Why Flamboyant Nigerian Pastor Chris Okotie Has No Moral Right To Challenge Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

The Christian Association of Nigeria has challenged the founder of Household of God, Pastor Chris Okotie to manage his home and keep to biblical principles of one man, one wife. The association was reacting to the demand by Okotie that its President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, should resign over the alleged involvement of his aircraft in the controversial $9.3m smuggled into Africa by two Nigerians and an Israeli. Okotie, had in a statement by Okotie on his church’s Facebook page, said, “Considering the collateral damage Pastor Ayo’s close relationship with the President has done to the Christian community, it is fit and proper for the Pastor to resign immediately as CAN President to salvage what remains of the battered image of the association. “This is without prejudice to the on-going investigation on the matter. Denials of his culpability by the Federal Government, CAN officials and his own recent defense, does nothing to reduce the moral burden this whole saga places on his shoulders. As the titular leader of Christians in Nigeria, there’s now a serious crisis of confidence on his leadership and he ought to respond to it by resigning from his exalted position.” But the Director of National Issues in CAN, Mr. Sunny Oibe, told Sreporters that Okotie was looking for popularity through Oritsejafor. He said, “Is Chris Okotie a Christian? How many wives has he? He should go and sort out himself. Even the government has exonerated Ayo of all the allegations. So, who is Okotie? Well, it is laughable if× Okotie should demand that Oritsejafor should resign as President of CAN. “Chris Okotie should remove the log in his eyes before he begins to see a peck in somebody’s eyes. Pastor Ayo had a soaring integrity before he was elected the President of CAN. Who elected Okotie to become the spokesperson of Christians in Nigeria? “CAN will not like to join issues with Okotie because doing that will amount to making him popular. He is looking for popularity which he doesn’t have through Ayo and he is not going to get it.” Source: The Punch

NIGERIA: Why Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola Has Not Earned Salary Since Last 47 Months – Commissioner Reveals

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the State of Osun, Mr Sunday Akere, has reiterated the commitment of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, as he has never earned any salary since his assumption of office in the last 47 months as the Chief Executive of the state. He disclosed this while speaking with the executive members of the state branch of Association of Nigeria (PMAN), who paid him a courtesy visit in his office. He said Aregbesola is committed to serving the people and turn the state into an Eldorado the founding fathers wanted it to be at conception. Akere disclosed that Aregbesola sacrificed his personal comfort to serving his state without considering the largesse he could have enjoyed as Commissioner for Works in State, hence, he decided to direct his commitment to improving the lots of the people of the state. Speaking further, he said Mr Governor has been using his personal vehicles as official cars since he assumed office, describing his gesture as a sacrifice to be emulated by all. He said the governor is more committed to ensuring that his administration provides an enabling environment for all and sundry to thrive in the state, hence, his commitment to providing adequate security in all the nooks and crannies of the state. According to him, the government of the state is aware of the contribution of different groups to the economy of the state and what government can do collectively for all the groups is provide an enabling environment for each one and its members to thrive in their daily legal activities. “Governor Aregbesola is committed to sustaining peaceful co-existence among the teeming populace in the state and would stop at nothing to ensure that our people sleep with their two eyes closed,” he said. He disclosed that the current administration in the state is aware of the support of the various groups in the state during the August 9, 2014 governorship election and would not disregard anyone, particularly as the complaints and recommendation of each group are well-noted for appropriate action. He pledged to give more support to the group, as they are honouring him as their× Patron and State Ambassador, saying it was a call to serve the people more. Earlier in the group’s address, its General in the state, Ponle, told the commissioner that the group was also honouring the governor of the state, Aregbesola with the award of× Pillar of Music in the state for his giant strides during his first term in office. According to him, the governor has inspired many groups and individuals, including PMAN, which according to him, was reformed in line with the governor’s programme for the state. Source: Osun Defender

Bayelsa state Independent Electoral Commission Sec. assasinated

The Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa state Independent Electoral Commission, Simon Akpen has been assassinated. According to Sahara Reporters, Akpen was shot point blank in the head at his residence in Otiotio road, Yenogoa around 10pm on Friday October 10th by unknown gunmen who laid an ambush for him as he returned home from an outing. He died on the spot. Confirming the incident, the state's police commissioner, Valentine Ntomchukwu, said it's a suspected case of assassination as no valuable was taken from the deceased residence after he was killed "In my opinion, it may be a case of assassination because they didn't take anything away after killing him" Ntomchukwu said

