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Tag: truth

  • The relativity of truth

    The relativity of truth

    • By Patrick Wemambu

    Sir: Susceptible to critique, accomplished banker-cum-administrator, Bismarck Rewane was on Channels Television recently to analyse how Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee hike of the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) from 18.75% to 22.5% (400 basis points) will affect Nigerians.

    Elaborating on what he termed the audacity of the monetary policy against the backdrop of a crisis of confidence rocking the society, the seasoned economist posited that four things are scarce in Nigeria. These are dollars, electricity, food and truth in that numerical order. A combination of the said shortages, we are told, is responsible for the discontent (protests) witnessed in some Nigerian cities lately.

    Plausible as it sounds, Rewane’s postulation of four big shortages in Nigeria would appear to stand logic on its head. For starters, is it really true that the dollar is scare in Nigeria? Honestly, to me, the answer to that question should depend on who is looking for that currency, and the scope of search. Likewise, how could anyone justify the claim of food shortage in the nation? With large-scale hoarding of essential items in warehouses across the six geo-political zones, smuggling of commodities by unscrupulous merchants to neighbouring countries and post-harvest loses of agricultural produce in millions of metric tonnes; the situation may very well be labelled ‘mismanagement not dearth of resources.’

    This brings one to the fourth shortage of item claimed by Rewane to be the most important factor needed by Nigerians ‘more than anything else’. Pray, when did truth become scarce in the country?

    If one might even ask, what is truth? Simon W. Blackburn, distinguished research professor at the University of North Carolina, USA and author of the book “Truth: A Guide and Others” views truth in metaphysics as the property of sentences or assertions said in ordinary discourse to agree with the facts or to state what is the case. Simply put, truth is the aim of belief which sustains humanity. Suffice it to say, what Rewane believes to be true, may not be factually correct to another. Without doubt, it may not be said to be absolute but relative – depending on who is saying what. Different strokes, you might say, for different folks.

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    Come to think of it, what would you say fiery personalities like former president, Olusegun Obasanjo; Cardinal John Onaiyekan; Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama; Bishop Matthew Kukah; Sultan Sa’ad  Abubakar III; former Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi II; Sheikh Nuru Khalid; Pa Edwin Clark; Gen T.Y. Danjuma; Pastor Tunde Bakare; PANDEV; Ohaneze Ndigbo; Afenifere and Arewa Consultative Forum, among others, have been doing over the years regarding the issue of governance in Nigeria? Of course, speaking truth to power!

    Clearly, from the aforementioned instances of individuals constructively engaging the government in the task of nation-building, it should be difficult to sell the idea of shortage of truth in Nigeria. What definitely is lacking under the prevailing circumstance is the political will of the ruling class to listen to the strong and resolute voices of truth clamouring for improved welfare and security of the citizenry.

    This is talking about the imperatives of justiciability of Chapter II, especially Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

    By the way of conclusion, concerns have been expressed in a few quarters regarding the existence or not, of recipes for finding truth. However, in the long run, the issue may boil down to whether some things are absolute and objective or all things are relative and subjective.

    •Patrick Wemambu,

    Abuja.

  • Is it time for Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Nigeria or do we simply go our separate ways

    Happy New Year to my  esteemed readers. The only year I can remember as comparable to the outgoing one, 2023, is 1992, which her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth11 of England, branded as ‘Annus Horribilis,’ because it was a particularly terrible year for the British royal family.

    However, just when you think you have seen it all, with the irritable display of some political malcontents on Social media, there suddenly pops up some joy killers, slaughtering, like rams , more than100 innocent souls on the Plateau at a time the entire world is celebrating the good news of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the reason I believe it is time enough Nigerians rethink their continued existence as members of a so – called united country because this senseless carnage just cannot continue.

    Please come with me as we interrogate the matter of those who, for so long, have heedlessly turned Nigeria to a killing field, literally making nonsense of the  new Federal government’s relentless effort to reconstruct the country’s economy almost completely destroyed in the last 8 years by encouraging Foreign Direct Investment, a chimera. The CNN, as usual, took that gory and senseless bloodletting to every corner of the world, and where is that investor who would be glad to invest in an unsafe country?

    Unfortunately, it is beyond the remit of these ignorant killers, and their sponsors, to ever think of the negative economic consequences of their senseless longing to forcefully take other peoples’ ancestral lands.

    That is besides

     making it totally impossible for simple, ordinary Nigerians who want no more than to live, and let live, in an atmosphere of peace and serenity, have their wish.

    “More than 115 persons have been confirmed dead following attacks by gunmen on communities in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi LGAs of Plateau state”.

    “The Nigerian nation today is falling. A situation of apocalypse is everywhere. People are not safe even in their homes as waves of kidnappings and terrorism have become the lot of the people, from remote villages straight through to the megapolis – A state of progressive Armageddon” – the quote above is lifted from a WhatsApp message sent to me this past week by a highly regarded statesman who can truly be said to have paid his dues to fatherland. He too is tired of all the shenanigans going on in this country.

    But are we condemned to living this lie of a united Nigeria?

    Why wont we rather look, hard and straight at ourselves,  confess our sins – and there are more than enough to go round -and if possible, structurally reconfigure Nigeria so we can all live in peace, and if  not, mutually agree to go our separate ways, without resort to shedding blood?

    After all our founding fathers told us the unvacuumed truth about this country, viz:

     “Nigerian unity is only a British invention”- Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, 1948.

    “Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English,’ ‘Welsh,’ or ‘French”.

    “The word ‘Nigeria’ is a mere distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria and those who do not” – Chief Obafemi Awolowo, 1947; and Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1964:“It is better for us and many admirers abroad that we should disintegrate in peace and not in pieces. Should the politicians fail to heed the warning, then I will venture the prediction that the experience of the Democratic Republic of Congo will be a child’s play, if it ever comes to our turn to play such a tragic role”.

    Yes, it can be argued that we already had our own Biafran experience but we should, at the same time, not forget Gen T. Y Danjuma’s dire warning that  no country, least of all Nigeria, can survive two civil wars. Nigeria is, no doubt, on tenterhooks with its incomparable level of insecurity.

    All these musings flashed through my mind after listening to Major – General  Henry Ayoola, as guest of Arise tv on its morning programme this past week.

    A highly-decorated military officer and  fellow of the prestigious National War College, General Ayoola must have been invited as a former commander of Operation Safe Haven whose operations covered Plateau and  Bauchi States to come and educate Nigerians about the goings on the Plateau.

