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Tag: prayer

  • ‘Prayer is backbone of my existence’

    ‘Prayer is backbone of my existence’

    On August 23, Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Lagos and Bishop, Diocese of Lagos Mainland, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most. Rev Adebayo Dada Akinde, will turn 70 and  hand over to his successor. In this interview with NNEKA NWANERI, Prof Akinde speaks about how it all started 35 years ago and his retirement plans.

    On his academic sojourn

    I earned a B.Sc. in Electronics from the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), at Ile-Ife, in the present Osun State. I then went on to obtain an M.Sc and Ph.d in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Hardware) from the University College, London, and University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom (UK). While at the faculty at Obafemi  Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, I pursued an academic career, first in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, and then in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. At different times between 1983 and 1993, I was Head of Department of Computer  Science and Engineering for 11 years. I also served as External Examiner at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels to many universities in Nigeria, Africa and Europe.

     

    Career life

     

    Having served as Postgraduate Research Engineer, Radio and Space Research Station, Dutton Park, Slough UK, I lectured at the University of Ife at different times from 1973-1994. I worked as a Professor from October 1994 to April 2002. As a fellow of the Computer Association of Nigeria, I served as President from 1997 to 1999 and the Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria. I was on the Federal Government Committee on Computer Policy from 1987-1988, from where I became Chairman, Federal Government Computer Training Committee, Kaduna, 1988 to 1989. From 1999 to 2000, I was an IT Consultant to the Ministry of Defence, Abuja and Chairman of the Board of Directors of CHAMS Plc.  I was one of the foundation members of the Computer Association of Nigeria (COAN) now Nigerian Computer Society (NCS).

     

    Ministerial odyssey

     

    It all began on December 23, 1979, when I was made a Deacon in the Anglican Church by the late pioneer Bishop of the Diocese of Egba-Egbado, Rev Jonathan Soremi Adeniyi. I became a priest on December 20, 1981 at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Ake Abeokuta. And since then, there’s been no going back on the scriptures. So, while I practised my profession, I was active and effective in the church. After that, I was a Canon in the Diocese of Ilesa under the then Rt. Rev Adebola Ademowo and was made Provost of the Cathedral of St. Peters between 2000 and 2006.

     

    How the journey has been

     

    Working in the church and for God has been my bedrock. Service to God started way back. No engagement of mine precluded servicing the church. So, all the while I was working as a teacher, a computer engineer and a public servant, I was also involved in working in the church of God.

    Since I became Archbishop in the episcopate in 2006, it has been a learning curve for me, having to take superintendence of many churches and clergies. Most importantly, I am grateful to God for the opportunity to have learnt lessons, which I could never have learnt anywhere else, coming into full time service in the Church of God, Anglican Communion.

    On the whole, in such challenging period, it gave me an opportunity to live more by faith and less by sight. Having to provide the necessary infrastructure is a challenge on its own; having to manage the diversity in the membership and dealing with human problems in a more practical way.

    I have been involved in advocacy, justice and social issues more than ever before. In everything, we have been kept steady and we have every cause to thank God.

     

    Blending science with religion

     

    Being a scientist has not precluded my belief in God. I have never depended on my ability, wisdom or competence. Working in this position is a highly spiritual matter. It is different from attainment, intellect, financial, academic but more of openness, dependence and obedience to God.

    Coming into the episcopacy has taught me to be more prayerful and our prayer life has increased since then. Prayer has been the backbone of my very existence. Coming into the office has deepened my prayer life and communion with God.

    Many believe that with my Ph.D, I will want to rationalise and submit everything including religion to scientific interpretation. That is not so. My conviction is that religion is one thing, and intellectual pursuit is a completely different ball game with no meeting grounds, but it has made me to fear God the more.

    When it comes to spiritual matters, I always have to start from the basics. Having a Ph.D has not hindered my spiritual life and exposure to God.

    For instance, one Sunday I was in a service and ideas of a new dimension came in and I just gave God glory because it is unusual and can only be from the Holy Spirit, who ministered to me. And that was how I made a breakthrough. My belief in God has aided a great deal in my scientific exploits.

