Welcome to zion's blog: October 2020

Saturday 10 October 2020

NIGERIA’S 60 YEARS OF DISUNITY WAS IGNITED WITH TWO MILITARY COUPS!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 9.NO 373. 4th October, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

NIGERIA’S 60 YEARS OF DISUNITY WAS IGNITED WITH TWO MILITARY COUPS!

The helplessness of consecutive Nigerian leaders/ administrators to contain the spate of incessant insecurity of lives and property from independence to date points to serious character deficit that most of them – democratic or military - were mostly unprepared for the political offices they coveted or those that were thrust upon them by providence!

Before the two military coups of 1966; the first by soldiers mostly from the Igbo extraction on 1st January, and the other by the khaki boys from the Hausa invaders, 31st July, Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa and his management team believed that the Parliamentary system being practiced was on course; completely oblivious to the fact that the military whose rightful position had been strictly restricted to the barracks preferred to be in charge!

The seed of disunity which was birthed between Northern and Southern since then metamorphosed into the attempted secession of the Igbos from the rest of Nigeria which resulted in a 30-month-long Biafra War from 1967-1970, followed by more military coups and counter coups – about 11 of them altogether!

AT 60, IS NIGERIA AN INDEPENDENT OR DEMOCRATIC NATION?
An independent nation, country or state with its residents and population have the rights and privileges to exercise self-governance/sovereignty over the territory occupied while a democratic nation implies a country that operates a system of government in which power and civic responsibility devolve around adult citizens directly or through their freely elected representatives and rests on the principles of majority rule and individual rights.

Although the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, stipulates that sovereignty belongs to the people from whom government derives its constitutional powers, the reverse had been the case due to the bad blood which had been ceded into the polity through mindless military coups in the sixties!
In spite of ELEVEN military coups that made all the khaki generals multi billionaires within junta governments of about 30 years, they still had the audacity to craft/draft a dubious constitution that favours a presidential government as opposed to the Parliamentary System which that they overthrew in 1966, with a view to foisting a Diarchy which enabled them free participation in civil administrations as we have witnessed in the past 21 years in the total militarization of the entire nation of the country!

POLITICS IS A GAME OF NUMBERS!
How true is the pundits claim that politics is a game of numbers; but should the advantage of higher figures be synonymous with winners take all in a country as diverse as Nigeria?

Does the political class meticulously consider the significant role of the Constitution which spells out fundamental rights, federal character posture, faithful distribution of the common patrimony, equality before the law, freedom, equity, and justice when in position of authority either at the Federal or State levels?

Should the political elites always forget to consider the fate of the 250 ethnic groups or the over 500 tribes that amalgamated in 1914 as Northern and Southern Protectorates under the watchful supervision of Sir Lord Lugard, the British Colonial Governor General, and the over 200 million population of the most populous black African nation of the 21st Century which cannot be wished away but embellished in the scheme of administration to ensure the dividends of true democracy or good governance?

Should they always forget that the greatest asset of any nation is a well-nurtured HUMAN CAPITAL BANK chequered to give its best shot in every national assignment without employing parochial mentality/ nepotism to the detriment of fundamental rights etc, in the distribution of social amenities?
The British Colonial Masters were complicit to have given Northern Nigeria the false impression that their massive advantage of large expanse of land tantamount to greater population – a claim which is still being disputed by Southern politicians at every conversation/debate and all past CENSUS had not succeeded to arbitrate successfully!

HOW CAN DISUNITY BE ERADICATED PERMANENTLY?
The derogatory “Common man” parlance among Nigerian politicians must be deleted from the nation’s lexicon because if anyone must be addressed as COMMON, the greedy politicians are most suited like the common thieves in our societies because their motivation into politics was inordinate desire for pecuniary gains and not national service!
Between 1960 and 1999, OXFAM, an international watchdog reported that over US $ 3 trillion dollars were stolen from the common patrimony by these custodians in position of authority!
The NEEDS of the average Nigerian for survival are very minimal if a RIGHTEOUS GOVERNMENT is in place:
He needs a good job and a living wage, and in the alternative to be allotted with a moderate piece of land in his name to cultivate for all-year-round farming livelihood; a good shelter over his head, adequate security for himself and his family, constant electricity to power his machines, (grinding machines, motor bikes, “keke napep” “kabu-kabu taxis”, free education for his children from primary to Senior Secondary, good health care system for his family, flexible investment opportunities etc, etc,

With a conservative package such as mentioned above, the average citizen of Nigeria will dwell in peace without any form of agitation, will be law-abiding, will perform all civic duties without hesitation or coercion and would never engage in any form of confrontation!

HOW MUCH WILL COST THE NIGERIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO PAMPER ITS CITIZENS?
Blockage of all wastefulness in the very unpopular Presidential System and a quick reversal to the Parliamentary which was aborted by the military shortly after independence.
Immediate move by Buhari Administration to close down the SENATE and pruning of the House of Representatives 360 members to 74!
Ministerial appointments to be limited to ONE per State and one for the Federal Capital Territory!
Employment opportunities for tertiary institution graduates and all able-bodied men/women to be engage in the various cadres of the SMSMEs.
Others to be absorbed by the Private Sector as government restores industrialisation through massive manufacturing/production and Exportation of FINISHED PRODUCTS; (there are 35 mineral deposits across the 36 States and the FCT.)
Continuous diversification to Agriculture, Mineral Extraction, Entertainment, Tourism, Film Industry, Information/Communication Technology, etc, etc,.
Re-organisation of the electoral process through necessary amendments to the ELECTORAL ACT, 2010?
Introduction of ELECTRONIC VOTING by 2023, in view of recent progress achieved by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in the electronic transmission of results from polling to collation centres in the recently concluded EDO GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION!
Re-furbish the existing refineries through OPEN transparent biddings, encourage the construction of new MODULAR REFINERIES through private sector incentives; re-visit the recent WATER REGULATION BILL to favour all stake holders and douse all areas of tension!
Total extermination of CORRUPTION from the polity, assuring all ACTIVISTS and PRESSURE groups that all forms of nepotism in government circles are eschewed to pacify the IPOB, MASSOB, OHAN’NEZE, O’ODUA, REVOLUTION NOW, etc, etc, “PAPER ALL CRACKS IN THE POLITY AND HEAL ALL THE AGGRIEVED”, then and only then can the current administration gain the co-operation of all and sundry for peace to reign supreme!
As a matter of urgency, creation of STATE POLICE for the 36 States of the Federation should occupy the front burner of President Buhari’s agenda for urgent execution.
It is the Will of God that Nigeria should remain; ONE INDISSOLUBLE NATION and so it shall be forever and ever! WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER!

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,

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.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS IS A TOOTHLESS BULLDOG!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 372. 27th August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS IS A TOOTHLESS BULLDOG!

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), is shadow-boxing again! Should not this body and its affiliate, Trade Union Congress, stop deceiving themselves that they are capable of shutting down Nigeria’s commercial activities and by extension the nation’s economy?
The other time when President Buhari’s government increased petrol pump price from N87.00 naira to N145.00, in a gradual process to “ removing the fraudulent fuel subsidy”, citizens refused to engage in massive protests when called out by the Union!
WHY? Because Labour had said that it was not opposed to deregulation of the Petroleum downstream sector as long as there was no scarcity of the commodity – a position similarly held by government!

Secondly, NLC and Government also believe that the increase in Electricity tariff was long overdue in order that Distribution Companies (Discos), would have sufficient funds to purchase, distribute electricity regularly and seamlessly without overcharging unmetered premises!
Thirdly, why did Labour fail to call for strikes and protests since September 1, 2020, when the new price hikes came into existence but waited until Monday 28th September, 2020, for a “a mother of all strikes”? Who does not know that Labour and any Government in power are birds of a feather? Who is deceiving who?
Fourthly, the NLC had been factionalized since 2014 and a merger was eventually brokered between the two major unions NLC and United Labour Congress (ULC), fresh challenges of losing positions and titles surfaced among field officers since Comrade Joe Ejero of the defunct ULC assumed the position of Deputy President of the new merger to make up for lost grounds!
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT HAS STOPPED THE 28TH SEPTEMBER, 2020, NATION-WIDE STRIKE BY NLC!

LABOUR ANTECEDENTS IN NIGERIA – 20th -21st CENTURY.
Who does not know that politicians and labour union comrades are “paddy-paddy”? The history of labour unions in Nigeria dates back to the colonial era of the forties when political emancipation/consciousness gradually crept into the most-populous country in Africa, South-West of the Sahara but from all studies, these bodies which claimed their core mandate as the passionate protectors of workers legitimate rights, have performed woefully and abysmally in over eighty years (80), of corporate existence!

Reasons for their ineffectiveness and chains of failures in that long period could be traced to early enticement to partisan politics when a major party, National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC), which was desperate to have a strong foothold in the scheme of governance at the federal level, lured the then labour union comrades into a political merger which procured its desired goal!
According to newspapers reports the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the United Labour Congress (ULC), settled their 6-year-old crisis in July 2020, merged, and avowed at a joint media press conference which was hosted by Ayuba Wabba, Joe Ajaero and other executive members, to protect the workers. Mr Ajaero was announced as the new Deputy President of the NLC at that august conference!

The Joe Ajaero-led faction of NLC announced the birth of the ULC, with over 25 affiliates including some aggrieved affiliates of Trade Union Congress (TUC), on December 18, 2016, following disagreements over the NLC general elections which took place in 2015! The reports also, mentioned that ULC was not an underdog in the merger as it boasted of two powerful oil unions, National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN)! Its other affiliates include Nigeria Union on Electricity Employees (NUEE), Nigeria Union of Mine Workers, National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Employees (NUBIFFE), Nigeria Union of Rail Workers, National Union of Lottery Agents, & Employees, Association of Nigeria Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE)!

