WHY DID WHITNEY HOUSTON DIE? (2)

Her worldly success didn’t help her overcome her personal demons? Demons? Was addiction to cocaine a demon? Or was it the worldly success or both? If so, apparently not even the prayers of Christians in the music industry succeeded in casting out that demon or demons? For as Grady chronicled, “Christians in the music industry reached out to Whitney and prayed with her during her up-and-down battle with addictions. But the drugs had a powerful pull. In 2006, a photo was released of her bathroom sink in Atlanta filled with crack pipes, drug paraphernalia, cigarettes and beer cans. Even after she divorced Bobby Brown in 2007, the downward spiral continued”.

Whitney Houston was sent off with dignity, as planned, last Saturday. Her body was interred on Sunday leaving the world the poorer for it. She certainly would be sorely missed. But, as I pointed out the last time, “the questions remain, un-interred with her body.”  Such questions as: why she had to die at a mere 48…why her life took a sudden dive for the worse right at the peak of her career…why she became associated with crack, cocaine and prescription drugs, such that all speculations about her death hover around drugs and it would take the outcome of toxicology tests still being awaited, to dispel it?”

In trying to find some form of answer or the other to these and many other questions, I spoke about two of the avalanche of writings about her life and times, her place in the entertainment industry and her life as a Christian that caught my attention.

The first, from which I quoted quite bit, was an online piece titled “Whitney Houston’s Death and the Secret-Society Called the Music Industry,” which I erroneously attributed to A. J. Ramsey. It has since dawned on me that the piece was written by Ra Imhotep, while Ramsey’s every1letstalk.com website was simply one of the many that carried the article? Apologies to all.

The essence of the article, which has since gone viral in cyberspace, was that Whitney was a victim of witchcraft. He recalled how she started out in the choir, had the song “Guide Me O Jehova” as her first solo performance, became “one of the few entertainers who got a record deal, because of her true talent and not because of connections and affiliations that she had” and thus “paved the way, with her voice and image, for many diva’s that would come after her…”

Relying heavily on the words of one John Todd, whom he described as “a so called ex-member of the Illuminati, who was a music executive in the 70’s”, Imhotep went on to posit that Whitney must have been initiated into witchcraft at the onset of or at some point in her rise to fame and fortune. He quoted Todd as stating that “every musician and entertainer in the music industry and Hollywood, has to be a initiated wizard or witch before they are offered a recording contract” and that after a “record is cut and the master is finished, it is then given to a coven of witches and wizards who conjure up a demon. Once the demon is conjured the witches and wizards ask the entity to attach itself to every copy or duplicate that is sold to the public, which guarantees the success of the record and also takes control of the listener.”  

Imhotep declared: “the music industry is a cult and once one gets a record deal they are now an initiate and are a part of the cult for life. Whitney Houston was no exception to this rule and she took the oath back in the 70’s. Once the oath is pledged you become the property of the record labels and the machines and you can NEVER retire. The only way out of the game is death…”  

He went on to make a number of claims and drew links between events and personalities in the entertainment industry that neither space nor the nature of this forum, would permit me to go into here.

The second of the articles addressed a different angle to the issue: Whitney’s spiritual life as a Christian. Written by one of my favourite columnists, J. Lee Grady, in his Fire In My Bones column in Charisma online of Wednesday of February 15, 2012, he addressed what he called “the silent shame of addiction”.

In his inimitable style, Grady, a former editor of Charisma magazine, raised a number of fundamental issues that I know the body of Christ must address urgently. One or two of those points have agitated my mind since then.

First, he asserted that “anyone who has listened to Whitney Houston’s rendition of ‘I Love the Lord’—or who saw her perform with CeCe Winans and Shirley Caesar at the 1996 Grammy Awards—knows she had an incomparable voice best suited for gospel music.”  Note this please: an incomparable voice best suited for gospel music.

Grady continued: “But Whitney chose a broader path: When the doors opened for her to make a pop album in the 1980s, it became the all-time best-selling debut album by a female artist. She became America’s diva.” Was that the fundamental problem then? A “broader path”; a voice best suited for the gospel, but applied more to pop music?

