Founder of The New Generation Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) International, Mountain of Authority Rev. Mother Esther Adeojo has said the church’s annual Ark of Covenant celebration and Ordination Service will hold on Monday, November 11, 2024.
She stated that this year’s celebration will be the 16th edition of the iconic program which was a revelation she got from God 16 years ago.
A statement by Adeojo otherwise known as ‘Ewa Jesu’ noted that the event with the theme: “Blessings from the Ark of Covenant” and inspired by 2 Samuel 6:12, will commence in the morning at the church auditorium located at Ile Youth Ogijo, Ikorodu, Lagos State.
According to her, the service will be led by herself alongside other anointed ministers of God, while Emmanuel Oshiyoye is slated to deliver sermon at the event.
She said highlight of the event will include ceremonial unveiling of the Ark of Covenant, scheduled for afternoon.
She however urged people who wish to partake in the special occasion to dress in white which according to her is the event’s dress code.
She said, “Ark of covenant celebration is a gathering of people to worship the Almighty God like in the old days. Its always a powerful moment of immense blessings and testimonies.”
Stakeholders have commended a 92-year-old academic, Dr. Eberechukwu Anyabuike, for launching a book on Christian missionary in Igbo land.
They stated this during the unveiling of his book: “Christian Missionary Enterprise in Isu -Ama Igbo 1900-1948: A historical Survey Cas well as his 92nd birthday at Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education, Owerri.
The event attracted clergies, monarchs and other stakeholders from all works of life who showed solidarity to the author who they described as lover of good things.
Anyabuike called on scholars across the country to develop special interest in research so as to use their findings to improve Universitys’ curriculum.
He pointed out: “We are in a digital world and trends are evolving daily and scholars must brace up so as to embrace this dynamics that presents itself as the realities of our time.”
Anyabuike challenged scholars, academics and university dons to brace up, display deep commitment and sense of responsibility in research work and academic excellence, so as to produce materials that would stand the text of time.
According to him, when this is done, universities would have enough materials to produce students with high academic and moral standards.
Bishop of Anglican Diocese of Okigwe South and Archbishop, Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, Most Rev. David Onuoha, who was represented by Rev. Ernest Uzoukwu, poured encomium on Dr. Anyabuike, describing him as a lover of the things of God and education.
Sir Ndubuka Akpamgbo, chairman of the occasion, lauded the celebrant as a remarkable mentor whose life is marked by multifaceted blessings adding that the coming of his book is timely at a time when Christianity in Nigeria needs to rediscover its foundation.
His Royal Highness, Eze Daniel Emereonye, Chairman Council of Ndi Eze in Ehime Mbano and traditional ruler of Umuduruegwelle autonomous community, commended the celebrant as a exemplary community leader, citing significant contributions to the community’s development.
The Royal Father highlighted Anyabuike’s academic achievements, notably to delivering the first community’s inaugural academic lecture and offer of scholarship to the community.
Highlight of the event was the presentation of award of appreciation to Sir. Anyabuike, by the people of Umuduruegwelle Autonomous Community in Ehime Mbano Council Area of Imo state.
Lagos Varsity Christian Alumni Fellowship has held its 2024 Annual General Membership Meeting and Reunion Fellowship: “Christian’s Response to Contemporary Issues,” at University of Lagos.
The event addressed LGBTQ+, war, economic crunch, political correctness, and others.
Pastor Yemi Osinaike of The Covenant Nation, Ikeja Campus, delivered a keynote address, emphasising that Christians must respond to contemporary issues with assurance and skill, rooted in their relationship with God.
“As Christians, our response should be based on God’s standard from His word,” Osinaike stressed.
“We must choose to skilfully respond to demands of our time, recognising that God’s expectation of us remains same regardless of our location.”
On LGBTQ+, Osinaike urged the church to respond with love and intelligent engagement. “We shouldn’t just be annoyed; we should be grieved, pray and show love to those involved.”