The following were some excerpts from our 195th Edition of our previous Newsletter dated 7th May, 2017:
“MERCENERY LABOUR LEADERS NOW EYE POLITICAL OFFICES! WHAT GREED?
“It did not come as a surprise to many Nigerians when some leaders of a faction of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), during the last MAY DAY celebrations, expressed desire to metamorphose into a political party in view of the fact that since politics was a game of NUMBERS they could harness their numerical strength to advantage in order to CATER MORE for the basic necessities of life for their members as political gurus! Are they really passionate about the NEEDS of the downtrodden and over-used Nigerian workers or deviously planning to cut a niche for themselves in the rosy political landscape and line their pockets with the financial largesse which accompanies Nigeria's lucrative capitalist presidential system of government?
“In 1978, there was a merger of four different organizations which founded the NLC as an umbrella body for 42 restructured industrial unions with an initial membership population of 4 million, which has now grown to over 6 million, to "cater for workers specific and general interests in a more organized manner!
Before Comrade Wahab Goodluck, who emerged as the first President of that new body, there was the immortalized "LABOUR LEADER NUMBER ONE", PA MICHAEL IMODU, of blessed memory, who championed the cause of Nigerian down-trodden workers without seeking neither paraphernalia of office nor aspired to become a politician which today has become the vogue and vocation among the present crop of labour leaders of the 21st Century! Worthy of note also were Comrades Abdulwahed Ibrahim Omar and Pascal Bafiyau, who followed Pa Imodu's footstep unlike Adams Oshiomole, who later veered into politics and spent 8 years in office as Governor of Edo State (2008-2016)! Nobody was surprised that the ex- governor was rebuffed by workers at the Eagle Square, on May Day, 2017, when he tried to calm a mild protest against Federal Government officials because he already belonged to the ELITES CLUB of capitalist politicians!

“The International Labour Organisation (ILO), has consistently advocated that labour agitations for improved workers conditions and enhanced living wages must always be predicated on mutual negotiations instead of confrontations, antagonisms or picketing with employers of labour in order to allow for a conflict resolution of "no victor, no vanquished", because when union leaders accused employers of deliberate exploitation of their workers, the later always accused their employees also of collecting free emoluments in spite of regular lackadaisical attitude to work!
“Nigerian workers have been maligned, sidelined and exploited by Governors of the various State Governments who owe them salary arrears of between 6 and 15 months up to May Day 2017, like Kogi State, which leads with 15 points on the medal table of unpaid N18.000.00 paltry stipends and even expected MARCH PASTS by the workers on empty stomachs because the Labour negotiators reneged on the bond of COVENANT through delay of serious negotiations with State Governments for their own selfish pecuniary gains!

During the disrupted 2017 May Day gathering at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the Federal Government delegation comprising of the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Senate President, and Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives were barred from delivering official addresses including that of the President!
Nigerians were also not surprised when in January 2017, some ambitious labour leaders announced the formation of a new Labour Union which emerged after a two-year internal crisis that split the NLC into two opposing factions following a disputed general elections in 2015. Out of the 42 Industrial Unions, of the NLC, no fewer than 25, elected Comrade Joe Ajaero who heads one of the splinter groups as President of the new United Labour Congress (ULC). As expected, the other group of the NLC, headed by Comrade Ayuba Wabba, described the emergence of the new labour party as a setback to the agitation for better conditions of service - especially on the issue of the new minimum wage being negotiated with the Federal Government.”.

POLITICIZATION OF LABOUR UNIONS HAS BEEN THE BANE OF CORRUPT CONSECUTIVE GOVERNMENTS IN NIGERIA!
Was it not high time that Nigerian Workers took their destiny into their own hands by barring political jobber comrades from participating in the administration of labour unions and instead beam the searchlight on progressive/vibrant peer group cadre who would henceforth engage any government meaningfully and get positive results that would enhance the total welfare package of every worker? From all indications, the new reconciled/reconstituted NLC, is nothing short of a fluke which is bent on perfecting hidden agenda of surreptitiously cornering what should be their fair share of the national cake! They cannot be trusted at all for the following reasons:
Since the signing into law of the N30, 000.00 naira National Minimum Wage, the document has remained a paper tiger because very few States have implemented the agreement between government and workers.
When the Covid-19 pandemic birthed in Nigeria between February/March 2020, Labour pushed behind the issue of minimum wage and capitalized on corona virus pandemic palliatives by supporting government’s excuse of economic down-turn!
From January 2020 to date, NLC had taken the back seat and is cleverly negotiating for political spaces come 2023 in order to have bigger bites of the common patrimony BUT they must be stopped by all well-meaning citizens!
These current labour leaders are definitely square pegs in round holes and MUST be jettisoned before they could do more damage to the psyche of both Nigerian workers and the citizens at large!
Nigeria does need more Adams Oshiomoles in the polity! “A Stitch In Time Saves Nine!

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN VOTER IS A FOOL – A ZOMBIE!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 371. 20th September, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN VOTER IS A FOOL – A ZOMBIE!

The fear and fright engendered in South-South Edo State Nigeria, months before the much-publicized tensioned-soaked, very-intriguing and cantankerous keenly-contested gubernatorial election of Saturday 19th September, 2020, has been put to rest as the Electorate decided in favour of the incumbent, Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 307,955 votes against 223,619 of his age-long rival and closest contender, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), among the 14 other participants from smaller parties! He won 14 out of the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs), according to INEC Result Sheet which has gone viral on the social media and NOT SURPRISINGLY, EDO PDP ELECTORATE are celebrating and dancing on the streets of Benin the State Capital WITHOUT REALIZING THAT THEY ARE NOTHING MORE THAN MERE PIECES OF CHIPS ON THE CHESS BOARD OF THE TWO GLADIATORS WHO WILL RETIRE TO THEIR CLOSETS AND SAVOUR CHILLED BOTTLES OF CHAMPAGNE WHILE THEY RE-STRATEGIZE FOR THE NEXT MOVE!

We have always told whosoever cared to listen that there are very few righteous politicians in NIGERIA, because decent people in the polity always shied away for fear of being maligned and mauled when the terrain got rough and bloody!

The so-called political leaders are WOLVES IN SHEEP CLOTHING – who pun the foolish masses of the Electorate for financial gains year-in year-out because they belong to the same CULT which registered and financed the TWO BIG Parties as sources of MULTIPLE INCOME!

The scenario in Edo State is a good case study:
In 2016, Pastor Ize-Iyamu was an aspiring APC governorship candidate who lost to Godwin Obaseki in the party primaries and not satisfied, jumped ship to the PDP to achieve his in-ordinate ambition, BUT unfortunately he lost!
Before the year 2020, he played out a new permutation by returning to the APC with the succinct support of ADAMS OSHIOMOLE , former two-term Governor of Edo State and the erstwhile Chairman of the ruling APC at the Federal level with a view to contesting and winning the just-concluded elections!
Now that Ize-Iyamu has lost for the second time, he would definitely head for the Appeal Court to protest the victory of Obaseki who during the race to the coveted seat participated in the primaries of both the APC and the PDP, contrary to extant laws of the Electoral Act, for necessary intervention and adjudication!
Peradventure, the Pastor’s arguments were upheld at the Apex Court, he would then take over from Obaseki and the seamless rotation of juicy political offices would continue between the duo at the expense of foolish/downtrodden electorate of Edo State who had been subjected to abject poverty in the hands of political predators – even though Pastor Ize-Iyamu claims to be a practicing servant of the Most High God!

WERE THE EDO ELECTORATE DEAF TO ALL TANTRUMS THROWN UP DURING THE RUN TO THE BOTH 2016 AND 2020 GOVERNORSHIP ELECTIONS?
Comrade Adams Oshiomole will be remembered by Edo people for a long time as “a confusionist” who would have turned the concluded election into a battle field and thrown Edo State into a bloody land if it had not been for divine intervention through the effectual and fervent prayers of the righteous children of God across Nigeria and the Diaspora!

Oshiomole spoke from both sides of his mouth at both elections of 2016 and 2020, for and against both prominent contestants while the electorate watched WITHOUT THE HIND SIGHT THAT THEY COULD DIVERT THEIR VOTES TO A MORE RELIABLE GREEN HORN AMONG THE 16 CANDIDATES WHO WOULD DELIVER CREDIBLE GAINS OF DEMOCRACY TO THE MASSES!

EDO ELECTORATE HAVE PLAYED THE FOOL AGAIN!
African, Asian, Arabian and Chinese literature is resplendent with philosophical witty/wise/intelligent proverbs fables, anecdotes, innuendoes, deliberately, employed as moral/ethical nuggets to guide and mould human character with a view to achieving mutual/decent living among communities, societies, neighbourhoods, counties dwellers, etc, etc, across the globe!
An Arabian/Persian poem philosophizes as follows:
“He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool; Shun him;
He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is a (child) student; Teach him;
He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep, Wake him;
He who knows, and knows that he knows, is Wise; Follow him.”

THE FOOL! [African Proverbs]
“A fool is thirsty in the abundance of water;
Is offended by wise counsel
Thinks he cannot be fooled;
Mocks a wise person;
Knows that he is headed for destruction, still continues on that path;
Delights in speaking his mind but never minding what he speaks;
Continues to make the same mistakes without ever learning from it!
When he is being cursed, he thinks he is being praised!

ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN ELECTORATE WHICH IS 85% OF THE VOTERS!
Politicians have fooled the electorate for 60 years from independence in 1960 and are still succeeding!
Why has the country practiced OLIGARCHY, colored as either PARLIAMENTARY OR PRESIDENTIAL , from Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa – President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration which is currently playing out in the same manner?
How have the politicians able to manipulate the masses for sixty years and we are still counting? Money politics that promises dividends BUT never delivered until close to another election when sum “bread & butter palliatives were distributed as incentives to encourage them to vote as ZOMBIES!

NB. Please find below questions we ask the past PDP of ex-President Ebele Jonathan in our Vol. 9. 13-10-13, when he inaugurated on Monday 7th October, 2013, a 30-man National Dialogue Committee, to prepare modalities for a mutual and interactive forum that would discuss, conflicting, political, economic and social issues of the Nigerian entity.