     

     

    Challenges-high and low moments in the vineyard

     

    I had never ministered in Lagos until I came in as Bishop. I have worshiped and preached in a number of churches in Lagos. Before now, the bulk of my ministry has been in the rural areas, in the villages in Abeokuta. It was a preparation ground for me because going from Abeokuta to Lagos, I saw things being done at a completely different level. Everything here was exotic and elaborate, whereas in the native city, we watched and counted the kobos.

    But in cosmopolitan Lagos with enormous wealth and resources, things are done at a much bigger scale. So, I had to quickly adjust to look like someone from the Atlantic.

    Secondly, I never knew, until I came to Lagos, that there was rumbling and tribal slangs in the church of God. I found these rumblings strange and quickly sought the aid of God to handle these situations. Since inception, this diocese has had peace because serving God is independent of our tribe or parochial thinking or gender or social status.

     

    Division in the church

     

    Such divisions around us are indicative of carnality entailing worshipping God and carrying out our Christianity in the flesh.

     

    On his retirement

     

    It is the constitution’s provision of our church to retire at 70. I really have to and want to go because God is leading me to serve him in other ways. I can never do without His work. Being a minister is not the only way one can serve God. In my professional field, God can use me for this country and beyond.

     

    What he will be retiring to

     

    I will be getting back to my first love, specifically science and technology advocacy. No nation and society can make any meaningful development without any meaningful foundation in science and technology.

    All my learning life, I have trained in that sphere of life. We must promote science and technology if we want to develop. We must generate wealth because we are too much of a consuming nation and we should produce and create our own products. We import almost 95 percent of our needs and our citizens are idling away without jobs, despite we having competent Nigerians in all body of knowledge.

     

    If he wished for more time

    in the vineyard

     

    I have never had an agenda of my own. All I sought to do was to run God’s agenda and as much as God reveals to me, I put in the best of my endeavour to accomplish it.

    Usually, the first three days of December yearly, I try to be alone with God to seek God’s mind for me in the coming year. God reveals, directs and I follow it and that is the reason why I have never levied any church for projects in the diocese because God always provided me with resources to accomplish them.

     

    State of the nation

     

    The president and his deputy came to power on the manifesto of change. The team has promised us change. But since I do not know the challenges they are facing, I appeal to Nigerians to be patient. One year in the history of a nation is a very brief period due to the enormous challenges if they are to provide enduring solutions. They are men of integrity and they are proven tested men and in another year or two, we will begin to see the dividends of their governance.

    But the way we are getting on is frightening. Who is marginalising who? Let us work towards making Nigeria a united true federation. Let us talk and see ourselves more as Nigerians.

     

     Family life

     

    Married to Mrs. Bassey Ekong Akinde, a pharmacist and former university don from Calabar, the Cross River State capital and have three sons. None of my sons have taken over from me in the ministry, but all three of them are actively involved in Christianity.

     

     On same sex marriage

     

    It is an abomination unto the Lord. Same sex marriage is a no go area. The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) stands by the Holy Bible on human sexuality. The church remains resolute and we are winning the war. We have not changed and we are providing muscle to other churches on the same issue.

     

    Will his priestly and academic work be compiled?

     

    Yes, I am thinking of one or two writings to share the experiences God has given me so that anyone can learn, if there is anything to learn from it. It will be available in two to three months.

  • Thousands observe Eid el-Fitri prayer in Ibadan

    Thousands observe Eid el-Fitri prayer in Ibadan

    •Ajimobi appeals to workers to embrace dialogue

    Thousands of Muslim faithful in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, yesterday observed the Rakat prayer to commemorate this year’s Eid el-Fitri festival.

    Worshippers, as early as 7.30 am, converge on prayer-grounds,  to observe the yearly festival.

    Governor Abiola Ajimobi worshipped at the popular Yidi prayer ground with hundreds of other Muslim faithful.

    He appealed to striking workers to suspend the one-month-old industrial action, calling on their leaders to meet with government representatives to share the available fund in the state’s coffers.

    The governor made the appeal in an interview with reporters after observing prayers at the Eid ground.

