The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday magazine

  • Cleric charges on good hygiene

    The District Superintendent of The Apostolic Faith Church, West/Central Africa, Rev Bayo Adeniran, has called on Christians to clean their environment and maintain good hygiene while trusting God for safe protection against Ebola Virus.

    Adeniran said this at the 2014 Apostolic Faith Church Camp Choir Concert recently at the faith city, Igbesa, Ogun State.

    The programme tagged The Power of holy worship attracted participants from West and Central Africa.

    It featured classical gospel songs sung in French, Egun, Hausa, and Yoruba languages.

    Church leaders, traditional rulers, captains of industries, academia, among graced the occasion.

    According to him, the environment is a gift given that God expects Christians to clean regularly.

    He said that the virus will have around us today can be contained “if we are very serious about good hygiene.”

    According to him: “We are not afraid of Ebola because God has delivered us from the spirit of Ebola. The fear of Ebola cannot come to us because we fear God first. We are not just to serve God but we must clean our environment.”

    Adeniran described diseases as an act of God to bring the people back to Him.

    He stated: “Any virus by the grace of God can be healed but the plagues that afflict a people are many times results of their sins and carelessness.

    “We don’t have to be careless about our hygiene but the correct hygiene starts from the inside of us when we have the right values that please the Lord.”

    Noting that governments are working hard on infrastructural and educational development, he said: “until the people have a change of heart and are committed to God and his principles, human effort to make life meaningful will fail.”

    The Emeritus Music Director of the church, who led the choir to sing Holy Jerusalem, Rev John Aina, said the essence of the concert was to win more souls to Christ.

    “Our music is an act of holy worship and our worship is patterned toward heavenly worship and when you worship God in the beauty of holiness, there is a power that is release into the life as well as the environment.”

  • A twenty-first century guide

    •Counsel for all and sundry

    Ladies and gentlemen; boys and girls, make not the world worse. You can aspire to great things without using your prodigious talents to induce confusion. Yes, you are smart, motivated and creative, and everyone that tells you that you can change the world is probably not far from the truth, but changing the world does not require circumventing financial regulations or bending the law.

    First, learn to express yourself. Shave your head and cultivate a goatee, big boy. Braid your hair, leave it long, dear girl. Wear all brown, wear all yellow, wear boots, wear leather, and wear jeans always. Try on new identities to see which ones fit best, but shun anything permanent as tattoos, because, as your taste in clothes, hair styles and music, your thoughts about most things would someday change. What you think is really deep and insightful today will look shallow and immature in a few years.

    Mind your manners in the meantime. As you will discover afterwards, it doesn’t matter whether the rules of manners make sense or not. What matters is the effect of following these rules: people appreciate the effort and respect shown them. In turn, they will show you respect. And that goes for when you are abroad, in Rome as elsewhere.

    Throughout life, people will get in your way. Some will step in your path. Older people will stumble in front of you at the wrong time. Don’t blow your top. Get on top of the situation. Step aside and go about your business. Note that these are often passive aggressive methods by others to get you to acknowledge their existence.

    Cheer up. Whatever troubles and doubts you face today, many have experienced the same thing. Take advice after critical analysis as counsel is often designed to benefit the supporter as much as the recipient. Decide what is right for you. You may study quotes from the experienced so that you can refer to them when you need to, for only the foolish would fail to learn from the mistakes of others.

    Be patient in love. The worst thing you can do in the search for a significant other is to try to change yourself into something you are not just because you think that is what they are looking for. Get to know the other person’s likes instead and share in their experience. On similar considerations, choose your friends. Good friends can help you through just as bad friends can cause some of the problems in the first place.

    Stay fit. Play a team sport, as it teaches interaction and interdependence, adjustment to various personalities, generosity and other character-building traits. You don’t have to join a professional team; go to a nearby park and play any available ball game.

    Never pick on the weak. It’s immoral. Bullying people into compliance is distasteful. And don’t antagonise the strong without cause. It’s foolish. Don’t undermine colleagues. Never mentally or physically abuse people because of who they are, or how they present themselves.