Let’s continue with Grady’s perspective: “But all her worldly success didn’t help her overcome her personal demons. Her stormy marriage was marred by domestic violence. She admitted in the 1990s that she took cocaine every day. She tried rehab three times over the course of eight years. Her voice was so damaged by her drug habit that people walked out of her comeback concert in London in 2010. She became a pathetic shell of her former self…”

Her worldly success didn’t help her overcome her personal demons? Demons? Was addiction to cocaine a demon? Or was it the worldly success or both? If so, apparently not even the prayers of Christians in the music industry succeeded in casting out that demon or demons? For as Grady chronicled, “Christians in the music industry reached out to Whitney and prayed with her during her up-and-down battle with addictions. But the drugs had a powerful pull. In 2006, a photo was released of her bathroom sink in Atlanta filled with crack pipes, drug paraphernalia, cigarettes and beer cans. Even after she divorced Bobby Brown in 2007, the downward spiral continued”.

As this perceptive writer was wont to do, Grady dropped an important hint when he noted that Whitney passed on “just two days after she sang an impromptu version of “Jesus Loves Me” at a Hollywood nightclub”, and added: “I’d like to believe it was a feeble cry to the God of her childhood…” (CONTINUES)

WHY DID WHITNEY HOUSTON DIE? (1)

"First he gave his evaluation of the young Whitney at the onset of her career: “She started out in the Choir and her first solo performance was ‘Guide Me O Thou Jehova’ Whitney was one of the few entertainers who got a record deal, because of her true talent and not because of connections and affiliations that she had. She paved the way, with her voice and image, for many diva’s that would come after her…”

Barring any last minute change of plans, by the time you read this, Whitney Houston would have been laid to rest, at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey.

The home going services would have held at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, a venue, which one reporter has described as “a much smaller, more intimate setting than the concert halls and arenas Houston packed during her heyday” Yet it would have been a befitting last curtain call for the legendary singer who was found dead in the bathtub of her Beverly Hilton suite, a week earlier, some hours before she was billed to attend a pre-Grammys bash at the same hotel.

Yes, it would have been a relatively small event for the 48-year-old mother of one daughter, Bobbi Christina Brown, 18, but there would be no room for small fries. Each of the 1,500 seats would have had a celebrity in it!

Among those you would have sighted at the event, as you watched on a variety of television stations or via live streams on the worldwide web, would be megastars like Chaka Khan, a close friend of Whitney and Bebe & CeCe Winans of the famous Winans music family, who have been very close family friends of the Houstons.

Conspicuous, almost certainly would be the Rev Jesse Jackson, another close family friend and Bishop T.D. Jakes, who was listed with Whitney as producers of “Sparkles”, her last film scheduled for release this summer.

If you paid attention, you would also have seen songwriter Diane Warren, pop singer Darlene Love, producer Antonio Reid, who produced many of Houston's songs   Ray J, a hip-hop artist whom Houston dated on and off after her divorce from husband Bobby Brown. Singer and songwriter, Valerie Simpson of the famous Ashford & Simpson duo would also have joined in paying her last respect to the departed singer of whom she told the media; “She was like family…somebody who I watched from the time she was young."

Taking her place in the thick of it all would have been Houston's cousin, singer Dionne Warwick, and then of course there would have been Whitney’s godmother, no less a person than Aretha Franklin, who would have etched her sorrow on the souls of all with a song.

And the eulogy would have been powerfully delivered by another very close friend of the Houston Family, Gospel singer and pastor Marvin L. Winans. He, it was who, officiated at Whitney’s marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown in 1992, a marriage many now see as contributory to the decline and fall of her singing career.

Yes, yesterday the celebrities joined the family to celebrate one of their own, without a parade as Pastor Winans expressed it to CNN’s Andy Cooper. True, for the family, “it was this is my daughter, this is my sister, this is my mother, this is my friend and we want to do this with dignity."  But even as Whitney lay dead, irreversibly, the questions remain, un-interred with her body. Why did she have to die at a mere 48? Why did her life take a sudden dive for the worse right at the peak of her career? Why did she become associated with crack, cocaine and prescription drugs, such that such that all speculations about her death hover around it and only the outcome of toxicology tests still weeks away can dispel it?

Two of the avalanche of writings about Whitney’s life and times, her place in the entertainment industry and her life as a Christian caught my attention and led me to this exercise.