    What attracted me the most in the interview, however, was the general’s reticence,  indeed, non – answer, to many of the questions he was asked.  That – his inability to name and shame – is precisely what triggered the question posed by this article. 

    It is beyond a shadow of doubt that General Ayoola can readily answer the questions he flipped, even in his sleep.

    Why then the evasivenness to the  extent the programme anchors were literally, coyly, propitiating him to either answer, or do a follow up to a previous answer? Was it a fear of those powerful hands that have, like forever, held Nigeria hostage?

    This fear has been one of our major problems, especially in matters pertaining to insecurity as those who know, and should be able to speak truth to power, often choose not to, thus giving  these merchants of death a free rein to encourage and perpetuate  horrendous criminalities.

    The general said, among other things, that he has interacted with all sides to a conflict, concerning which, my friend Tony Sani, as Secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and I, engaged in some very harsh back and forth during the Jonah Jang administration.

    Nothing should have stopped General Ayoola, given his vantage position, from telling Nigerians the truth, and nothing but the truth, about a conflict for which he once literally offered his own life for Nigeria. Failure to do so can only serve to further embolden the enemies of Nigeria.

     No, it is not being suggested that  he should have laid bare some military secrets, but if we ever want to put a closure to this conflict which Plateau state governor Caleb Mutfwang described as ” barbaric, brutal and unjustified”, then people who are knowledgeable about it, who know the killers, the sponsors and those protecting them, must endeavour to open up on those holding Nigeria hostage lest the enemies assume that they will always be untouchable. God be praised, things are changing. For instance, financiers of terrorism which the Buhari government refused to try, despite A-G Malami’s several assurances, are today having their day in Nigerian courts.

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    However, if the general wont talk, Governor Caleb Mutfwang did Nigeria a favour when he commented as follows on the chilling killings in his state:”Part of the problem we have is that so far, there has been no arrests, no prosecution. Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the people of  Plateau state, especially victims of these attacks, believed that the killers were being given official government backing as little, or nothing, was ever done to repel the attacks”. He  concluded, matter of factly, by attributing the continued attacks to “SETTLERS WHO WANT TO ACQUIRE LAND  BY FORCE IN THE STATE”(caps mine).

    That is the truism general Ayoola, unfortunately, ran away from saying.

    He, however, made some helpful admissions – one, that there can never be an end to a war in which one of the  parties is in the commanding height of affairs, and that the state governor simply does not have the wherewithal to solve the problem because it is beyond him.

    Unfortunately, neither will President Tinubu’s order to security agents to fish out the killers, as it amounts only to medicine after death.

    This is so because such an order cannot unearth the killers who, as usual, have melted into  thin air, ditto their powerful sponsors, nor those in  the Nigerian armed forces who General Danjuma has severally accused of aiding the ongoing killings all over Nigeria.

    It is in view of these facts that since restructuring has become a jinxed word in our clime, it is being suggested here that President Tinubu may wish to, like Nelson Mandela did in South Africa in 1995, consider the setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission – a court-like body, to help heal the country and bring about  reconciliation in a way that truth can be made part of our country’s common history, with a view to facilitating the process of national cohesion and reconciliation, both of  which are presently in total abeyance.

    Nigerians need to know what, or who, either as groups or individuals, have held Nigeria in such total bondage that 64 years after independence, many are still holding British imperialism responsible for our national woes and calamities.

  • Moment of truth

    Moment of truth

    • Urgent remedy is needed on failed privatisation of the power sector

    For President Bola Tinubu, it was no time for equivocation: the power sector privatisation, which the nation had pinned its hopes on for a turnaround, has failed to deliver. At the 2023 NESI Market Participants and Stakeholders Roundtable with the theme: ‘NESI privatisation and its 10-year milestone: the journey so far, opportunities and prospects’, the president, represented by Special Adviser, Energy and Infrastructure, Office of the Vice-President, Sodiq Wanka, told his audience: “10 years on, I believe it is fair to say that the objectives of sector privatisation have by and large, not been met. Over 90million Nigerians lack access to electricity. The national grid only serves about 15 percent of the country’s demand. This has left households and factories to rely on expensive self-generation, which supplies a staggering 40 percent of the country’s demand.”

    He added: “What is worse, the total amount of electricity that can be wheeled through the national grid has remained relatively flat in the last 10 years.”

    The president didn’t stop at that. He also noted that: “Preliminary analysis shows that DisCos today, are undercapitalized to the tune of at least N2 trillion.”

    He bared his thoughts going forward by saying: “The poor performance must not continue to drag the sector down. All licensees must not only have the technical capacity to deliver on their licence but must also have the financial muscles to invest to improve their operations.

    “We must facilitate the reorganization of the sector, the subsector, and the recapitalization process that brings new partners and capital to jumpstart performance in this critical sector of the value chain.”

    While the president had merely stated the obvious, we cannot agree more with his prognosis that a new operating creed has become an imperative.

    In fact, it is beyond debate that Nigerians’ expectation of massive gains in terms of improved services from advertised injection of investments and new technologies have most disappointingly come to naught.  Not even the unbundling of the old Power Holdings Company of Nigeria (PHCN) into disparate units changed anything; electricity consumers are still required to buy, in some instances, transformers and other service accoutrements under the same old archaic business models. And this extends to electricity meters. The burden of providing this basic device, so critical to revenue collection by the service providers (the electricity distribution companies), has long been shifted to the electricity consumer under a most nebulous arrangement conceivable by a so-called regulator.

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    Meanwhile, in the absence of demonstrable capacity by the operators, trillions of public funds continue to be poured in to maintain stabilisation. Even that itself has failed to make any appreciable difference in terms of service and other operational improvements. We recall that the Federal Government actually considered repossessing 10 of the electricity distribution firms as one of the options to rescue the nation’s beleaguered electricity industry sometime in 2019. In fact, it actually pronounced all the 11 Discos as ‘technically insolvent’ at the time.

    It must be said also that the wholly government -owned transmission company has fared no better. It has been a case of serial missteps with grid collapses now becoming its defining feature. According to Business Insider, Nigeria has experienced a total of 46 grid collapses in the country, spanning the period from 2017 to 2023.

    Although the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has clarified that the licences of the 11 electricity distribution companies (DisCos) will expire in 2028 and not 2023 as earlier reported in some newspapers, the main issue is whether the country can further endure the luxury of counting on the current structure long after the government itself has pronounced on their incapability. For us, the nation has reached the point where the government must do all that is necessary to rescue the sector from the current set of actors.