    The governor stressed the need for labour to show understanding by coming to a roundtable to discuss how the outstanding salaries of workers could be paid as well as the new education initiative of the state government.

    Ajimobi said: “I am using this opportunity to call on labour and stakeholders in the state, including teachers, workers, students, traders and even thugs to come together and join hands with me to improve Oyo State.

    “Let us live peacefully among ourselves. We don’t want anything else, but peace. Where there is peace, there will be progress. Democracy is about dialogue, not about fighting.

    “We must come to the roundtable. So, I am appealing to labour to imbibe peace and dialogue. We will pay outstanding salaries when we have the fund. But let them come so that we can sit together to discuss how to allocate the little money that we have now.”

    The governor admonished the Muslim faithful to imbibe the lesson of the Holy month of Ramadan in their daily affairs, urging them to guard against returning to some of the sinful acts they dropped during the fasting.

    In his message, the Chief Imam of Ibadanland, Sheik Abubaker Agbotomokekere, called on Muslims not to go back to their bad ways, which they left before the month of Ramadan.

    Speaking on Islam as a religion of peace, the cleric urged Muslim adherents to live peacefully with brethren from other faith and avoid utterances and actions capable of causing religious crisis.

    Agbotomokekere prayed for sustenance of peace, progress and development of the state.

    At the University of Ibadan, the Chief Imam of UI, Prof.  Abdulrahman Oloyede, enjoined the Muslim faithful to be patient, saying the economic crisis would soon be over.

  • Citizens’ prayer

    Creator, we have come forth, when heaven lies at the tick of a bomb, when hell blazes in the spoken word. We come for hope and truth’s pure ray. We come to wish our strife away. Life was not what we prayed for under Goodluck Ebele Jonathan – it got worse every hour. It is still not we prayed for under Muhammadu Buhari, every second, it gets harder.

    Jonathan, the boy who had no shoes managed to snatch our dog-eared shoes from our feet. That self-confessed son of a poor fisherman came to snatch the few fingerlings we had in our nets. When we protested, he dished us tadpoles to eat and called it the rarest kind of nutritious fish. The one we hoped would accord us a breath of fresh air emerged to blow as another clean breath of fresh stench.

    We have grown from the era when our grief was of fuel subsidy to the era when our grief is of fuel scarcity. When Ebele baba removed that mythical subsidy we barely enjoyed. Fuel we used to buy at N65 sold at N141, N150, and N160. Under Buhari, we have bought fuel at N150 through N500 per litre. Now, our almighty Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu and company have pegged fuel price at N145/litre. Consequently, a decent meal has become the rarest luxury: vegetables and tubers, palm oil and vegetable oil, kerosene and gas, now sell at abominable prices.

    We cannot afford to fuel our cars: N3, 500 can no longer fill our vehicle tanks, we have to spend between N5, 000 and N8, 500 – or more when the fuel marketers decide to hoard fuel in order to sell it at a higher price. The price of public transport has gone through the roof. Yesterday, we spent N250 from Sango Ota to Ado Odo; today we pay N600 just to get there. Iyana Ipaja, Ikeja to Owode and Agbado respectively now cost N700 to and fro vis-à-vis the initial N300, on our worst days. It’s scarier for those of us who work on Victoria Island.

    Reluctantly, we keep faith in the incumbent regime, hoping President Buhari will remain a man of honour and keep his pledge to rid our lives of debilitating greed and corruption. But as we keep faith in Buhari, we remember how incumbent Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, taunted former President Jonathan’s bumbling oil subsidy and fuel price regime in 2014. Through spasmodic fits of politesse and duplicitous exuberance, he stated that: “Now we should be enjoying cheap fuel if the price of oil has dropped globally…If the price increases in the country when the price of oil goes up globally, then it should also reduce when the price of oil drops.

    “PMS price reduction by N10. Now they listen. Oil the raw material drop (sic) over 50%, N10 is just about 10%. Good try but Nigeria can get a beta deal,” Fashola subsequently tweeted. He has been discomfortingly quiet since the government increased pump price of fuel.