Regarding economic stability, he cautioned against prioritising the love of money and encouraged Christians to seek biblical financial principles, financial literacy, and wisdom from God.
Outgoing President of the Alumni body, John Oluleye, noted the fellowship’s 58-year history and its mission to support members’ spiritual and professional growth.
“The Lagos Varsity Christian Alumni Fellowship provides a forum for members to come together, share experiences, and support one another,” Oluleye said.
Oluleye also emphasised significance of the theme, noting that the issues are not new, but rather, have been present throughout history.
“These issues are not unique to our time,” Oluleye said.
“As Christians, we must learn from examples of those who have gone before us and stand firm in our faith.”
The fellowship, which has over 1000 members domicilled in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas, provides a platform for members to pray, mentor, and support one another through monthly prayer conferences, sets, and chapters.
The hybrid meeting also saw election of a new Executive Committee, led by Gbenga Apampa, to run its affairs for the next two years.
As Lagos Varsity Christian Alumni Fellowship continues to inspire and empower its members, Osinaike’s words resonate: “The Nigerian church has no choice but to promote peace and reconciliation, love and forgiveness as Christ does,” Oluleye noted.
The 1984 set of Baptist Academy has kicked off its 40th Anniversary celebrations with a Thanksgiving service at Shepherdhill Baptist Church, Obanikoro, Lagos.
The service was part of the school’s 169th Founder’s Day.
Chair of Organising Committee, Kunle Osiyemi, noted the set rebuilt the dining hall.
A Middle-Aged physically challenged woman, Ms Sariyu Oluwatoyin Salawu, has expressed deep appreciation to God, the Lagos State Ministry of Health and the management and staff members of Isolo General Hospital for successfully helping her regain her sight.
Mrs Salawu disclosed that she suddenly realised she could no longer see properly with her two eyes. With time, she said the eyes condition worsened until she could no longer see at all.
“I was confused and did not know what to do, especially since I had no money for any hospital bill,” she said.
Prodded by her family members, she said she went to Iba Primary Health Centre for medical attention, but was told that her case was beyond them. They, however, confirmed that she had cataract and referred her to Alimosho General Hospital, Igando. At Alimosho, she was asked to undergo several tests, the results of which prompted them to refer her to LASUTH for the tests.
In the course of her struggle, she informed one of her schoolmates, Ms Bisi Omotayo; but unknown to her, she had taken it up. Not long after, she got a call from the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Alausa, where she was given a referral letter to Isolo General Hospital.
According to Mrs Salawu, she did all the tests at Isolo General Hospital and the surgery at no cost to her. Mrs. Salawu, who shed tears of joy during this interview, thanked the management of the hospital for restoring her sight for free.
The Medical Director of the Hospital, Dr Saliu Oseni, told The Nation that he had no choice but to conduct the two surgeries for free because it was confirmed that Salawu was an indigent patient.
Dr. Sikirat Akinremi, Consultant Ophthalmology and Head of Ophthalmology Department who carried out the surgeries on Mrs Salawu, said they were moved with compassion seeing her condition. According to her, they were concerned with her difficulty in walking, adding that losing her sight would have been doubly tragic and too much for her to bear.
“I consulted with the Medical Director, who approved that everything be done for her for free, so we swung into action,” she said.
Dr. Akinremi said that Mrs Salawu was practically blind when she came. She said that she was examined the same day she came and did the required tests, and the following week the first eye was operated upon while the second surgery was done on the second eye six weeks after.
“Her surgery was a bit challenging because the theatre is upstairs and she had to be carried as she cannot walk. Because of her condition, she had difficulties lying down and staying still,” she added.
Which exactly is the news about 31-year-old Folasewa Olatunde? Is it that she got her PhD at age 30 or that as a communicationist, she chose to specialise in Mental Health Communications? As weird as the latter sounds, Olatunde, who said she was inspired by another 30-year-old PhD holder, shares the story of how she found herself dabbling into Mental Health, her findings and why Nigerians still largely hold onto the conundrum of diabolism and spirituality when discussing this health condition. She spoke with Gboyega Alaka.