  • The bitter truth

    The bitter truth

    General Yakubu Gowon was attending the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) meeting in Kampala, Uganda, when the coup that removed him from power occurred on July 29, 1975. Yet, the organisation, the precursor to the African Union (AU), was helpless in the circumstance because the OAU charter then forbade any form of interference in member-states’ internal affairs.

    Today, both the AU and the Economic Community of West African States‘ (ECOWAS) rules allow for interference in member-states’ internal affairs. This is probably normal in a world where no country is an island unto itself, and one that technology has made a global village.

    In theory, there is nothing wrong with the new order. This is especially so because it is some countries that would bear the consequences of the humanitarian crisis that results from boilovers in other countries. So, countries should be interested in what is happening, especially around them.

    Lest we forget, the latest coups  in Africa started when soldiers in Niger Republic sacked the government of their president, Mohamed Bazoum, on July 26. The world was yet to recover from the shock of this when, a few weeks later, precisely on August 30, his Gabon counterpart, Ali Bongo, was similarly sacked by soldiers. The coup brought an end to Mr Bongo’s 14-year rule and his family’s 56 years hold on power in Gabon.

    Without doubt, military rule is an aberration. It has merely continued to bring soldiers into the political terrain which they have the least knowledge or expertise to handle. In the end, they usually left the stage worse than they met it. Nigeria is no exception.

    But, much as we have always argued that military rule is undesirable, the question that is still begging for answer is how then do you remove political leaders who have overstayed their welcome? Unfortunately, Africa has a surfeit of such leaders.

    The best answer I have heard so far is that the people should change such leaders at the ballot after the expiration of their tenure. But those who want to be sincere with themselves know this is easier said than done. The point is that the civil society that should be in the vanguard of such peaceful transfer of power is never allowed to blossom. Their leaders are perpetually hounded by Africa’s sit-tight leaders. The benevolent ones among the leaders put all manner of charges against the opposition or civil society leaders. Others simply orchestrate their disappearance from mother earth, for merely demanding for good governance.

    In this kind of scenario, we are back to the same question of how do you remove such leaders by peaceful means? Yet, we know, as former American President John Kennedy, said that “those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” If Africa’s sit-tight leaders detest military rule, they are as well averse to revolution or civil insurrection. That is why they crush every protest against their misrule in the most brutal manner.

    When the coup in Niger Republic took place, I initially hesitated to comment on it for obvious reasons: there was no way one would give an opinion on it without sounding like an apologist of military rule. Yet, this is far from the truth.

    That the coup in Gabon followed suit  should tell us something about the determination of that country’s soldiers to disregard sanctions or threats of sanctions for removing their president by force of arms.

    As a matter of fact, I knew, ab initio, that any attempt to return Bazoum to power in Niger Republic would end in fiasco. In the first place, the coup was welcomed by the Nigeriens who were the people wearing the shoes and therefore knew where they pinch. ECOWAS’s intervention in that case would be more like an interloper or an outsider weeping louder than the bereaved.

    In any case, the mood in Nigeria where ECOWAS’s chairman comes from was not in support of any war with Niger Republic. Nigeria has its own challenges to tackle. Moreover, there is no surplus funds to commit to such an expedition in these austere times. We should also not lose sight of the fact that our compatriots in the north would rather prefer their kith and kin in Niger Republic sort out their problems themselves rather than having ECOWAS going to wage war there, ostensibly to defend democracy.

    I did not envy President Bola Tinubu who doubles as ECOWAS chair, while the threats of war were strident. He would have been torn between going with ECOWAS or going with Nigeria. Mercifully, that would seem to be over now. With wars, no one can tell. What was envisaged to be a walkover could end up being problematic. Ask Vladimir Putin.

    However, if I initially refused to comment on the coup in Niger, that position would no longer be tenable after that of Gabon.

    Perhaps the immediate reason for my change of position was the comment by one commentator after the Gabon coup to the effect that former President Olusegun Obasanjo had asserted in one of his books that a particular African leader tried to discourage him from handing over power to a democratically elected government in Nigeria when he did in 1979. In other words, that would run against the norm on the continent!

    If I had any iota of doubt that this remained the mindset of many  African leaders on the issue of succession, this disclosure or reminder, as it were, erased such doubt completely. With leaders like this dominating the continent, we do not have to look far for the basis of the self-perpetuation in power on the part of many African leaders and the perpetual under-development of Africa.

    As a matter of fact, this is the most annoying part of the whole African tragedy. The problem is not much of these leaders not wanting to stay put even when their time is up; it is more about their inability or refusal, or both,  to develop their countries. How can a continent develop with sit-tight vision-less leaders who number their days only by their long stay in power? 

    And, to rub salt on an injury, some of these leaders, apart from further deepening poverty in their countries and leaving the stage generally worse than they met it, transfer power to their sons, as if their countries were their personal property.

    I had cause to write ‘From Gnassingbe Eyadema the father to Eyadema the son’ when the former despot died on February 5, 2005. Gnassingbe was then Africa’s longest serving ruler (1967-2005). I can see you chuckle! His son, Faure, took over in the most shameless manner.

    It was good that ECOWAS has soft-pedalled on the threat of war because if it had not faced reality, Bazoum would either have been dead by now or he would be battling for survival in the intensive care unit of a hospital. The truth is that the man has outlived his usefulness. Even if the soldiers who overthrew him were those that receive bullets in the war front on their buttocks, they would not want to appear to the outside world as fretting generals. Just as Bazoum is gone for good, Bongo too should be considered gone for aye. They have done more than enough damage to their peoples, the continent and humanity at large.

    Rather than the AU and ECOWAS bemoaning their exit from power, the two organisations should think of the way forward. Africans who welcome soldiers whenever they stage coup are not doing so necessarily because they love the soldiers. They are doing so because they are fed up with the existing order that has been demeaning their humanity, in some cases for decades, and those midwifing that decadent order are still not ready to relinquish power willingly.

    The task before both the AU and ECOWAS therefore is to reform. The two organisations have become dysfunctional to the extent that they serve only the interest of those in power as against that of the people. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily about lack of structures to address some of these observed lapses but  because the structures exist only in name. For instance, the AU has what it calls peer review mechanism. But only good peers can objectively review themselves. When you have a conclave of tyrants who see their long stay in office as their only objective or achievement, the result is what we have almost all over the continent.