    Eat healthily and maintain an exercise regimen not only to help fight diseases and aging, but to help ensure an active lifestyle for many years. The body is like any machine: it runs great when new, but after years of neglect it will slow down, and eventually break down.

    Get organised. Keep a calendar, make a to-do list, and don’t put off doing things until later. When you are organised, you undertake more tasks, finish them, and have more time to pursue new activities and relationships.

    Invest in yourself. Material things come to those that achieve goals and ambition. An ambitious doctor, lawyer, architect or accountant you may turn out to be, but a fine young man with good character you must strive to become, Junior. And aim to be better than a materialistic mimic, young woman.

    A poser none should ever be. Be not the one who swindles others for a living, or one who flaunts fashionable clothes and gadgets beyond earning power. To gain respect, you’ll have to earn respect.

  • Once upon a seaport

    Once upon a seaport

    The once popular Ejinrin seaport near Epe, Lagos State, which was once a beehive of business activities from slavery trade to general goods merchandising over 100 years ago, has become a shadow of itself. Taiwo Abiodun reports.

    The seaport of no return

    The water seemed to be still, but was moving slowly. Sighted on the terrifying water were about five or six young men slowly paddling their canoes- they were arriving from their fishing expedition and now coming to berth on the shore that evening .Ejinrin is said to be the second largest seaport in Nigeria where our forefathers had their mouths padlocked, legs manacled, hands chained, and ferried to Badagry and fr om there to the West Indies to work in their coffee and sugar cane plantations.

    The Ejinrin seaport was called like that of Badagry, a port of no return .This was where man showed inhumanity and their bestiality to fellow humankind, and where weeping and gnashing of teeth were experienced on a daily basis since the 18th century till the 1940s. This was also the seaport where parents were separated from their children and where the crack of the whips landed on their backs and their souls brutalised and their blood ran cold. This is the seaport where human beings were exchanged for glass mirrors and gunpowder by the powerful monarchs and the wealthy barons. In fact, then it was assumed that a healthy corn was better than an unhealthy slave at the Ejinrin seaport in those days. This was the seaport where the white men threw our forefathers overboard.

    Welcome to the monstrous seaport that had consumed human lives from slavery days till recent times. The late Professor Claude Ake, a prominent Nigerian political scientist, was among the 142 passengers killed when the plane, operated by a local airline landed into the Ejinrin River leaving no survivors on the 7th November, 1996.

    The present Ejinrin

    Today, things have changed as the roads leading to the seaport and Ejinrin town, though well constructed and tarred, but hardly will one find vehicles plying the route, unlike before when it was highly patronised. According to a fisherman, Lekan Onitiri, “This tarred road was constructed over 34 years ago has now been abandoned because there are no commercial activities going on in the town any longer. This place has become desolate and no one hears or comes here any longer. This is sad; a popular seaport that has wharf is no longer in use!”

    Empty Market

    Ejinrin Market was one of the most populated and popular market in Nigeria in the 18th century .The town thrived in business activities then and there never was there a dull moment. Singing its praises, the popular International  musician, Evangelist Ebenezer Obey, in one of his albums sang: “Boko kan o r’Ejinrin, egbegberun re a lo’ (if a vehicle refuses to ply Ejinrin route, thousands will not hesitate to go).

    But today, the opposite is the case as the market no longer bubbles – no thanks to the abolition of slave trade. A trader simply called Monica who was pained said: “Now the Ejinrin market has been deserted, it has become desolate as only few people live and trade here .The seaport has no ship to berth again while no goods are there to be supplied. It has become the shadow of itself. No more slave trade and no more exchange of goods for human beings.”

    A pastor, who does not want his name to be mentioned in print, said: “It is the sins of that slave trade that have grossly affected the market, not because we have other markets. We need to go and cleanse the place. How can we have such a seaport and it is no longer being used? I believe it is the sins our forefathers committed by selling their kin and family members”

    Post office overgrown with weeds

    The post office in Ejinrin is also noted as the first post office in Nigeria  helped by the business world of slave trade , and other trades like ornament, clothing as well as buying and selling of other prohibited things. But today the once revered post office has become a shadow of itself .When The Nation visited, the 10 pigeon holes used then have become rustic and no more in use. The windows have become broken while the roofing and facing-board had been eaten up by termites and some had fallen off. In a nutshell, the post office has become overgrown with weeds. It is no longer in use.

