The Nation Newspaper

Category: Worship

  • Group task youth on 2015 elections

    The Executive Director of Youngstars Foundation, Kingsley Bangwell has advised young people to shun violence and embrace peace and fair play as we approach the 2015 general elections.

     Bangwell made this known at  campaign toward, Nigeria 2015 election organised by Youngstars Foundation in partnership with The 2Face Foundation funded by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) through USAID held recently at the NRC Building, Ifako-Ijaiye, Lagos.

     The campaign “Vote Not Fight”: Election no be War brought together hundreds of youths, civil society groups, youth association and musicians within the Ifako-Ijaiye community. The youth, were given  a non-violence pledge slip.

     He said that the need to engage young people, most especially in violence prone areas on the values of peace, love and fair play as we approach the Nigeria 2015 election, is very instructive for a violence free poll.

     Bangwell said “vote Not Fight” is a youth non-violence voter education campaign that seeks to promote peaceful participation by Nigerian youth in the 2015 elections.

     He noted that by February 2015, Nigerians would again head to the polls to decide through the ballot box the leadership of the country at the federal and state level both at the executive and legislative arm. Previous elections have been known to be marred with instances of violence and sometimes needless deaths.

     He recalled that in 2011 elections in Nigeria, Over 600 people were killed and about 40,000 people were internally displaced in the post- election violence of 2011. He said, “this must be prevented in 2015 especially as there are already instances of violence during rallies in” some parts of the country.

     Bangwell opined that the campaign seeks to encourage youth to make a commitment to shun violence and embrace peace. It is hoped that Nigerians from all walks of life will commit to peaceful elections by signing a non-violence pledge.

     “Election is not a war but an opportunity to refine the future of our country which must be echoed in the minds of our youth as we draw closer to the polls,” he said.

  • Deflating The Pressures Of Life (3)

    Last week, we examined the issues of telephone and electricity bills, which cause financial pressures and how to deflate such pressures. I said a person who is jobless does not need to own a telephone, since he can’t foot the bill. Also, I told you it is wasteful to deliberately leave your electricity lights on and walk away. This accumulates bills which may lead to financial pressure, if you are unable to pay up!

    This week, we will be looking at another aspect of financial pressure arising from children’s school fees, and how to overcome it. I want you to know that as parents, the kind of school you send your children to, should not be determined by your choice, but by your income. If, for instance, your child goes to school where the school fee is thrice your annual income, you are already operating under pressure.

    The kind of school that a child goes to, in most cases, does not determine his intelligence or performance. It is discipline that will distinguish him in the ultimate. By following scriptural principles, you can cheaply deflate such financial pressures. God said to Abraham: …Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward… (Genesis 13:14).  Abraham obeyed God and what happened to him? The Bible makes us to understand that God blessed him with much cattle, silver and gold (Genesis 13:2).

    You can see that if Abraham did not start from where he was, he wouldn’t have ended his life well; he would have died of poverty! You, too, can always start from where you are, in anything you are doing. For instance, when our children were growing up, I never prayed for their school fees for once, because they went to the school I could afford, without prayer or pressure. Should there be a fall in income, the children can be relocated elsewhere. If the school fees of your children are more than your income, relocate them to another school whose fees you can afford without tears.

    However, the overall attitude that will help anyone deflate financial pressure is contentment.  Be content with that which you have (Hebrews 13:5). Unless you are satisfied with what you have and where you are per time, you are likely to live under financial pressure. If the school fees of your children are more than your income, relocate them to another school which fees you can afford without tears.

    Therefore, be happy with what you have. Your reward may be slow, but it is sure.  It takes contentment to get to where you are going. This is my philosophy from scripture: What I don’t have, I don’t need, because no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11). Husband and wife, with contentment, you can cheaply overcome financial pressure and your destiny becomes colourful, especially in this New Year!

       The truth is, contentment does not come on a platter of gold. It is one of the characteristics of a child of God. If you want to become a child of God, you do so by accepting and confessing Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of your life and family. For you to have contentment, you must be born again. Are you born again?

    You can be born again right now, as you say this prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. I cannot help myself. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious blood. Deliver me from sin and Satan, to serve the Living God. Today, Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know, I am born again!”