    The same peers who cannot call themselves to order when some of their own, after ruling for decades, still want to stay put even when all the indices of development are showing their countries are worse off under them? Where were the two institutions when some of these leaders, after messing up their countries’ resources, installed their sons as their successors, either via rigged elections or barefaced manipulated processes?

    No self-respecting people would take threats from such organisations serious when their despots are removed, even if through the barrels of a gun. At that point, the people, like the drowning man that would not mind clinging to a serpent for help, have been pushed to the wall and anything but the existing order is welcome.

    So, rather than barking after despots on the continent have been removed, the organisations must convene an emergency summit where those of them who have been in power for decades through manipulated processes or the force of arms should be encouraged to retire.We all know them. Africa would not have been the mess that it has been if they had governed well. And, in case such leaders insist on staying put, they should know they are doing that at their own risk. The AU and ECOWAS must exist for the peoples of Africa and be so seen. Not for some selfish, never-do-well misbegotten despots. That is the lesson that the wind that will still blow in some other parts of Africa is teaching us all. President Tinubu and the AU chairman, Azali Assoumani, would do well by allowing the reform to come from above.

  • Sowing seeds of truth, honesty in youths

    Despite the downpour and flood, which almost paralysed Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, last Friday evening, this year’s Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE84 2018) attracted over 1000 students from the state. There were also 84 others drawn from across the country at the celebration. Assistant Editor Arts OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports.

    In the past eight years, Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka has dedicated his birthdays to developing the minds of young Nigerians through cultural advocacy and educational programming tagged: Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE).

    Last weekend at his Ijegba forest home in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Soyinka hosted 84 students drawn from across the country. Guided by this year’s theme: The pursuit of truth: Lies and the national psyche, the students participated in workshop, eassay competition, drama presentation, free expressive creative session, do your own thing and one-on- one interactive session with the Nobel Laureate.

    High point of the four-day event was the presentataion of prizes to winners of the essay contest by Ogun State Governor Senator Ibikunle Amosun, who urged the youth to be inspired by the good example and the legacy laid by Prof Soyinka. He urged them to take advantage of WSICE programmes held yearly to mark the birthday of the Nobel Laureate who turned 84. He also challenged the youth to aspire to greatness, urging them to grow to be professors and beyond.

    Amosun, represented by his deputy, Mrs Yetunde Onanuga, said: “I want to encourage you that our father (Soyinka) has laid a very good example and he has also laid a legacy for all of you to follow in the educational line. And this has been what he has been doing for the last nine years.

    “I don’t know who the winners will be this year, but I know all of you are winners and that because you have put in a lot into this programme. I want to assure you that the sky wouldn’t be your limit if you continue this way.

    “I want to encourage you to continue to be good children, face your studies squarely, continue to respect your elders, your teachers and those who would come around you and by the grace of God our father, who we are here to celebrate, you know who he is, you will also grow to be a professor and go beyond.’’

    Reacting to questions from the students, Soyinka described this year’s edition as the most meaningful, significant and instructive of all the editions of his birthday, adding that the principles of justice, fairness, equity, honesty and integrity were adhered to in the contest. This, he said, should be practised at last Saturday’s governorship election, which held in Ekiti at the sametime the essay contest held in Abeokuta.

    “There is another contest. It is not without significant that you were told that at the very beginning that every effort has been made for a fair decision to the extent that numbers were given and not names. So, the stress is on justice, fairness, equity, honesty and integrity in the competition. Something similar is taking place on a different dimension elsewhere as we are gathered here. It’s an election, a democratic election; it is also supposed to be based on honesty, truthfulness, equity, fairness and integrity.

    “And so the lesson, which you are stressing here, is a lesson or virtue, which we hope is practicalised elsewhere in Ekiti right now and it doesn’t matter what the result is, perhaps my own opinion or idea. But, what I will want all of you to take from it is the lesson or virtue of equity, fairness and justice. That exercise, which is costing billions of naira will be worthless, totally rubbish if those virtues or principles are abandoned and if they are not demonstrated in the exercise and the ultimate result.

    “So you are saying to the rest of the nation that look, take a look at us here, the way we gathered from all corners of the nation in the spirit of fraternity, solidarity, fairness, to elect somebody, who is a representative of our creativity, intelligence, education and capabilities and that we are expecting that the same principles be applied over the borders of Ogun State.

    “The greatest birthday present I can receive is to learn that the election has been free and fair no matter who wins, that is what is instructive about the timing of this particular edition above any other ones,” Soyinka said.

    On what inspired him to go into literature writing, Soyinka said: “I enjoyed reading, I was considered very precocious as a child. Anything, any piece of paper anywhere I always wanted to read it. And, of cause, that meant reading books and so on. And we all come from some tradition that involves storytelling, epic narrative etc. And elders used to tell us stories, we ourselves used to get together as children to tell stories, to repeat those stories. I realised along the way that I never liked to re-tell a story exactly as I heard it. I will always make up things. My siblings will say no, no, it didn’t go that way. I will say that’s how I want it to go. That’s how creativity begins. It begins with act to material and you try to reinterpret that material. Whether its materials of poetry, epic, narratives etc. It became a habit and I don’t really know when I decided to do literature because I wanted to be so many things. I didn’t know Mathematics and I wanted to be a pilot. People said I could be a lawyer because I was very argumentative. One time I wanted to be a doctor because there was a relation that was a doctor and I liked the way he dressed etc and even at that I knew this is what I wanted to do. Listen to your own instinct and take a decision.”

    The Nobel Laureate, who described prizes as mere bonuses, said he did not worry about laurels, but noted that it did not mean one shouldn’t compete. He said the important thing was to ‘fulfill yourself creatively’.

    “I don’t put any prize in mind as inspiration for writing. Create first and send in your work to any contest, if it wins fine and if it doesn’t don’t worry too. Also, when you write your first work, be prepared to receive your rejection slip. Publishers have so many reasons for publishing or not publishing and those reasons are not always the questions of the quality of the writing. A  publisher is a business person, if he can’t make his money, he will not publish your work. Some of the more creative publishers will publish what I call ‘sellable’ and then use the profit to promote what they consider excellent literature. So, a lot of it depends on luck, you never know what a jury is looking for,” he added.

    A 17-year-old, Onyemelukwe Brandon Obioma, emerged overall winner of the essay contest.