    Today, compatriots are saying that Buhari has forgotten his roots. They claim he has declared war on us whose fates he swore to protect. They claim that like Jonathan, he has chosen to wade deaf, against the storm and current of public opinion. But Camp Buhari would have none of that. Buhari apologists argue that his seemingly savage policies are fundamental to our healing as a people and a nation.

    Do not be deceived by the furor of our hastily conceived citizens’ protests on Facebook, Twitter and the streets of Abuja, we shall tire of the novelty of revolutionary slogans and mass actions very soon. Our backs shall remain against the wall. When Buhari’s policies bite harder, we will simply crawl into the walls like irritating wall geckos.

    Our labour leaders and columnists of note are quietly eating up their words in the wake of ‘crucial’ meetings with the ruling class. Soon, they will tell us to ditch the placards and save our chants till more auspicious hour. Whispers of currency shall smother our rant and the revolutionary cry. At the end, everything will remain the same. Our fates shall bend and break according to the whims of the ruling class.

    Thus we seek the comfort of your infinite mercies against the scourge of our merciless leaders. We pray that you repay our leaders in their own kobo. Dear author and finisher of faith, please rewrite our pitiful fates as the Christians pray. And even though “the pen has been lifted” as the Muslims say, please rework our fates as you do to your most favoured faithful.

    If our leaders are truly on the right path…if truly, they lead with honesty and unpretentious fear of you in their hearts, treat them as you would, your most favoured among humankind. But if they lead us with disdain and deceit in their hearts, treat them the way you treated Abu Ashram and the Abyssinians when they rose against Mecca.

    Afflict their mansions to tear down the comfort they build to our discomfort. Upset their bellies and purge them of the provisions they gorge like gluttons. As we spend our finest moments in darkness, make their access to light a luxury of the past. Reorder their fates that they too may go to sleep and rise in darkness. Make their wives hiss and fret for want of fresh air like our wives do. Make their kids and grandkids flail and choke in the grasp of unforgiving heatstroke, like our kids do.

    Bless them with noontime heat and bedtime heat even in the rains. And every time they seek from you the mercy they fail to accord us, treat their prayers the way you would, the wantonness of the gluttonous and accursed. Make their prayer points and praise-worship trail off in confusion. Smite their patronizing prophets till they become not much in sight.

    They pledge that money they save from anticorruption campaign and fuel subsidy removal would be used to improve infrastructure, agriculture and health sectors; if they fail to live up to their pledge, make their kids expire to indecipherable sickness and malnutrition right before their eyes, like peasant kids dying in agrarian communities for lack of infrastructure, balanced diet and good primary health care. Deny their trophy wives and newborns of oxygen and the best medical care as they deny kids of poor folk breathing their last, while their mothers are still pushing, in hospital labour rooms and corridors of death nationwide.

    Bless their kids with gifts of patricide and mindless violence like they do to our jobless youth for political gains, every day. Turn their swimming pools to raging deeps to drown their progeny and trophy wives, like the Oke Afa canal that claimed our poor, beloved folk fleeing from death, to their deaths, during the Ikeja bomb blast.

    Subject their lives and those of their loved ones to the elements of bad roads as they do to us. Blind their pilots’ to the safest course every time they flee our land for overseas medical checkup. Make their planes plummet to crash on humid rocks and plunge in the sea, as our beloved’s in the throes of bird-strike, and our dreams in the face of stillbirth.

    Let them not enjoy the fruits of their labour. Make their Ivy League-trained wards their sources of everlasting sadness. Make them the bad harvest of their inordinate lust for wealth at our expense. Despite their wealth, afflict them with the poverty of good health, peace and contentment. And for every one of them seeking our downfall, we pray: “Faja’alahum ka’asfin m ma” kulin.” Amin ya Rabbi! Amen! Ase Edumare!

  • ‘Why I went on nationwide prayer tour’

    ‘Why I went on nationwide prayer tour’

    Rev. (Dr) Edith Okubanjo, wife of the late industrialist and business mogul, Oloye Olanrewaju Okubanjo, is comfortable enough not to care.

