ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. [ A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. ] { VOL. 2. NO 72. 28-12-14.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). 2014 - End of Year State of the Nation. THE HALL OF SHAME SHOULD NAME AND SHAME ALL CORRUPT NIGERIAN POLITICIANS! Historians and political analysts who engage in proffering peace to war and conflict issues are in agreement that neither Christianity nor Islam preaches religious violence to its adherents either by inference or by indirect encouragement but failed to establish that there is a very thin line between religious and political violence because those who perpetrate violence are members of one religious group or another! *Christians are motivated to get involved in articulate politicking because the Word of God encourages it as follows: *First, the Lord Jesus Christ is the “Child that is born” and the, “Son that is given”, on whom, “the government”, (of the world), shall be upon His shoulder and, “The Prince of Peace,” whom, “the increase of His government and peace, there shall be no end,” as documented in Isaiah 9:6-7. *Second, the Lord also commands, “occupy till I come,” [Luke.19:13; compare verses 14-25, meaning, engage in the business of commerce till I come; after all, politics is all about economics in truth; – or is there any government that does not stand on the TRIPOD manifesto of providing the enabling environment for citizens to enjoy the basic necessities of life – food, raiment and shelter, in peace and tranquillity? *Most of our daily activities are guided by Economics, which is the first point of call of every government, because all vocations, farming, oil exploration or exploitation, natural minerals excavation, textiles, automobile industry, transportation, marketing of various finished products, commodities, importation and exportation, need the deliberate and sustained effort of a righteous government to initiate and organize, to successfully create wealth for governance and for the citizens! *From creation, the individual, the organised labour groups and human governments, in their day-to-day endeavours, come under the scope of ECONOMICS, the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses! *Third, in attention to their calling, Christians are exhorted to manifest with grace the different gifts: (a) “Of prophecy, let us prophesy with the proportion of faith; (b) “Of ministry, to wait on our ministering; (c) “He that teacheth, on teaching; (d) “Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; (e) “He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; (f) “He that ruleth, with diligence and, (g) “He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. [Romans.12:6-8]. “Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily, prophets, thirdly, teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. “Are all apostles? ..are all prophets? ..are all teachers? ..are all workers of miracles? “Have all the gifts of healing? ..do all speak with tongues ..do all interpret? “But covet earnestly, the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.” [1Corinthians.12:27-31]. *Christians are known to be wonderful event organizers but when it comes to partisan politics, they become ISOLATIONISTIC and assume PIETISM and with such attitude, allow undue, unmerited and unearned opportunities to the uncouth, semi-illiterates, the criminally-minded, ex-convicts, drug barons, oil thieves, money launderers, human traffickers, charlatans, religious and racial bigots, to hold sway in government and governance in most under-developed nations of the world! *According to that biblical parable in Luke.19:13-25, politics is serious business, which every serious Christian must endeavour to participate in because it would tantamount to an era of modern enslavement of the citizens under barbaric neo-colonialist rulers, if a Christian like the wicked servant, bury his/her “POUND IN A NAPKIN”! *Like we mentioned in the opening paragraph, there is a very thin line between RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE and therefore, great care must always be taken by religious and political leaders to PREACH THE PEACE MESSAGE to their adherents at all times! *To most average Muslims for instance, the two institutions (Religion and Politics), are one and the same thing because of the political homogeneity that pervades the Islamic Faith as a result of the religious unity to which they have been accustomed since the very popular Jihad movement of USMAN DAN FODIO in the 19 Century. Alhaji Dan Fodio was a scholar, teacher and preacher of no mean order who influenced that Islamic Faith and Laws should be practiced faithfully by those who profess the faith with the aid of SHARIA, the Muslim Law-Book. *Jihad in Islam means, a holy war, usually declared on pagans and idol worshippers of that period who refused to practice THE PURE ISLAMIC FAITH AS ENSHRINED IN THE HOLY QUR’AN. Between the18th and 19 Centuries, Jihad took place in the Sudan, Middle East and some parts of Northern Nigeria, where several cities, towns and districts came under religious leaders, who introduced Islamic laws into governance and the character of Jihad also assumed a political dimension! *All politicians are religious people and they are duty-bound to ensure undisrupted peace and serenity in the polity at all times. * Why should Nigerian Christians avoid politics like it were an infectious plague while their Muslim brethren embrace same with great passion? The answer is very clear in view of previous exposition in respect of ignorance and fear of most of most Christians, who believe that politics in African countries, especially in Nigeria is very dirty, filthy, risky, murky, dangerous and practiced by indecent people of questionable characters! *We have had some of our Muslim brethren boast that Northern Nigeria would always dictate the political, tempo in this country and we can vehemently affirm that they could be very correct , if God so permits! Do we need remind ourselves that politics is a game of numbers? Let us check the statistics: *Except for late General Aguiyi-Ironsi and Retired General Olusegun Obasanjo, who took over from late General Murtala Mohammed, all former Heads of State and Presidents, during the Military and Democratic governance in Nigeria, were of the Northern extraction, including late Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua (2007-2010) *The second- coming of Chief Obasanjo as a civilian and the victory of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan at the pools in 2011, was majorly sponsored and overwhelmingly supported by the Northern electorate through the grace of God! Now the stage is set for yet another General Elections in 2015, between the two major