    “This should be a monument, but who remembers this again?” Chief Olusegun Michael , the Apena of Ejinrin lamented to The Nation.

    The town

    The town is clean, quiet and tarred. The townspeople are farmers and fishermen. The town is now dominated by Ijaws whose business is fishing. Chief Olusegun Michael, the Apena of Ejinrin describes the place as a lost city that has lost its beauty of business activities due to neglect. He said: “This was once a thickly populated town that was very popular and known all over the world because of its age-long business activities.”

    However, he said the town forbids many things as their taboos here. “In this town one must not swear falsely. Whoever does that will die.” Giving examples, Apena said: ” In 1999 many were dying, things were happening to them. We later learnt that those dying were going to the shrines to swear falsely.” Apena praised the community’s monarch, Oba Babatunde Rafiu, the Elejinrin of Ejinrin who has been trying to resuscitate many things. He said the monarch tried to convince our chiefs to obtain post office boxes but still it was not patronised.

    Mr. Oyeyemi Ajayi said the town has “strong and well-constructed colonial buildings wasting away, over 5,000 lock up shops that have been abandoned and overgrown with weeds as they are no longer in use. The good tarred roads begging for vehicles to use them.” He suggested the first post office in Nigeria in Ejinrin should be made a monument. He pleaded that both the federal and state governments should come to their rescue

    When The Nation visited the monarch, Oba Babatunde Rafiu , who was obviously not happy for the state of affairs in the town refused to grant any interview declared: “Oh , I don’t want to say anything again.”

  • Laolu Saraki resurfaces at Maje Ayida’s birthday

    Laolu Saraki resurfaces at Maje Ayida’s birthday

    ONCE upon a time man-about-town, Laolu Saraki, seems to have perfected the art of appearing and disappearing from the scene at the drop of the hat. Ever since he got married to his Spanish girlfriend, Laolu has spent more time abroad, and simply dashing in and out of the country to attend to urgent personal issues. Last weekend, the handsome young man made a surprise appearance at the surprise birthday thrown by On Air Personality, Toke Makinwa, for his fiancé, Maje Ayinda to the delight of his silver spoon friends who also graced the party. All smiled while the party lasted, there was no doubting the fact that Laolu, the youngest son of late politician, Dr. Olusola Saraki, had lots of fun.

  • Ladi Balogun not all about work

    ARGUABLY Nigeria’s youngest bank MD, Ladi Balogun, the head honcho at First City Monument Bank (FCMB), has been rightly (or wrongly) perceived by many as anti-social and all about work with little or no time to unwind. But SC can reveal that the brilliant Havard-trained banker, though a stickler for hard work, still creates time to party, particularly with close pals. The youthful banker was also at Maje Ayida’s birthday in company of his younger brother, Gboyega.

  • Chinyere Ogugua on a rebound

    Chinyere Ogugua on a rebound

    HER name rings loud and clear within the power circles in Abuja. On a first name basis with virtually all the men that call the shots in the corridors of power, past and present, Hajia Chinyere Ogugua-Agagbo, is sure one to court and rever.  Early this year, the influential woman, who serves as an SA to the SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim, was in a depressed mood following the death of her father who was abducted by kidnappers with his whereabouts unknown for close to a year. The bad guys had allegedly collected a ransom on the old man, who unknown to his children and family members had been killed in cold blood by his abductors. Months after the incident, Hajia was inconsolable. But the good news is that she is now back to her once cheerful mood and taking life so easy.

  • Fola Ogunlesi loving his single status

    Fola Ogunlesi loving his single status

    BOSS of Fantasyland, Ikoyi, Fola Ogunlesi, is relishing every moment of his single status. Several months after he called it quits with his second wife, Omolewa, in acrimonious circumstances that made headlines in general interest magazines, the very stylish businessman has resolved to give the opposite sex a wide berth, while preferring to enjoy the warm company of his children and siblings, with whom he was estranged when the going was good between him and Omolewa. Though blessed with good looks, a deep pocket and impeccable mannerisms, three attributes that can sweep an average woman off her feet unconsciously, the multi-millionaire businessman is, however, not thinking of settling down with another woman at least anytime soon.