    Her husband was the founder and chairman of Intercontinental Distillers Nigeria Limited, which places her in a position of affluence.

    But the unassuming woman behind Healing Camp of the Church of Evangelism, Lekki-Ajah, is not one to stay in her comfort zone while the nation is boiling.

    She just emerged from a prayer tour of all the states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    The tour, she explained, was to raise altars of prayers and intercession for the nation’s nagging challenges.

    Of particular interest to her was insecurity and economic distress.

    Okubanjo said the prayer tour was never her idea. “It was the Holy Spirit that gave me an instruction in December to go to all 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and pray for the country and make pronouncements and anoint the soil of each state,” she stated.

    The expense for the exercise was solely borne by her. According to her: “If the Lord gives you instruction, He will definitely make provisions for you. God is our security.

    “Before embarking on the journey, I assembled my prayer team and we prayed, fasted. We had a three-day vigil and committed everything unto Him.”

    Initially, she disclosed that she was concerned about the safety of the team but became emboldened that was the purpose of the prayer tour.

    “With God on our side, we made the pronouncements and anointed the soil of Borno and Yobe States with no fear.

    “Though the atmosphere was not too friendly considering the sensitivity of the communities, God saw us through.”

    How would she describe the experience of the tour? “It was indeed a sweet experience because what some feared would be a difficult task turned out well according to the laid down plans.”

    She commended her logistics team who worked tirelessly to achieve the assignment.

    “The journey started on Sunday, February 28 from Lagos and covered all other states in the South-Western region of the country before proceeding to the South-South and South-East regions. From there, we continued to the North-Central region before moving ahead to other far northern states.”

    She added that in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, they were given a grand reception despite arriving late night into the city.

    “We were well treated by one of the notable pastors called Bishop Mayor who owns a big church in the heart of the city.

    “He commended our religious effort and prayed for success of our journey. Yobe and Borno States, the perceived hotspots of Boko Haram activities, which many had thought would be difficult was problem-free for us to anoint through God’s presence.”

  • Prayer has a price

    There is always a price tag, even when the service is prayer, which ought to be priceless and not pricey. The cost of prayers revealed by a former Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Aminu Baba-Kusa, is indeed costly. But it is necessary to distinguish between the cost of prayers and the costliness of those hired to pray.  At the end of the day, the cost of prayers is actually the cost of praying.

    Baba-Kusa who is facing trial with a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), and three others, said in his statement of witness filed in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT):  “I approached the former NSA and discussed Boko Haram problems and I suggested there is need for prayers and he considered and accepted in 2013 when he first came to office. I personally sponsored many people locally and some few to Saudi Arabia. Some monies were later paid into our companies, which we paid to some of the mallams.” Baba-Kusa said he “used some of the mallams to organise prayers in Abuja, Zaria, Kano, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Kaduna and Saudi Arabia covering 2013 to 2015.”

    The prayer funder continued: “I give them funds as required from time to time, ranging from N500,000 to N30million, depending on their needs, traveling, sadaqat and others for local expenses and travels to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj…Most of the payments in cash were meant to give out cash to people that have been organising prayers.” Baba-Kusa added: “The proposal made to the former NSA was not documented by him or myself. The verbal proposal to him was for prayers to overcome Boko Haram within the shortest possible time. The engagement for prayers by organising some people to be praying was not formally written down. There was no amount of money agreed on. I said to him, I will start organising, which he agreed and said he will see what he would give at a later time.”

    In the end, the cost of organising these prayers came to N2.2 billion, according to Baba-Kusa.  But he reportedly kept no records of the expenditure. He was quoted as saying:  “I requested for no acknowledgement from them when I gave money to them.” Baba-Kusa said he had spent over N700 million of his own money on the prayer contractors before he started to ask Dasuki for money that was disbursed through the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

    Alfred Lord Tennyson says “More things are wrought by prayers than this world dreams of.” In the context of the sensational revelations by Baba-Kusa, it would appear that more money is gained by organising prayers than this country dreams of.