You’re 30 and already hold a PhD in Communications with Specialty in Mental Health Communication; why so fast?
I actually have my three degrees in Communication, so I’m not going to be speaking as a metal health practitioner. My first degree was in Mass Communications at Redeemers’ University, Ede, Osun State; my Master’s degree in Communication Studies at the University of Lagos; while I got my doctoral degree at North Carolina State University. At age 19, I was done with my first degree; at 20, I was done with my NYSC and at 21, I had commenced my master’s degree programme. I got my masters at 22 – I guess that was remarkable already. I come from a lineage of teachers. My mum taught for 35 years with the Lagos State Civil Service and rose to the position of Assistant Director of Education before retiring. So naturally, I gravitated towards teaching; and I remember how, while I was young, I would teach, usually my colleagues, subjects like Economics or English. I also taught at Sunday school. I remember that when I was 15 in my first year as an undergrad in Redeemers University, I met Dr. Ayotunde Alao, he’s late now, who got his PhD at 30. That sort of inspired me to want to go for my PhD as well at a young age.
So why did you decide to specialise on Mental Health Communications?
Right from my undergrad days, I’ve always been interested in development communication; which is a kind of applied communication effort and research that is geared towards improving the lives of a specific population; in the case at the time, the Nigerian population. I’ve done a lot of Health Communication works; when Lassa fever was the thing, I remember designing a nutrition awareness material on my campus to let the school community know about it and how to prevent it. So I’ve always been interested in designing communication research and materials, advocacy materials generally, which was why after my master’s and I joined a digital marketing agency, Bytesize Limited, then under the Rosabel Group, and we got this advocacy account with Enough is Enough Nigeria (EIE Nigeria), focusing on government accountability and improvement of the living condition for the youths and Nigerians in general, everybody unanimously said ‘Fola must be drafted on this account.’ I was always excited about impact projects; like when I worked on the Procter and Gamble and Always Ultra account, where we did a campaign on sanitary pads, Period Poverty and stuff; I was alive for those kinds of campaigns. So they knew that if you’re asking Fola to design a strategy for alcohol, she’d struggle, but anything that has to do with social impact, she’d come alive. I’d read, I’d do research, I’d do anything necessary.
That still does not exactly answer the question of you specialising in Mental Health Communication, especially when you’re not a psychiatrist.
Before I moved to the US, I actually started a PhD back in Nigeria – I’ll not mention the school. However, one of the things I was increasingly frustrated about was that I didn’t have the opportunity to do things I wanted to do. I had a professor who was like: ‘Do this kind of research.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t want this kind of research. This is what I want.’ So I started to look out of the country; and then I applied for a very competitive programme. About 200 of us actually applied, I don’t have the exact figure, but only 14 of us were admitted. I got full funding, about 45,000 dollars a year. So I got in and started some work in the area of Social Impact. But something happened. I started to struggle on a lot of levels. This was the first time I was leaving my family as a young girl; I knew nobody in America, so nobody to turn to for holiday or to confide in. I am an only child of my parents, by the way. If anything, my profile showed I am a high achiever, but something that I couldn’t explain just started happening to me. I started getting demotivated. The whole thing made me start digging deep into what exactly was happening; and I got to understand a lot more about struggling with one’s emotions on a deeper level. So I started looking out for information online. What do I do, who do I see, what are the coping mechanisms?
Fast forward to 2020, I came over to Nigeria for a fellowship with Paradigm Initiative as a Digital Writer and Inclusion fellow, and Covid happened and I couldn’t return to school. I stayed the entire 2020 in Nigeria. And then EndSARS happened. That was the breaking point for me. I remember that a lot of my friends were frustrated; a lot of us were looking for information; and for the first time, I heard the word ‘collective trauma’. A lot of young people were legitimately traumatised for different reasons. And I remember that I sat there helpless. I remember doing a quick Google search: ‘How do I support myself after a mass protest?’ I can’t remember the exact words now; and the information I was getting were only of US, UK, Australia, which amounted to nothing. I also had an accident; I fell off a bike on my way to the Island and I bruised both my elbows. It could have been worse but I protected my head with my two hands. So things got compounded. To make matters worse, I had a visa interview the next day.
