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Some Prophets see nothing, by Femi Adesina

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By Femi Adesina

There he goes again. Troublemaker. He wants to abuse our prophets, the vessels of God Almighty.

Not so. Let me state from the beginning that I believe in prophecies and prophets. Good, sincere, genuine ones. “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established. Believe His prophets, so shall you prosper,” says the Good Book in 2 Chronicles 20:20.

But when prophets play to the gallery, claim God has said, when God has said nothing, then they expose themselves to ridicule. From such, run away. Show clean pairs of heels.

On Sunday July 11, the final match of Euro 2020 was played between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium in London. The English team had a lot to play for. Since they last won the World Cup in 1966, also on home soil, they had won nothing again. Not even 5-a-Side Felele competition.

Getting to the final of Euro 2020 was thus big deal. Football was coming home, lovers of English soccer, home of the beautiful game, kept chanting. For those who supported Italy, they chanted that football was going Rome. Who would carry the day? Home or Rome?

There is this video that has been making the rounds on social media. Whether genuine or apocryphal, I do not know. But we see a Pastor (or is it Prophet) declaring magisterially on the pulpit that England was going to win the trophy that night. To the applause of his fawning congregation, he repeated the so-called prophecy many times. Lori iro.

Sunday evening came, England scored in the very second minute of the game. They were looking good for the first major soccer diadem since 1966. Till about the 67th minute, when Italy drew blood. Heartbreak.

The match ended a goal apiece in regulation time. An extra 30 minutes produced no further goals. Penalty shootout ensued. Italy scored three of its five kicks, England could tuck in only two. Sadly, the three spot kicks were missed by Black English footballers, who had done so much for the team. Miserable. Dolorous.

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Where did it leave our prophet? Blind as a bat. Why did he speak supposedly in the name of the Lord, when he saw nothing, and heard nothing? He just exposed an elevated calling to odium and opprobrium.

The Good Book tells us about the five-fold ministries. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Prophets rank high in the hierarchy. They hear from God, and tell the people. And when it is from God, He watches over His own word to perform it. Only He can change it, no man.

Also last Sunday, a newspaper published on the front page a so-called prophecy that Nigeria would disintegrate, and there’s nothing anybody could do about it. The foretelling was credited to Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, in Lagos.

The Prophet gave the date and time of Nigeria’s unraveling as between 2035 and 2040. A person who wants to give you a fib would say his witness is in Heaven. How many people living now would still be alive in 2035 or 2040? Are we even sure of tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year, except by the mercies of God?

And then, why is it always negative, negative, negative prophecies all the time? We are admonished not to despise prophesying (1 Thessalonians 5:20) but then, “by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved.” (Hosea 12:13). Prophecies are for our comfort, edification, preservation, not something to frighten the living daylights out of us, and have us on tenterhooks all the days of our life. When you see someone indulging in negatives, run far. To thy tents oh Israel.

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I know Primate Ayodele. I have been a special guest in his church when I was Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Newspapers. He does great things in terms of welfare for his flock. He empowers them wish cash and materials they can use to set up themselves gainfully. I was impressed with that. But the prophetic aspect?

Let’s look at all these facts: in the build up to 2015 presidential elections, Primate Ayodele said Goodluck Jonathan would win. The man lost. He said the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would take Kaduna by a narrow margin. Nasir el-Rufai of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won. Again, he said Yobe, Gombe, Benue, Delta, and Akwa Ibom States would be won by PDP. The APC won three of those States. Who hit the crossbar? You know the answer.

PDP will shock APC in Lagos. It didn’t happen. Boko Haram would bomb South West. Mercifully, it didn’t happen. APC would break, Buhari won’t do second term. You know the truth. And in 2017, when the President was on medical vacation abroad for many months, he said the seat was vacant, and the man would never return. You now know who didn’t speak the truth, who didn’t hear from God.

The Book, that Good Book, tells us how we know a false prophet from a genuine one. The false says something, and it does not come to pass. And he continues to strut and fret his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. His tales are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Prophet Jonah was told to speak against Nineveh, that the city would be sacked, overthrown, because of their evil acts. Jonah fled to Tarshish instead, because he didn’t want to deliver a doomsday message. He ended in the belly of a whale, which vomited him at the shores of Nineveh. He made his pronouncements, and the people took warning. They repented in ashes and sackcloth, and God had mercy. He spared the city.

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What did Jonah do next? He asked God to kill him, because he knew the gravity of failed prophecies. But our modern day prophets? They hit the crossbar severally, yet no compunction. No remorse. And worse still, some people continue to believe them.

Nigeria will survive, as long as people continue to call on the living God. Nineveh prayed, and God changed His mind about destroying the city. President Buhari has said those of them who were on the frontlines for 30 months during the Civil War would never fold their hands, and see Nigeria break. Rather than allow it, they would speak to the troublemakers “in the language they understand.” Former President Olusegun Obasanjo also says those advocating the country’s break-up are “idiotic.” Yes, we will always have people like Buhari and Obasanjo around. Nigeria will survive.