    Without suggesting the probability of fraud, although that may well be the case, Baba-Kusa’s tale is not only suspicious but also ludicrous. The global village now knows for sure that public funds meant for fighting and winning the terror war, running into billions, were rerouted by powerful individuals in the discredited Goodluck Jonathan presidency. The corruption-spiced narrative is still unfolding, with Dasuki right in the middle of the mess.

    Under Jonathan, the country witnessed the absurdity of an ill-equipped national army struggling to overcome a mere militia. A panel probing past arms deals found out that the Jonathan administration purchased substandard weapons to fight Boko Haram extremists. The corruption-related finding further exposed the Jonathan administration’s scandalously counter-productive approach to the anti-terror war. There is an unmistakable connection between the mess of corruption and the messiness of poorly armed soldiers facing reportedly better armed terrorists. It is no longer debatable that the previous government didn’t do enough to checkmate the terrorists. Or, put more pointedly, the Jonathan government ironically did enough to ensure the prolongation of the war.

    The point is that the prayer financiers and the prayer service providers were disadvantaged by design. In other words, even while prayers were being organised at a colossal cost, there was a colossal lack of capacity on the battlefield as a result of a colossal diversion of funds meant to equip the country’s fighters for victory.

    Prayer may have a role in governance, but it requires the role of government to achieve the desired goal. The tragedy of Baba-Kusa’s confession is that it tends to give prayer providers a bad name. In the circumstances, prayer could not have reinforced what was non-existent. Since there was no anti-terror war as such, what was prayer meant to do? The situation defied the wise saying “Work and pray”. Even if there were prayers for Boko Haram’s defeat, the war effort was inadequate to realise the objective.

    On the question of work and prayer, Jonathan, a Christian, played the pilgrim and visited Israel twice during his four-year term, specifically in 2013 and 2014. It was not difficult to guess that Jonathan’s repeat pilgrimage was probably connected with his 2015 re-election dream. Jonathan’s 2014 itinerary in the sacred land included a visit to the Wailing Wall, where he reportedly prayed privately before going to Mount Tabor and Mount Carmel, and other spiritually significant sites. Interestingly, the highlight of the pilgrimage was a prayer for Nigeria at an interdenominational church service with the theme, “A day with Jesus for Nigeria in Israel”.  Whether Jonathan had a day with Jesus, or whether Jesus had a day with Jonathan, his defeat in the presidential election that crowned President Muhammadu Buhari was an eye-opening lesson that the power of prayer can be limited by the poor performance of power.

    This lesson should not be lost on President Buhari who interestingly visited Saudi Arabia recently for prayers, apart from the business of leadership.  Buhari visited Medina and the Grand Mosque in Makkah, where he reportedly prayed for the peace and unity of Nigeria. Buhari may pray for the country because the country may need prayers to escape its hellish situation.  But he should also remember that prayers may not be enough without work. Nigerians want him to work and make the country work.

    It could be useful to engage in prayers or engage prayer providers, but the ultimate approach is to work so that prayers may work for the achievement of purpose.

  • Group holds prayer on security

    Group holds prayer on security

    The Nigerian Inter-religious Council (NIREC) has organised a special prayer session for divine intervention on the country’s security and economic challenges.

    The prayer, which was hosted by Akoko Northwest chapter, Ikare-Akoko in conjunction with the local government’s chapter of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) took place at the council’s multi-purpose hall.

    At the session, prayers were offered for quick end to the insurgency in the Northeast and frequent kidnapping and armed robbery cases in other parts of the country. Both Christian and Islamic clerics led the people in prayers.

    Speaking at the occasion, the chairman of NIREC in the council area, Alhaji Ibrahim Kilani noted that this was the first time in the history of the local government that NULGE will be partnering the organisation in such religious event.

    He praised the council chief for promoting religious harmony and co-existence among followers of different faiths in the area.

    Kilani, however, urged religious groups in the council and the country to allow peace to reign.

    He said: “There is no point in killing ourselves about religion since every individual is free to practise what he believes in.”

    In his goodwill message, the local government chairman, Joseph Aladetimehin praised the state government for giving council chairmen the enabling environment and the needed assistance to operate.