I reached out to a therapist online and she was going to collect 90 thousand naira for a one hour session. That was about 200 dollars at the time. So I started to ask myself questions. How do young Nigerians that become emotionally disturbed get solution? And then I started to ask people and I realized that people were going through a lot. True, we have eight neuropsychiatric hospitals; I went to Yaba, saw the queue and how it was nearly impossible to get mental health help or cure. Neither was there information online. The only information available was only relevant for those in the West. I went to the government website and discovered that what we had on mental health was obsolete. The bill that we had on it was some Lunacy Act of 1950s or 60s. Archaic old stuff! And that was how I got involved in researching mental health.
What were your findings?
Quickly I discovered that while there were people doing mental health work, a lot of them were core mental health practitioners interested in the chronic part of mental health. But like I mentioned, communication and awareness efforts are essential parts of improving public mental health outcomes and conditions. I realised that we did not have a national data on mental health. I also realised how important mental health is in the world and particularly in this part of the world, where we feel that productivity is declining and young people are frustrated and going into substance use and abuse. So I decided that I needed a formative research; a background research on communication. What do people even know about this? Let’s not go by what we assume we know. I spoke to young Nigerians between ages 18 and 35, and one of the things I found out was that a lot of them are beginning to accept that mental health can be a thing or is a thing like physical ailment or disease. However, because a lot of us were socialised to believe the supernatural or spiritual inclinations to mental illnesses, a lot of young Nigerians in that age-group seemed to be experiencing this conundrum, which I want to accept can be an issue, especially because I am increasingly seeing the discussion online. I also know that my mum or dad who are in their 50s and 60s have this ‘aye lon se e’ diabolical mentality or that you’ve done something against God and if you pray you’d be fine. I also think why we struggle with accepting that it is an illness is because we do not have the resources to take care of ourselves, and it is easier to believe the diabolical aspect.
I figured that what this kind of understanding gives to mental health practitioners as well as donors and international non-governmental organisations that are funding projects related to it is an understanding of what the people know first and foremost. And we need to design interventions or communication efforts based on what people know. This will also help us to understand and determine the strategy to adopt; and also recognise that lack of resources means that there is nothing you can do with a very well developed communication material. Personally, my advocacy is that we can harness what we have; we don’t have to wait until we have money for more psychiatric hospitals or psychologists; information can play a very pivotal role, whether we need to design a mental health equivalent of CPR/first aid; where individuals and families are able to recognise mental illnesses or traits; and then we can support one another, not as practitioners and experts, but from the support that is needed to help each one of us live an improved life. That way, a wife is not telling the husband that he is lazy because he lost his job and is not going out, because the man may be suffering from depression. How do you recognise that this might be depression and give grace and accept him and also provide first aid, using what we have, knowing we might not have the finances or the government to follow up with clinical infrastructure?
I also did find out that young Nigerians heavily rely on information online when they have emotional distress. My second question was ‘where do you go to? A lot of them go to Google. This was not the initial part of my work, but like I experienced in 2020, when you go on Google for such questions in Nigeria, the first set of information you get are from out of the country, where they’ll tell you that depression can be caused by seasonal depression/weather changes; meanwhile a guy in Lagos that has never left Lagos knows what winter is only from seeing it on TV; so that information is not usable. So my biggest thing is that we have information online that is supposed to serve as some sort of supplement aid, but this information is still not usable or actionable for our population. So I am saying before we design infrastructure to improve mental health, we have a role as mental health practitioners in conjunction with mental health communication experts like me, to start designing information that will be timely and actionable for this population. And the work that I’ve done is not just applicable for young Nigerians; it can be replicated in other African countries, and low and middle income countries. Even in the West, it can be replicated to see how marginalised communities and societies have access to actionable information viz-a-viz the proximity of resources available to them. Don’t forget that one in every five Africans is projected to be a Nigerian. That makes Nigeria a very important contributor to the global workforce; so if we don’t protect their mental health, then we’re jeopardising our future.