    Next week, I will be showing you the implication of social pressure on your family and how to combat it

    Welcome to the family of God, the family of Winners! You will never go back, in Jesus’ name! Now that you are born again, you shall not be under financial pressure anymore, in Jesus’ name!  I come against any financial pressure in your life, in Jesus’ name! Contentment shall be the key in your hand for overcoming  the pressures of life. You won’t fail!   This is your year of Heaven On Earth!  

    Every exploit in life is a product of knowledge. For further reading, please get my books- The Winning Wisdom, Understanding Financial Prosperity and Breaking Financial Hardship.

    I invite you to come and fellowship with us at the Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, the covenant home of Winners. We have four services on Sundays, holding at 6:00 a.m., 7:50 a.m., 9:40 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. respectively.

     I know this teaching has blessed you. Write and share your testimony with me through: Faith Tabernacle, Canaan Land, Ota, P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria; or call 7747546-8; or E-mail: feedback@lfcww.org

  • ‘Jonathan will be PDP’s last president’

    ‘Jonathan will be PDP’s last president’

    The Founder/Spiritual Head of Inri Evangelical Church Lagos, Primate Elijah Ayodele, spoke with Adetutu Audu, on the forthcoming elections, among sundry issues. Excerpts: 

    What should Nigerians be looking forward to in 2015?

    2015 is a year that Nigerians are expecting so many things. Many people have been saying that Nigeria will breakup but I can tell you that Nigeria will not breakup in 2015.

    Nigeria will still remain a as, country in 2015 but we  need a lot of prayers against bloodbath. We need prayers for God to protect the country especially in the political scene because so many unexpected things will happen.

    Politically, what do you foresee?

    Nigerian politics still needs a lot of prayers. We need to be prayerful to avert many politicians getting involved in accidents.

    The election will not breakup Nigeria. There will be partial peace in some places while there will be no peace in some places. I don’t see Nigeria remaining a single nation in the  next 30 years. Jonathan will be the last PDP’s  president.

    I see a new government coming up in this country. If Jonathan eventually wins in 2015, PDP will not have it in 2019. The party will break.

     I don’t see APC capturing Abia State. If APGA works hard it will capture Abia, albeit I see rigging in the state. Rivers is another state we need to pray hard about so that there will be no stealing of ballot papers and there will be no killing. APC will want to retain the state and PDP too will not want to give up. These are the things we need to pray about for God to take total control. APC and PDP will share the northern part of the country.

     Buhari should not be overwhelmed because the PDP will go with their foot soldiers to make sure that they get some. If the APC is not careful, PDP will take part of the south west from them. Let us pray that APC will not lose any of its BOT members and also in PDP.

    A top APC leader, Obasanjo and Edwin Clark are playing their last politics. Some of them would be disappointed. We should pray so that there would not be crisis in the judiciary in Lagos, Rivers, Kano and Kaduna in particular.

    There is going to be a change in our constitution as well. They will try to implement some of the things in the constitution and in the process there would be arguments. There would be a lot of discussion on our constitution after the elections.

     Insecurity has been a serious challenge.  Would this abate in 2015?

     Jonathan must handle the issue of security very well because terrorism has come to stay in the country. Even if another government comes in today, it will not be able to fight Boko

    Haram.  Boko Haram will be targeting markets, motor parks and will abduct more children. We have Al Qaeda, ISIS teaming up with Boko Haram in the country right away.

     We would need a lot of prayers to manage it. It is going to take the government a longer time to defeat Boko Haram. We also need to be very careful because I see explosions in many places, bomb blasts. Even in the South West here, we need to be very careful.

    We also need to pray against tanker explosion. We are going to have ocean surge and also sea pirates with the federal government calling for assistance on this. Kidnapping will be on the increase and another wave of criminality will evolve. The police will try their best but there will be changes in our security network, namely the army, the Navy the Customs, the Immigration and the Prisons.

    We should pray that there should not be a jail break. Journalists must be watchful. The NUJ in particular must be watchful because politics will tear the body apart. Some banks will face crisis. Let us pray against the death of any journalist in the year. Let us pray that we don’t lose any emir and prominent Oba in the southwest.