    Obioma is a Senior Secondary 2 student of Dority International Secondary School, Abayi, Aba, Abia State. Second and third positions went to Mbagwu Nzubechukwu of Federal Government College, Owerri, Imo State and Okoronkwo Mmesomachi, of Dority International Secondary School, Aba.

    Obioma’s winning entry was his analysis of one of Soyinka’s poem The children of this land.

    Themed: The pursuit of truth (Truth and the National Psyche), the  contest featured 84 students from secondary schools across the country. The number was symbolic of Soyinka’s age.

    Obioma wrote analyses of three of Soyinka’s poems at the 1000-seater amphi-theatre in the Autonomous Residency, Ijegba (ARI) in the forested part of Ibara Housing Estate, Abeokuta.

    The winners were presented with awards by Mrs. Onanuga at a mini- courtyard in Soyinka’s home.

    The WSICE is a yearly programme initiated in 2010 by the management of ZMirage Multimedia Company led by the technical theatre exponent and businessman, Alhaji Teju Kareem, and United States-based Global New Haven headed by theatre director and culture scholar Prof Segun Ojewuyi.

    EdeatoAgbeniyi, poet, musician and culture activist, also performed at this edition.

    Also at the event were visiting US-based thespians Barretta Chullen of Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and Susan Harrocks, a theatre director and newly-elected president, The Stage Company, US.

  • Truth, Oshiomhole and the hatchet men 

    Truth, Oshiomhole and the hatchet men 

    Much as the proliferation of columns in Nigeria’s print media today offers a plethora of perspectives to public issues, the downside is the high incidence of abuse by mercenaries. A vivid illustration is a piece entitled “The disintegration of Oshiomhole” by Mr. Yinka Odumakin, a self-styled “Yoruba leader”, published recently in a national daily.

    Maybe, I should begin by explaining myself. I am a keen follower of political events in Nigeria, though neither a sympathiser of APC nor PDP. However, based on my own deep knowledge of the events Mr. Odumakin wrote erroneously about, I thought I am morally obliged to weigh in in public interest.

    In an attempt to settle personal scores with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the slayer of PDP godfathers, Odumakin  audaciously descended into libel, dressing hear-say as facts and passing judgement based on utter falsehood. Barely disguising his malice, he conveniently took off with the “unpopular view” reportedly expressed by the former Edo governor at the colloquium organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress two weeks ago on restructuring – the burning issue of the day.

    To be sure, I watched television footage of the event at issue as well as reports by at least four of the leading national dailies. Contrary to the spin by a section of the press, I don’t see anywhere where Comrade Oshiomhole spoke against devolution in a manner that would obstruct good governance of the country or impede the deliverance of  succor directly to the long-suffering masses of Nigeria.

    Comrade Oshiomhole is not just a talker, but also a doer, as can be verified from his stellar performance as two-term governor of Edo State. The memories of the likes of Odumakin may be short, but the real Nigerian workers will certainly not forget the man who never failed to champion their cause, even as Edo governor. When it was most “unpopular”, Oshiomhole once broke ranks with his fellow governors to join NLC street protest in Abuja demanding that the N18,000 minimum wage remain sacrosanct. Just as Edo teachers will certainly not forget who pioneered the payment of TSS in 2011 when the relatively “richer” states were foot-dragging.

    I think Oshiomhole’s only point of departure was the view that rather than be fixated on the current elite game of endless “talk talk” on restructuring, we should not forget to channel more energies towards evolving ideas that will immediately better the living conditions of the masses of Nigeria. He definitely speaks from rich hand-on experience in political office and genuine concern for the poor at the receiving end of the harsh economic climate today.

    In any case, having also been a two-term president of the NLC, a pan-Nigerian institution for that matter, how do you expect Oshiomhole to, at this point, descend so low as to be mouthing divisive or separatist rhetoric being indulged in by ethnic entrepreneurs and sectional irredentists like the Odumakins of this world? NLC only recognises one Nigeria. NLC is religion-blind and ethnicity-void. That is the pan-Nigeria movement Oshiomhole represents and on whose behalf he speaks.

    However, the former Edo governor expressed misgivings at what he described as the desperate attempt to hijack the restructuring debate by PDP and its apologists who he believes rather view it primarily as a tool to attack and vilify the ruling APC of which he is a proud member. Oshiomhole’s “yabis” against PDP is what I think actually annoyed Odumakin, who was undoubtedly empowered materially by the discredited Jonathan administration. Of course, it is a statement of fact that Odumakin and his madam temporarily relocated their matrimony to the 2014 Abuja confab and each collected princely N4m monthly while the talk-shop lasted.

    We all know plenty of dollars exchanged hands during Jonathan’s desperate bid for second term between 2014 and 2015. Odumakin even rushed out a piece of hagiography in praise of his PDP benefactors then. He is yet to tell us who sponsored the “emergency book”, even though it is already open secret. If truly Odumakin and his co-travelers were truly sincere about implementing the recommendations of the 2014 confab report and were so committed to “restructuring” then, how come they could not persuade their PDP paymaster then to implement aspects of the proposal that did not require legislative reengineering?

    These were the factual points Oshiomhole was trying to make, but which the Odumakins of this world are now labouring futilely to twist out of context.

    To show how jaundiced he was against Oshiomhole, Odumakin shamelessly raked up the issue of the ultra-modern 5-Star Hospital in Benin for which the former governor has been praised by all and sundry, but which PDP has expectedly been battling to discredit.

    Thank God, no one is accusing Oshiomhole of laying claim to a structure that does not exist, as was the case under PDP. The truth of the matter is that Edo now has a new governor in person of Godwin Obaseki, who appears to have a different view on how best to manage the hospital. The latter, being a technocrat, believes the edifice and its modern appurtenances are better left not in the hands of civil servants, but managers from the private sector to be given strict targets to deliver value to the public and the investor (government). Should Oshiomhole now be crucified for Obaseki’s different idea?

    But, for God’s sake, what has the Benin hospital got to do with the colloquium in Abuja? To hatchet men like Odumakin, a connection had to be made, no matter how ludicrous. Shamelessly, he devoted a huge space in his pathetic write-up to quote all the foul things earlier uttered by the voluble chairman of Edo PDP, Mr. Daniel Orbih. Just to get at Oshiomhole. What a shame!

    Most pathetic of all the drivel written by Odumakin is his attempt to belittle Oshiomhole’s remarkable achievements as an individual who rose from humble background to national limelight and his monumental contributions to the labour movement in the last three decades as a committed unionist. It is pointless even replying Odumakin here. Right-thinking Nigerians already know the truth.

