#PASTORSJETS: MY ISSUES WITH NIGERIAN PASTORS AND THEIR JETS BY @LANRE_OLAGUNJU

The most controversial issue on my TL this week was the issue of Nigerian pastors and their new quest for private jets. Just like it’s said that there’s no smoke without fire, the CAN president, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor’s jet gift was actually responsible for firing this controversy. On the occasion of the senior clergy’s birthday and the celebration of his 40^th anniversary in ministry, he was given a private jet as a gift.  It’s interesting to see Nigerians, most especially Christians get interested in issues that concern the extravagant lives of their pastors. It proves that the days of “sidon dey look” are over. On the present issue of extravagant living, I earnestly think that God is actually speaking to pastors with the voice of their followers.

Though pastor Oritsejafor’s jet was a gift, yet many argued that he could have rejected it. The past week’s controversy has revealed many other pastors who have quite a number, and the questions of “what’s the use?” keeps coming to mind.  If we are advocating the need to hold our political leaders and office holders accountable, honestly speaking, pastors and Imams shouldn’t be excluded. To those who think it’s rude or ungodly to re-examine the things “men of God” do and say. I say wake up and take a cue from the Berea Christians in the bible. This guys do not just receive the word with all eagerness, they daily, personally, search out the scriptures, to check whether the things the preachers said were actually so.

Many of the preachers obviously claim and want us to believe that they need the private jets to spread the word of God round the world. The question is what are some of them doing with two, three and even four jets? As a child who was brought up with the Foursquarian doctrine, where moderation is a watch word. I keep finding it difficult to see our recent day clergies struggling with the biblical instruction of “let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.” It’s ok to eat from what you do and be comfortable, be it circularly or in the religious circle but moderation is key.

During the #OccupyNigeria protest in January, Nigerians were clamouring that presidency should reduce the cost of running government, essentially when it became known to all and sundry that the presidency feeds on almost a billion Naira per annum. It’s sad that some religious leaders are also misplacing their priorities.  The fact that Nigerians expects more from them than the dirty and heartless politicians is the reason why they purchasing private jets is becoming a bone of contention. Religious bodies should be thinking of more ways to eradicate poverty, speak truth to power rather than just eating and dinning with the political class and then claiming that all is well! With all the money in display, they should build schools that are affordable in the real sense of the word “affordable” just like the missionaries of old did.

Over 70% of the people they lead constitute the poor in the society and realistically it’s from the financial donations of these people that they accumulate their wealth. The major challenge with leadership in this part of the world is that it’s void of sensitivity and human feeling. Or how else do you explain that a religious leader who; flies a private jet  in the worth of billions of Naira, who pays the Pilots thousands of dollars per year, pays for hanger charges at least $4000/month, Insurance, maintenance,  jet fuel and the rest… has many of his congregation hungry, jobless and even homeless . Even Jesus was mindful of the belly of his congregation; hence he had to miraculously use five breads and two fishes to feed the multitude. By the time the fearful revolution former president, Olusegun Obasanjo predicted during the week comes, I’m afraid the mass of unemployed youth, in anger, might not be able to differentiate political leaders from religious leaders, because you don’t widen the gap between the poor and the rich and say all is well.

Beside that some of these senior pastors with their quest for privet jets are fulfilling the prophesy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, they are actually refreshing the relevance of some of his controversial sayings.

With this private jet issue, Fela’s suffering and smiling song , where he said “Archbishop na miliki, Pope na enjoyment, Imam na gbaladun” becomes much more than just a controversial song.

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10 SIGNS HE’S NEVER GOING TO PROPOSE BY FUTURE SCOPES

One of the biggest dating questions which haunt women is whether her boyfriend is ready to commit. She may be sticking around with him for almost a couple of years now, hoping that he will make up his mind and still waiting for the elusive engagement ring. If you don’t want this to happen to you, learn to pick up ten signs which tell you that he’s not going to propose marriage in a hurry.

1.       He never discusses marriage: This is perhaps the first hint that should start ringing warning bells in your mind. Your boyfriend cannot be caught dead talking about marriage as an institution or even commenting on commercials for wedding products and services. He won’t mention it even if his own brother is getting married and he is going to be the best man. His aversion to the M-word should be indication enough that marriage does not figure anywhere in his near future.