    Aladetimehin, who noted that he is the people’s chief servant, said his administration would always listen to the people in order to know and solve their problems.

    He also assured them that his administration would make security and religious harmony top priority.

    The council chief urged the people to give peace a chance by abstaining from acts that could threaten the existing peace in the area.

    The Director of Local Government Administration in the council, Adewumi Kolade urged members of staff of the council to re-dedicate themselves to duty and hard work to justify the huge investment government is making on them.

    Kolade commended the state and the local governments for being workers-friendly.

    The Olubaram of Ibaram-Akoko, Oba Oluwasegunota Atibioke commended the leadership of NIREC in the area, even as he urged the people to embrace religious harmony and peaceful co-existence.

    The monarch also advised members of staff of the council to show more commitment to their work in order to ensure rapid development of the area.

  • Encounter with power through prayer & fasting!

    Encounter with power through prayer & fasting!

    We are in the last days in the body of Christ, which are characterized by the manifestation of God’s power. This is when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of God before the arrival of Christ. It is also an era where the power of resurrection shall be in manifestation more than ever before. Furthermore, in these last days, the redeemed of the Lord shall be manifesting the messianic order of anointing (Mark 9:29; Acts 2:16-20; Psalms 110:1-3; Revelation 11:15; Philippians 3:10; Acts 14:11).

    HOW DO WE ENCOUNTER THIS POWER?

    Through a desperate desire: From scriptures, ‘desperation’ is interpreted as a thirst, a crave, a longing and a panting (Psalm 63:1-2; Isaiah 44:3-4; Isaiah 41:17-18).

    Through the prayer altar: Empowerment answers to demand, not wishes and that is why the altar of prayer is the altar of empowerment. Jesus said: If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? (Luke 11:13). We must recognize that empowerment is impossible without prayer. It is through prayers that we move from power to great power. For instance, when the apostles prayed in Acts 1:14 and Acts 2:1-4, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. However, when they prayed again in Acts 4:32-33, they were re-empowered into the realm of great power (Luke 3:21-22, 9:28-35, 43). Likewise, we can pray for the release of God’s power on our lives for greater exploits.

    Through fasting: We discover from scriptures that fasting is primarily ordained for spiritual empowerment, not for making requests. In other words, fasting empowers us to be in command of our needs (Isaiah 58:6). It is important to understand that though we pray to be empowered, we need fasting to walk in power. That’s why Jesus said, “When ye fast… when thou fast…” Fasting is a matter of ‘When’ not ‘If’. That means fasting must be our lifestyle and must be scheduled, just like prayer, in order to walk in the reality of empowerment (Matthew 6:16-17).

    It is also important to note that fasting and prayer enhances our access to the Word which actually empowers us. For instance, it was a Word encounter that empowered Jacob into realms of exploits (Isaiah 58:8, 10; Isaiah 9:8; Romans 1:16). That is why no Word-lazy believer is a candidate for empowerment. Therefore, we must always pray to God to open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of His law (Psalms 119:18; Jeremiah 33:3).Everyone who desires to walk in power must subscribe to the demand of fasting. For instance, Jesus fasted for 40 days and the Bible records that He returned in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:14). Moses also fasted for 40 days twice. As a result, he was a spirit being in human form. That was why he said: The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken (Deuteronomy 18:15; see also Exodus 7:1). He was Christ in a figure and he carried the messianic anointing on him (Exodus 24:18, 34:28). Similarly, Paul the apostle also prayed and fasted often. He said: …in watchings often… in fastings often… (2 Corinthians 11:27; see also 2 Corinthians 6:5). As a result, he was a man imbued with God’s power. No wonder it was said concerning him: …The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men (Acts 14:11).

    Unfortunately, many people do not crave for empowerment because they believe that they are already empowered. However, it is important to understand that empowerment is in levels and we understand from scriptures that we can grow from one level of power to an overflowing realm. As it is written: Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over (Ezekiel 47:1-5). ‘River’ in the above scripture connotes the Holy Spirit or anointing. That was the realm of immeasurable anointing under which Christ operated. Remember, Jesus was anointed without measure and that is God’s target for us. This is why it is wisdom to take spiritual responsibility in order to increase our levels of empowerment to command dominion over situations and circumstances in our lives (Proverbs 24:10; John 3:34, 7:37-39).