What am I saying? Don’t nations break? Where is the old Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and many others? Yes, those countries broke into splinters, but as for Nigeria, it would survive. Beyond 2035 and 2040, whether we are still here or not. And as long as patriots continue to lead the country.

But for Primate Ayodele, let him focus on touching lives through preaching the gospel, and empowering of many people. It has great gains now and in eternity.

*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity

 

 

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Opinion

Ondo 2024: Aiyedatiwa gets desperate, dangles Port Ondo contract before prominent Yoruba monarch for presidency support

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  • Promise of 25% equity stake
    Desperate to meet Tinubu and Southwest governors for support.
    Top Ondo Obas frowns at the idea

Ondo State governor, Lucky Ayedatiwa has become hyper desperate ahead of the the governorship primaries of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in April.

Inside sources have revealed that the governor, as part of his desperate search for the party’s ticket, has made the contract for the construction of Port Ondo as a bargaining chip to the Oni of Ife, his Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, to help secure the support of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR and the South West Governors.

 

The deal, according to impeccable sources, was brokered by the two prominent Yoruba politicians (names withheld) who had stood with Ayedatiwa in his recent political battle against his former boss and benefactor, late Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON.

 

Reports have it that, Aiyedatiwa became desperate after several failed attempts to get the President’s attention over his ambition. He reportedly ran to a former governor of Ondo State, who according to information, has become his godfather and Chief Strategist.

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The former governor was said to have secured the assistance of an Osun State-born former Secretary of the APC. At the meeting, which was held at the private quarters of the Oni of Ife, he was asked to provide an opportunity for Aiyedatiwa to meet President Tinubu and the governors of the South West.

 

Among the issues discussed at the meeting was how to overlook Aiyedatiwa’s alleged ‘sins’ to Akeredolu, during and after his death.

 

However, as at the time of filing this report, some prominent monarchs in Ondo State are said to have gotten wind of the plan and are said to be spoiling for a fight.

 

A source, who did not want to be metioned, said the action of the governor is already causing a lot of anger and bad blood among the monarchs in the Sunshine State.

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Opinion

OF OTA-FRIENDS AND ORE-NEMIES OF AKETI- END OF THE EMERGENCY BEARD OF LUCKY AYEDATIWA

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By Sola Ajisafe, Esq

” The worth of a man is not in the vastness of his estate or the fatness of his vault but in the totality of his character and serenity of his inner being” – Anonymous

 

Last week, I called out our Governor about the whereabouts of his wife, our First Lady and why the “Oza room” had been empty. Nothing of note came out from him or his aides that tends to answer the relevant question. This is a common practice in the media orgy coupled together currently around the Governor. They will “leave ete to be treating lapalapa”.

 

Just like the ridiculous Press Statement about the clownish violence perpetrated on his other contestants during the President’s visit or the anti- Aketi executive poorly put together by Lucky. Wetin be my own? Today, my attention is to ask Mr. Governor ” Where is your Aketi beard?

 

The disappearance of Lucky’s beards is a significant pointer to how fake, unreliable and fluid our Governor is as a person. The open celebration and association with Aketi arch enemies, betrayers and discredited individuals in his newly inaugurated Executive is a pointer to what to expect in that government. Aside from a few individuals, that teal lack character and content. Anyway, (10) months no be anybody’s friend. E no dey play o.

 

Mr. Governor, it was not news that on your return from your long Abuja trip with your “Abuja activists”, the first thing Ondo State people noticed was that you have changed your looks and the Aketi beard had disappeared. If there was anything to point to the fact that the romance between you and your boss had ended, it was that change of personality. When on the day you addressed a press conference asking for forgiveness it was clear that you were playing with our intelligence as a people.

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I know as of a fact that in Nigeria of today, everything is cruise, just like most politicians in Nigeria are petty traders. They lack originality, political ideology and are bereft of sound intellectual understanding of what it means to be politically straightforward and upright. They are duplicious in their actions and profoundly vague in their thoughts. They are not better than Aba/Onitsha or China ( Chinco) products usually referred to as ” baruf” (fake) during our secondary school days.

When the going was good

I said Nigerian politicians are cruise chasers. The current vogue of wearing Awo or Afenifere cap remains a valid example. At a point in time, every manner of persons adopted it as their passport to enter the progressive palour. As they come in many colours and shapes so are the baboon elements and their virtues. They only take to mind the shapes and the embossed scollopings. They do not come an inch close to what it represents. Many of them and the ” alright sir boys” around Alagbaka government house/office have the same mental attributes except that one give alms while the other takes. All na same.

 

Just like the Awo cap, some elements within the Akeredolu government picked up the tendency of wearing beards immediately Aketi came on board in 2017. Not long after some of them could not maintain the discipline and tenacity that came with having the Fidel Castro or Che Guevara beard. That was what Aketi carried as far back as his days in the University or shortly thereafter. Time and age enveloped it and turned it to a Father Christmas on him.