The Committee was a prelude to the Jonathan’s National Conference of 2014 which gulped over N18 billion of tax-payers money without any result to show for it till date!
1. Why is there an uneven distribution of wealth and power in 53 years of independence?
2. Why is the great majority of Nigerians wallowing in abject poverty, while the few minority, (mostly, civil servants and politicians), who have illegally acquired and accumulated the ‘commonwealth’, dwell in affluence, gluttonous and abundant prosperity?
3. Why is the prevalent economic inequality, taking heavy tolls, especially in the Health and Education sectors? Treatable diseases, such as malaria, diarrhoea, whooping cough and measles, continue to take the lives of over 40per cent of children before the age of five; maternal mortality rate is on the upward trend- about 1.500 mothers die daily in child birth; with only 2 per cent of world’s population, Nigeria accounts for 10 per cent of world’s maternal deaths per annum, second only to India;(World Health Organisation statistics,2008); less than 20per cent of the rural Nigerians and 40 per cent of those in the urban, have access to safe and potable water; over two thirds of rural people, have no access to health-care facilities, because they dwell very far from clinics and can hardly afford their charges.
4. Why is the unemployment statistics sky-rocketing, with youth unemployment accounting for about, 35-40 per cent, and up to 3.5 million presently out of school because of the unresolved strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, [ASSU].
5. Why should our tertiary institutions, be classified as glorified secondary schools and our hospitals as ‘mere consulting rooms’;
6. Why has the Transformational Agenda of diversification of the economy from the petroleum-based mono- product, to the multi agricultural and mineral resources platform, been difficult to implement?
7. Why should oil be the common asset to take care of all and sundry in a nation boasting of 168million citizens?
8. Why should the monthly sharing of petroleum funds accruing to the Federation Account between States and Federal Government, be acceptable as the panacea to Nigeria’s economic challenges?
9. Why should oil bunkering, money-laundering and other national vices of corruption persist unabated?
10. Why has the industrial sector of the economy become comatose and all textiles, including, small and medium scale factories gone to bed?
11. Why are our borders so porous that vicious aliens have turned our common heritage into a den of robbers and terrorists?
12. Why should the findings and recommendations of the House of Representatives probe of the Power sector, be discarded and swept under the carpet, in spite of the discovery of economic crimes of embezzlement of about N16billion for contracts not executed?
13. Why did government pay petroleum subsidies, running into billions of naira to dubious contractors who never imported petroleum products into the country, only to request for refund of stolen monies without prosecuting them, to serve as deterrent to others of their ilk?

About two years ago the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), released a startling statistics that about $300trillion(USD), had been looted from the Nigerian treasury since independence, adding that, if these currencies were to be stapled together, would get to the Moon and back, in 26 times!

HAS ANYTHING CHANGED SINCE JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION TILL DATE? NO! NO! NO! BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL THE SAME! The CITIZENS must remember the letters of Chapter II, 14 (2) of the 1999 Constitution which unambiguously stated that, “sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government derives its powers and authority”;.....

The “Not-Too-Young-To-Rule” group should arise and shine NOW for the glory of the LORD has risen upon them! THEY SHOULD NO LONGER PLAY THE FOOL OR ZOMBIES TO THE POLITICIANS! They should carry their destiny to rule with diligence and dignity!

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

BUHARI MAY BE FRUSTRATED, BUT OBASANJO CAN NEITHER FAULT NOR CONDEMN HIS INTEGRITY!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 370. 13th September, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

BUHARI MAY BE FRUSTRATED, BUT OBASANJO CAN NEITHER FAULT NOR CONDEMN HIS INTEGRITY!

An assessment of a recent statement credited to President Muhammadu Buhari that Nigerians could vouch that he and his troop of all political appointees, kitchen cabinet, special advisers, have done their best in combating insecurity, portrayed unsolicited exasperation /disenchantment of a frustrated Commander-In-Chief and We want to believe that he was misquoted!

“I want Nigerians to be very conscious of their country and what we inherited when we came in 2015 was Boko Haram in the North-East and the militancy in the South-South…. Nigerians know that we have done our best.”!

According to social media and newspaper reports, the President addressed the statement to Nigerians shortly after performing the Eid prayers with his family and aides at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to express his annoyance and disgust against the avalanche of criticisms over unabated insecurity upheavals across the six geo-political zones as he further expressed dissatisfaction with the performances of the security agencies (whom he is yet to replace), saying they could do better! “Although, I believe in the military, the police and other law enforcement agencies from the report I am getting, I think they can do better,” he asserted.
In practice, religious bodies hold tenaciously to the doctrine of the efficacy of communicated prayers to the Almighty God who has the ultimate spiritual powers to turn around difficult situations into successes; but in the State House scenario mentioned in the previous paragraphs, the President seemed oblivious to that belief in spite of his Eid communications with the Throne of Grace!

He noted that much had been achieved in the area of security since he took over power in 2015 but added that more still needed to be done in view of the disturbing situation in North Central/North West!
In respect to the Service Chiefs the President said, “We are making available resources to them to even do better and from the reports I am getting they could do much better… we are keeping them on the alert all the time to do their duties”, he added. The President’s spokesman, Garba Shehu, cleared our doubt in the opening paragraph when he said that his principal had given assurances to security agencies that he would provide more resources for them to deal with the unwanted security situation and described the attack on innocent Nigerians in the North West and North Central parts of the country as “very disturbing”!
Shehu quoted the President as saying that while much had been achieved security-wise, from 2015, more still needed to be done!

A COLLECTION OF REMINDERS FOR PMB!
Going down the memory lane, it is pertinent to remind the President that there was a time when he was a Military Head of State and at another time when he was forcefully retired from office!
There was a time when he was a leading and prominent member of the opposition parties from 2003-2015, when he providentially became the democratically elected President of Federal Republic of Nigeria following his persistent conviction that he was the right person for the top, plum job!
President Buhari also needed to be reminded that he criticized most of the policies of past administrations and promised to rectify all anomalies when given the opportunity to serve!
We must not forget that he was very conversant with all the myriad of socio-economic problems of the nation – especially the recurring issue of – PERENNIAL INSECURITY, ENDEMIC CORRUPTION, DWINDLING ECONOMY, LACK OF POWER/ENERGY TO SERVICE THE ECONOMY,(INDUSTRY/MANUFACTURING); ABJECT POVERTY, OUT-OF-SCHOOL STREET CHILDREN, UNEMPLOYMENT, ABSENCE OF MODERN HEALTH FACILITIES; BOKO HARAM TERRORISM of the North East and the South-South insurgency which the nation still contends with in the 11 YEARS of the nascent democracy Nigeria!
We need to tell the President that the citizens are tired of those rhetoric’s he usually resorted to when he finds himself in very tight corners when under public scrutiny/criticisms over incessant and mindless banditry resulting in killings and shedding of blood of innocent citizens virtually on daily basis!

WHEN PRESIDENT SAYS: WE HAVE DONE OUR BEST TO SECURE NIGERIA, WHAT SHOULD THE CITIZENS DO?
Benue State has declared its intention for self protection and is requesting for legislation to arm its citizens which move is an opposite approach to the VIGILANTE INITIATIVE mooted by the South West Geo- Political Zone and others in the Northern/Eastern Zones!
It is not certain that the President’s frustrated outburst was a declaration of abandoning his constitutional duties to protect lives and property of the citizens, ensure their fundamental rights of legitimate freedoms to LIFE AND GOOD GOVERNANCE, because the other two ARMS, Legislature/Judiciary would not take kindly to such attitude without taking appropriate actions to set the records straight and navigate the nation’s ship on the right destination of economic prosperity.
INSECURITY IN THE UNITED STATES HAS NOW BIRTHED ARMED STREET PROTEST AGAINST WHITE RACIST POLICE/PREDATORS!
QUESTION: Can Buhari’s Administration afford to allow insecurity of lives and prosperity to deteriorate to birth CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE OR FRESH INSURGENCY? Definitely NOT! Recently, the NIGERIA CUSTOMS SERVICE Management Team allegedly raised an ALARM over an impending organized attacks in several parts of the country which went viral on the Social Media; but the government Agency has denied to be the source of the said anti-peace news although the combined security forces of the nation are at RED ALERT to thwart any kind of security threat , NIP AND CRUSH IT IN THE BUD!

BUT MR. LETTER-WRITER: EX-PRESIDENT AREMU OBASANJO SAYS NIGERIA IS FAST-BECOMING A FAILED STATE?
Here are the new accusations against MR. INTEGRITY, PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, that were similar to the previous ones through his LETTER WRITING PLATFORM:
“Mismanagement of diversity and socio-economic development of Nigeria;
“Nigeria is fast drifting to a failed state under his administration;
“A badly divided state, economically becoming a basket case and poverty capital of the world;
“Socially firming up as an unwholesome and insecure country;
“Old fault lines that were disappearing have opened up in greater fissures and with drums of hatred, disintegration and separation and accompanying choruses being heard loud and clear almost everywhere;
“The country is fast moving to the precipice due to subtle encouragement for everyone to dance to the drum beat/chorus singing to avoid being earmarked as ethnically unpatriotic or an enemy of its tribe or geographical area!”
The ex-President who vehemently opposed disintegration of the country observed that even if the nation was broken up, the separated parts would still be neighbours or they would be ever at war adding that those who prevent justice to be done invite violence to reign!

