What else do you expect from people who are comfortable with; even defend, the daily blood-letting in the most savage forms ever, in the Middle Belt and other Christian-dominated areas of the North? It was after reading Aribasala that I now understood who some of the readers of this column whose views are published below could have been and how far down the hill irascible and inconsolable Buharimaniacs and Buharideens are ready to go. But they are too miserably petty and inconsequential to frighten any serious-minded person, their morbid inclinations notwithstanding.
Here we go: “I know it is well with you all-round in Jesus name. Your piece (Osinbajo at it again!) made a good reading, being your views. Sir, I will suggest you go through again. You will find that all you think the Oga is doing wrongly comes back to you. We surely must look at the Church as one, serious and full of Christ. You can use another channel to reach him, may be. We have not achieved much with the penchant display of assumed boldness to criticise without restraint, much wisdom and help. I am not a fan of the current set and brand of politicians. My main concern is our common faith. If you are displeased by these comments, do pardon me. – A. T. Robert Jegede, Warri.
“We know your likes by their write-ups; those who are envious of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s lifting as the number two citizen of our great nation but shame on you. Whom God has blessed and lifted, no man can curse or bring down. If you don’t like his stance on issues, then, go and hug a transformer. – 08035492766.
“Thanks for your write-up (on Osinbajo). With him, Christians are voiceless. He is an embarrassment to the RCCG. God bless you! –Steve Onyeji, Onitsha.
“Your “APC cry-baby” is a master-piece. Tinubu has created a monster he cannot control. Oyegun would have done better but Tinubu hated him. Adams that he loves is a unionist, not a democrat. Lai (Mohammed) has run out of ideas. Together, a great burial is coming. I don’t know the date, okay? – 08038357903.
“From your publication in the New Telegraph today (Osinbajo is at it again!), are you sure you are a Christian? – Goddy, Benue State.
“I understand you just have some animosities against Osinbajo, if not hatred and you have been patiently waiting for him to derail. Now, he has made the statement about prosperity, you saw it as an opportunity to pick on him in the name of opinion. You are just creating an insinuation and you think the best way is to castigate his person out of mere hatred and wickedness because you have a space to waste in a newspaper. – 08053335077”
Their diatribe is, however, more than cancelled out by the forthright views of conscionable Nigerians. I repeat for the umpteenth time that Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is wrong to consistently bad-mouth and demonise Christian leaders and disparage Christianity as a whole. As a professed Christian, if he cannot help Christians, he should not add to their woes. Now read what follows; it is from The PUNCH newspaper alumni platform established recently and to which I belong: “Prof. Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede is the secretary of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and current JAMB registrar. He performed a miracle at the National Mosque, Abuja. After every Jumu’at prayer, it is a tradition for the mosque committee to raise money for running of the mosque. Prof. Oloyede noticed that money raised after every Jumu’at prayer never exceeded 13k – 14k. This had been on for long. So one day he decided to personally drop 13k inside the box and the notes were marked without the awareness of the collectors. After every collector had gone round the mosque to collect money from as many dignitaries as are usually present at the mosque, the total money raised still didn’t go above 13k and the particular notes he personally dropped were missing. OK, no problem! The following Friday he came to mosque with special boxes, the boxes were locked and the keys to them were kept by him. As usual, the collectors went round the mosque as dignitaries dropped their money directly into the boxes and after the whole thing, he opened the boxes and over 400k was realised! Yeah, over 400k! The collectors disappeared all of a sudden! This happens in almost every mosque. Love for wealth has turned people against their hereafter. Corruption is everywhere. (Courtesy an official @ Central Mosque Abuja)”
Everyone knows the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, and of his heroics at the JAMB. Personally, I have met him at official functions twice. As a Christian, I have experienced discoveries similar to those Oloyede was said to have made at the Central Mosque Abuja. I have paid tithe and it had disappeared after ushers counted the takings. I have witnessed an usher steal offering and tithe money at a local church, using his son as smokescreen. Pastor E.A Adeboye disclosed of a family of ushers – father, mother, and son – who consistently stole collections at RCCG Campground until they were exposed. A new Zonal Pastor, after what he had heard, decided that church takings be kept under his seat in open church and after service, called on elders to count the money in the full glare of all. What was recorded was more than triple what had hitherto been declared. A repeat of the exercise week after week convinced everyone that the ushers had been playing monkey games with the sweat of everyone.
