The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Vice president

  • ‘Solution to Celestial Church crisis’

    The leadership crisis rocking the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) won’t end unless its leaders adhere strictly to the instructions of its late founder, Pastor Samuel Bilewu Oshoffa, by recognising the church in Porto Novo, Benin Republic, which he first established as its supreme headquarters.”

    This was the admonition of Rev. Pastor Bennett Akande Adeogun, the church’s Supreme Head Worldwide, during a sermon at this year’s harvest thanksgiving held in Porto Novo.

    Adeogun said the crisis was occasioned by greed and selfishness on the part of some leaders of the church, especially those in the Nigerian diocese, whom he accused of flouting the laid down rules and regulations of the late Oshoffa.

    “Pastor/Reverend Oshoffa did the job according to how he was directed by God and what the founder planted is what we are improving upon. This church was established by the holy spirit and not by human wisdom, knowledge or power,” he stressed, adding: “What we are doing here is in accordance with the order of the founder as commanded by God, and which must be obeyed by all faithful of the Celestial Church of Christ all over the world.”

    Pastor Patrice Lashile, first Vice President, said unless every member recognises the Port-Novo church as the mother of all celestial churches, there will continue to be leadership crisis in the fold.

    He said any pastor that was not ordained by the Porto Novo church is not a bona fide member and warned pastors who claimed to have been ordained by other persons apart from Pastor Adeogun to stop doing pastoral work in the name of the church.

  • el-Rufai deserves prayer not anger- Atiku

    el-Rufai deserves prayer not anger- Atiku

    The Media office of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has accused Former Federal Capital Territory  Minister, Malam Nasir el-Rufai of writing alleged fiction for self-glorification at the expense of truth.

     Reacting to el-Rufai’s book entitled, “The Accidental Public Servant,” Atiku’s Media office  dismissed el-Rufai’s  book as a collection of fiction, half-truths, exaggeration and reflection of selective memory.

     The Media Office in a statement said it was particularly piqued by  el-Rufai’s claim that he  almost resigned as the former Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) because of alleged persistent pressure and interference by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was then the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization.

     Atiku’s Media Office expressed disbelief that the former FCT Minister forgot soon what he said at the Senate Public Hearing on BPE August 8-13, 2011. That Adhoc committee was headed by Senator Ahmed Lawan.

     It recalled el-Rufai as saying that he had special relationship with former President Obasanjo, which gave him direct access and the discretion to bypass the Council on Privatization headed by Atiku in order to get the approval of the President.

     The Media Office wondered how el-Rufai could reconcile his threat of resignation with the accounts he told the Senate about the latitude of freedom he enjoyed at BPE because of his closeness to former President Obasanjo.

     In the testimony, el-Rufai was quoted as telling the the Senate : “Thank you very much Distinguished Senator. Mr. Chairman, as a matter of principle Mr. Chairman, I am reluctant to judge my successors.  So, whenever I do a job, I move on; I don’t comment on what my successors have done. All I can say is this. Mr. Chairman, if you go through my tenure in BPE, you will see that we try to do everything by the rules, by the book. And we resisted every attempt at political interference. There is a process; step by step. Privatization is a mechanical process. Once you have the process published, every step should not be missed. And there was never a time that we deviated from that process.

    “We took everything we did to the privatization council. That’s how we ran the place. And I swear to God, I am under oath. Except for one time that the vice president called me and said; look I’ve got calls from A and B to help this guy win this, I said Mr. Vice president you know the rules, tell him to bid the highest price because the highest price wins and he said yes I know, I am just telling you in case they contact you.  And I don’t want them to say I didn’t pass on their requests. That was the only time. But no one tried to interfere with my work. There were attempts to block it. President Obasanjo blocked the privatization of Nigeria airways practically. Okay because Kema Chikwe will go and tell him stories. And what is the result today. The company is dead.”

     On the claim by el-Rufai that former President Obasanjo went on bended knees before former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to seek his cooperation for second term bid in 2003, the media office dismissed the claim as a figment of el-Rufai’s wild imagination.

     It said such claim lacked any credibility because Atiku and Obasanjo were alone together behind closed doors and that they alone knew what actually transpired between them.

     The Media Office wondered whether el-Rufai was a fly on the wall to discuss the details of a private meeting between the two leaders.

     Rather than el-Rufai feeding the public with such fabrications, the statement said the former Minister should have provided or quoted the authority for such claim since he was not at the private meeting between former President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

     The statement also added that for a man like el-Rufai who has a notorious reputation for disparaging religions and their icons, including lately Jesus Christ, the attack on Atiku was the  least surprising.

     It noted that if he could go to such irreverent extent to disparage religious icons, who is an ordinary mortal like Atiku Abubakar.

     According to the statement, any man that can cross the boundary of reason and decency, deserves prayers rather than anger.

  • Zimbabwe’s vice president dies of cancer

    Zimbabwe’s vice president dies of cancer

    Zimbabwean Vice-President, John Nkomo, died on Thursday after treatment for cancer in South Africa, a Zimbabwean political source said, removing a potential successor to ageing President Robert Mugabe, who has his own health problems.

    Nkomo, 78, was nominated for the joint number two position alongside Joice Mujuru two years ago after a fractious meeting of the southern African nation’s ruling ZANU-PF party, Reuters reports.

    A founding member of nationalist leader Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU before its merger with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF in the 1980s, Nkomo was seen by many as an efficient administrator but a remote potential successor to Mugabe due to his age and ill health.

    Analysts say his death will rekindle debate over 88-year-old Mugabe’s health issues and open up a succession battle as the country’s shaky coalition government edges towards a general election due this year.

    In December Mugabe vowed to fight like a “wounded beast” to retain power amid grumbling within his party that he should hand over the reins to a younger leader.

    He is Africa’s oldest head of state and has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980 but has denied reports he has been receiving treatment for prostate cancer in Singapore over the last two years.

    Official media was silent on Nkomo’s death but the United States embassy released a statement offering its condolences at the passing of “a patriot who dedicated his life to Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and prosperity.”

    Mugabe and ZANU-PF are struggling to shore up support among young voters, who care more about the economy than the party’s role in leading the 1970s liberation struggle against white-minority rule.