Founder, General Overseer of Christ Miracle Church Mission aka CMCM Worldwide, recently presented scholarship cheques to some young members of the church in support of their tertiary education endeavours. Gboyega Alaka reports.
THE atmosphere was electrifying this Sunday, October 13, 2024. The main auditorium of the church, Christ Miracle Church Mission aka CMCM Worldwide was filled to the brim. Members say this was the usual mood during every Sunday service.
However, more was to come, as according to some excited members and parents, the church was going to give scholarships to some dozen or so of tertiary institution students. It has become the custom of the church’s founder and General Overseer, Prophet Peter Abiola Adebisi to do this regularly, they averred.
True to their expectations, the scholarship awards commenced immediately after the service, with Prophet Adebisi himself personally presenting the dummy cheques of One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N150,000) each to each beneficiary, about 12 of them.
Beneficiaries on this occasion included Taiwo and Kehinde Ayodele, Salako Samuel, Akinwande Tumininu, Adeniran Oluwatunmise, Ogundowole Taiwo, Ogundowole Kehinde, Ojo Ruth, Gabriel Olamide, Clara Effiong, Sanuya Amos, Banuso Amos and Banuso Boluwatife.
Speaking during the presentation, Prophet Adebisi said the beneficiaries were guaranteed the scholarship throughout their years in school, provided they present their progress report for each session to the church.
He told this reporter after the presentation that over 50 members were to benefit from the scholarship, adding that the presentation started weeks before.
“They are many, over 50. We’re doing it batch by batch; some others have taken; soon it will be the turn of another batch. This’s how we have been doing it. We do it for the different levels – secondary school, university. The church itself has a nursery and primary school; Champions of Fire Nursery and Primary, which every member’s children or wards can attend and enjoy free education,” he expanded.
Asked why he was undertaking the gesture, Adebisi answered, “I am doing this because I was born poor and raised poor. But thank God for good governance during the Governor Bola Ige and Bisi Akande’s administration back then, because I had started learning bricklayer job. After my primary school, there was no support or benefactor, so I had to go and learn a vocation, but when they introduced free education in old Oyo, I was able to go back to school; and this has helped me a lot in life. Since then, I pledged within myself that if I find myself in a privileged position, I will impact destiny.”
Asked if he was doing this to help the government, he said, “No, you can’t help the government, you help the people. And when you’re helping the people, you are alleviating the load of the government.”
On how long he has been doing this, the prophet said, “From the onset of this ministry. We have had doctors, engineers who have benefitted from this gesture, and God helping me, we will continue for as long as we can.”.
•How parents who came to warn wards of danger got consume
•Ninety percent of victims were under-25
•Late evening fever saved my life, teenager recounts
The dusts are yet to settle, smoke yet to disappear and tears yet to dry up, as families, households and friends rue the tragedy that befell Majiya Town in Taura Local Government of Jigawa State, where a petrol tanker explosion abruptly cut short the lives of nearly 200 Nigerians late into the night of October 15 (2024), throwing the entire nation into mourning. Literally, no family or household was spared. Our Jigawa correspondent, Ahmed Rufa’I, who visited the village, captured the mood of the parents, families and friends of victims in what can only be described as a plethora of sad stories.