    In any case, who is better placed to expose Odumakin’s treacherous character than Chief Ayo Opadokun, an Afenifere insider. During a bitter epistolary exchange not too long ago, the NADECO chieftain described in details Odumakin’s penchant for biting the fingers that fed him. For instance, when he was struck down by a mysterious affliction in his arm years ago and was penniless, Opadokun revealed that it was Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that came to his rescue by offsetting his medical bills. But that show of goodwill in his hour of dire need would not stop Odumakin from betraying his benefactor soon after he was discharged from the hospital.

    On the contrary, Odumakin is the one who is yet to explain satisfactorily to the public what he does for a living other than parading himself as “Yoruba/Southern leader” by virtue of being the “spokesperson” of Afenifere. That was the big challenge thrown at him in 2011 by no other than the Publisher of THISDAY, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, when this political hustler tried to blackmail the media guru in the countdown to the general elections of that year. Of course, the “very principled” Odumakin was then working for General Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidential Campaign Organisation against Goodluck Jonathan.

    But by the next election season, this political harlot had slipped over to Jonathan’s bed without batting an eyelid. Yes, because the price was right! What a shame.

    Lately, Odumakin has been linked to a multi-billion naira radio station in Oyo State. He is yet to deny interest in the eye-popping undertaking and also explain where the money came from since the Afenifere job is not known to be a salaried job.

    Of course, the sacking of PDP from Ondo last year only meant the final destruction of the last source of “stomach infrastructure” for political mercenaries for South-West PDP like Odumakin. Until Gbenga Daniel lost out politically in 2011, Abeokuta used to be their rendezvous. Thereafter, they retreated to Akure and began to praise-sing Segun Mimiko as a latter-day “Awoist”. Too bad, the “Oshokomole” of Ekiti State (Ayo Fayose) is today not deceived by the theatrics of these funny characters wearing fake Awo cap.

    Overall, it is a measure of the political tragedy of Nigeria today that in an environment where you have the likes of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, both phenomenally accomplished in politics and professional calling by any standard, political riffraffs like Odumakin will take liberty to parade themselves as “Yoruba leaders”.

    So much for a pathetic columnist!

     

    • Comrade Arogundade,

    wrote from Ilasa, Lagos. 

  • Tell the children the ugly truth

    Sir: Nigeria is blessed and endowed by divine providence with great natural and human resources that are the envy of her neighbours and friends alike. Nigeria is also a country where opportunities for personal growth and development exist abundantly. Given this reality, it is instructive to state without equivocation or fear of contradiction that Nigeria is one indivisible nation, though diversely cultural and variegated in ethnicity but I strongly believe that what unite us as a country are more than the few things that tend to engender division.

    This diversity should be a veritable source of strength and never that of weakness. The United States of America is the strongest country in the world today, not because of its great population per se but because of the strength in diversity of their population.

    It is imperative for national unity and cohesion that parents should tell their children the truth; not a version of the truth that tends to promote selfish, parochial and sectional interest. And truth reduces the burden of conscience and we are told also that the conscience is an open wound that only truth can heal.

    It is difficult and virtually impossible for individuals or a group of people to threaten the sanctity of the unity of Nigeria, no matter the guise, pretence or pretext. Previous efforts made to break, divide or segregate Nigeria before failed tragically and future misadventure will not only fail but also with disastrous consequences; it is divine providence, not by might or power.

    There is no misunderstanding, agitation or protest that cannot be discussed in an atmosphere free of rancour and acrimony and resolved amicably and peacefully to the satisfaction of all and sundry.

    Love Nigeria, defend and cherish her for it deserves no less.

     

    • Usman Mohammed,

    Lapai-Niger State.

  • THEME: THE FULL ARMOUR OF GOD (16)

    Sub-Theme: The Strong Belt of Truth

    Topic: The Spirit of Truth

    There was a Roman citizen living in Caesarea, called Cornelius. Who is Cornelius and why talk about him?

    • He was an army officer
    • He lived a devoted life
    • He was a godly man
    • His household feared God too; he raised a godly family
    • He gave alms generously to charity
    • He was a man of prayer

    What a man to emulate, but the most important was still missing in Cornelius’ life. What could that be? We will get to know as we proceed.

    His actions drew God’s favourable attention.

    One day, while Cornelius was wide-awake, he had a vision; it was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon. In the vision, he saw an angel of God coming towards him and saying to him, “Cornelius!” He was afraid and stared at the angel in terror, and said, “What is it, Lord?” so he said to him, “your prayers and your alms giving have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you MUST do.” take note of the word MUST, for it is also a must do to all who desire to be accepted by God, live godly, win life’s battles and make it to heaven at last. As soon as the angel was gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a godly soldier, one of his personal bodyguard and told them what had happened and sent them to Joppa.

    God so loved this man and his household, He would not want them to miss the real life. God went ahead to supernaturally convince Simon Peter about Cornelius.

    The next day, as they were nearing the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray. It was noon and he was hungry, but while lunch was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the sky open, and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air (forbidden to the Jews for food). The voice said to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” A voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” The same vision was repeated three times. Then the sheet was pulled up again into heaven.

    While Peter wondered within himself what the vision meant, behold the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate. They called and asked whether Simon, whose surname was Peter was lodging there. While Peter thought about the vison, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Behold three men are seeking you. Arise therefore, go down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them.” Peter went down and introduced himself to the men asking them what they wanted from him. They told him about Cornelius the Roman officer, a good and godly man, well thought of by the Jews, and how an angel had instructed him to send for Peter to come and tell him what God wanted him to do. He lodged them overnight and the next day, he went with them accompanied by some other believers from Joppa.

    They arrived Caesarea the following day, and Cornelius was waiting for him, and had called together his relatives and close friends (he always carried along his family, no wonder he had a godly family) to meet with Peter. As Peter entered his home, Cornelius fell to the floor before him in worship but Peter lifted him up saying, “Stand up; I myself am also a man.” As he talked with him, he went in and found many who had come together.

    Peter told them, “You know it is against the Jewish laws for me to keep company with or go to anyone of another nation, but God has shown me in a vison that I should not call any man common, unclean, or inferior. Therefore, I came withou objection as soon as I was sent for. Now tell me what you want?” Cornelius then narrated his vision before everyone, concluding by saying, “…Now therefore we are all present before God, to hear what He has told you to tell us!”