     A traditional ruler will be dethroned in the east. We should also pray that the country does not run into debt. We must pray hard against ship capsize.

    There are fears that the fall in oil price may spell doom for the country in 2015. What is your take on this?

    I have not seen anything fantastic happening to our economy. Very soon, it will affect the rich too. I foresee a lot of problems in the CBN. There would re-organisation, re-shuffling and formation of policies that may not work for some commercial banks.

    CBN will get it wrong in some areas and some banks will lay off some of their staff. Some communication companies will also lay off some of their staff. The prices of food stuff will go up. The prices of fish will go up.

    I see shares doing fine in the early parts of the year. I have not seen anything fantastic happening to unemployment. The prices of petroleum will go up. Let us pray against pipeline explosion and breakdown. There is going to be a lot of crisis in the NNPC and there would be new refinery. Some of the oil we are having will dry up.

    In the next 15 years, our oil may not be as rich as it has always been. Some states will break down economically in 2018 and 2019 because of debt. We need to pray hard so that 20 of all the states that we have do not break down economically. Our foreign reserve will experience crisis. I have not really seen anything cheering about it.

    What other issues should the people look up to in the year?

    Let us pray very well that no calamity happens in the aviation sector because it is possible that we are going to witness air crash. Nigeria Air Force will lose their plane through crash.

    Let us pray as well so that we do not see death in the army. I want to beg the president to pardon these 54 soldiers that have been sentenced to death. There is so much blood that is crying and the land is not at peace. If the President allows them to be killed, it will affect the progress of this country.

    He can dismiss them or punish them in another form instead of killing them.  Boko Haram will want to attack the barracks and let us pray against any police headquarters being engulfed by fire.

  • Remember heaven, cleric charges Christians

    The Special Adviser, Administration and Personnel to the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Johnson Odesola, has charged Christians to live with the consciousness that Jesus could come anytime.

    He pointed out that many Christians have been distracted by earthly concerns and might be caught unawares should the saviour return.

    Odesola spoke at the public presentation of Living on Empty by the Media and Publicity Director of the National Youth Office of RCCG, Pastor Femi Enigbokan, in Lagos.

    “Most times, we major in minor and forget that the major thing that makes heaven glad is our walk with God, which is personal and has great reward when Jesus Christ comes,” he said.

    Odesola applauded Enigbokan, who he referred to as his son, and said the book is a timely intervention for the church to remember that the coming of the Lord is at hand.

    The author, Enigbokan, said that the Christian race is a marathon with several pitfalls carefully premeditated by the enemy to put out the fire among believers. Living on Empty shed light on these snags and how to successfully overcome them in our quest to make heaven while fulfilling purpose on earth.

    He said Living on empty is a mix of deep teaching, sharing real life issues, practical insights and sundry matters.

    “In the book, I tried to do an expose on some of the major factors that subtly lead to spiritual burnout in the lives of believers’ activities, rate of inflow to outflow, not being deeply rooted in Him, wrong association, disengagement due to length of stay and the problem and pleasures of life and how we can with the help of the Holy Spirit overcome them,” he stated.

  • ‘Jonathan will be PDP’s last president’

    The Founder/Spiritual Head of Inri Evangelical Church Lagos, Primate Elijah Ayodele, spoke with Adetutu Audu, on the forthcoming elections, among sundry issues. Excerpts:

    What should Nigerians be looking forward to in 2015?

    2015 is a year that Nigerians are expecting so many things. Many people have been saying that Nigeria will breakup but I can tell you that Nigeria will not breakup in 2015.

    Nigeria will still remain a as, country in 2015 but we  need a lot of prayers against bloodbath. We need prayers for God to protect the country especially in the political scene because so many unexpected things will happen.

    Politically, what do you foresee?

    Nigerian politics still needs a lot of prayers. We need to be prayerful to avert many politicians getting involved in accidents.

    The election will not breakup Nigeria. There will be partial peace in some places while there will be no peace in some places. I don’t see Nigeria remaining a single nation in the  next 30 years. Jonathan will be the last PDP’s  president.