The accident happened right before our very eyes, right opposite us. It was around 22:50 and we were seated by the roadside at Adam Science Tahfizul Quran College gate. Suddenly, a truck loaded with fuel emerged; it was heading in the eastern direction; in a bid to avoid a pothole on its way, the truck driver shifted to his right; however, an omnibus loaded with tomatoes suddenly appeared in the opposite direction. In an attempt to avoid a head-to-head collision, the truck driver tried to swerve back; unfortunately, the range was too close and the turning, too sharp. This caused the tank to be detached from the body of the truck and fall off. In no time, the petrol content started emptying into the drainage by the side of the road. Before we knew it, people, mostly young men, started coming out with various containers, metal buckets, plastic buckets and bowls to scoop the fuel. Apparently, they must have been thinking of how much they would make, even if they had to sell at giveaway prices, considering the current liter rate, and had no time thinking about any danger of their action.
“For some time, everything was okay and they were all just scooping. Suddenly, there was an explosion and everywhere went aflame, trapping everyone involved and everyone within the vicinity. Those who could, started running, fire all over their body; while some others were deep in the fire and really had nowhere to run to. I can’t exactly say what caused the fire, but it was when they started scooping the fuel from the ground that the fire was ignited. At the last count, the fire has resulted in the death of 182 persons, with many still battling various degrees of burns and battling for their lives in various hospitals.”
The above were words of Malam Adamu Lawan Majia, an eyewitness to the Jigawa tanker fire horror that occurred last Tuesday, October 15, sending 182 to their graves. Adamu, who had siblings and relatives in the accident, told The Nation amidst deep sorrow and sobbing that it is one incident the community, Majiya town, in Taura Local Government Area of Jigawa State and environs will never forget.
“It is one experience that will remain forever in our memories and in the history of this village. We will never forget this tragic day. May God Almighty grant the dead Aljantul Firddaus, and quick and full recovery to the injured,” Adamu finished off, his voice heavy and laden with emotions.
Jibiru Abdullahi, another resident of Majiya village and eye-witness corroborated Adamu’s story, albeit with a rather pathetic slant.
“The truck was trying to avoid collision with an omnibus coming from the opposite direction, but due to the heavy load of fuel it was carrying, the tank detached from the main body and fell sideways. The two compartments of the tank broke out and the PMS stated gushing out and pouring into the main drainage. Within minutes, people started scooping the fuel. The fire started around 24:00 hours that Tuesday night (October 15), it started from the culvert where people were scooping the fuel. Almost all the people that where there burned down to death. Virtually all the people confirmed dead are youths, largely below the age of 25. The adults who were caught in the fire only went there to warn their wards of the danger in the risk they were taking or to chase them away, when the explosion happened.”
Jibiru continued: “This is not the first incident of truck accident in this town; even last year, a truck fully loaded with foodstuffs fell and nobody cared to take a single commodity from it. So to me, it is just an accident destined to happen. Almost 90 per cent of them were youths, aged 16, 17 to 25 years. There is no single household that has not lost at least a person, either a house member or a relative.”
Saved by fever
Similarly, 21-year-old Usman Rabiú Majiya, who lost a brother, cousins, and seven friends, who were all classmates at Majiya Senior Secondary School with whom he wrote the 2023 SSCE examinations, narrated his story.
“I was together with some of the victims that evening at the community’s football field. Nura and I did not play, but Najib Sani and Kamalu played. We left together and all parted to our houses to shower and go for the evening prayer. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the last time I would see them alive.”
But for providence, Usman himself might have been one of the victims. He was saved by a fever, which caused him to over-sleep.
“I actually had fever, possibly malaria, which sort of knocked me down; so I took some antimalarial tablets and lied down and I slept. It was one of my younger brothers who came to wake me amidst the pandemonium. I came out to behold huge flame all over the sky. Fear and panic gripped me at the same time. I ran in the direction of the flame and when I got there, all I could see was fire everywhere, with people burning and screaming helplessly.”
Another member of the community, Adamu Ibrahim, in tears, narrated that he lost two of his uncles and 12 schoolmates, eight of which were his classmates.
“You know our senior secondary school here is a day-school. All those that died were male, and majority of them were aged 15 and above,” he said.
Similarly, Manniru Haruna, an SS II student of Government Day Senior Secondary School, Majiya, said: “I watched helplessly as many of my schoolmates including three of my classmates burned to ashes.”