WE WILL NOT THROW MR. DO-OR-DIE AND HIS UMPTEENTH MESSAGE AWAY LIKE THE BABY AND BIRTH-WATER!
We have never hidden our disgust for the Peoples Democratic Party Administrations championed by ex-President Obasanjo because they provoked and constituted the “ROOT CAUSE” of all the pains and woes that Nigeria is burden with since 1999 till date! However, ex-President Obasanjo had refused to remove the MOTE in his eyes for him to clearly see that HIS PDP ADMINISTRATION LAID THE FOUNDATION AND ERECTED THE OBNOXIOUS STRUCTURE OF 16 YEARS OF MALADMINISTRATION OF NIGERIA THROUGH THE WORST TYPE OF INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION - EVER WITNESSED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD AND WHICH BUHARI’S ADMINISTRATION HAD TO DEAL WITH THE ROT AND STENCH LEFT BEHIND IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS!
During his first tenure, Nigeria became the leading petroleum marketer in Africa and as of the year 2000 oil and gas exports accounted for more than 98% of export earnings and about 83% of the Federal Government’s revenue as well as generating more than 14% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP); also 95% of foreign exchange earnings and about 65% of government’s budgetary revenues – when crude sold for between US$100-110 dollars!

There was much money in the economy BUT, consecutive PDP Administrations are yet to account for the windfall which did not reflect on the living condition of the marginalized masses! Thirteen years down the line, the story changed from affluence to absolute national degradation due to leadership mismanagement of crude oil accruals and foreign exchange earnings, deprivation of the citizens’ fundamental rights to decent living wages through regular employment.

Buhari’s new management team of the Change Administration had to grapple with a battered economy, a near EMPTY TREASURY and a 2016 Deficit Budget Appropriation predicated at US$ 35 dollars per barrel of crude oil (US$ 7 dollars short of market price), and created a jig-saw puzzle for the National Assembly (NASS), to set a workable benchmark for the 2015 Appropriation Estimates because the envisaged revenue from the mono-product would not materialize due to global glut and fallen prices!

MASSIVE CORRUPTION DURING CONSECUTIVE PDP ADMINISTRATIONS!
It was revealed by the BUHARI Administration that 55 Nigerians in position of authority stole over N1.34 trillion naira in EIGHT YEARS (2006-2013), an amount that was more than a quarter of the 2015 Budget estimates, which could have built 635.18 kilometres of road; built 36 ultra modern hospitals, 183 schools, would have educated 3.974 children from primary to tertiary and built 20.062 units of 2-bedroom houses! And whereas, ex-president Obasanjo , who had only N20,000 (twenty thousand naira only), in his bank account on his release from prison in 1998, rose to become a multi-billionaire at the end of his two-terms in 2007!
He could not convincingly deny this accusation and several acts of institutional corruption against him and his cohorts during his two-term office!

WHAT BUHARI MUST DO URGENTLY!
The President should resist every spirit of FRUSTRATION, seek the face of the LORD for the gift of WISDOM through resilience, RE-JIG his cabinet with fresh cerebrals, REPLACE the Service Chiefs and VIGOROUSLY pursue his agenda of providing employment for 10,000,000 (ten million), Nigerians annually to erase the doctrine of “A HUNGRY MAN IS AN ANGRY MAN!

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

WHO IS THE TASK MASTER OF THE OBNOXIOUS TAX REGIME, BUHARI OR THE CABAL?

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 369. 6th September, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

WHO IS THE TASK MASTER OF THE OBNOXIOUS TAX REGIME, BUHARI OR THE CABAL?

Tax, tax, tax and more taxes, must the All Progressives Congress (APC), Government ride righteous Nigerians tax payers to death? Even at this agonizing period of Covid-19 pandemic which has almost grounded world economy since January 2020!

First it was the VAT (Value Added Tax), Second, WATER TAX INCREASE through assent to the Water Resources Bill by Mr. President; Third, the ELECTRICITY TAX INCREASE and, Fourth, PREMIUM MOTOR SPIRIT (pms/petrol), TAX INCREASE, all in one fell swoop! We must not forget the Fifth - the STAMP DUTY, which government also introduced “to evidence documentary transactions”. And the all important question is: WHO BEARS THE BRUNT OF THESE WOEFUL/ODIOUS TAXES IN A LAND THAT HAS BEEN BASTARDIZED BY CONSECUTIVE GOVERNMENTS SINCE NIGERIA’S INDEPENDENCE IN 1960 THROUGH DELIBERATE INSTITUTIONAL CORRUPTION WHICH IS THE WORST EXAMPLE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD?
ANSWER: The TALAKAWAS (downtrodden, poorest of the poor masses,) whom Mr. President Muhammadu Buhari, swore to defend and protect with the last drop of his blood if voted into office, both in 2015 and 2019 respectively!

In 2015, FORBES MAGAZINE, told the world that only SIX NIGERIAN DOLLAR BILLIONAIRES COULD BAIL NIGERIA OUT POVERTY IF THEY SO PERSUADED! The revelation died a natural death because the billionaires were busy making more money from the poor masses whom they were determined to enslave forever!

CAN NIGERIANS EASILY FORGET THAT BILLIONAIRE MIKE ADENUGA (JNR), INVITED NIGERIAN YOUTHS TO INVEST IN THE FRAUDULENT “BITCOINS INTERNATIONAL FRAUD” THAT WOULD MAKE THEM OVERNIGHT MILLIONAIRES, SHORTLY BEFORE THE OUTBREAK OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN THE COUNTRY INSTEAD OF EMPOWERING THEM FINANCIALLY TO VENTURE INTO THE AGRICULTURAL CULTIVATION OF THE ECONOMIC MORINGA TREES, FRUITS AND LEAVES OF UNIVERSAL VALUE WHICH ATTRACT HIGH FOREIGN HARD CURRENCIES?
How many Nigerian rich men or entrepreneurs in the private sector of the economy pay taxes to government in spite of previous tax drives?

ARE TAX OFFICIALS IN NIGERIA NOT COMPLICIT WITH TAX DODGERS?
The lowest tax rate in Nigeria is between 5-7.5% - which every Nigerian pays through VAT and POVERTY RATIO is between 60-80%! Now if 80% of Nigerians do not earn up to ONE UNITED STATES (1 $DOLLAR), exchanging for about N500 naira per day and all gainfully-employed citizens among the remaining 20% of the population should dutifully pay their taxes, would there be a need to bleed the poor to death?

Q: Is taxation through the indirect method of VAT not sufficient for a country still regarded as the POVERTY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD, BUT BOASTS OF NOT LESS THAN TWO BILLIONAIRES – EVEN BY CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES?
Q: Why is the TAX campaign NOT directed to the RICH citizens who have made those billions from Nigeria and through the LABOUR FORCE of the HUMAN CAPITAL of the country?
Q. Why are taxes not harmonized through the Joint Tax Board and workers/small scale business concerns forced into DOUBLE TAXATION between Federal and State Governments?
Q: Is there a correlation between VAT and STAMP DUTY, through which financial electronic transfers of N10, 000 naira would also attract duty payment instead of raising the bar to N100, 000 in order to relieve the LOWER INCOME group of unnecessary taxation?
Q: Should the Covid-19 pandemic period not be a time for WAIVERS ON TAXES for the poor workers who deserve incentives and palliatives instead of DEBT FORGIVENESS gestures extended to industrial houses and business concerns?
The Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), has always passed the buck of unacceptable TAX REGIME in Nigeria at the door step of the Federal/State Governments which they claim SET TAX RATES THROUGH THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY!
With that assertion by FIRS, it is established that the OBNOXIOUS TAX REGIME THAT IS MAKING ITS ROUND IN NIGERIA IS UNACCEPTABLE AND MUST BE REVERSED IMMEDIATELY!
We expect the three arms of Governments to synergize to reconcile all TAXES from the 774 Local Government Areas and harmonize the taxes (tenement, market, motor parks, businesses, etc,), and give HOPE to the disillusioned citizens who have been so traumatized for being Nigerians! THE BUCK STOPS ON THE TABLE OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI!

NIGERIA SHOULD ENCOURAGE AND NOT FRUSTRATE HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT!
Nigeria is not an exception to the global conception which classifies the people as power house, engine room, workforce, the golden goose that lays the golden eggs etc, etc; from whom governments derive not only their POWER but also their LEGITIMACY and MUST therefore handle them with the greatest care and treat them with utmost respect and dignity! Governments should never forget that a people could make or mar the nation's development, peace, economy etc, depending on the efficiency of its leadership drive!

CAN THE INDEPENDENT FORENSIC AUDITORS UNRAVEL THE NAIRA SUCKING MONSTER IN NIGER DELTA?
The Niger Delta Region which produces the mainstay economic crude oil has always been in the news for very unpleasant reasons, the most recent being the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), N16.5 trillion naira worth of investment allegedly appropriated to the Commission for infrastructural developments between years 2000-2020, and with no meaningful socio-economic infrastructures on ground to justify the huge allocations! Crude oil revenue still contributes between 85-86% to the annual budget expenditures even when the 2020 Budget Estimates had to be reviewed downward to reduce the oil benchmark from US$57dollars to $30 dollars per barrel – with further review in the offing if international prices still crashed - while the production output was also revised from approximately 2.1 million barrels per day to 1.7 million, due to Covid-19 pandemic fall outs on world economy!

President Muhammadu Buhari has every cause to institute the NDDC Probe considering the fact he was the Petroleum Commissioner as a Military Officer in 1976 and versatile in the workings and financial buoyancy of that sector!
He still remembers the enormous contributions from the oil sector to the Nation’s coffers and how gigantic infrastructures including Four Petroleum Refineries were built even during that aberration!
He was therefore very qualified to occupy and add the portfolio of that ministry to his headship as President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria just as ex-President Aremu Obasanjo did during his tenure unlike the two democrats – Umaru Yar ‘Adua and Ebele Jonathan, who tossed the ministry to their civilian counterparts!

But in spite of his sagacity and experience, the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry is still “a thorn in flesh and a pain in the neck”! The President as Minister of Petroleum cannot confirm with certainty the daily statistics of barrels of CRUDE OIL lifted from Nigerian Wells! Could the fresh increase of pump price of Petrol to N151.56 from N148 be assumed as the option of the MARKET FORCES for determination of fuel prices by Federal Government which has officially stated that the new N151.56k price modulation would not be static? The question still remains; who ordered those increases, the senior, junior ministers or a silent cabal behind the scenes?