Corruption is in the Church. Corruption is in the Mosque. Corruption is everywhere. None is a saint. Not even Osinbajo, the self-appointed Pontiff! Osinbajo, therefore, should stop demonising only the Church and its leaders. He should also point his searchlight at the Mosque and Muslims. This is the same manner their so-called anti-corruption war has become patently one-sided. There are too many lies, too much propaganda, deceit, and hypocrisy in all that they do. When others defect into APC, it is okay but when they defect from APC to other parties, it is heinous crime. Aminu Tambuwal as Speaker, House of Representatives defected from PDP to APC; it was okay. Bukola Saraki defects from APC to PDP, all hell must be let loose. They are running after PDP’s Senator Adeleke in Osun state for alleged certificate forgery; yet, Buhari himself has not shown anyone his own controversial certificates. Kemi Adeosun and Obla, two top goons in Buhari’s government, who have also been cited in alleged certificate malfeasance, sit pretty in office. Thieves outside APC are thieves and must be hounded and sent to jail but thieves within the APC must be protected and treated as sacred cows. Once a thief crosses over from another party to APC, he or she automatically becomes a saint. It is these double standards, deceit, hypocrisy, uncanny lies, brazen impunity, and sheer and shameless propaganda that I cannot stand. Buharimaniacs and Buharideens who are not comfortable with my effrontery and temerity should go hug what? This article was first published in the New Telegraph of Wednesday, August 29, 2018.
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Still on Osun State/pensioners’ rift
Many thanks, Sir, for considering my first submission good enough for publication. Osun State commissioner, Adelani Baderinwa’s comments under your column on Sunday, August 19, 2018, however, triggered these additional observations. God give us leaders! Father, give us visionary leaders, selfless leaders! God give us leaders; give us leaders imbued with altruistic love for humanity! Oh! Give us leaders with the soul of a shepherd who is passionate for the welfare of the sheep and can even stake his life for their survival and the urge to give them life more abundant! God give us leaders, not opportunistic men in the garb of self-proclaimed messiahs; not tin-gods who are out mainly for their personal and family enrichment or aggrandizement at the expense of their less-privileged followers or subjects. Nigeria needs leaders, men of honour and decency: In industry, agriculture, education and other sectors of the economy and, most crucially, in the political space. God, give us men like Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, prophet Moses, and a galaxy of others, including our own Obafemi Awolowo and his team of dedicated and insightful servant-leaders in the governance of the Western Region in the 1950s.
We thank God for Osun state and her constellation of chief executives since her creation in 1991. Men in khaki and those in flowing garments have proven their mettle but history will pronounce the ultimate judgement. Nevertheless, before the present becomes history, the on-going war-of-words between Osun state government and pensioners has to be presented in its proper perspectives. Permit me to zero in on 2011/2012 subgroups of retirees in ministries, parastatals, and agencies of government. Between January 2013 and January 2018 (five years) there were no instances of payment of their gratuities, not a dime! Let the government refute this observation with evidence! Moreover, the payments claimed to have been made in February, March, and May this year, according to commissioner Baderinwa, did not state what percentage of gratuity due to each retiree was settled by the government, thus leaving a vacuum which needs clarification. Each retiree got one hundred thousand naira (#100,000.00) only. Be informed that many of these men and women were owed amounts ranging from ten million naira and above as gratuity. And you gave them N100,000.00 after having waited five years! Besides, there are hundreds if not thousands of those that are yet to be paid a dime among these pensioners. Now, who is blackmailing who? Who is the opportunistic politician endeavouring to deceive the public through false claims! It is only in this clime that hapless citizens demanding their rights are given derogatory nomenclatures in order to paint them black. Government functionaries should present the facts as they really are and settle down to the business of payment of the gratuities in a manner and in amounts that will give concrete meaning to the affected pensioners after their meritorious service of decades. Apparently, the government spokesman wanted to impress the public with those amounts advertised as having been paid, but the cumulative of it all becomes abysmally insignificant compared to the overall bill of gratuities owed all categories of retirees in Osun state. With the windfalls of bailouts and Paris club loan refunds, government could have performed better in this regard had it been imbued with the needed goodwill and determination to discharge its responsibilities to those affected; regardless of latter-day economic downturn, which is nationwide. —Diran Alade, Ile Ife.
and then