political parties, APC and PDP and by implication, between the North and the South! *HOW DID THE NIGERIAN NATION FARE, POLITICALLY, SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY IN 2014? (1)The unabated state of insecurity of the nation due to the Boko Haram terrorism in the last FIVE YEARS, has naturally taken the front burner! It is believed that over half a million lives have been lost! *Statistics of Internally Displaced Persons [IDPs] have risen astronomically to about 5.1 million across all the Northern States and Abuja! (2) 2014 began with the illegal Peoples Democratic Party (PDP’s), Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), flexing political muscles against Bamanga Tukur, the party’s Chairman whom they eventually forced to resign on 15 January! He was replaced on 20 January by Ahmed Muazu, former Governor of Bauchi State. (3)Government dirty deals within the Oil Sector were exposed by an EXECUTIVE WHISTLE BLOWER of no mean personality – Sanusi Lamido Sanusi - the erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank and now the 14 Emir of the ancient city of Kano, who disclosed that a total sum of $48.9billion US dollars was either missing or unremitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), to the Federation Account! At the end of the uproar which ensued, both Sanusi and the Finance Minister, agreed that the actual amount missing was $20billion, which President Jonathan promised to fish out! As at today 28 December, 2014, the probe panel set up by government to unravel the mysterious disappearance of the said $20billion, is yet to submit its report! (4) 2014 will also go down in annals of history as a profound year for OPEN LETTERS! Former President Obasanjo published an Open Letter which castigated President Jonathan’s administration as the most corrupt and inept kind that ever governed Nigeria. (5) Jonathan in his Open Letter denied all allegations and labelled Obasanjo as a LIAR! (6) Iyabo Obasanjo, former first daughter, in yet another Open Letter described her father as the worst in the universe and several other open letters were published by politicians against themselves or the system until the idea lost its flavour! (7)Party defections became a cross-country athletic event as politicians had a field day without INEC giving any RED CARD to competitors! (8) FOUR controversial defectors caught the attention of the Editorial Board namely: *Mr. Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State, who, on retirement after eight years in office jumped ship into PDP – without followers and has become a liability to himself and his new romance! *Olusegun Mimiko, the only sitting Governor of Ondo State of the Labour Party, moved with his cabinet into PDP and has created a rift between loyal PDP members of the State and the defectors! *Ali Modu Sherif, two-term Governor of Bornu State, recently fingered as one of the sponsors of Boko Haram insurgency, also jumped ship to PDP! *Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, did the impossible – he did not just jump ship from PDP to All Progressive Congress (APC), but also maintained his position as Speaker in spite all fire power of the presidency! (9) Also generating controversies in this out-going year are the manipulated and acrimonious party primaries which cut across board among all political parties and are giving both the Judges and INEC sleepless nights! (10) In the middle of the year, 14 June, the opposition party APC announced the appointment of its Chairman Chief John Odigie Oyegun, a former Edo State Governor, through consensus, despite opposition from Chief Tom Ikimi, also from the same State, who desperately wanted the position for himself – he later defected to the PDP! (11) The year also witnessed an avalanche of protests against the deployment of Federal Government Security Agents to harass and intimidate the supposed political enemies of President Jonathan! (12) All economic mathematics of Finance Minister in respect of Highest GDP and buoyant Nigerian economy have crashed like a pack of cards as the year runs out from September when global oil price fell from $100 US dollars to $55 and all economic permutations in respect of th2015 Annual Budget also crumbled! *In spite of this calamity, the Finance Minister went ahead to predicate the 2015 Budget Benchmark Oil Price at $65US dollars, by projecting that global oil prices would pick up in the new year! *Much as we do not quarrel with her optimism, we need to emphasize that the nation’s fiscal position, is now more precarious with this ambitious position in the face of sluggish global demand for crude oil. (13) Although the 2015 General Elections are only one-and-a-half months away, millions of ELECTORATE MAY BE DISENFRANCHISED BECAUSE THEY ARE YET TO COLLECT THEIR PERMANENT VOTERS CARDS (PVCs), across the nation! (14) A new Executive whistle blower emerged shortly before Christmas, in the person of Governor Adams Oshiomole of Edo, who disclosed to the world that, $30 billion US dollars Excess Crude Oil , money is missing from the illegal account which is alien to the 1999 Nigerian Constitution! *The Governor claimed that no money was dispensed from the fund to the States and the Federal Government could not account for the missing amount yet! (16) Even as the year is only three days, from the day of this publication, to end, politicians are still try to overheat the polity as if of all of the above have not constituted an OVERLOAD FOR OUR NASCENT DEMOCRACY……THEY ARE SAYING THAT NIGERIAN SOLDIERS CAN ALSO PROTEST! *Do we need to play into the hands of the prophets of doom who crave for Nigeria’s break-up and downfall? Do we need to encourage ANARCHY AND MUTINY? * In spite of all the misgivings of 2014, we strongly believe there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel! *WHEN MEN SHALL SAY THERE IS A CASTING DOWN, WE WILL SAY THAT THERE IS A LIFTING UP! * We strongly support President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in his valedictory 2014 clarion call for the establishment of A NIGERIAN HALL OF SHAME – where biometric data of all bad citizens, like Armed and Pen Robbers, Corrupt Politicians, Economic and Financial Crime defaulters, etc, would be well-documented and exhibited for posterity, to serve as deterrent against criminal behaviours by the up-coming generation. *The Word of God says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you.” [Matthew.6:33]. *Well said and well done Mr. President, but CHARITY MUST BEGIN AT HOME! If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access,to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch . I am, Yours sincerely,Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08130669886, 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com .]