    However, dominion over situations and circumstances in our lives begins with being born again. Are you born again? To be born again means to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord? If you haven’t, you can do so by saying this prayer: “Lord Jesus, I come to You today. I am a sinner. Forgive me of my sins. Cleanse me with Your precious Blood. Deliver me from sin and satan to serve the Living God. Today, I accept You as my Lord and Saviour. Thank You Jesus for saving me! Now I know I am born again!”

    For further reading, please get my books: Anointing For Breakthrough, Understanding the Anointing, Anointing For Exploits, Release of Power.

    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

  • A wing, a ladder and a prayer

    Hardball has determined that the wing is a huge, rich, metaphor. A wing, of course, is simply that device for flying. Well maybe we may take liberty to define it as a supernatural implement if only for the reason that floating in the air is by itself, a near divine art. What are birds without wings by the way?

    And what about the big birds; the big, huge, iron birds popularly known as aircraft; you must have noticed the grand majesty of their wings? Without discounting the propeller or the engines of an aircraft, it can safely be said that wings are the ‘soul’ of any aircraft – in a manner of speaking. In the first place, a plane devoid of its wings will be shaped like a canoe – a tubular canoe.

    If wings are integral to the plane, you would think ladders have no place in this huge flying machine isn’t it? Well, wrong. A plane without a ladder (known as stairways in aviation parlance) is as good as a grounded plane. Now, because of the sheer size and height of large aircraft, motorised stairways have been ‘invented’. Soon as a plane lands and is marshalled to a resting position, the stairway is driven through the tarmac and sidled to the door of the plane to help passengers disembark.

    Of course, it is different for small craft as their door-cum stairways are simply flipped out for passengers to exit. But it is near impossible for passengers to disembark a large plane where there is no motorised stairway on the ground to help.

    And let us conjecture for a while: should your plane land your destination airport and by a certain inexplicable malady, the ground staff cannot manage to ‘mobilise’ a motorised stairway to help you get off the plane, what would you do? You are left with either: a) taking a dive; which could well be a plunge to death; b) returning back from whence you came or c) using a ladder to clamber out of the plane.

    Passengers on board a chartered flight to Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi, recently, were faced with this devil’s alternative. It happened that it was a wedding train; it also happened that the groom was also on board and the ceremony was to commence in a matter of minutes. To return to Abuja when they were already on Bauchi soil was out of the question. To jump would be suicidal folly, so option ‘C’ came quite handy: a ladder, a ladder!

    Yes, the common, wooden ladder made popular by Nigerian electricians who go up electric poles to tangle and untangle wires for a fee. It was the ladder that came to the rescue of those hapless passengers who unknown to them enacted a feat fit for the Guinness book of Records. The world watched them come down a plane with a wooden ladder!

    It must be a first for Nigeria and the ‘innovative’ and ‘proactive’ content of that act must not be overlooked. Supposing someone did not have the rare intuition to remember the ladder alternative? Supposing the Fire Service wasn’t smart enough to keep ladders…? Those passengers would have been flying only on a wing and a prayer with no option of disembarkation!

  • Eight-day prayer today in Ado Ekiti

    Eight-day prayer today in Ado Ekiti

    The lyasuna of Ado-Ekiti Central Mosque in Ekiti State, Alhaja Seliatu Ajike Oluwatuyi, is dead.

    She died on October 5 and was buried the same day according to Islamic rites. She was 95.

    The late Alhaja Seliatu  was a devout Muslim, a community leader and a renowned trans-regional foodstuff trader, who shuttled between the North and the Southwest.

    She is survived by children, including Mr. Kola Oluwatuyi, a retired director in the Presidency, Abuja.

    The eighth day prayer comes up today at her home, 44, Idolofin Street, Ado-Ekiti, at 10am.

  • Photo: Ibadan prays for Nigeria

    Photo: Ibadan prays for Nigeria