First was a February 15 online piece titled “Whitney Houston’s Death and the Secret-Society Called the Music Industry,” by one A J Ramsey. The essence of the article was that Whitney was a victim of witchcraft. Let’s read a few excerpts. First he gave his evaluation of the young Whitney at the onset of her career: “She started out in the Choir and her first solo performance was ‘Guide Me O Thou Jehova’ Whitney was one of the few entertainers who got a record deal, because of her true talent and not because of connections and affiliations that she had. She paved the way, with her voice and image, for many diva’s that would come after her…”

To explain how the young squeaky clean Jehova’s guidance seeking Whitney began her transition to the woman she was when she died, Ramsey quoted John Todd, whom he described as “a so called ex-member of the Illuminati, who was a music executive in the 70’s”. He quoted Todd as stating publicly that “every musician and entertainer in the music industry and Hollywood, has to be a initiated wizard or witch before they are offered a recording contract”. This, Ramsey explained “is what some writers have called the selling of the soul or light to Lucifer”.  Continuing, Ramsey wrote; “In his speeches John Todd further demonstrates that after the record is cut and the master is finished, it is then given to a coven of witches and wizards who conjure up a demon. Once the demon is conjured the witches and wizards ask the entity to attach itself to every copy or duplicate that is sold to the public, which guarantees the success of the record and also takes control of the listener.”  

Ramsey then declared: “The point I am making above is that the music industry is a cult and once one gets a record deal they are now an initiate and are a part of the cult for life. Whitney Houston was no exception to this rule and she took the oath back in the 70’s. Once the oath is pledged you become the property of the record labels and the machines and you can NEVER retire. The only way out of the game is death…” (CONTINUES)

LOVING THOUGHTS ON GOD, THE ALMIGHTY…

The young man took the key, walked to the vehicle and began to pray ...Then he started the engine and parked the jeep to the place PERFECTLY well as the captain wanted. The young man came out of the Jeep and saw them all crying. They all said together: "We want to serve your God!" The young soldier was astonished, and asked what was going on? The CAPTAIN now crying uncontrollably opened the hood of the jeep revealing that the car had no engine!

What a wonderful week this last one turned out to be! In the midst of thoughts about Nigeria, Boko Haram, the threat of resurgence of militancy in the Niger Delta and how a Sovereign National Conference might help or hurt the solution-finding process, three of my sisters, one, very distant, chose to redirect my focus. They refocused me from those challenges to the One who is able to solve them. They refocused me to God, by reminding me of some of His many great attributes; and in the process reinforced my peace.

Here are the thoughts they shared, one in a daily devotional, the others, on Facebook. With them, I usher you into this wonderful week when love is celebrated worldwide.  

…HE'S GOOD

Joel and Lauren decided to move from Washington State back home to Michigan. Wanting to make one last special memory, they bought coffee from their favourite cafe and then stopped at their favourite bookstore. There they picked up two bumper stickers with a favourite motto of the town they were saying goodbye to: “It’s an Edmonds kind of day.”

After 2 weeks and a 3,000-mile drive, they entered Michigan. Hungry and wanting to celebrate their arrival, they stopped and asked about where to find a restaurant. Although they had to backtrack a few miles, they found a quaint little cafe. Emma, their waitress, excited to learn they were from her home state of Washington, asked, “What city?” “Edmonds,” they replied. “That’s where I’m from!” she said. Wanting to share the joy, Joel got their extra bumper sticker from the car and handed it to her. Amazingly, the sticker was from her mother’s store! It had gone from her mom’s hands to theirs, across 3,000 miles, to her hands.

Mere coincidence? Or were these experiences good gifts orchestrated by a good God who loves to encourage His children? Proverbs tells us, “A man’s steps are directed by the Lord” (20:24 NIV). In response, let’s “bless His name. For the Lord is good” (Psalm 100:4-5) - (Anne Cetas in Our Daily Bread).

 …DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE…

A young man working in the army was constantly humiliated because he believed in God. One day the captain wanted to humiliate him before the troops. He called the young man and said: "Young man, come here! Take the key and go and park the

Jeep in front."

The young man replied: "I can not drive, sir!" The captain said: "Ask for assistance from your God, then! Show us that he exists!"

The young man took the key, walked to the vehicle and began to pray ...Then he started the engine and parked the jeep to the place PERFECTLY well as the captain wanted.

The young man came out of the Jeep and saw them all crying. They all said together:

"We want to serve your God!"

The young soldier was astonished, and asked what was going on? The CAPTAIN now crying uncontrollably opened the hood of the jeep revealing that the car had no engine!

Then the boy said: "See? This is the God I serve, THE GOD OF ALL POSSIBILITY, the God who gives life to what does not exist."

You may think there are things still impossible in your life, but WITH GOD EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Believe for the IMPOSSIBLE TODAY AND ALWAYS and IT WILL HAPPEN FOR YOU. I AM! ((Posted by Rev Mrs Nkoyo Eromosele)

…HE’S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU

Me: God, can I ask You a question?

God: Sure

Me: Promise You won't get mad

God: I promise

Me: Why did You let so much stuff happen to me today?

God: What do u mean?