    There are many lessons to learn from the narration above, but note that though Cornelius was a god-fearing man, something was still missing in his life without which he cannot please God. He did not yet know God’s plan for all humans, which qualifies us to be in a relationship with Him. God was seeking a relationship with Cornelius. Without this, his godliness, devotion, alms giving, and all his good deeds would come to nothing. What else must he do? To be continued next week…

    TEXT: Ephesians 6:10-18, John 8:32, John 14:15-17, Acts 10: 1-33.

     

  • The art of managing the truth

    The art of managing the truth

    Five it to inimitable MKO Abiola. Proverbs, by his transliteration of a Yoruba wit, provide the lubricant with which words are calibrated to achieve highest possible meaning. Wit is the horse on which words ride and vice versa.

    In one of his expansive moments, MKO would joke that one of his unfulfilled childhood dreams was to be a doctor. Why? Rolling his eyes, he imagined the pleasure a male doctor daily derives from placing a stethoscope on the bosom of the opposite sex and commanding her to “breathe in, breathe out.”

    Now, with the latest bulletin from President Muhammadu Buhari’s sick bay in London, there is no prize for guessing the revision MKO would have made to his earlier thesis about the doctor’s awesome powers.

    While receiving his media team in London at the weekend, the president was quoted as saying he believes he is now okay but will continue to stay back in deference to his doctor’s advice.

    With that, some might be tempted to assume that sovereignty has now technically slipped from the Nigerian electorate to some physician in another country which, incidentally, once colonized their nation.

    Well, among Nigerians, opinions will certainly be divided on compliance when a doctor imposes the sort of curfew or restriction PMB alluded to. Of course, it all depends on who or the interest involved. In 1995, for instance, no doctor could confine Nduka Obaigbena’s passion to oversee THISDAY newspaper at its teething stage.

    Fearing the worst one morning after another grueling night supervising production, worried family members had to drag the Duke to the hospital following signs of extreme physical exhaustion. He was sedated and put on drip. Our shock could then be imagined when, few hours later, a determined Obaigbena reappeared at the Ribadu Road, Ikoyi office, looking groggy, but surprisingly clad in Agbada, seeking to find out how the production for the next day’s edition was turning out. The Agbada was to hide the drip on his left arm.

    That underlines perhaps the extreme level of commitment.

    But jokes apart, coming on the heels of visits by APC hierarchs and selected governors, the latest pilgrimage to London led by Information Minister Lai Mohammed is what it is – a last-ditch attempt to convince a cynical Nigerian public and disprove this needling nag by political opponents that the show of recovery was only being stage-managed before a carefully selected audience at the Abuja House in London after the president’s odyssey entered the 95th day. Worse, in a week that a group led by Charly Boy barricaded Abuja with a forceful message to the president, “Return or Resign”.

    Of course, having cumulatively spent abroad five out of seven months of the year thus far, the Nigerian president has now more or less become the butt of jokes in the international media.

    The rising tide of snide remarks, it would seem, is no longer lost on PMB himself going by a Freudian Slip he made while exchanging banters with Abike Dabiri-Erewa, his Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs. To her joke, “Welcome to my constituency”, the president testily replied in a one-minute video trending in the social media “I’m, but reluctantly”.

    That, in view, is very loaded indeed.

    Indeed, truth can be a pest. To some of those being haunted, the best way to survive is to seek to avoid it. Hence, the assortment of ingenious improvisations aimed at managing the truth. It is precisely in this dim light that the latest in the series of shuttles to London by Buhari people should be viewed.

    But rather than repair the self-inflicted PR damage, the airing of the Saturday visit only appears to have complicated things. Matters were certainly not helped by the poor handling of protesters at home last week. Whereas the sparse “Return or Resign” crowd were mercilessly hounded and tear-gassed on Abuja street, those for Buhari – clearly bigger – were courteously treated and chaperoned by policemen on horseback and warmly received at Aso Rock by presidency officials who read prepared statement. (A report by Punch newspaper quoted some of the latter group confessing they were promised N2k after the “performance”.)

    As earlier argued in this column, access to the principal is key for any media officer assigned the delicate duty of managing public communication/perception. A miniature of the media unit ought to be part of PMB’s entourage everywhere, moreso given the dire circumstance he has found himself in the last eight months requiring a clear-headed strategy to manage national curiosity.  It is certainly most unhelpful if your image-makers have to rely on intermediaries to speak on your behalf. Naturally taciturn and and reclusive by habit, Buhari is obviously a PR man’s ultimate nightmare.

    Ideally, the visitation of his media team should not become a subject of international celebration we have been treated to in the past few days. If anything, it inadvertently confirms the deficit in the communication strategy all along; that a gulf had existed between them.

    Most pathetic is the retailing of a particular photograph in which a smiling PMB marches towards the camera in the garden, two steps ahead of aides clapping like physiotherapists. The other picture that comes to mind is of a mother ecstatic at her toddler just taking first steps.

    Two, the story would have been better told by members of the State House Press corps were they the ones put on the jet to London. A professional analysis of the story in the media on Sunday clearly showed that the account was written and fed to the journalists in Abuja.

    The stunt of Buhari marching “energetically” in the garden in the London summer afternoon would be more believable had it been captured from different angles by independent photo-journalists accredited by Aso Rock.

    More disturbing is the sort of issues this official narrative seemed obsessed with. While it is pleasing to hear that PMB truly has the presence of mind to remember how his decisive role helped ease wayward Yahyah Jammeh out of the presidential fortress in Banjul in January, more Nigerians would definitely have wished to hear his thoughts on what constitutes perhaps greater and present threat to Nigeria’s interest in the sub-region – attempt by North African nation of Morocco to railroad itself into ECOWAS.

    At a time the intruder is digging furiously the earth under our feet in the west coast mum has been the word from Abuja.

    Again, we already know Buhari’s harsh words for those pushing for secession from the South-east and his sharp tongue against the troublemakers threatening to blow the oil pipelines in the Niger Delta. But the latest official narrative syndicated in Abuja did not let us into Buhari’s mind on the flurry of hate songs being composed and churned out in his name by Arewa youths against other sections of the country.

    For Buhari today, the spirit may be willing, but the body is certainly weak. Forget the forced gap-toothed smiles, this must be the most depressing moment for the General from Daura. Sadly, the nagging stories around presidential infirmity won’t go away and the official mishandling of the narrative now appears to overshadow the gains from the relentless war against corruption and substantial containment of Boko Haram.