  • ‘I’m not competing with anyone for anything’

    ‘I’m not competing with anyone for anything’

    Lawyer-turned general overseer of Ever Winning Faith Ministries, Ikeja, Lagos, Pastor Solomon Ojigiri, spoke with Sunday Oguntola on sundry issues relating to his church and Christendom. Excerpts: 

    How much has happened since we met last?

    Well, we have intensified our outreaches on Singles of Purpose. We held meetings in Ikeja and Lekki and had some really glorious moments. We talked about sex and had everyone comfortable enough to contribute.

    Some people gave their lives to Christ and those who have gone through rape came out for healing. The meetings were awesome and they asked us to come back again. So, we are planning to go back.

    You started out with Singles. Why was that?

    Actually, Singles of Purpose started in 2000. It was much later after we started ministry. I just found myself having a passion for relationship and marriage. While in school, I realised married people were always coming to me for counseling though I was a single.

    While on NYSC, I organised many fora for brothers and sisters. So, I started reading up on the area based on my passion. When we started out, I heard God telling me to help singles for a life without regret. So, we didn’t start out with singles but got into it along the line.

    What would be your reaction to gospel ministers who are specialists in one area or the other of the Bible?

    I believe very strongly that the fact is a specialist on one area does not mean he cannot teach on other aspects of the bible. I believe that our ministry is a faith-based ministry but you will find us teaching on many other areas. We have a special assignment to singles but we can’t dwell on that enough. For the church to be healthy, you have to teach on the whole bible.

    Some years ago, I was invited to minister in a church in Ibadan. The general overseer, who came from Lagos, was there. When I finished, he said he was the most surprised because he thought I could only preach on single issues. He confessed he was tremendously blessed.

    The fact that we talk on singles does not mean that is the only thing we do. I don’t think there is anything bad if a minister discovers what he is called to do, but for the church to be healthy, he has to offer balanced diet. It is balanced diet that makes one healthy.

    You can’t preach on only one subject and expect the church to be healthy. You must talk about faith, purity, holiness, prayer and everything in the scriptures.

    How about pastors who have branded their sermons only around one subject matter? Is that right a thing to do?

    You can discover your special assignment but cannot say you want your church to be known for something. You are a servant of God, not the owner of the church. It’s not for the product to determine what it would be but the manufacturer will do that.

    Some say pastors should be on full-time while others say they should find alternative means of livelihood to save church costs. Where do you stand on this?

    My view is that some people are called on full time ministry. For me, it is about conviction. I don’t feel there is anything bad if you are not doing it on full time based on conviction. The only challenge I have is to think that everybody must do ministry the way you are doing it. God has different assignments for different people with different methods. So, you have got to find what God wants for you.

    I know a man of God in Cameroon who believes he can combine ministry with being a Professor of Chemistry in Yaoundé. He believes God called him to be a professor and impact students. So, for me, it depends on what God called you to be and do. What is important is doing only what God wants you to do.

    I don’t want to live my life based on what others are doing. We may not have the same assignments or have the same convictions. So, for me, it’s about you and God.

    As a minister to singles, can you introduce mature waiting spouses or match-make people?

    When we talk of match-making, I tell people I don’t think it is bad to provide a platform for people to meet. What I think is wrong is if you say ‘why don’t you marry so so and so so person?’ But we do provide platforms for people to interact and exchange contacts.

    There are mature, highly-placed persons who come to me to ask if there is someone I can recommend for them to marry. My response is that it would be difficult for me to do that because I don’t know people intimate enough.

    So, you have never been tempted to hook people?

    Well, it is not common with me because I would want them to pray and be convinced. You know if they have storms tomorrow, they would see me as the devil that brought them together. I allow people to make the choices themselves while we only provide platforms for them to mingle.   

    Lately, there have been agitations that the process of how church funds are spent should be more democratised. How do you react to this?