Me: Well, I woke up late

God: Yes

Me: My car took forever to start

God: Okay

Me: at lunch they made my sandwich wrong & I had to wait

God: Huummm

Me: On the way home, my phone went DEAD, just as I picked up a call

God: All right

Me: And on top of it all off, when I got home ~I just want to soak my feet in my new foot massager and relax. BUT it wouldn't work!!! Nothing went right today! Why did You do that?

God: Let me see, the death angel was at your bed this morning & I had to send one of My Angels to battle him for your life. I let you sleep through that

Me (humbled): OH

GOD: I didn't let your car start because there was a drunk driver on your route that would have hit you if you were on the road.

Me: (ashamed)

God: The first person who made your sandwich today was sick & I didn't want you to catch what they have, I knew you couldn't afford to miss work.

Me (embarrassed):Okay

God: Your phone went dead because the person that was calling was going to give false witness about what you said on that call, I didn't even let you talk to them so you would be covered.

Me: (softly): I see God

God: Oh and that foot massager, it had a shortage that was going to electrocute you, So I stopped it from coming on.

Me: I'm Sorry God

God: Don't be sorry, just learn to Trust Me.... in All things , the Good & the bad.

Me: I will trust You.

God: And don't doubt that My plan for your day is Always Better than your plan.

Me: I won't God. And let me just tell you God, Thank You for Everything today.

God: You're welcome child. It was just another day being your God and I Love looking after My Children... (Posted by Rev Mrs Kenny Osoba).

Thanks a million, my sisters for giving me a week filled with meditations on the love nature of God. Thank you, Father for helping me to share. Happy Valentines, all. 

DRESSING BOKO HARAM IN BORROWED GARB

CBN Governor Sanusi

Fantastic thesis; balanced, on the face of it. But how does poverty explain the well publicised desire of the Boko Haramists to impose radical Islam upon the North, if not the whole of Nigeria. How does it explain the attack on churches? Why have non-Moslems failed to manifest this so-called radicalisation; or have they been insulated from poverty and marginalisation?

It has gained considerable momentum, to the point that it is beginning to shape government policy. I am talking about the idea that the Boko Haram madness somehow has its roots in poverty.

The latest person to propagate the idea was the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, no less. Armed with statistics, he told London’s Financial Times that the current revenue allocation formula, based marginally as it is on the derivation principle, is impoverishing the north of Nigeria. This therefore provides explanation (or did he mean to say, justification?), for the mindless killing that has become a daily fare in our nation.

When his friends at ThisDay newspaper blew the story open last week in a report written by Yemi Adebowale, he was quick to debunk it as out of context. And urged those interested to read the source story, “Nigerian Central Banker Calls for End to Imbalances” by FT’s William Wallis. Here is that report in full:

“Attempts to redress historic grievances in Nigeria’s oil-rich south may inadvertently have helped create the conditions for the Islamic insurgency spreading from the impoverished north-east of the country, says Lamido Sanusi, Nigeria’s central bank governor.

“In the past year, the Boko Haram sect has been responsible for proliferating attacks on churches, police stations and other state targets. Last week, it claimed responsibility for multiple bomb blasts which claimed nearly 200 lives in the northern city of Kano. The size and sophistication of the attacks underlined fears that the conflict is spiralling out of control.

 “’There is clearly a direct link between the very uneven nature of distribution of resources and the rising level of violence,’ Mr Sanusi told the Financial Times in an interview, arguing that it was now necessary to focus funds on regenerating other regions if Nigeria wants to secure long-term stability.

“Oil-producing areas in the predominantly Christian south benefit from 13 per cent of the revenues generated from oil in their area, on top of the federal allocations they and other states receive. As world oil prices have risen over the past decade, this has led to a widening gulf in income between oil-producing states and those without oil. The commercial capital Lagos, which raises 75 per cent of its own revenue from taxes, is the exception.

“This formula was introduced after the military relinquished power in 1999 among a series of measures aimed at redressing historic grievances among those living closest to the oil and quelling a conflict that was jeopardising output. But by seeking to address one problem, Nigeria may have created another, weakening other states in the federation and fostering resentment in the poorest region which has spawned the Boko Haram sect.

“’When you look at the figures and look at the size of the population in the north you can see there is a structural imbalance of enormous proportions,’ Mr Sanusi said. ‘Those states simply do not have enough money to meet basic needs while some states have too much money.’

“According to official figures, the leading oil producing state, Rivers, received N1,053bn between 1999 and 2008 in federal allocations. By contrast the north-eastern states of Yobe and Borno, where the Boko Haram sect was created, received N175bn and N213bn respectively. Broken down on a per capita basis, the contrast is even starker. In 2008 the 18.97m people who lived in the six states in the north-east received on average N1,156 per person.