NYSC, N4,000 and the criminal exploitation of the vulnerable By Emmanuel Onwe

To paraphrase the immortal words of the oath of the ancient musketeers: this world is an uncertain realm filled with danger. Honour is undermined by the pursuit of rotten lucre. In today’s Nigeria, the prize for being vulnerable, weak and helpless are oppression, deprivation, extortion and deliberate trampling by the powerful, the rich and the politically connected. But there are those who oppose these powerful forces; those who dedicate their lives to truth, honour and freedom. I am proud to come from this constituency of brave and forthright citizens who will not stand silent whilst the powerless are degraded, exploited and ultimately crushed. On March 15, 2014, a particular strain of scandal married to tragedy erupted over the employment test for recruitment into the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) conducted across the country. The Immigration service is a government department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The narrative of the scandal is simple but devastating. About 6.5 million jobless young Nigerians had been made to pay an application fee of N1,000 each for only 4,000 vacancies. The tragedy followed a pattern that has become a typical Nigerian signature. Tens of thousands of jobseekers turned up at designated centres in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Minna, Gombe and Benin. There were stampedes at the National Stadium, Abuja, Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt, and in Minna. About 16 innocent, hungry, tired but hopeful young Nigerian souls perished. Scores were injured. The culpable criminals got away with it because they are rich and politically connected. The brutalised and traumatised youth leaked their wounds, out of pocket and still out of work. It stinks but our noses have become stuffed with indifference. A couple of years ago, the Nigerian people were informed by news reports that a staggering amount of N33 billion had been stolen from the Police Pensions Fund. A comical series of investigations, hearings and committees to analyse and report on the investigations and hearings ensued. Somewhere down the line, this joke that parades in Nigeria as a legal process swung, or, rather, limped into action. Some nonentity was convicted and offered the option of paying a fine in the breathtaking sum of N250,000. Another mega-nonentity deployed dozens of armed policemen as a shield against police investigations into the embezzlement of funds meant to aid their erstwhile colleagues as they languished on the breadline waiting for the cold embrace of the grave. The raucous noise that emanated from civil society soon died down. The oppression of the vulnerable continued unhindered in many other sectors of society. These examples typify the horror that awaits you if you ever find yourself in any of the vulnerable constituencies in the Nigerian republic. Everyone hired and paid from public funds to protect your interests, defend your rights, and guarantee your wretched subsistence will deploy the full powers of his office to oppress you, cheat you, steal from you and finally shuffle your bones into a premature grave. A few days ago, it came to public notice that another vulnerable constituency, the Nigerian youth, are being stolen from, being cheated, being oppressed and their painful existence being exacerbated. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) remains a beacon of national unity – yes, with grave but certainly surmountable challenges. Our sons and daughters have continued to pay a terrible prize, sometimes in blood, in the line of duty to the Corps. But the patriotism of the youth has once again been rewarded with wicked exploitation and total lack of compassion. The Director, Corps Mobilisation, Anthony Ani, disclosed in a radio programme recently that corps members will now pay N4, 000 to download their call-up letters online. This is an outrage! N4,000 to travel, at cost, to an internet cafe, log into some website and download a letter informing you that you are obligated to render a full year’s service, possibly in a very dangerous environment, while subsisting on a paltry stipend, to your country? Our public servants not only appear to thrive on wickedness, they appear to be a select band of sadistic psychopaths, utterly bereft of any form of consideration for the circumstances of others. Now, consider this: the mischief for which the imposition of the fee of N4,000 was meant to cure, according to Mr. Ani’s explanation, was that “the N4, 000 online registration fee was introduced so as to stop fresh graduates from travelling back to their various schools to pick up the letters.” As far as explanations go, this one takes the trophy for galactic stupidity. Simple email, the administration cost of which should already be captured in the organisation’s budget, is a perfect solution. Domestic text messages cost N4 and, for students domiciled abroad, it will cost no more than N15 for the call-up notification. This is not a study or a thesis on the efficient running of the NYSC to avoid imposing unacceptable measures and costs on the hapless corps members. But you get my drift – a tiny measure of quickness of mind will deliver the required service at insignificant cost to the Corps. Nigerians should stand up and call this nonsense out for what it is – a bald faced criminal extortion of our jobless young. The current system which compels graduates to collect their call-up letters from their alma mater is bereft of imagination. But what is truly depressing about the entire deplorable affair is that the initiators and executors of the scam know it to be such – an imagination-free scheme designed to defraud but pursued, nonetheless, with the full knowledge that the vulnerable in Nigeria are too easily and profitably exploited and adverse consequences seldom, if ever, follow. “The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power” – William Shakespeare. In other words, Nigerians in positions of authority abuse and pervert their power when they separate it from compassion and decency. If the Nigerian youth were the products of the harsh conditions of existence bequeathed and enforced upon them, they would today be grease-soaked rags strewn on the roadsides – useless, inconvenient eyesores. But they are not. They thrive and soldier on in spite of the indignities, carelessness and disregard which stand as their only inheritance. Where Nigerian senior citizens are the villains, the youth are the heroes. If you inquired carefully into the status and background of the decision makers who derive pleasure in enacting punitive policies against young people, you will find that they belong to the generation that enjoyed free education, had jobs, accommodation and cars thrust on them upon graduation from universities. They are now marshalling the resources and capacities of a Nigeria that was so good to them to undermine and destroy the generation that will take all our hopes and aspirations as a nation forward. The younger generation are poorly educated not because of their inherent inadequacies but because of the grossly inadequate system of education that the privileged generation has put in place. Today, the graduates who paid their own way through university education outnumber by far those who relied on contributions from any other source. There are no jobs for our young because the older generation has delivered two devastating blows to the system; one is by stealing all that can be stolen from the common coffers and the other is a tragic lack of a sense of intergenerational altruism. Having stolen everything, they have now devised a means of sinking their paws directly into the pockets of young people. Let’s amputate those goddamn greasy paws.