WHO FAILED THE NATION IN RESPECT OF THE ROT OF NDDC?
Although President Buhari is the bona fide Minister of Petroleum, is he actually in charge? During his first tenure, someone from the Igbo-speaking area of Niger Delta, Ibe Kachikwu, was appointed as his junior minister and in this second tenure, an ex-governor of Balyesa State, Timipriye SiIva, is his assistant. Between 2015 and 2020, the price of crude kept plummeting due to fluctuation caused by volatile international prices and it was no wonder that the country entered into economic recession in the Q2 of 2016 through to Q4 of 2017, when the ERGP strategy of economic experts headed by the Vice President Professor ‘Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), eventually bailed the nation out of the quagmire! There was respite between 2017 and 2018, but then, when the sector looked forward to increases in 2019, Russia and Saudi Arabia – the two big magnates of the international market exhibited rivalry, ruffled the market when they unilaterally cut prices and boost production due to general global over supply of oil combined with economic worries triggered through COVID-19 pandemic which struck the world from Wuhan, the Peoples’ Republic of China!

At about US$ 20 dollars per barrel of crude, We expect the Buhari Administration to intensify Internally-Generated Revenues (IGRs), dismiss all ideas of seeking for more international loans, block all wastages in the three tiers of government, CLOSE DOWN THE SENATE, reduce the strength of House of Representatives from 360 to 74, diversify to Agriculture by encouraging massive production of universal forex-attracting economic trees, bring down insurgent down to their knees and wipe out all CORRUPT parasites in the SYSTEM and the nation will rise from rubbles to riches!
WHO SAYS PRESIDENT BUHARI'S APC GOVERNMENT IS NOT ON COURSE? When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (Prov 29:2)

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

SHOULD HATE SPEECH PEDDLERS BE HUNG BY THE NECK?

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking At Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 368. 30th August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

SHOULD HATE SPEECH PEDDLERS BE HUNG BY THE NECK?

The growth and success of any nation’s economy would depend largely on the goodwill, co-operation and support of its patriotic citizens whose contributions in human and material resources in support of government to achieve buoyant annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and not on fifth columnists whose stock in trade at every opportunity was the peddling of hate speech that would tarnish the image and vision of those in leadership positions!

In Nigeria, hate speech has become a habit which very unfortunately now competes with the rise in crimes and criminalities that have become albatross that security agents battle relentlessly with, while the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was made to look incapable of containing the ugly situation! And now, coupled with the un-envisaged Covid-19 pandemic, which has ravaged world economy without exception, Nigeria has to put an end to the unfavourable and notorious challenge for Nigeria’s economy to grow in spite of all odds!

The economic team of President Muhammadu Buhari, headed by his very diligent Vice, Prof.’Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), supported by the Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Presidential Advisory Economic Council (AEC), have risen up to the task to strengthen all sectors to ensure that the nation will escape an “impending recession” which would have definitely compounded the lot of the downtrodden! But this one vicious enemy called “HATE SPEECH”, which is being deployed recklessly against the current administration in order to bring it down at all cost MUST be checkmated very quickly to avoid national calamity!

No government can thrive under constant bombardment by fifth columnists through the instrument of bad publicity and expect to arrive at any meaningful achievements because no country is an island when it relates to synergy of global economy!

FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS SUPERSEDE HATE SPEECH!
Of recent in Nigeria the issue of hate speech has taken an unacceptable dimension which can be traced to the pre-2015 General Elections when ethnic, tribal and even religious dichotomy almost succeeded to destroy the very concept of Fundamental Human Rights as entrenched in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Chapter 4, Section 33-46, where citizens were inundated with an avalanche of those legislations: Rights to life; dignity of human person, personal liberty, fair hearing, right to private and family life, right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Citizens also have right to peaceful assembly and association, right to freedom of movement, right to acquire and own immovable party in Nigeria, etc.
Nigeria’s ruling party through one of the National Assembly Senators has sponsored the Hate Speech Bill, which has generated a lot of debate among various classes/segments especially when one of the recommended penalties was “death by hanging” which was unacceptable to the generality of the people.

(In our Newsletter of Edition 234 of 8th April, 2018, we advocated for TOUGHER PENALTIES FOR FAKE NEWS AUTHORS BUT NOT DEATH BY HANGING!) The Bill recommended that anyone found guilty of any form of hate speech that results in the death of another person should be punished through death by hanging!
However, with so much public hue and cry over the issue, the death sentence portion clause was expunged! The HATE SPEECH BILL has gotten so much opposition from the public that it is now difficult for it to go beyond the Second Reading. It was evident that the sponsor of the Bill was much consumed with patriotism and must have forgotten that all those fundamental rights that are contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are sacrosanct and would definitely take care of the freedom of all citizens from being inundated with hate speeches! Please find below excerpts of our earlier publication mentioned above:

“THE SOCIAL MEDIA IN NIGERIA IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS OR INSTITUTIONS!
Many detractors who patronize the Social Media and masquerading under the guise of pseudo names, regularly unleashed libellous publications in the form of character assassination, hate speeches, unprintable abuses/curses etc, on the person of the ruling Party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), incumbent President/his management team and members of his family, without recourse to the fundamental rights of the citizens in question!

“IS THE NIGERIAN PRESS LICENSED TO PUBLISH FAKE NEWS ACCORDING TO SECTION 39(1)-(3) (a) (b) OF THE CONSTITUTION?
“The sacred profession of Journalism was given mention in the Nigerian Constitution to play the role of “watchdog” and always ensure government’s accountability to the people because "journalism is synonymous with processed information"!

Before and after the 2015 General elections were contested, won and lost, several Print and Electronic media indulged in dissemination of hate speeches, publications and advertorials with a view to truncating the nation's nascent democracy at all cost because of selfish inordinate ambitions!
“Daar Communications' Africa Independent Television (AIT), and the National Television Authority (NTA), including some prominent national newspapers occupied the frontline position in character assassination/smear campaigns against President Buhari in particular and were handsomely and promptly paid with the tax-payers money, while the unfortunate citizens were hacked down in cold blood on daily basis by insurgents!

“EXCERPTS FROM AIT'S ALLEGED FACEBOOK ACCOUNT ON FAKE NEWS!
In our Vol. 6, No. 183, of 12th February, 2016 we published the excerpts below:
"Not many people were surprised when a FACEBOOK ACCOUNT credited to AFRICAN INDEPENDENT TELEVISION (AIT), ANNOUNCED THE RUMOURED DEATH OF PRESIDENT BUHARI in London, on the 23rd January, 2017, because that station, owned by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain, Raymond Dokpesi, was notorious for "mercenary" journalism of fabrication, falsehood and distortion of facts for illicit monetary gains! The transmission of HATE SPEECHES video documentaries on AIT and its sister radio station, RAY POWER against the incumbent President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, during the electioneering campaigns of the 2015 General Elections, as contracted to DAAR Communications Plc, the umbrella body of both stations by ex-President Jonathan's Administration and the subsequent payment of billions of naira for THE HATCHET JOB, is still fresh in the memories of all Nigerians and political development observers around the world!
“Although, DAAR Communications Plc, has denied both ownership and authorship of the FACEBOOK and its content; were they convincing?

CAN THE AIT’S LEOPARD CHANGE ITS SPOTS?
“Did you remember that between the months of January and March 2015, AIT transmitted hate video documentaries against President Buhari with neither proof nor evidence; that he was a tyrant, a dictator and a religious bigot and was not fit to rule Nigeria in order to discredit and defame his character in the eyes of the Nigerian public/electorate, and that although the APC Party Hierarchy sued DAAR Communications Plc, for N50 billion naira damages, the law suit was deliberately left unpursued and was eventually struck out by Justice John Tsoho, of an Abuja High Court, who remarked that the abandonment was "against court rules?"
“ Did you also remember that during that same period, AIT also defamed APC Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu through similar hate video documentary titled: "Unmasking The Real Tinubu: The Lion of Bourdillon" which showcased him as owner of a vast empire of various properties and companies across Lagos State and was promptly sued for N150 billion naira damages for libel? But in a swift reaction, the organisation quickly tendered an unreserved written apology amid an ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), of an alleged illegal receipt of N2.1 billion by Raymond Dokpesi, to avoid total bankruptcy and an eventual fold-up, because it had a very, very, bad case? Tinubu was magnanimous in victory even as President Buhari, to withdraw the suit from court. The letter of apology in part reads as follows: "DAAR Communications Plc admits that in airing the said documentary, it had no intention, whatsoever to embarrass or diminish the high reputation of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which it respects and attests to”.

THE BILL SHOULD BE SUPPORTED BY NIGERIAN PATRIOTS!
Nigeria is not the only country that believes in the necessity to eradicate hate speeches in its nation. In Germany and Britain laws have been enacted to eradicate the abominable challenge from their economies to maintain leading roles in the European Union.
Absence of hate speech will enable governments to focus more to fulfilling all social contracts which include but not limited to more job opportunities, maintenance of law and order, reduction in crime statistics, assurance of peace/tranquillity and cordial/social interaction amongst a once diversified people who would be able to settle for best leaders without caring about tribe or State of Origin in order to enhance greater economic buoyancy!
All those who are against the thorough process of this Bill should have a rethink because without peace and tranquillity in any nation citizens would not have the right directions and there will be breakdown of Law and Order. Both Chambers of the National assembly now on recess are expected back towards the end of September 2020. It is believed that on resumption there will be synergy among all stakeholders to speedily bring to a conclusion the enactment into law of this strategic Bill, so that all those fifth columnist who are determined to ruin NIGERIA would be destabilized and brought to book!

“Let all souls be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God; …For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. (Romans.13:1, 3.).

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

ENOUGH OF BLAME GAMES – MOST NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE MERCENARIES!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking At Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 367. 23rd August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

ENOUGH OF BLAME GAMES – MOST NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE MERCENARIES!