    I see a new government coming up in this country. If Jonathan eventually wins in 2015, PDP will not have it in 2019. The party will break.

    I don’t see APC capturing Abia State. If APGA works hard it will capture Abia, albeit I see rigging in the state. Rivers is another state we need to pray hard about so that there will be no stealing of ballot papers and there will be no killing. APC will want to retain the state and PDP too will not want to give up. These are the things we need to pray about for God to take total control. APC and PDP will share the northern part of the country.

    Buhari should not be overwhelmed because the PDP will go with their foot soldiers to make sure that they get some. If the APC is not careful, PDP will take part of the south west from them. Let us pray that APC will not lose any of its BOT members and also in PDP.

    A top APC leader, Obasanjo and Edwin Clark are playing their last politics. Some of them would be disappointed. We should pray so that there would not be crisis in the judiciary in Lagos, Rivers, Kano and Kaduna in particular.

    There is going to be a change in our constitution as well. They will try to implement some of the things in the constitution and in the process there would be arguments. There would be a lot of discussion on our constitution after the elections.

     Insecurity has been a serious challenge.  Would this abate in 2015?

    Jonathan must handle the issue of security very well because terrorism has come to stay in the country. Even if another government comes in today, it will not be able to fight Boko

    Haram.  Boko Haram will be targeting markets, motor parks and will abduct more children. We have Al Qaeda, ISIS teaming up with Boko Haram in the country right away.

    We would need a lot of prayers to manage it. It is going to take the government a longer time to defeat Boko Haram. We also need to be very careful because I see explosions in many places, bomb blasts. Even in the South West here, we need to be very careful.

    We also need to pray against tanker explosion. We are going to have ocean surge and also sea pirates with the federal government calling for assistance on this. Kidnapping will be on the increase and another wave of criminality will evolve. The police will try their best but there will be changes in our security network, namely the army, the Navy the Customs, the Immigration and the Prisons.

    We should pray that there should not be a jail break. Journalists must be watchful. The NUJ in particular must be watchful because politics will tear the body apart. Some banks will face crisis. Let us pray against the death of any journalist in the year. Let us pray that we don’t lose any emir and prominent Oba in the southwest.

    A traditional ruler will be dethroned in the east. We should also pray that the country does not run into debt. We must pray hard against ship capsize.

    There are fears that the fall in oil price may spell doom for the country in 2015. What is your take on this?

    I have not seen anything fantastic happening to our economy. Very soon, it will affect the rich too. I foresee a lot of problems in the CBN. There would re-organisation, re-shuffling and formation of policies that may not work for some commercial banks.

    CBN will get it wrong in some areas and some banks will lay off some of their staff. Some communication companies will also lay off some of their staff. The prices of food stuff will go up. The prices of fish will go up.

    I see shares doing fine in the early parts of the year. I have not seen anything fantastic happening to unemployment. The prices of petroleum will go up. Let us pray against pipeline explosion and breakdown. There is going to be a lot of crisis in the NNPC and there would be new refinery. Some of the oil we are having will dry up.

    In the next 15 years, our oil may not be as rich as it has always been. Some states will break down economically in 2018 and 2019 because of debt. We need to pray hard so that 20 of all the states that we have do not break down economically. Our foreign reserve will experience crisis. I have not really seen anything cheering about it.

    What other issues should the people look up to in the year?

    Let us pray very well that no calamity happens in the aviation sector because it is possible that we are going to witness air crash. Nigeria Air Force will lose their plane through crash.

    Let us pray as well so that we do not see death in the army. I want to beg the president to pardon these 54 soldiers that have been sentenced to death. There is so much blood that is crying and the land is not at peace. If the President allows them to be killed, it will affect the progress of this country.

    He can dismiss them or punish them in another form instead of killing them.  Boko Haram will want to attack the barracks and let us pray against any police headquarters being engulfed by fire.

     

  • Ministry not founded on gifts

    Bishop Humphrey Erumaka is the General Overseer of Word Base Assembly. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde he talks about life in the Ministry, challenges and the forthcoming crusade tagged my unbeatable God.

    How has it been running your church for over twenty years?