Don’t overstress your eye, wearing glasses

Many have been told by their doctors that they need
to wear recommended glasses to correct their vision,
but very few have taken this advice. Why? Some
people don’t like how they look in glasses and feel it
deducts from their facial aesthetics or hides their
features.
Granted, glasses can be a bore at times because you
have to put them on and off. For instance, you can’t
run, or engage in some sporting activities while you
have them on. But the question is, would you rather
look good and go blind than wear glasses?
Ophthalmologists (eye specialists) note that many
suffer vision problems, yet they shrug it off because
they do not want to do the needful.
The eye is a precious gift that must not be lost by
accident or through carelessness. One would think
that anythings that affects this tiny organ by which
we behold the many beautiful things of life would be
taken seriously, but that is often not the case.
Consultant ophthalmologist, Dr. John Otaigbe, says
most people wait till when the damage to their eye
(s) becomes irreparable before they visit the hospital
to complain.
Otaigbe warns that individuals that delay seeking
help for eye problems are prone to fatal accidents,
blurred vision, partial blindness, cataract, Dry Eye
Syndrome and blindness.
The specialist notes that even though one’s vision
diminishes with age, one should quickly pick on
symptoms that suggest that the eye is not
functioning as it should at whatever age.
Otaigbe states that if you have been getting frequent
headaches or migraine that won’t respond to over-
the-counter pain relief medication, it’s time to see a
specialist.
“As you grow older, your vision may not be as sharp
as it used to be, but that does not mean you should
dismiss symptoms that suggest that you are having
serious eye problems.
“If you have to hold your book close to your nose
before you can read it, or you have to hold it at an
abnormal distance before you can focus on it, then
there is a problem and that is not old age.
“If you find yourself getting headaches and your eyes
are tired after trying to focus on an up-close object,
this could be your body’s way of telling you your
eyes are strained and you need reading glasses.
However, as soon as you notice that your eyesight is
changing, it’s time to have an eye exam,” Otaigbe
counsels.
He says many people are living with disabilities and
other life-long injuries just because they failed to get
their eyes checked and vision corrected.
Otaigbe states that statistics show that 30 per cent
of road accidents occur because the drivers had
vision problems that were not corrected.He adds
that those who suffer vision problems and fail to get
help posed a danger to themselves, their families
and other road users.
“Driving without glasses when you need one is as
bad as driving while you are drunk. It is a punishable
offence under the law when you are found liable.
“Many have died and killed others because they had
vision problems and they failed to get it treated just
because they did not want to wear glasses,” Otaigbe
laments.
Consultant ophthalmologist with the Babcock
University Teaching Hospital, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun
State, Dr. Omodele Jagun, observes that not only do
the majority of the people who have challenges with
their vision delay seeking treatment, they also
practise self medication or go to unqualified persons
for treatment.
“What we notice is that many will just go to the
chemist to buy eye drops or go to an optician to get
glasses; but by the time they continue to change the
glasses and the condition does not get better, that is
when they see a specialist.
“When you have an eye problem, go to the hospital
to see an ophthalmologist, not an optician. Opticians
are only meant to sell glasses recommended by an
expert and not to treat eye problems.
“The eye would have deteriorated and sometimes,
it’s too late for us to intervene. Blindness does not
happen overnight; eye diseases do not manifest
overnight. They can be caught early when you do the
right thing,” Jagun warns.
To prevent being caught unawares, Jagun
recommends that one must go for eye test at least
once a year. She counsels, “Even if you have never
had any problem with your eye or vision, once you
are 40, you must go for eye test every year.”
You may have problems focusing on objects or
experience blurry vision when you first start wearing
glasses or a change prescriptions, experts say this
feeling will pass after the first week.
If the regular eye glass is going to be a bother, lens
technology has made wearing glasses less
cumbersome and more attractive with the advent of
contact lenses.
They come in different eye shades of blue, brown
green and grey which makes wearing them a great
fashion statement!
Many of the common signs of eye diseases have
been highlighted by the experts, but just in case you
are not clear, if you have been running into objects
frequently this week, it is time to get your eyes
checked.