2.      He is hugely ambitious: Guys whose only mission in their lives is to reach the top of their professional ladder are likely to take their time settling down. This is because emotional commitment to a partner might force them to cut down on their working hours and make networking with business contacts or frequent out-of-town trips difficult. Though this is not to say that married guys don’t find success – witness President Obama and Bill Gates – super ambitious men who are perpetually looking for the next bigger and better thing are more likely to consider marriage as leading to professional stagnation.

3.      All his friends are single: This is as sure a sign as any that your boyfriend is not going to propose marriage. If  you notice that his social circle is exclusively made of bachelors and divorced men, it is evident that he is uncomfortable around married couples and has no plans to join their ranks in near future.

4.      He has strong sexual needs: A guy who places great emphasis on sex and considers it the most important part of a relationship is unlikely to settle for a single partner. Gone are the days when men could be baited into marriage on the lure of sex. The dissociation of sex and marriage as well as sexual freedom for women has also made it easier for men to keep sleeping around unless they wish to marry for other reasons. And if your boyfriend has a large sexual appetite, it is unlikely to be satisfied by a single person. He will sooner or later get tired of being with you and move on to someone else he can go to bed with.

5.      He lives out of a suitcase: Men with unstable living conditions usually have priorities like work and travel which are bound to clash with a stable married life. You may be thrilled to have a high-flying  war correspondent or wildlife photographer as a boyfriend, but such people are unlikely to settle down to tame domesticity. Far easier to spot – and avoid – are guys who are in and out of jobs or in trouble with the law and thus perpetually on the move. Rather look for men who have stable lives since they are the ones more likely to be looking for stable relationships.

6.      He does not take you to meet his family: This is an unmistakable sign that a guy is not considering marriage even though he may be dating someone. Men usually discuss their families only with those who are close enough to be let into their inner lives. If your boyfriend has never suggested that you meet his parents and even appears to be uncomfortable talking about them to you, then perhaps he is not ready to make you an intrinsic part of his life.

7.      You don’t figure in his plans: When talking about his future, does your guy merely discuss his goals of starting a business someday and are his dreams limited to retiring by the sea with his very own beach house and luxury boat? If so or something similar, then this is an indication that you are not part of his future plans and thus unlikely to be his wife any time soon. Unless of course, he goes through a life-changing experience and realizes the value of a committed relationship which is again putting too much store by chance and therefore not worth wasting your life for.

8.      He doesn’t ask you about yours: In a reversal of the above point, a guy unwilling to commit will also be uninterested to know about your life goals and hopes for the future. The present – comfortably carefree and uncomplicated – is good enough for him. He does not want to know if you want to eventually settle in the suburbs or how many kids would you like to have and whether you would prefer little girls or boys. Hell, he doesn’t even want to know where you have always wanted to go for your honeymoon! If you find all this true in case of your boyfriend, then you can kiss your dreams of marrying him goodbye and start looking for a more suitable guy.

9.      He is divorced: While divorced men are technically single and thus seeming candidates for a committed relationship, if your guy has gone through a particularly messy divorce, then probably he cannot bear the thought of marrying again. To be sure about this, pry around gently to see how badly he feels about his breakup and whether the scars are deep enough to be permanent. Other than emotional issues, a divorced man may also be caught up in child support and alimony so as to make any further commitments completely out of the question.

10.   He is not forthcoming about personal information: Have you ever wondered why your boyfriend is always vague when you ask him about his work and where he lives? You might have a rough idea that he is into finance and that he commutes from the suburbs but if he is unwilling to clearly share his personal information with you, probably he has something to hide – a spouse or a lover maybe. Or more likely he is determined to keep you away from the rest of his personal life. Not exactly marriage material, is he?

No one can say for sure what goes on in a person’s mind and what influences his/her decisions. But if your boyfriend displays all or most of the above signs, then more likely than not, he is not yet ready to propose marriage to you.