Manniru told The Nation that he was not more than 40 meters away when the first explosion occurred, followed by the second one from the petrol tanker.
Lives in the balance; power outages worsens hospital conditions
Aside the nearly two hundred who have lost their lives in the inferno, many, nearing another one hundred, who survived with various degrees of burns, are in various hospitals in Jigawa, Kano and environs, receiving treatment and hoping to recover and join their families.
One of them, Uzairu Musa Mainama, a butcher, currently recuperating on his sickbed at Rasheed Shekoni Teaching Hospital, Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, managed to narrate how he became victim of the tanker explosion.
“I was at home when I heard people screaming and shouts for help. I came out and someone told me it was an accident involving a petrol tanker. On hearing that, I stopped and told myself ‘this is dangerous’; so I went back inside my house. But destiny, like they say, is unavoidable. I don’t know how I came out again thinking that there would be people involved who may need to be rescued or helped.”
“I got there three minutes later and suddenly, there was a loud explosion. All I can remember is that I was pushed away by the fire. I quickly got up and removed my burning shirt. I took my self to the clinic. There and then, we were more than 100 with various degrees of burns. From there, I was transferred to General Hospital Hadejia, and later here, Rasheed Shekoni Teaching Hospital Dutse.”
Our reporter in the state gathered that there were more than 75 survivors receiving treatment at the Intensive Care Units (I C.U), although he could not gain access to them, since only medical personnel on duty and some personnel on special duties had right of entry.
At Ringim General Hospital and Rasheed Shekoni Federal Teaching Hospital in Dutse, some patients, the reporter gathered, were responding to treatment while some, owing to their degrees of injuries, were said to be on danger list, their lives, hanging in the balance.
The situation at Ringim General Hospital was a cause for concern, as there was power outage, and the seriously burnt patients were left to battle the humidity of the heat. Some patients’ relatives were however on ground to fan them, using handmade fans.
Another patient was sighted on the bare floor of the verandah at back of the Accident and Emergency unit, probably to get fresh air. This reporter noted that he was in serious pain.
Jigawa State governor, Umar Namadi yesterday said 181 people have been confirmed dead, following the October 15 tanker explosion in his state.
According to him 80 people are still hospitalised, while 210 families were affected.
Namadi gave these figures to State House reporters after meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The governor said he was at the State House to welcome the president back from his annual leave and to brief him on the sad development.
“I felt it is important to come and brief the president on what we are doing as government and also thank him for sending a delegation immediately the incident happened.
He said the state government had paid the medical bills of all the people hospitalised and carried out a lot of interventions to bring succour to the affected families.
The Founder of Awamaridi C & S (Emerald), Lagos, Senior Prophet Solomon Jinadu, has said that Nigeria is wallowing in unending troubles because of the absence of love among the citizens.
Jinadu disclosed this during a 14-day annual prayer and fasting of the church.
The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), Agidingbi Cathedral, Lagos Archdiocese, recently held a colorful ceremony to unveil the emblem for the church’s 44th harvest, titled ‘Wonders without numbers.’ The event marks the beginning of preparations for the annual celebration, which will culminate in the Harvest Thanksgiving on December 1, 2024.
Speaking with The Nation, the Assistant Shepherd in Charge of the CCC, Agindigbi Cathedral Archdiocese, Superior Senior Evangelist Oluwatosin Taiwo, emphasized the deep spiritual significance of the harvest in Celestial Church tradition.
He described it as a profound act of worship and gratitude, symbolizing the connection between physical abundance and spiritual well-being.
“Harvest to Celestial churches is very symbolic. It is a time of spiritual reflection, gratitude, and offering, deeply rooted in the church’s connection to both the physical and spiritual provision from God,” Taiwo stated.
He outlined a series of events leading up to the Harvest Thanksgiving, including a revival, symposium, praise night, Prophet and Prophetess Day, and Youth Day, all scheduled for the last week of November.