With the exception of a very few Nigerian politicians, the primary concern of the conscienceless majority in government is how to make money at the expense of ethics, morals, pains and agonies of the hapless citizens whom they ride rough shod!

They have no scruples and can be aptly described as mercenaries: “professional soldiers of fortune” whose modus operandi is to be hired to partake in any manner of conflict for personal profit and gains rather than for any political interest!

And the Nigerian terrain which allows for much money of a presidential system of government to flow (like small arms and light weapons), from the local government areas to the apex level of the presidency, has birthed emergency mercenary millionaire politicians who have made so much money from the unruly system and can afford to perpetrate electoral frauds, malpractices, rigging and mayhem to ensure victories at all elections! And like in a relay race, they pass the baton from one person to another using fake party identities to win at all costs though they all work toward achieving the same purpose of suppression and oppression of the poor masses!
Whatever nomenclature or umbrella under which they operate from – it is crystal clear that the same people who play the Electorate about like football before, during and after elections, have been in government from 1960 to date and this is the main reason why it is difficult to identify any progress at all!

When PDP was in power for 16 years, it faced the avalanche and myriad of criticisms of failures, ineptitude, cluelessness etc, which APC is now being bombarded with because the same mix-multitude politicians are on both sides of the divide who work for any government in power under AN INCLUSIVE ARRANGEMENT!
Insecurity of lives and property thrived during annual scattered elections in the four-year tenure of a governor or president and such occasions afforded opportunities for unruly politicians to carry out their hidden agenda through election-related crimes! Against the background of that kind of un-abating crime scenario, security forces are quickly and easily overstretched, overwhelmed and exasperated to make them inadequate and ineffective in their professional tasks!

HAVE THEY NOT DECEIVED NIGERIANS ENOUGH?
Someday not too long from now these political prostitutes will be forgotten in the archives of history because they have perpetrated immense damages to the Nigerian economic system! They have incurred the wrath of God and the TALAKAWAS whose blood is crying to God everyday for VENGEANCE! They have become masters and no longer the representatives who begged for the peoples’ votes to get into political offices!

They now force their will upon the downtrodden from one administration to another since the British Colonial masters handed over the reins of power to them on a platter of gold! But can they get away with all their antics? As of today, the Nigerian Electorate has to contend with at least 91 Political Parties on the ballot papers at each election from the presidential, to the gubernatorial, local governments and bye elections, if all parties decided to field candidates! Why should the Electorate pass through such ordeals if politicians were truly sincere and honest in their quest for genuine leadership in governance? And that is not all – why should the politicians be so desperate to occupy positions of authority at the expense of the citizens’ bloodshed?

APC’S 35 ITEMS OF ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIRST YEAR OF BUHARI’S 2ND TERM CABINET!
Top most on the list released on Friday, 21st August, 2020, was the 774,000 public works jobs which successful applicants would earn N20,000 naira for three months (starting from October 2020), as a means of palliatives to ease Covid-19 pandemic fallouts in this austere period.
“Establishment of new ministries including, Police Affairs, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development on 21st August, 2019, when the 2nd term cabinet was commissioned.

Buhari signed into law a Finance Bill, to reform domestic tax laws, introduce tax incentives for investments in infrastructure and capital markets and improve the business environment.

Itakpe-Warri Railway Line project (abandoned for three decades), now ready for operations.

Nigeria Police Trust Fund established by President Buhari in 2019, now operationalized.
*Nigeria rose 15 places on the World Bank Doing Business Index to 131st position from 146th, earning a place as one of TEN TOP performing countries in the world.

OTHERS include; New Visa Policy to improve the business environment; Approved the Financial Transparency Policy mandating publication of Public Financial Information through an Open Treasury Policy.
Commencement of the Community Policing Initiative with a take-off-grant of N13.3 BILLION naira.

Commenced security operation to secure the Nation’s Borders; Flag off construction of Ajaokuta-Kaduna Gas pipeline;

Launched the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Scheme.

The Economic Sustainability Plan under Vice President ‘Yemi Osinbajo, (SAN), enabled with a N2.3 Trillion Naira stimulus package to help cushion the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited investment decision on the US$ 10 billion Train 7 expansion in which NNPC holds 49% stake was also concluded.

Commencement of NYSC members collection of N33, 000 naira increased allowance was concluded!

N75 billion naira NIGERIAN YOUTH INVESTMENT FUND to provide one digit, 5% interest business loans to Nigerians between 18-35 years of age.

Mention was also made of the First of the Dozen A-29 Super Tucano light attack combat aircraft ordered from the US to deal with insecurity challenges and which delivery would be conclude in 2021.

Household and SME Support Facility disbursement of N49.195 billion to over 92,000 beneficiaries to cushion the effects of Covid-19 pandemic;

Approval of N10 billion and N5 billion grant respectively to Lagos State and NCDC Abuja to support the Coronavirus Response.

COMMENTS: NBS STATISTICS: 13.9 MILLION NIGERIAN YOUTHS ARE UNEMPLOYED; NIGERIA’S UNEMPLOYED RATE JUMPS TO 27.1% IN 2020 QUARTER 2!
Laudable achievements in one calendar year by the 2nd Term Cabinet no doubt but WE expect more tangible account of the stewardship of APC which should have addressed, the current inflation figures released by Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, (NBS), the threatening RECESSION; Unemployed Youths (who count for about 60-70%) of the 200million population; Out of school children who are still roaming the streets; the 10 MILLION JOBS promised by Buhari in the next Ten years from 2019; Debt servicing profile to which as at 23rd November, 2019, stood at N25.7 trillion, comprising of both local and foreign loans according to the Debt Management Office (DMO)!

MORTGAGING NIGERIA’S FUTURE TO UNPAID FOREIGN DEBTS?
It was reported that a sum of N1. 62 trillion was generated by Federal Government in the last month as IGR and N1.5 trillion was used to service debts and yet the Buhari Administration is bent on acquiring a US$ 50 BILLION Chinese loan to complete Railway projects and jeopardize the sovereignty of coming generations yet unborn if they defaulted in payment terms, conditions and agreements?

EMPHASIS ON DIVERSIFICATION TO AGRICULTURE SHOULD NOW BE DIVERTED TO MORINGA FARMING!
President Buhari’s Minister of Agriculture is aware of the “MORINGA ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, under the umbrella of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), which is set to support APC to solve unemployment challenge of youths across the 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria, but is yet to back them up while insecurity thrives in the land and death statistics increase by leaps and bounds!
Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing, drought resistant tree which leaves have seven times more Vitamin C than Oranges and fifteen times more potassium than bananas and also Calcium, Protein, Iron and Amino Acids which help in body healing and muscle building and is in high demand across the world. The tree is also fully packed with antioxidants, including substances that can protect cells from damage and boosts the immune system.
For the information of the Minister, the 500-member-strong Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), had in January 2020, offered to genuinely employ10 million youths across the nation to engage in the cultivation of Moringa Plantation, the international economic plant which will lift the nation out of economic woes permanently, with a start off fund of N9billion naira, for local and export purposes!

He should remove all bureaucracy along the way to his office and support President Buhari to leave behind a sustainable legacy of an economic-viable country, between now and 2023 when he would leave office! A stitch in time saves nine!

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

TALE OF TWO FAILED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN NIGERIA – MAILAFIA & SOWORE!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 8.NO 366. 16th August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

TALE OF TWO FAILED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN NIGERIA – MAILAFIA & SOWORE!
It sounded like a jolt out of the blues at an Abuja based Radio Station, when a failed candidate of the 2019 Presidential Elections claimed during an interview on Monday 10th August, 2020, that government was complicit in the unending security challenges in Nigeria because one of the 19 Northern Governors, was the Commander of the Boko Haram terrorists group!

Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, (63), who made the alarming assertion, was the flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who lost to the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with 97,874 to Buhari’s 15,191,847 votes!

His public outburst which went viral on the social media caught the attention of Mr. President who is asking questions about how insurgents acquired weapons freely? Quick answer: About half of the over 750 million small arms, ammunitions and light weapons proliferation in West Africa have found their way into Nigeria!

Could Mailafia have treated the matter in confidentiality since he had been in the system: having served as a Deputy Governor of the Apex Central Bank of Nigeria and was not alien to government bureaucratic syndrome?

But being a member of the opposition party to the ruling government he was convinced that any letter or petition from his end would surely end up in the trash bin with the existence of special cabal around the number one citizen who would gleefully discard the message because of their disgust for the messenger!

Or was the message deployed as a SCARECROW because Mailafia was still bitter because of his 2019 loss at the polls and decided to heat up the polity by becoming an alarmist without an iota of truth to his claims?

But, putting the entire episode its proper perspective, we know that Mailafia was not the first Nigeria to assert that GOVERNMENT was complicit to Boko Haram insurgency in north East/ North Central and by extension to other areas of Nigeria before Buhari’s first term in 2015!
In 2014, during Boko Haram bombardments of the Federal Capital Territory and the forceful abduction of about 274 Chibok Secondary School girls, ex-President Ebele Jonathan, publicly admitted that his cabinet consisted of Boko Haram elements, whom he failed to name nor expunge before he left office!

WHAT WAS THE SOURCE OF MAILAFIA’S INFORMATION?
The Oxford University Economist said that he sourced his information from some de-radicalised Boko Haram high commanders (whom he sat with on not less than one or two occasions), and who also revealed to him that the insurgents would soon start urban killings and attacks on Southern parts of the country!

Also during the lockdown according to the information given to him, the insurgents moved freely and distributed arms across the country and that those weapons were distributed with planes without regard for the lockdown!

HOW TRUE COULD THESE CLAIMS BE?
From all information at our disposal, Nigeria got serious with the Covid-19 public sanitation and safety protocol laws when an Italian citizen imported the virus into the country through Lagos State on 27th February, 2020. The first lockdown began on 27th March, 2020, for two weeks with subsequent lockdowns until the general ease of the lockdowns from 4th May, 2020, till date.