“By contrast Rivers state was allocated N3,965 per capita, and on average the oil producing South- South region received on average N3,332 per capita.  This imbalance is compounded when the cost of an amnesty programme for militants in the delta is included together with an additional 1 per cent for a special development body for the Niger delta. To boot, the theft of oil by profiteers in the region diverts tens of millions more weekly from federal coffers. 

“The imbalance is so stark, he added, because the state still depends on oil for more than 80 per cent of its revenues. Nigeria has made little headway raising taxes for example from agriculture, which accounts for 42 per cent of GDP.

“Inhabitants of the delta tend to have little sympathy with complaints about the revenue formula, given that Nigeria was ruled and at times plundered for much of the four decades after independence by northern leaders. Indeed, state governors from the region are now lobbying for an even greater share of oil revenues – in some cases they believe it should be as high as 50 per cent.

“Northern Nigeria’s economy has traditionally depended on the government more than the south. Many of the industries set up as part of earlier efforts to promote national balance have gone bust or been sold off during a decade of liberal market reforms, power shortages and infrastructure collapse. The north’s inhabitants, although more numerous, are also among the poorest in Africa, and therefore represent a less attractive market for the banks, telecoms and retail companies booming in pockets of comparative affluence in Nigeria’s south. ‘We now need some sort of Marshall plan for these areas so we can begin to regenerate industrialisation,’ Mr Sanusi argued.”

Sanusi, in his rebuttal summarised his thesis this way: “that poverty and marginalisation create conditions of the possibility of radicalisation” He then proceeded to equate the erstwhile militancy in the Niger Delta with the current Boko Haram insurgency. His words: “I have long held the view that ethnic and religious violence in Nigeria has its roots in poverty and deprivation and perceived marginalisation. I always said this about the militancy in the delta while fully condemning it, the truth remains that militants tapped into a groundswell of frustration. In addressing that problem we have gone to an extreme now where the levels of poverty in the north are recreating the same conditions and results we saw in the delta.”

Fantastic thesis; balanced, on the face of it. But how does poverty explain the well publicised desire of the Boko Haramists to impose radical Islam upon the North, if not the whole of Nigeria. How does it explain the attack on churches? Why have non-Moslems failed to manifest this so-called radicalisation; or have they been insulated from poverty and marginalisation? No, Sanusi, sophistry has its limits.

NIGERIA IN CONTEMPORARY PROPHECIES

Elijah Ayodele...also prophesied..

“Early in September 2011, while fasting and praying for the national prayer retreat of The Preacher scheduled for later that month, the word of the Lord came to me, 'Pray against the Spirit of Sudan. South Sudan had become independent from the oppressive Islamic north only a few weeks earlier, on July 9. I understood the word to mean that the Satanic principality that had sponsored Sudan’s very oppressive anti-Christ Islamic regime, and sustained twenty cruel years of a most ravaging civil war between the Christian south and the Islamized north, having lost that territory, was seeking another abode, in Nigeria... (The Preacher)"

As I wrote in “Mr President, What If This Prophet Is Not Lying?” (August 22, 2010),  

“I am normally sceptical of seers, particularly when they make a habit of producing booklets and writing letters to persons they have prophesised negatively about asking for audience. That sums up my attitude to Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, over the years. But when that seer consistently gets it right on several very public issues from year to year, even the most sceptical of us have to stand up and listen.”

Continuing, I did a random recall of some of his earlier prophecies citing “his prediction of a Bellview Airline crash of October 2005 and of Sosoliso Airline crash of December 2005, both of which he foresaw and foretold. He told Nigerians in December 2007 that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, then Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) would be removed in the New Year. He was… he alerted this football loving nation that the senior National team, the Super Eagles, will perform woefully at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They proved him right.”

It was this antecedent that led me to draw attention to “what he had to say about the political situation in Nigeria and in particular the place of President Goodluck Jonathan in it. This was what he said as I synthesised then from two Lagos-based newspapers.

“I have told you and I repeat it that this democracy will break this country. Apart from democracy breaking this country, the issue of zoning will bring no good to the country. The solution is that Jonathan must not contest the election if you want peace. He should honour the gentleman agreement in the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) so that the country can move forward. If Jonathan contests, he will win by force but it will cause a lot of problems for the country, and this country may break up as a result of it. …People may see this as a bad prediction, but for those that have ears let them listen to the warning of God. People may criticize it but it is a warning from God. For those that God loves, He reveals himself. People are pushing Jonathan to run for presidency in 2011 but he should not listen to them. …. I know President Jonathan may not like what I’m saying, but he should not listen to sycophants… If Jonathan wants this country to be one indivisible entity, he should not contest next year’s presidential election. I am not against Jonathan, but that is what God says. We are saying it the way God revealed it to us. This is not a matter of calculation; it is what God said.”