    The church clocked 20 years early this year and it has been a wonderful experience. When we started we were in a smaller church but we are now in this magnificent building. We have two other branches in Ejigbo and Magodo in Lagos. In addition , work is in progress in Lekki and we more expanse of Land. We also have branches in Owerri and Umuahia.

    In the Ministry, I have travelled to all the continents of the world except Russia. We have also supported missionary work all over the world. For us the word of God has kept our church. We have stood on the clear veracity of the word. I believe that the Ministry is not founded on gifts but the word of God.

    When did the call come for you?

    I trained as a journalist and also practiced. In 1988, God called me to full time Ministry. For the first six years, I travelled for the Ministry and erected a building where we started from. The word of God is progressing and I never felt like quitting at any point but felt things could get better. Ministry is a journey of faith; you can’t do much without him showing up.

    As a journalist how many Christian books have you written?

    I have written ten Researched books. One of them titled, Restoring Mandate Dignity won the triumphant award in North Carolina. The latest called Book of Errors won another ward. One of my classics is titled Divine Power deposits and the best is called Sustainable friendship. Interestingly, one individual has printed over 12,000 copies and shared free.

    What are some of the challenges in the Ministry?

    Most of the common challenges are meeting up budget to schedule project dates starring at you. If you start trusting him, he would not abandon you midway.

    How would you describe the state of the nation at the moment?

    The situation appears unstable especially regarding the presidential elections in parts where Boko Haram has exercised damages. It is more of a national disaster. I have been to top clergy meetings where we donated money in good measure to send to our brothers in the North. We are doing our best but how much can you help a man who has lost house, family and more. When there is peace things would be restored. There is war, whatever you give is a relief. We need the crisis in the North to stop and we must stop politicizing it.

    In spite of the fact that there are many churches, unrighteousness is still the order of the day. Why is this so?

    That is not in the absolute sense. Put the other way, you can imagine what would have happened if there are no churches. People do not need the church to be righteous. You have the positional righteousness which you receive from Christ as a free gift. The Bible says he that is Righteous doeth good and has right consciousness. A Muslim can be right conscious but that does not give him the positional consciousness. When a people in a nation are righteous then righteousness exalts a nation. A lot of people have the positional righteousness but you have to teach them to be right conscious.

    What projects are you working on at the moment?

    At the moment we are working on our annual Festival of Power and Prayer Crusade which would take place from 4th to 11th January. It is not all about the church but the community. It is a period when we open our doors to members of the public. Over the years a number of testimonies abound to the extent that it is now the community that demands for it. The theme for the next edition of the program is tagged My Unbeatable God.

    Our God never fails. We have done it for 6 years and it is usually a time to wait on God to start the year on a positive note. It is better to wait on the lord because if you do not do it HIS way, you may go round looking for what God has placed just next door to you. Prayer is a two way thing and it is better to pray and ask for direction. The program is interdenominational and we have a number of speakers that includes Sam Ihenacho from Enugu, pastor Diallo from Canada and friends from within the country. For music we have people like Frank Edwards, Sharon and David Moore for our all praise night on Friday. In terms of security everything is intact; we have surveillance gadgets, police and vigilante groups involved.

    What are some of the testimonies from previous programs?

    Over the years we have had a number of cases of healing; declarations are made in terms of God’s blessings and breakthroughs. A number of people who have been married without children come the following year with their own children. We also have cases of those who did not come to the program but they were touched in their homes as well as those who built properties within the year. Of course, there are also testimonies about the testimonies about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and people who also got clear cut instructions that led to relocation.

    If you are the president of Nigeria, what would you do differently?

    The greatest challenge in Nigeria is poverty and it is orchestrated by corruption. Nigerians are not lazy but the opportunities and facilities are not favorable. In China, people are running factories from their garage but here we have issues with electricity. This leads to restiveness and make our youth available tools.

  • How I made accordion popular

    Reverend Sola Rotimi and the Triple S Ministries is popular with his hit songs Father bless my home, Bami wo ni awoye. The gospel artiste who is passionate in propagating the gospel through songs now lives abroad. He speaks with Adetutu Audu on his music and evangelism ministry.

