finances, if our marriages are not working, if we are learned but we cannot eke out a decent living or any at all, if we seek a companion of the opposite gender but cannot readily find a suitable one among the millions around, if we are sorrowful whereas there is joy all around us, it is possible we do not have PERSONAL POWER, an endowment of the right application of THIRD CHAKRA practices…or our THIRD CHAKRA energy vortex has been blocked, and we are not really LIVING!

    Personal Power

     In their book, THE CREATION OF HEALTH ISBN (0-913299-94-4), an effort to introduce Euro-Americans to chakra energy medicine, surgeon Norman Shealy and Carolyn Myss said with certainty that the human spirit existed within the physical human body. I discovered this 1988 book about 10 years later and was privileged to review it for THE COMET NEWSPAPER, now defunct. Dr Abayomi Aiyesimoju, a neurologist and chartered homeopath known by his colleagues and patients to exhibit keen interest in Spiritual matters, reviewed the book as well. Dr Shealy and Myss admonish each of us to “BECOME AN ELEGANT SPIRIT”. What this means to me is that we, not our bodies which are our instruments, become robust, conscious and thorough in our world, LIVING, not just existing…through acquisition of PERSONAL POWER. They did not fight shy of saying erudition of the intellect, highest perceptive capacity of the brain and physical body, is not POWER.

    They lead us back to EDGAR CAYCEE, the intuitive healer who conducted his diagnostic sessions in trances, and made correct, personalised prescriptions.

    We should ask ourselves: what went into those trances, Edgar Caycee or his body? Dr Shealy and Myss remind us of the warning of Edgar Cayce that what they always say are the causes of disease are their Secondary causes.

    According to Dr Shealy and Carolyn Myss:

    “ Edgar Cayce suggested in the Edgar Cayce encyclopedia of Healing by Reba and Karp that causes of disease included poor assimilation, poor elimination, inadequate diet, improper acid alkaline balance, spinal sublixation and other spinal abnormalities , imbalance, incoordination of the circulatory system, glandular malfunction, stress, overtaxation and over exertion, karma, attitude and infection. Certainly, a number of these were not considered primarily psychological, psychosomatic or attitudinal.

    “Cayce considered each individual “ entity” as being consisting of body, mind and spirit or soul. In many metaphysical discussions, he used spirit and soul interchangeably, and he frequently called the body “the temple of the Living God”. He held that the body and mind come into being for the purpose of manifesting the soul in the realm of materiality. According to Cayce’s concepts, until the complete entity achieves full attunement with God, the principle of karma operates. Cayce firmly believed the Biblical statement that “for whatever a man soweth, that shall he reap”

    “Edgar Cayce gave extensive readings on the effects of attitudes and emotions and stated, for instance, that anger creates headaches or indigestion, depression results in weariness, emotional turbulence triggers asthmatic conditions and so on. He said “no one can hate his neighbour and not have stomach or liver trouble” and “one cannot be jealous and allow anger of same and not have upset stomach or heart disorder”. He emphasized that anger, resentment, hate, self-condemnation, animosity and related attitudinal problems release poisons from the glandular system, deplete body energies, block elimination and generally predispose people to disease. Frequently describing emotions as “ electronics” that act as vibratory communication among body, mind and soul, Cayce stated that “any illness involves all three aspects of an entity in a meeting of self”.

    “Even a cold requires mental and emotional change and spiritual lessons to be learned, according to Cayce, a cold could come from becoming angry or “chewing someone out”. He often emphasized the interrelationship of various stress factors in creating illness. For instance, in the common cold, he mentioned that a poor diet in combination with over exertion leads to fatigue; that negative attitudes and emotions further deplete total energy; that acid- alkaline balance becomes disturbed; and that the body becomes over-acid and a cold results. Similarly, more serious complications such as pneumonia could result if the General weakening is Bad enough”.

    Dr Shealy and Myss lead us from here to the heights in Edgar Caycee’s thoughts from where, I believe like birds of a feather, they invite us to become “ELEGANT SPIRITS”. According to a review of their conception of THE ELEGANT SPIRIT:

    “ According to them, becoming an Elegant Spirit involves understanding our planetary situation, choosing survival, and looking to the future. It’s about embracing a higher level of consciousness and spiritual awareness, which can lead to holistic healing and personal growth.

    In essence, the Elegant Spirit represents a state of being where individuals transcend their limitations, cultivate self-awareness, and align with their spiritual purpose. This concept is closely tied to the authors’ broader themes of energy medicine, emotional healing, and the interconnectedness of body, mind, and spirit”.

    This touches upon the purpose of existence and the task of the HUMAN spirit on earth which we should begin to master from age 16 to 22 to be firmly in control of our health in several ramifications. I had a first out of body experience (OBE) at 24!

     Thinkers or intuitive

    This is the principal “syllabus” in the THIRD CHAKRA class. We think too much. We believe the products of THINKING Will solve all problems. If we misplace a house key, we THINK all day and all night, believing doing so would help us to find it. This week, I upturned almost everything in my wardrobe while searching for an old pocket purse in which I kept some of my photographs. I gave up only when I remembered I should not have done so. Next day, something else took me elsewhere where I discovered I had kept the purse. We THINK out solutions to problems only because we do not realise there is life beyond the brain, the sharpest instrument of which is the INTELLECT. The biblical king Pharoah couldn’t think out how seven lean cows could eat up seven fat cows and still remain lean. Slave Boy Joseph cracked the nut. The spirit of Pharoah was asleep and allowed the INTELLECT of his tool to mount the throne as king and ruler over him. In supposedly poor Joseph, the spirit was alive!

    This year, we should all awaken in spirit, like the Five Wise Virgins or the servants who did not bury their talents. It is not as difficult to do as we may imagine. The starting point is to realise that we are not Higher animals as Charles Darwin and his disciples misled us to assume, but HUMAN SPIRITS who Dr Norman Shealy and Carolyn Myss invite us to become.

    They work together to show us we are greater than we imagine. Dr Shealy sends his patients to laboratories for investigation of their health. Carolyn Myss looks at their photographs several hundred kilometers away and tells him what is wrong with them, based on the energy profiles of their chakras. In more than 98 percent of the cases, she is correct. She is an INTUITIVE!

    An INTUITIVE does not think out solutions to problems. An INTUITIVE RECIEVES SOLUTION to them. As a HUMAN spirit, he or she sends out a call for help into creation. Helpers and GUIDES who are appointed to support each wanderer spirit on earth, in a long chain right from here on earth right up to the highest peaks in the Spirit World, mediate the answers of the help we need. All we need do is believe they are there and to always connect with them in Spirit. Does it now not make sense that whoever would worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth?

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