De-radicalized Boko Haram terrorists were in the various camps for over two years of orientation and re-orientation before Covid-19 pandemic hit Nigeria in March 2020! How did they become privy to such precarious information?
Was it during their programme or after their absorption into the larger society? Either way, it is obvious that the "repentant terrorists" should not be totally trusted and should be closely monitored!
However, Mailafia, who believed in his source maintained his stand and said he would neither be silent nor give up on Nigeria even in the face of death! He called for an end to the killings in Southern Kaduna and other parts of the country.
"If need be I will die for Nigeria", he concluded

THE ROLE OF THE DSS AND NORTHERN GOVERNORS FORUM IN THE IMBROGLIO!
On Wednesday 12th August, 2020, the Department of State Security (DSS), which was bereft of the high security information, picked up Dr. Mailafia, in Jos , capital of Plateau State, drilled him for about Six hours and released the unrepentant economist who later addressed the media in respect of his adamant position that he would not retract his statement!

The 19 Northern States Governors who are in the eyes of the storm have swiftly reacted and called for an immediate investigation because of the allegation which was too weighty to be ignored since they were all working together as a body to see to the end of banditry, terrorism and other forms of crimes in the region!

JOURNALIST SOWORE IS ANOTHER BAD LOSER SEEKING REVOLUTION!
Below are some excerpts of our previous publication on the other FAILED presidential candidate whose group still staged street protests in some State capitals including the FCT recently against the incessant issue of insecurity!
“The choice of the phrase: #Revolution Now', adopted by the organizers of a planned nation-wide protest and the timing of the nocuous event, conceived by Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, to provoke fresh civil disobedience was very offensive/insultive to the sensibilities of compatriots for peace, stability and good governance in Nigeria - especially the vulnerable downtrodden who would unfortunately become canon fodders, peradventure it succeeded!

“Prior to his incursion into Nigerian politics - 48-year-old Sowore stood out as an outstanding, respectable and successful entrepreneur in the Diaspora, being the chief executive of the internationally-accredited online news outfit, the SAHARA REPORTERS - a trait that cut across accomplished Nigerian professionals, who normally returned home to add value to their nation's socio-economic pursuit of a better life for the citizens!

Sowore lost woefully in the 2019 Presidential Election - coming 10th with 33,953 votes as against President Buhari's 15,191,847 million; but that was not all, the National Executive Council (NEC), of his party later accused him of anti-party activities including refusal to render accounts of donations/ expenditures and wasted no time to relieve him of his position as chairman, - even with a court judgement in their favour!
“An Abuja High Court on Thursday, 8th August, 2019, granted an ex-parte motion by the DSS to further detain Sowore in its custody for 45 instead of 90 days requested by the agency, while further investigations continued in the treasonable charges brought against him under Terrorism Prevention Act, Section 27 (1) and the video evidences: exhibits/clips of his fraternity with the fugitive revolutionist, Nnamdi Kanu and also some proscribed IMN adherents!
Sowore should go through the process of the law to prove his culpability to the charges or otherwise!”
Recommendations :( 1) Government should not throw away the baby with the bath water but carry out thorough investigations. (2) Both men and their associates should be meticulously monitored through due process of the law for more information to crack down on all fifth columnists in sheep clothing and save innocent citizens from travail!
"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah. 29: 11).

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: Zion faith Bible Believing church 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. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

BUHARI’S SECURITY CHIEFS ARE TIRED! LET THEM GO!

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 9.NO 365. 9th August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

BUHARI’S SECURITY CHIEFS ARE TIRED! LET THEM GO!

In spite of the fact that the Nigerian Government under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari seems to be losing grips with the security challenges of the nation, his helmsmen kept deceiving him that they were “on top of the situation”!

Has the Commander-In-Chief lost his military prowess of strategies to secure citizens lives/properties and confounded with the quagmire of massive criticisms from virtually all traumatised citizens?

People are no longer comfortable with the present security architecture which crumbles at all fronts by the day through terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and gunmen attacks which have been so devastating in a nation held to ransom by tired Service Chiefs who should have been retired at the end of his first tenure!

Apart from the news that youths agitations which have continuously clamoured for improvements in security architecture, the general consensus is that all service chiefs be removed for fresh/determined officers with brilliant ideas to be appointed to revolutionize the system.

State governors who belong to the All Progressives Congress have also joined the conversation to tell President Muhammadu Buhari to address the unhealthy security situation urgently!
From north to south and from East to West, insecurity and hostility has taken unprecedented dimensions and nobody seems safe.

BOKO HARAM ATTACK ON GOVERNOR ZULUM OF BORNU STATE!
Recently Bornu State Governor was attacked by Boko Haram terrorists while visiting Baga Local Government, which was considered safe.
However the Army was wrong because they did not strategize properly for his return journey to the State Capital, Maiduguri as gunshots were fired on his convoy and the soldiers had to shelter him into an armoured vehicle which ferried him to safety.

The youth group which is known as "Revolution Now", staged protests in the Federal Capital Territory, Ondo, Lagos, Osun stater and demanded for tight security and good governance
They claimed that the whole nation was under Boko Haram/Fulani herdsmen bandit attacks and that even the President's home state was not spared!
Kaduna State has become the worst hit because lots of killings have been going on by unknown gunmen in the past several weeks whereas Nigeria has a retinue of security agencies beginning with the Nigerian Army, Navy and Air Force (the armed forces), not excluding the civil security and defence Corps the State Security Service, (SSS), the Police Mobile Force, yet insecurity persists everyday!

Now Nigerians are faced with TWO evil agents of (1) disunity and destabilization ravaging at the same time and (2) persistent insecurity which has overstretched security agents coupled with Covid-19 pandemic which is taking its toll on all people whether young, old, rich or poor!
Which is more dangerous, is it the physical security or invisible insecurity? But from all indications Nigeria is sandwiched between the Red Sea and Pharaoh's Army (ie, between ludicrous spokesmen and the reality of daily fatality due to insecurity of lives and properties), and only trusting that divine intervention would rescue the land without doing the needful since the present government seemed to be at its wit's end!

When the "Revolution Now" Group protested at the Federal Capital Territory and four states of Nigeria recently, government spokesman 'Femi Adesina described their action as “childish and. Irritant”!
And we want to ask what is irritant or childish in asking government to protect its people without provoking them to resorting to self-defence, civil disobedience or anarchy which Government has dissuaded all citizens against?

ALIEN INVASION IN NIGERIA?
Nigeria may be under alien terrorist invasion that even all security forces would not be able to contain!
The United States Commander Special Operations Command Major General Dagavin Anderson in the past week (Tuesday, 4th August, 2020), cautioned that the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups were exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria and gradually taking over the West African region after losing ground in Syria, Iraq and the Middle East.

But just like 'Femi Adesina who sits on a "high horse", the Co-ordinator, Defence Media Operations, Major General John Enenche said that the Military High Command of Nigeria's Defence Headquarters was NOT ALARMED because their activities were not new!
His verbatim statement: " The Nigerian armed forces is not oblivious of the potency of such infiltration noting that it was the Nigerian military which raised the alarm of movement of terrorist from the Middle East to West Africa and is conscious also of the movement of insurgents from Libya which was equally revealed by the Nigerian Security Services. Our attention being drawn to the fact that terrorist from others zones are coming here; I think it will be good for us to be keeping records of events as they unfold.
For me, this is not the first time they are raising such an alarm; the alarm is as old as maybe 5 or 10 years and the Armed Forces and the country are conscious of it.
“Have we not captured foreigners among the people that have been terrorizing us in this country? So it is just like a call to keep doing what we are doing so the general public should know that the security agencies are ON TOP OF THAT ONE.”

QUESTIONS BEGGING FOR ANSWER!
Now that the Nigerian Army has admitted that alien terrorist have been with us for FIVE TO TEN YEARS according to the Major General, it means that, right from the onset in 2009, the military had been battling with both the Boko Haram and alien forces simultaneously to prolong the battle which should have been won with less logistics and funding! It should not have been so difficult for the Nigerian army and all other security forces to have won the battle now in its 11th year!
President Muhammadu Buhari promised to protect the people, secure their lives and properties doing his political campaigns in 2014 and 2019 respectively, securing of the nation's borders, roads and highways which would be his priority. Has he kept those promises? Apart from recapturing 17 Local Governments previously occupied by Boko Haram before 2015 in the early months of his first term, not much had gains had been made in crushing the terrorists till date while lives and properties of the peasants – TALKAWAS, who always bore the brunt, were daily destroyed without compensation!
According to the Commander-In-Chief, Boko Haram was technically defeated all over the land and that there was no place in Nigeria that was occupied by the insurgents;
we make bold to say that boko Haram insurgents doubles as Bandits in other geopolitical areas of the country and also as killer herdsmen who carry AK-47 rifles and destroy lives and properties from the north-east Borno State, moving down into the North Central/Niger States and Nasarawa State, killing and maiming without any form of challenge from security agents!

SOLUTIONS TO THE ENTIRE INSECURITY QUAGMIRE!
Soldiers in the battle fronts complained of delay in payment and at times non-payment of allowances. They should be promptly paid!
Many combatants in the trenches have overstayed their contract! They should be discharge immediately to return to their families before next deployments.
Some commanders have been accused of abuse of their offices! They should be probed without further delay or cover-up!
It is common knowledge that the Armed Forces and other security agencies are overstretched! Monthly recruitment should be introduced to absorb the teeming youths who are well qualified to become gainfully employed.
Government should source for more revenues by seriously implementing the ORANSANYE REPORT, which is already in progress AND ALSO CLOSE DOWN THE NATION’S DRAIN-PIPE KNOWN AS THE SENATE, REDUCE MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO 74 AND SAVE OVER ONE TRILLION NAIRA ANNUALLY TO SUPPLEMENT SECURITY VOTES!
OR, which alternative would President Buhari chose? KEEP CHARLATANS AND MONEY MONGERS AROUND HIMSELF AND DEPART OFFICE IN DISGRACE OR CAST THEM AWAY TO KEEP HIS CAMPAIGN PROMISES AND PROVIDE THE BEST AND ADEQUATE SECURITY FOR THE PEASANTS – THE TALAKAWAS WHOM HE SWORE TO PROTECT EVEN WITH HIS BLOOD!
BUHARI IS A VERY WISE MAN, HE WOULD DO THE LATTER!
WE RECOMMEND THAT HE SHOULD CONSULT WITH THE SENEGALESE PRESIDENT WHO CLOSED THAT THE NATION’S SENATE SUCCESSFULLY AND IS AT PEACE WITH HIS CITIZENS!
“A word is enough for the wise”!