    The kind of gospel music you sang is different from what we have now. What do you think is the problem?

    The main problem is that the artistes now are plagued with the perils of the end time. If one is not careful, it is easy to derail from faith because it will come gradually. Most of them do not give their time to study the bible. When I was the president of the gospel musicians in Nigeria, I always tell them, you cannot sing the whole bible without studying the bible, no matter how gifted you are.  For instance, my song, Bami wo ni awoye was inspired by the story of Eli whose children became children of Belial. We need to pray for our children.

    When you study the bible you get a lot of inspiration, but if you don’t, there is the possibility of doing it your way. Gospel beats, rhythm, tempo should also be conducive to contrition. There are beats dished out in some of these songs which immediately you listen to it transport your mind to the dancing steps you see on TV.

    People dance Makossa, Fuji, right in the church. That is not okay. We are preaching that the secular world should come to Christ but now there is no difference between the two.

    That is the reason we have different types of gospel musicians. I was in the choir for years but I was not born again. However, one day I listened to a message from one of our district superintendents who said Jesus said it is not everybody that calls Lord, Lord that will go to the heaven. Whosoever that is born again will go to heaven. So I made up my mind; God, if truly you save people, save my life.

    You became popular with accordion. What inspired this?

    Our choir master left to further his education and we had an accordion in our church. So there was no one to play. Since I became born-again, the pastor took interest in me and encourages me. Initially, I was shy and could not play and sing with it simultaneously. One night, I prayed and said I wanted to be a big evangelist like the late Apostle Babalola who incidentally was from my home town.  He answered my prayers by the third day. I was able to change tunes of hymns and most of my lyrics I got from the bible. I started going round the major cities to play the accordion. I was working at the paper mill then. I would leave home early as 5am and evangelise through singing. By the time I got to the office, they would be talking about the angel who came around singing. My love for evangelism became so intense that I was always either on casual leave or annual leave. The day my secret was opened was when a train that usually came to Jebba broke down.  The Holy Spirit told me to minister in the train. I later met people who invited me to minister in their churches. People came from far and near to listen and, alas, people recognised me. Holy Spirit taught me all I know, I never went to any music school. However, in 1976, when my boss in the office could not stomach this kind of truancy again, I had to resign to become a full-time gospel evangelist. I am a solo performer. When I started this in Jebba, I was one-in-town. It was funny to some people to see me play and sing at the same time. It made me peculiar.

    I tell stories with my songs. I do preach also, but these days, people tend to like choruses and some beats alongside it. I have now resolved to have a group that sings with me. I have tremendous joy when I see people who play the accordion, a musical instrument I made popular in Nigeria. When I started, I was about the only person playing it.

    Do you still play it?

    I play almost every day. In the U.S, they fell in love with my accordion because it is only the Spanish, Italian and the German who play it. They are only familiar with violin in the U.S. In the plane, they usually force me to play and I see it as an opportunity to minister. Till date, I have used more than 10.

    People have argued that secular music is more rewarding than gospel. Why did you stick to gospel?

    After I resigned from the paper mill, at a point when I was playing the accordion, I abandoned it, that it was not financially rewarding. I went to learn printing after five years, with the hope of graduating and establishing it big time. I was sitting with my colleagues when a man accosted me in their midst that God said I had abandoned the work he gave me. I ran after the man, but I could not see him again. But as I was reading the bible, I came across the story of the parable of the talent, so I asked God to forgive me. Also, the testimonies of people after they discovered I was the ‘angel’ that had been singing.  I met someone who introduced me to the person who recorded my first LP.

    What are you working on currently?

    Right now, we are putting all works on compact disc and DVDs. We already have about 23. Among which is Father bless my home because this generation is familiar with it. And another old song for the old generation, they would be released before Christmas.

  • 2015: Nigeria cannot disintegrate, says Olukoya

    2015: Nigeria cannot disintegrate, says Olukoya

    Nigeria will not disintegrate in 2015, the general overseer of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), Dr. Daniel Olukoya, has assured.

    According to him: “Nobody can destroy Nigeria because it is a country of destiny.”