Of course that piece did include my own admonition to the man who is now our president not to run, not because, I heard God say so, but because, in my perspective, it wasn’t the Christian thing to do. I shall not bore you with further details of that. But it should suffice that I lost no opportunity to drum in this viewpoint. No, I didn’t see the repercussions of running in these bloody terms; nor did I wish for this to be the turn of events, merely to be proved right. Indeed, I’ll joyfully be wrong in matters of this nature.

Unfortunately, the tally in bodies has continued to mount across Northern Nigeria. Boko Haram the current tormentor of our land is becoming bolder, more brazen and more blood-thirsty. Our nation is slowly but steadily headed for the abyss.

I muse to myself, again and again, what if Dr Goodluck Jonathan had allowed himself to be swayed away from the messianic syndrome? What if he had looked beyond the lure of power and the pomp and glory of high office! Yes, some would have described him as a coward; he would have gone down in history as the one who walked away from power. Even his brethren in the Niger Delta might have still be hounding him as the man who caused his race the opportunity to rule Nigeria. But see where that opportunistic move has gotten us.

As I wonder about it all, into the prophetic fray comes the Preacher, a Port Harcourt, Nigeria based prayer ministry .The Preacher. The ministry, which began in 1981 circulating mimeographs to a few hundred people today reaches out to thousands and “attracting several compelling testimonies from the leadership and laity of the Body of Christ…”, making the ministry “a voice in the wilderness of the present generation”.

Permit me to quote from a December 2011 release of the Preacher:

“Early in September 2011, while fasting and praying for the national prayer retreat of The Preacher scheduled for later that month, the word of the Lord came to me, “Pray against the Spirit of Sudan.” South Sudan had become independent from the oppressive Islamic north only a few weeks earlier, on July 9. I understood the word to mean that the Satanic principality that had sponsored Sudan’s very oppressive anti-Christ Islamic regime, and sustained twenty cruel years of a most ravaging civil war between the Christian south and the Islamized north, having lost that territory, was seeking another abode, in Nigeria. I took it as a personal prayer point even though, later, I had to send out sms’s to a few friends…  

“In September 9-11, 2011, there was the retreat of The Preacher in the Middle Belt city of Jos, Nigeria. In the process of the prayer vigil on the second night of that retreat, a sister with remarkable prophetic gifts raised a prayer concern about Nigeria. She used the same words to describe her burden as she called us all to pray against “the spirit of Sudan.” I was frightened. It was no mere coincidence. I realized at once that God had confirmed His word in the mouth of a second witness. Anyone who has gone through the horrors of one civil war will never wish to experience another. Ask them in Liberia, Sierra Leon, Libya, and ask the elders in eastern Nigeria who suffered the Biafran war…”

The Preacher went on to say many other things that space does not permit here. But let’s be clear about something, we certainly must move against the spirit of Sudan. Prayer is a very important part of the mix. A National Conference is another. The time is now.

  

TO THE CONFERENCE TABLE, O NIGERIA (2)

David Mark, Senate President

“Now, truth be told, it takes class suicide for a group benefiting from a given state of affair to work at changing it. That takes selflessness, courage and a zealous commitment to the greater good of the greater number within the polity. In this respect, I regret to state that in Nigeria, as the novelist would have put it, the beautiful ones are not yet born. In other words, it is unlikely that the 1999 Constitution will be reviewed. If it is, it will not be far-reaching enough to make any difference, because it is not in the interest of those currently at the helm of affairs to do so. Of course, there might be among them patriots willing to lose some privileges, if necessary, but they are in the minority. All of that is if we discount the fact that what Nigeria needs is a new Constitution and a sitting assembly is not equipped for such an assignment…

I did not plan to return to this subject, at least, not on the immediate. But reading the exchanges on one of the FB groups I have the privilege of participating in has kept my interest in the subject alive. One of the highlights of that discussion is the insistence by some very honest, very well-meaning, and absolutely patriotic people that the National Assembly is representative enough of Nigeria’s diversity, legitimate enough and therefore competent to handle the national question.