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#OKADABAN: THE TERMINATION OF A NECESSARY EVIL BY @LANRE_OLAGUNJU

It might be difficult to look beyond the poverty and backwardness in our society, but only when we try, will it become intelligible that the use of motorcycle for commercial transportation has to stop. Aside that it’s unsafe, in the real sense it’s an abuse of the product itself, essentially when you consider that it was originally never meant for commercial transportation.

Motorcycles were initially not part of our transportation system. Institutional failure gave room for them in the first place. Okada came to being as a result of government’s failure to create adequate jobs and transportation facility that can cater for the growing population. No developing city can permit the nuisance they constitute on our roads, let alone the threat they pose to safety and security, security in the sense that it aids the easy movement of weapons and ammunitions and also the sudden influx of many okada riders who came into Lagos after they were banned in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo and other states. This in itself is a threat to the city of Lagos.

Despite the annoyance in many Lagosians, we can’t but agree with Governor Fashola when he said “visit the hospitals and emergency wards and see those who have lost limbs, arms, those who had lost children or those who had become orphans by the recklessness of the okada riders.

Honestly, Nigerians should expect that if we must progress as a nation, many more difficult and unpopular laws and decisions would be needed. The only challenge is that our leaders have a knack for doing good things in bad ways, which majorly questions the sanity in their policy. Look at the fuel subsidy issue that put the entire nation to a stand-still in January for instance, and here again is Fashola destroying bikes. They shouldn’t have destroyed those seized bikes. Not for any reason! That in my opinion is cruel. Like some other states did, they should have made plans for them to pay more to receive brand new tricycles instead of their seized bikes. Nigerian politicians need to develop sensitivity and a human face to leadership; hence of what essence is democracy!

Trust they say is built on antecedents. Until Nigerians have a higher level of trust in their leaders, unpopular decisions taken by politicians will always be yelled at and seen as anti-people. This same spontaneous Governor in collaboration with his party gave out free crash helmets to okada riders during the 2011 general election and now it’s a different ball game entirely.

Fashola actually once said it’s only a dumb student that repeats a class. The denotation of this statement might actually be responsible for many of the overzealous laws that have characterized the second term of his administration. Or how else do you explain that a governor who doubles as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who in every sense should actually know better, will zealously and unreasonably criminalize traffic offenses.

Lagosians are not dumb. All they are angry and mad at is that Fashola and his group of advisers are yet to understand the concept of creating alternatives.  And that for every action there will be several equal and opposite reactions.

Many of these okada men used to be artisans; welders, carpenters, tailors and the rest. Just like a welder I spoke with asked me “when there’s no light to work, how do I buy diesel and still make money? So I’d to settle for okada. No be say me self won die now”. Lagos state government needs to think deep about the aftermath of the widened gap between the haves and don’t haves.

Fashola recently in Lagos urged business executives and corporate leaders to be mindful of the type of ventures they support, emphasizing that tricycles known as Keke Marwa represents the sign of India’s age of poverty which the country is doing so much to do away with by busy manufacturing TATA buses. Fashola said he wonders how Nigerians are now embracing it wholeheartedly. On the contrary, I wonder why he can’t learn the simple lesson of creating alternatives from the same Indian government he used as example.

In a society majorly comprised of the jobless and the poor, with no hope of social security, a society where hunger beat many soft like clay, you just don’t preach normalcy and order by banning a bad thing that comes with several good benefits. Moreover the ruling class will never have a feel of the consequences of such drastic actions. So how on earth do they expect people to see sanity in their decisions?

 Many of our roads are so bad and un-motorable. I had to take the picture of this part of Mushin road, a route I take almost every day. When you consider the traffic caused by such roads especially when it rains, okada becomes the available alternative if you must meet up. Ijegun road, Jakande Estate in Oke-afa in Isolo to Ejigbo road got some attention after so much complains, yet it hasn’t been completed donkey years after the contract has been awarded. 

The Lagos State government needs to do more in terms of infrastructure, transportation and good roads, before coming up with harsh laws and decisions. Fashola needs to be reminded that his tenure made all Lagosians, including bike men who pay for various nameless tickets, pay more in tax than any previous administration. Lagosians are playing their part. We can’t wait to see the tax collected transform the whole of Lagos and not some designated areas.

Eko o ni baje!