    This was part of Olukoya’s 2015 predictions at the church’s Prayer City along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during the cross over service.

    He said: “No matter what happens, one way or the other, the prophetic agenda and prayers will bail it (Nigeria) out of whatever quagmire it gets into.

    “The Lord will not mind to kill or maim anyone who may want to destroy Nigeria.”

    He pointed out that Nigeria is strategically located on the continent and its shape on the continent is like the trigger of a gun, stressing the country is the most dangerous or most volatile part of Africa, which must not be toyed with.

    Olukoya charged Christians to pray to tackle the year he called “cautious, mysterious, dribbling,” warning that prayerless churches will suffer in the year.

  • FOTA feeds 4,000 Lagosians at Christmas

    There was an unprecedented queue in and out of the Araromi Secondary School, Sari Iganmu Lagos penultimate Friday when a humanitarian organisation, 5 Loaves 2 Fishes, gave out bags of rice and noodles to over 4,000 residents.

    The organisation powered by Foundation of Truth Assembly(FOTA) Lagos also carried out free medical checkups on thousands of the residents of the community.

    It was jubilation all the way for the residents and beneficiaries of the humanitarian programme.

    This humanitarian outreach, according to the Coordinator of the group and Senior Pastor of the Foundation of Truth Assembly, Rev Yomi Kasali, was in the spirit of the yuletide season and a bid to cushion the effect of poor Nigerians.

    Kasali said the humanitarian outreach is meant to put smiles in the faces of poor Nigerians.

    He noted that the empowerment programme has made impact on the people of the community but decried the poor state of his organisation to continue to carry out the humanitarian programme every time.

    “I have made impact and it makes me happy you can see these people are very poor, so to give them food makes me happy.

    “The impact has been impressive but the funding has been frustrating because I wish people could give us money but it is the other way round.

    “People should put money where it matters to people that will help you give it to the poor,” he said.

    Kasali stated that his organisation hoped to carry out larger free health care services to various Nigerian communities in the near future, dismissing insinuations that the outreach was to drive church growth.

    “It is primarily humanitarian; it is not a church growth programme and spiritual uplift.

    “We have over 4000 people benefiting from this exercise, we give the parents rice and the children noodles to enable them feed themselves.”

    He added: “My vision is to have four mobile clinics and free medic care on weekend basis. We will employ doctors that will go to these poor communities and give them free medic care every Saturday.

    “All I need is funding. I have the personnel on ground and I have the vision in my heart.  I will be reaching 500 people every Saturday with free medic care in four communities,” he said.

    One of the beneficiaries, Alice Akuete, said she was grateful and happy for the gesture which will put food on the table for the Yuletide season.

    “I want to thank God for their life and thank them for their gesture may God bless them,” she said.

    Another beneficiary, Isaac Kelechi, said: “I and my brother just left my house not knowing that something of this was going on until we met a friend who told me about it and it is a very nice one. I am so happy getting this, most especially at this festive period,”  he said.

  • Bishop promises ‘stomach infrastructure’

    The governorship candidate of the Accord Party(AP) in Akwa Ibom State, Bishop Samuel Akpan, has promised to end the biting hunger prevailing among the majority of the Akwa Ibom people, if elected governor.

    Speaking on what people should expect from him, Akpan said his government will implement ‘stomach infrastructure’ and fight unemployment by going straight into industrialisation.

    He lamented that many in Akwa Ibom people were still suffering from abject poverty with most of them going about in hunger.

    This, to him, is a misnomer as the wealth of the state is concentrated only in the hands of a handful of people in government or those having access to them.

    The Accord Party’s candidate promised to distribute the wealth of the state through policies in such a way that will benefit the masses as against what is presently obtained.

    As part of his industrialisation programme, the Accord Party’s governorship candidate said his administration will build modular refineries at different locations in the state and open- up participation in the oil and gas industry so that indigenes of the state can take part and benefit from this God given blessings.

    He said the other angle to his industrialisation programme will be more agric- based.

    Asked to expatiate on the ‘stomach infrastructure’ and the pattern it will take, the Bishop said that remains the secret of his administration when voted into office but assured  it will contain the biting hunger prevalent among the majority in the state