Opening the discussion on the subject in Nigerian Legislature Surveillance Group a couple of days ago, Eghes Eyieyien, a man whose passion for Nigeria is truly inspiring, wrote:

“The events of the last few weeks have increased the calls for a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). I still believe that the National Assembly, being comprised of duly elected representatives of the Nigerian people, is competent to handle any and all the issues which the SNC is to cover. The NASS successfully amended aspects of the Constitution in 2010 and can still be counted upon to do so especially since the members of the 7th Assembly are widely acknowledged to have actually won the elections that brought them into the legislature. Their legitimacy is incontrovertible...”

He went on to list some of the critical issues which, in his opinion, should be top on the constitutional amendment agenda of the National Assembly; issues which, if they did, would help put Nigeria on the path of unity and progress.

Tayo Akinola thought differently: “I really do not agree with you that the National Assembly should handle the SNC which everybody is gradually seeing as the only way out for us to get out of the crossroad we found ourselves and these are my reasons: 

“1. There is this tendency for the honourables to dance to the tunes of their parties and not the people of their constituency in arriving at a point.

“2. Part of the outcome of the so-called SNC will even affect the National Assembly members (it may not be the current set of NA members but definitely future ones). Allowing them to be the referee in a game that they are also a player will be unfair to the people of our country.

3. The duration of the SNC should be known from the beginning and I think it should be between 6 – 9 months and elected members to the conference should see it as a full time job for that period of time.

“4. The SNC should not be a reason for the NA for any delay in passing the other pending bills that they are working on.

“5. Decisions are usually arrived at in the NA through votes and this might most probably not work during the convening of the SNC. An example is the issue of State Police. If a part of the country wants state police and others do not want it, then does that means the part that prefer it should not have her wish? We should have it at the back of our mind that the SNC is an avenue to be 100% sincere with each other at least for once and also, the representatives of each community will for a very long time either be an hero or a traitor to his people.”

Many contributors chose to address the issues Eghes put on the front burner; issues like bicameral versus unicameral legislative arrangement and size of the legislature, while some raised the number of states etc. But as I read these contributions. I was reminded of the situation in 2009 when I found myself writing a piece titled, Who Will Save Nigeria?”

 I shall repeat here some of the points I made, because the factors that led to those observations then have not changed, even if the actors and the drama have changed a bit.

In that February 8, piece as I contemplated the melodrama about the National Assembly’s inability to even agree on the headship of their constitution review committee, I had this to say:

“Now, truth be told, it takes class suicide for a group benefiting from a given state of affair to work at changing it. That takes selflessness, courage and a zealous commitment to the greater good of the greater number within the polity. In this respect, I regret to state that in Nigeria, as the novelist would have put it, the beautiful ones are not yet born. In other words, it is unlikely that the 1999 Constitution will be reviewed. If it is, it will not be far-reaching enough to make any difference, because it is not in the interest of those currently at the helm of affairs to do so. Of course, there might be among them patriots willing to lose some privileges, if necessary, but they are in the minority. All of that is if we discount the fact that what Nigeria needs is a new Constitution and a sitting assembly is not equipped for such an assignment…

“As I write this, whether at the Presidency or at the National Assembly, all I see are people more interested in sustaining the status quo; with a bit of tinkering here and there. But it is not going to work.”

In that piece, I concluded by making the same point that I made here last week and in my NLSG facebook contribution as follows:

“One wise man said, no matter how far you've gone on a wrong road, turn back! There is a Biblical principle for it - it’s called the axe-head principle and it’s based on an incident recorded in the second book of Kings Chapter 6. The so-called children of the prophets had lost the head of a borrowed axe. It fell into River Jordan in the process of cutting trees for use in the building of a new camp. They sought the help of Prophet Elisha. The story climaxed in verse six like this: ‘Where did it fall?" Elisha asked. The man showed him the place, and Elisha cut off a stick, threw it in the water, and made the axe head float.’ It is generally agreed among dispassionate observers that we lost our way when we buried true federalism, and concentrated virtually all powers at the centre. We need to return to that spot to find our way forward. Will the beneficiaries of the aberration preside over the dismantling of their privileges? That is the question.”

We must make them do it. Time is running out.

TO THE CONFERENCE TABLE, O NIGERIA!

Alhaji Asari Dokubo

"On the other hand, my dear brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta couldn’t see themselves protesting a policy put in place by their beloved son, in whom they are well pleased; that being, President Goodluck Jonathan! You needed to see Asari Dokubo’s theatrics as he threatened to have his men occupy the oil platforms to prevent oil workers from carrying out their threat to shut themdown by midnight Saturday. According to him, if they take it over, they won’t ever vacate it again!"