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Our Governor, Hon. Lucky Ayedatiwa was one of those that started the culture of wearing beards like Aketi. He was helped by time and age so he does not have to add anything to make it white. Yet, “abinibi” is quite different from “ability”. While Aketi’s beard was custom made, those of the copy cats were as fake as the products of “Yaba Apa Otun, Katangua or Oshodi under bridge”where tokunbo clothes and materials are sold.

With Aketi’s beards
The story here is not just about wearing a beard to look like your boss. I used to pity these imitators in those early days of the Aketi government. They do not carry those beards because it fits them or that they were comfortable. They carried it to show off their loyalty. I have seen people move from one politically exposed person and one party to another wearing the badge of their loyalty like an insignia of office only to take to flight immediately something happened. I have heard people tell me ” I will read Aketi like a book for eight (8) years, only to take to flight having realized that the man is nearing his end. They divulged his medical history to his ” ota-friends” and ” ore-nemies”.

 

For instance, who would believe that Hon. Lucky Ayedatiwa will so soon return almost clean shaven from his haitus in Abuja without the ” emergency beards” that he wore so much and faithfully when he was stalking Aketi and his family to get political relevance. Immediately he got what he wanted and he learnt from the snitches who report every action of Aketi to him he “dis-beard” himself from Aketi and became the Lucky of the emergency activists both in Abuja and in Ondo State.

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For me, loyalty is not something to be worn like a badge or rendered like a song. Loyalty does not mean you cannot quarrel or disagree on principle. It also does not mean you should be a slave. However, loyalty means “one for all, all for one”. When it’s comfortable or not comfortable.

 

Every leader and influential person must learn something from the life and times of Aketi. Human beings love what they can get from you. They do not care about you so soon you are no longer useful to them or you no longer posses the capacity to do things for them.

 

I call on everyone that still has a dint of humanity in them and felt a hunch for Aketi and decided to stay with him during his trying period and are been persecuted to know that a new dawn is in the offing. And for those who benefitted from Aketi but contributed towards his death by their actions and deeds or are determined to destroy his legacy or are willing to forget the good old days to note that Karma is a bitch and so unforgiven. Just take note of my words.

The disappearance of Lucky’s “Aketi beard” was too sudden. It showed there was no altruism in it in the first place.

 

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Opinion

AIYEDATIWA: THE NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN

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By Adeboro Onibalusi

In the dynamic landscape of Ondo State politics, a new era has dawned with the emergence of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa as the beacon of progress and transformation.

 

Following the unfortunate passing of his predecessor, Governor Akeredolu, Aiyedatiwa swiftly stepped into the leadership role, bringing with him a renewed sense of purpose and vision for the state.

 

Since assuming office, Governor Aiyedatiwa has embarked on a mission to unite stakeholders across Ondo State, recognizing the invaluable contributions each person brings to the table in his quest to move the state forward.

 

His commitment to inclusive governance is evident in his unwavering outreach efforts, ensuring that every voice is heard and every perspective considered in the journey towards the development of our beloved sunshine state.

 

One of Governor Aiyedatiwa’s most commendable achievements has been his steadfast dedication to the welfare of civil servants. Through prompt payment of salaries and allowances, he has demonstrated a profound understanding of the importance of ensuring the well-being of those who tirelessly serve the state.

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This unprecedented commitment to the workforce not only fosters a culture of productivity and loyalty but also sets a standard of excellence for governance.

Furthermore, Governor Aiyedatiwa’s proactive approach to infrastructure development has been nothing short of remarkable. By mobilizing contractors back to project sites, he his accelerating the pace of development, laying the groundwork for a prosperous future for Ondo State. His strategic investments in key sectors such as education, underscore his unwavering commitment to building a resilient and sustainable state for generations to come.

 

Moreover, Governor Aiyedatiwa’s dedication to the advancement of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a testament to his unwavering loyalty to the party and its ideals.

Adeboro Onibalusi

His efforts to reward party executives at all levels reflect his recognition of their invaluable contributions to the party’s success and his commitment to fostering unity and cohesion within the APC family.

As we look towards the future, Governor Aiyedatiwa’s leadership offers a beacon of hope and promise for Ondo State. His visionary leadership, coupled with his unparalleled dedication to the people, positions him as the transformative force that our state needs at this critical juncture. Let us rally behind Governor Aiyedatiwa as he leads us towards a brighter, more prosperous future for Ondo State. Together, let us embrace the dawn of a new era under the stewardship of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the new sheriff in town. With the slogan ‘Odatiwa, Odi rorun’ resounding across the state, it’s imperative that we support a renewal of his mandate come the April 2024 APC primaries. This will ensure the entrenchment of progressive continuity, securing our collective journey towards sustained growth and development.

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Signed: Hon Adeboro Onibalusi, APC stalwart (Akoko North West) Ondo state

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