Follow @Lanre_Olagunju on Twitter

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NIGERIA WON’T CHANGE, UNTIL WE ARE TIRED BY @JIDELEIGH

Just as darkness is the absence of light, so would I attribute violence, extra-judicial killings, acts of terrorism and every other social vice that has plagued this supposed great nation of ours to idleness. An idle mind isn’t just the devil’s workshop; it’s the devil’s headquarters. A hungry man can’t but be angry. So what happens when you have a hungry idle man? What a combination! You see him harassing commercial bus conductors, leading mob actions, waylaying helpless citizens etc.

“It must be clear that the Nigerian government cannot protect your workers or assets. Leave our land while you can or die in it…. Our aim is to totally destroy the capacity of the Nigerian government to export oil.”MEND warned the oil industry giants in January 2006 via email. They were true to their words as we know how many expatriates, civilians and law enforcement agents  lost their lives ever since.

I rack my brain, trying to figure out the cause of these terrible happenings that befell Nigeria in the past few weeks, the #Aluu killings and that of Mubi amongst others. Despite that I don’t want to hastily conclude, I still want to say that idleness has a hand in it all.

I find it hard to comprehend the logic behind why the so-called trained police force, will have to be assisted by Vigilante groups, a group of uneducated, untrained men. Some states even go as far as passing laws to legitimize them. Sometimes, I wonder if deep thoughts were put into these decision making processes. The most bizarre twist is that these vigilante groups are answerable to no known authority, they are absolutely free. This however means that whenever they decide to go rogue, then nation better start preparing another amnesty plan.

Aint we tired of how emergency services arrive too late at emergency scenes or are we just going to sit in our “tokunbo” cars and pretend to be comfortable on roads that claim more lives yearly than even the Boko-Haram sect has ever done.

The judicial system has failed to the height that we now find enemies in the police force and friends with the devilish instinct to lynch our fellow citizens. Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, former attorney general of the federation in his speech at October 1st Platforms 10.2 event, said categorically that Nigeria has the lowest number of convicts in record in the world, despite our population of over 150 million. It’s either that Nigerians are one of the most well behaved people in the world or the criminals are here with us. Don’t ask me! We all know which is correct.

As many of us who think that the best way out of this ‘naija’ palaver is to lay low, stay out of trouble, get a good education, don’t owe any debt, say your prayers and get a decent life, you just need to think again, because the stench from the rotting system will definitely catch up with you, either in the form insecurity, poor healthcare system, unemployment, injustice or insensitivity.

We must be reminded that democracy is a government of the people, for the people and by the people. The ‘people’ in the definition actually refers to the over 150million of us all, and just like the numerous parts of a motor, we are all just as important as one another in our functionalities, right from the president, through to the market women and the almajiris.

One mistake common to us Nigerians is thinking that the responsibility of managing this nation and our lives solely lies with the government, forgetting that we all have a part to play. Moreover, our government has not minced words in telling us that they don’t give a damn, and that we are all on our own and that not until our existence affects the daily production of crude oil or the ambience in the presidential villa, we are considered non-existent.

A system that doesn’t have measures for check and balances is one that is about to run aground. The Nigerian system was originally designed to check and balance itself (executive, judiciary and legislative) and curb one another’s excesses but what do we have today? The three arms have formed a coalition, taking us as far away from the promise land as we could get, what is worse is that they seem not to be relenting. No thanks to corruption.

A couple of weeks has passed as Lagosian are still trying to adjust to the new traffic laws which in my opinion is not the best our legislature could come up with. Let’s neglect that it is loaded with so much fine to the tone of #30000 and #50000, which makes me conclude that Fashola’s government is broke, the laws are victimizing, incomplete and also serves as a tool for harassment.

In 1972, right hand vehicles were banned, it became a law that anyone found on the road would be impounded and the licensing officers that registered such vehicles would be prosecuted.  This law clearly states the object of concern (right hand vehicles) and who will bear the grunt should it find its way to the road (the owner of the vehicle and the licensing officer).

It’s high time we all manned our duty posts, screaming, praying, resisting, criticizing, encouraging, #occupying till things change, be law abiding, vexing because we all have a part to play in the betterment of this ‘great’ nation.

Jide Niyi-leigh

Jide_leigh@yahoo.com

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