And so, the “mother of all strikes” threatened by Labour and its civil society allies did hold!  For all of five days, Nigeria was shut down. For all of five days, Nigerians from all strata of society gathered in thousands, tens of thousands, and scores of thousands as the case may be in virtually every major town across the nation.

It is unprecedented. Not even the agitation for the actualisation of the June 12, 1993 electoral mandate of Bashorun M.K.O Abiola was this massive and this consistent. Although, fatalities have unfortunately been reported in a number of centres, the street protests and rallies have been largely peaceful – amazingly! The organisers, particularly in Lagos and Abuja deserve commendation for their efforts to keep it so.

The security agencies have also comported themselves well, largely, save for pockets of overzealousness in a few centres. The Federal government deserve commendation for this. Attributable to the public temperament of President Goodluck Jonathan as this is, the fact may also be stated that the world has become more intolerant of suppression of peoples rights of protest; making the fear of The International Criminal Court (ICC) the beginning of wisdom.

No matter how this ends, and I can’t see it ending any other way but the People’s way, the sights and sounds from the Gani Fawehinmi (Freedom) Square, at Ojota, Lagos will remain in the subconscious of many Nigerians, particularly those of current leaders of our nation for a long time. It will also ring across the annals as a warning to potential dictators.

But let’s face it, fall-outs from this anti-subsidy campaign has made the need to rethink this federation more urgent. This is what I mean.

In my understanding of the issues, I thought we were talking about the existence or otherwise of a subsidy on the pump price of petrol in Nigeria, and, if there is, whether it is desirable to retain or remove it.

I thought that we were contending at the level of ideas about government’s insistence that there is indeed a subsidy and that it must be removed for Nigeria’s economy to afford bankruptcy in the near to medium term and opposition’s position against government’s.

I thought that there was an emerging consensus that if indeed there is a subsidy to be removed then there must be safety nets prior to its removal as against government’s inclination to withdraw the subsidy and then use its proceeds to put palliatives in place.

I also thought that the strike was called because government in defiance of labour and civil society’s opposition and while consultations were still supposedly on-going, stealthily implemented its position wholesale.

This was why I wrote here last week as follows: “There must be better ways of implementing a public policy that its designers swear to high heavens is meant to ultimately benefit the masses. Governance by stealth, by deceit cannot be one of the ways. And to think that spokespersons of this administration claim an awareness of the fact that Nigerians don’t trust their government. This one not excluded! I won’t waste your time trying to argue for or against the policy itself; not least because I think it’s simply one of those numbers- rather than people-based, one-size-fits-all imposition of the Breton Woods institutions. But for God’s sake why sneak it in while giving every body the impression you are still consulting?!”

But, I seemed to have missed something, if reactions from parts of the South East and the Niger Delta, as reported in the media, are anything to go by.

According to those reports some of my brethren in the East wouldn’t partake of the campaign because, when their kith and kin were being killed by Boko Haram in parts of the North, nobody called people out on strike. On the other hand, my dear brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta couldn’t see themselves protesting a policy put in place by their beloved son, in whom they are well pleased; that being, President Goodluck Jonathan! You needed to see Asari Dokubo’s theatrics as he threatened to have his men occupy the oil platforms to prevent oil workers from carrying out their threat to shut themdown by midnight Saturday. According to him, if they take it over, they won’t ever vacate it again!

Now, coming against the background of earlier Boko Haram ultimatum for Christians to leave the North and Moslems in the South to return home; an ultimatum they followed at expiration with the murder of Christians at a service, I think, we might be more divided than its obviously too politically incorrect for our leaders to admit.

I listened to Methodist Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde on television recently quoting from I Kings chapter 12 the unfortunate division of Israel into two right after the death of Solomon and I shudder to contemplate a similar fate for this nation.

Of course, I am fully persuade that God didn’t keep us together this long, thus far to now abandon us. I am fully persuaded that the God’s perfect will for our nation is reflected in word of God that came to me on January 1 from Isaiah 41:11-13: “Don't worry--I am with you. Don't be afraid--I am your God. I will make you strong. I will help you. I will support you with my right hand that brings victory.  Look, some people are angry with you, but they will be ashamed and disgraced. Your enemies will be lost and disappear.  You will look for the people who were against you, but you will not be able to find them. Those who fought against you will disappear completely.  I am the LORD your God, who holds your right hand. And I tell you, 'Don't be afraid! I will help you.’” But then, man has been known to force God’s hands into “permissive will” mode. To avoid that; to stop tempting God, we need to talk now, before it is too late.