    I believe there is no where anywhere that everybody determines how money is spent. In government, societies and communities, there are always people you entrust to make that decision. In government, we have voted for some people to determine how monies are spent. We can’t have a debate or national conference on that.

    In the church too, there are leaders entrusted with that responsibility. A pastor can always call the board of ministers who can debate and consider what they will spend on. I leave our Financial Committee to come up with the budget while I only share my visions with them.

    We brainstorm and determine how we want to spend the money. Sometimes, we can’t rule out the fact that there would be emergencies for which the church must respond. When our brethren had accident in 2009, we had to come in. They came for one of our programmes and had an accident on their way back to Abuja in Ile-Ife. We stepped in and paid for their hospital bills.

    That was an emergency that we had to take on. Sometimes, God also leads us to make some expenses. I was lying down here one day when God told me about the name of one of our mechanics. I later heard he had an accident. So, we had to raise funds for him.

    So, there is no way everybody can determine how church fund is spent but leaders have to take up the responsibility.

    How many branches do you have now?

    We have two in Lagos, one in Abuja and another one in Port-Harcourt. The church just started in Australia and we are planning to take off in Ilorin too.

    Is it that you don’t believe in expansion or chose to take your time to open new branches? 

    Well, I like to be sure God is involved in whatever I do. I don’t want to do something that He will not fund that will now put me under unnecessary pressure.

    I don’t believe in competing with anybody at all. I am not into ‘we started ministry together and he is way ahead of me’.  That does not bother me at all. What bothers me is doing what God wants me to do exactly. I discover that many African ministers are into fierce competition but I have decided to just do what God wants me to do. How fast I move does not bother me. I don’t mind supporting others at all.

    I recently saw Billy Graham ministries helping some villagers in Malawi and Rwanda. I told my wife that God will have us do something about it. I even started weeping. I was wondering why African churches can’t support a need in their own continent. Why does it have to take Billy Graham to raise support for villagers in Africa? The reason is that we are all busy opening branches and expanding our territories instead of doing what God wants us to do.

    So, ministerial success is not about expansion?

    It is not at all. It has nothing to do with the size of your congregation or the branches under you. It is also not about the car you drive or the jet you fly. You have to find a bible-based definition of success. It is not about things but your assignment in life.

    Making money is not wrong if God helps you to. You can make money and still be a failure. It is about the impact you are making and the lives you are touching.

    If making money is your motivation, then you will make all that you can and can all that you make and sit on it, like someone said. There are churches with billions stashed away while needs are there everywhere.

  • Between Bayo Adeyemo and Mike Okiro

    HIS name may not instantly ring a bell, but make no mistake, Bayo Adeyemo, the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of Puzzles Group, is fast building a profile as one of Nigeria’s emerging leaders in the business sector. With wide ranging interests in construction, IT, aviation and telecommunications, Adeyemo’s Puzzles has carved a niche that belies its short existence, a success story many have linked to Adeyemo’s closeness to former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro. Sources claim the two men’s path crossed as students in the Faculty of Law in the late 90’s. Okiro, tale bearers allege, is the big masquerade pulling the strings for Puzzles in securing mouth watering contracts from some states and Federal authorities. But those who peddle this tale seem not to be conversant with Adeyemo’s career trajectory over the years. With sound working experience in insurance, aviation and telecoms sectors, most of which he acquired during his stint with Chief Remi Olowude’s IGI Group, this businessman blessed with the gift of the garb, has paid his dues and is sure reaping the bounties.

  • Ebele Obiano takes charge

    Ebele Obiano takes charge

    AS the newest member of Nigeria’s First Ladies’ club, Ebele Obiano, wife of Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano, is fast catching up with the demands of her duties. In doing so, the beautiful woman has had to exert herself, a development not a few of her husband’s aides and associates are not finding funny one bit. The charge against the First Lady is that her alleged overbearing attitude has alienated most of the people who played key roles in her husband’s emergence as governor. But Ebele Obiano’s admirers have come to her defence, insisting that her main pre-occupation at the moment is providing  sanctuary for her husband in the discharge of his onerous duties.