    While it is true that the nation could have done better with the articulation of a clearer vision for the economy in 2015 and bringing to bear a sense of urgency, what is however undeniable is that things could have gone much worse had the nation not had someone as frugal and disciplined as Buhari at a time of recession widespread across the globe occasioned by a steep crash of commodity prices.

    One good thing about seclusion is the opportunity for introspection. So, the extended medical vacation must have afforded PMB a chance for some deep reflection these past few months perhaps on the rivers he had crossed and the mountains still ahead.

    As he continues to bask in the solitude of the London hermit, in case it had not yet happened, let the old general however be forewarned that there is no way he could possibly escape being haunted at some point by the ghost of Umar Yar’Adua over a comment he once made.

    When Yar’Adua increasingly found himself entrapped on the sick bed by the twilight of 2009, PMB was among the most vocal then, urging him not only to come clean on his exact medical condition but also respect himself by honourably bowing out of office.

    His exact words in 2010: “It’s unpatriotic for a government leader to travel abroad for so long in the name of medical vacation. If a leader can no longer function due to ill-health, he should be called upon to resign. I don’t think I have said anything wrong to have advised the President to resign. He should disclose his health status to Nigerians and resign if he can no longer cope. That’s the proper thing to do.”

    By nudging his younger kinsman from Katsina to follow the worthy example set two years earlier by Fidel Castro, Buhari then appeared to seize the moral high ground. Indeed, as he increasingly got weakened by age-related infirmities, the then charismatic Cuban leader could have hung on to power, pleading no law forbade him from taking ill while in office. But he refused the temptations. In relinquishing power in 2008, these were his unforgettable words to his fellow countrymen:

    “My wishes have always been to discharge my duties to my last breath. But it would be a betrayal to my conscience to accept a responsibility requiring more mobility and dedication than I am physically able to offer.”

    Obviously, there is no way PMB could, in a good conscience, be said to have live up to the same high standard he judged Yar’Adua – failure to disclose what exactly ails him and foreign residency.

    No less compelling is the memory of PMB’s thunderous disavowal as recently as last year of “medical tourism” by government officials. Speaking in Abuja that day, he declared that Federal Government under his watch would no longer approve financial support of any kind for all categories of public servants seeking medical treatment abroad. (By 2013, around $1bn was estimated to have been spent by Nigerians on medical treatment abroad.)

    Now, the big puzzle is whether PMB is excluded from the tribe of public servants so referenced.

    Managing the truth is never an easy task.

     

  • THE FULL ARMOUR OF GOD (15)

    Sub-Theme: The Strong Belt of Truth

    Topic: The Spirit of Truth

    I hated the word ‘born again’ because I looked at the lives of those who say they were and did not want to be like them; I did not want to look like them. Another reason could be that nature in most humans that will make them disbelief/disregard those truths beyond their reasoning. We are to believe every word of God and focus on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith who is also our perfect example to follow. We should not let the lifestyles of people who claim to be Christians but are not, to discourage us. The word of God (the Bible) should be our reference point as rightly interpreted.

    It was after I read in the Bible, Jesus’ explanation to Nicodemus, on the meaning of the word born again, and the need to be born again if one desires to enter heaven, did I understand this truth. I understood that the new life Jesus gives to those who believe and accept Him as their Lord and saviour is a ‘BORN AGAIN” life; the life I now have and live, I began to proclaim this truth to those I love and to those who want to enter heaven.

    The born again new life in Jesus Christ is a spiritual life, not a fleshly life. This spiritual life enables one to live a righteous life, without which it is impossible to be truly righteous. As you continually trust in Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be able to love Him and obey Him.

     

    Not by your power nor your might but ONLY by the Spirit of God, can you and I live righteous in this corrupt generation.

     

    Apostle Paul relates his own experience as a Christian; his struggles with his sinful nature and the reality of God’s victory to him and us through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. He narrated thus, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I cannot. I do what I don’t want to do, what I hate is what I’m doing.  I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, but I cannot help myself, it is no longer I who do it but It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things.

    I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t.  When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway.  Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, then it means that sin still has me in its evil hold.

     I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant, but instead I find myself still in bondage to sin. So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible situation I’m in! Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly sinful nature?

     

    Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free. So there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  For the power of the Holy Spirit which is mine through Christ Jesus, has freed me from the vicious circle of sin and death.  We are not saved from sin’s hold by knowing the commandments of God because we cannot and do not keep them, but God put into action a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours (except that ours are sinful) and destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins.  So now we can obey God’s laws if we follow after the Holy Spirit and no longer obey the old evil nature within us.

    Those who let themselves be controlled by their lower natures (their flesh) live only to please themselves, but those who follow after the Holy Spirit find themselves doing those things that please God.  

     

    Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace, but following after the old nature leads to death(death comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter)because the old sinful nature within us is against God. It never did obeys God’s laws and it never will.  That’s why those who are still under the control of their old sinful selves, bent on following their old evil desires, can never please God.

    But you are not like that. You are controlled by your new nature if you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that if anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ living in him, he is not a Christian at all.  Yet, even though Christ lives within you, your body will die because of sin; but your spirit will live, for Christ has pardoned it. And if the Spirit of God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, lives in you, He will make your dying bodies live again after you die, by means of this same Holy Spirit living within you. So, dear brothers/sisters, you have no obligations whatever to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.  For if you keep on following it you are lost and will perish, but if through the power of the Holy Spirit you crush it and its evil deeds, you shall live.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. And so we should not be like cringing, fearful slaves, but we should behave like God’s very own children, adopted into the bosom of His family, and calling to Him, “Father, Father.”  For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we really are God’s children.”

     

    It was when Paul began to look beyond his own ability in obeying the law and started looking to Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit within him, did he gain victory over his sinful nature. Knowing God’s provision for his deliverance through Jesus and the Holy Spirit he regained his strength and victory over sin.

     

    Though our old sinful nature will always want to rear its head; seeking to control us, we should always put it to death through faith in the victory Jesus obtained for us and in the power of the Holy Spirit choosing to obey the Spirit of Truth.

    My utmost heart desire is to be a spirit controlled woman, this is my daily prayer.

     

    TEXT: Ephesians 6:10-18, John 8:32, John 3:1-21, Romans 7:15-25, Romans 8:1-17.

    FROM: FAITH NWACHUKWU