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

SHOULD NIGERIANS FORGIVE DE-RADICALIZED BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS?

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER.

(Looking at Nigeria's Political System From a Godly Perspective).

A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church Kpeyegyi Abuja Nigeria {Vol. 9.NO 364. 2nd August, 2020.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32). . PRAY & FAST EVERY WEDNESDAY TO STOP BLOODSHED IN NIGERIA!

SHOULD NIGERIANS FORGIVE DE-RADICALIZED BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS?

The United States Guatemala Bay Detention Camp in Cuba was established in January 2002, by President W Bush’s administration during the “War on Terror”, to indefinitely detain/isolate extraordinarily dangerous people, to interrogate detainees, to prosecute detainees for war crimes, extract information through torture instead of de-radicalising them in US Prisons - a system which Amnesty International condemned as major human rights violation which were also offensive to the “Due Process Clause”, of the American Constitution and principles of the Geneva Convention!

On assumption of office President Barack Obama according to Wikipedia, moved to close the military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base but was opposed by strong bipartisan opposition from the US Congress which passed laws to prohibit detainees from the detention camp from being imprisoned in the US.

Obama however reduced the number of inmates from about 245 to 41 by freeing and transferring them to other countries while in May 2018, one prisoner was transferred during Donald Trump’ first term to reduce the number to 40.

Similar programmes across world nations were treated with “human face” because each country embarked on fresh ideas of de-radicalization peculiar and applicable to their culture, tradition, religion and environment. For instance, in South East Asian countries of Indonesia, Singapore, Malay etc, de-radicalization of terrorists normally took place when such criminals had completed their prison terms.

In Nigeria, the program did not receive much publicity until 600 de-radicalised Boko Haram terrorists were treated to a “send forth” ceremony organised by the Nigeria Army on Wednesday 13th July, all dressed in white fabric “aso ebi” (uniformed), and customised face masks which invoked an ambience of love and camaraderie.

SHOULD THESE EX-TERRORISTS BE RELEASED NOW?

Could this be the opportune time to release and re-integrate the “600 repentant” Boko Haram terrorists into the society when their counterparts were outrageously shedding innocent blood of fellow Nigerians and publishing videos of their heinous crimes on the social media?

*Can a leopard change its colour? Have the Nigerian Army authorities suddenly forgotten that these set of young Nigerians have been meticulously brainwashed and sworn to oaths of allegiance?

*Have they also forgotten that the so-called de-radicalized terrorists were indoctrinated on recruitment by their commanders with very bitter ideology of vengeance which have been permanently engrafted in their brains and may not or can never be erased from their memories till death?

De-Radicalization of repentant terrorists should be a two-way counter-terrorism approach:
to dissuade future occurrences and
Proffer assurance that government would always be faithful to provide all constitutional social needs to keep the citizens fully occupied in vocational/employable jobs, provide free education to at least senior secondary school level, functional clinics/maternity centres/hospitals etc.

But what format did the Army authorities apply in orientation/re-orientation of these renegades to assure law-abiding citizens that their re-integration, rehabilitation etc, would be seamless without backlashes and regrets? How could a wild animal like a leopard be tamed to forget to eat raw flesh and blood?

NIGERIAN ARMY’S REPORT ON DE-RADICALIZATION OF BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS!

De-radicalised programs were commissioned from 2014 with one in Kuje Prison, Abuja; the second, Operation Safe Corridor, in 2016 to handle captured BH combatants and the third, Yellow Ribbon Initiative, located in Bornu State communities, supervised a non-profit organization, the Neem Foundation, set up in 201, to cater for women, children and young people who were associated with Boko Haram, while the third, Operation Safe Corridor, supervised by the Federal Government to accommodate Boko Haram (BH), terrorists who voluntarily surrendered or were captured in the process of warfare to de-radicalize, orientate, rehabilitate and re-integrate them into the larger society.

On Monday 13th July, 2020, 600 of them who were captured in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe but have now denounced their membership and swore oath of allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria have been freed according to a military spokesman who also disclosed that in past years, about 1,400 of them who had done likewise had been released while about 280 terrorist were still accommodated at the Army Rehabilitation Centre.

He further disclosed that BH terrorist attacks have recorded over 30,000 fatal casualties and displaced nearly 3 million since July 2009, in the North East region!
Government says that the releases were part of its four- year old de-radicalization program of Operation Safe Corridor predicated from 2016, on an assumption that a stick and carrot approach could diminish their radical extremist indoctrination and violent religious ideologies.

DE-RADICALIZATION OF TERRORISTS IN OTHER CLIMES!
De-radicalization programs in Africa – apart from Nigeria also include its Lake Chad Basin countries – Niger, Cameroon and Chad, who have their own versions just like South East Asia countries of Indonesia, Malay and Singapore where inmates serving the jail terms for terrorism-related offences, the South Americas, Northern Ireland, where inmates were treated with kindness and love – which explains why Nigeria cannot be the odd country out?

Has de-radicalization which is an attempt to bring terrorist inmates safely to good social life after the prison release and usually conducted in prison, actually worked in any country of the universe? OF COURSE NOT BUT SOME LITTLE PERCENTAGE OF THE WHOLE LOT OF DE-RADICALIZED TERRORISTS ACTUALLY CHANGED FOR THE BETTER!

ALLEGATIONS OF CORRUPTION IN NIGERIA’S DE-RADICALIZATION PROGRAMS?

There were accusations and suspicions that the Nigerian attempt at de-radicalization of repentant terrorists was corrupted by unscrupulous officials who did not play according to the rules because unrepentant and most dangerous ones were often left off the hook to become spies for their groups which perpetrate more crimes with military precision!

HOW A RELIGIOUS SECT TURNED FRANKENSTEIN MONSTERS!

Mohammed YUSUF, formed a small Islamic group to perpetrate his own kind of religious ideology which was completely at variance to the most popular Sunni Muslims practiced in the Northern States of Nigeria and in August 2009, he was apprehended by the Army for disturbing public peace through his radical religious preaching, handed over to the Police who brutally murdered him in cold blood!

Since that incident, government neither denied, apprehended the culprits nor brought them to justice and so his disciples swore to avenge their leader’s death through violent reprisals!

WHERE WAS SENATOR ALI NDUME WHEN BOKO HARAM WAS BIRTHED?

Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno South Senatorial District, Gwoza, Bornu State and many Nigerians were opposed to the entire exercise because THOUSANDS OF TRAUMATIZED Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), are languishing in isolation at the camps for several years without hope of reprieve or succor in any form from either State or Federal Government in spite of the establishment of the NORTH EAST DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION (NEDC), established to cater for the region!

BUT where were they when the Government/Military de-radicalization idea was mooted? Whose idea was it?
What was the rationale behind the whole exercise from the onset because it was told that many of the BH PRISONERS OF WAR (POW), voluntarily surrendered to the Federal troops and confessed that they were CONSCRIPTED!

While the program lasted, what useful information did the “repentant” BH terrorists reveal to end the eleven-year-old brutal war against innocent Nigerian citizens?

What measures have Nigerian Army put in place to checkmate the new de-radicalized terrorists from going back to their vomit like dogs?

HAVE THEY BEEN GRAFTED WITH GPRS CHIPS IN ORDER TO MONITOR ALL OF THEIR MOVEMENTS?

In spite of the amnesty offered through de-radicalization of this new batch of 600 men, BH Terrorists had remained ruthless in their blood-letting operations for the past 10 years and was bent on establishing an Islamic Caliphate in North-East Nigeria.

SHOULD NIGERIANS FORGIVE AND EMBRACE THEM AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED?

The divine injunction of the Word of God says that if we refuse to forgive those who have offended us, our Father in Heaven would not forgive our offenses also! (Matthew. 6: 14-15). We should all remember that to err is human and to forgive, divine; and also that forgiveness does not favour the offender BUT the offended!

Someday not too far from now BOKO HARAM INSURGENCY WOULD HAVE BEEN BURIED IN THE HISTORY BOOKS IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! Amen.

I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor. 08130669886, 08098194390. 08080243066. G-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.

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Saturday 10 October 2020

NIGERIA’S 60 YEARS OF DISUNITY WAS IGNITED WITH TWO MILITARY COUPS!

NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS IS A TOOTHLESS BULLDOG!

THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN VOTER IS A FOOL – A ZOMBIE!

BUHARI MAY BE FRUSTRATED, BUT OBASANJO CAN NEITHER FAULT NOR CONDEMN HIS INTEGRITY!

WHO IS THE TASK MASTER OF THE OBNOXIOUS TAX REGIME, BUHARI OR THE CABAL?

SHOULD HATE SPEECH PEDDLERS BE HUNG BY THE NECK?

ENOUGH OF BLAME GAMES – MOST NIGERIAN POLITICIANS ARE MERCENARIES!

TALE OF TWO FAILED PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN NIGERIA – MAILAFIA & SOWORE!

BUHARI’S SECURITY CHIEFS ARE TIRED! LET THEM GO!

SHOULD NIGERIANS FORGIVE DE-RADICALIZED BOKO HARAM TERRORISTS?

The Wedding Mascot Died! A must read!

Max Lucado.