Blog

...Where prayer is monetised 
•Divine wealth –N300,000
•Favour –N75,000
•Breaking curses – N50,000
•Tithe – 20% of income

The consequences of the quest for quick results and the gullible nature of some Nigerians to believe any word spoken by self-proclaimed prophets and preachers came to the fore recently in Onitsha, Anambra State. Sunday Sun discovered a church where members are hypnotised into parting with their hard-earned money in exchange for “miracles”.
Located at Oraukwu community town hall, Silas Works Road, Fegge, Onitsha, is a new generation church, Land of Canaan and Calvary Deliverance Church, where God’s blessings are ‘bought’ for a fee.
Members of the congregation are brainwashed to make special offerings so as to attract God’s blessings.
 At the Land of Canaan and Calvary Deliverance Ministry, the unofficial slogan of the pastor in charge is “pray, pray, pray, fast, fast, fast; God’s favours doesn’t go with praying and fasting, he goes by the price you pay. Pay the price and God will surprise you.”
Fed with this strange orthodoxy, members of the church pay different amounts of money to receive God’s favour. While the pastor smiles to the bank, the congregation wallow in poverty, hoping their moment of abundant wealth is around the corner.
Sunday Sun reporter gathered that prayers for breaking of ancestral curses in the church attracts a fee of N50,000 and above; special prayers for God’s favour, often done by selected “prayer warriors”, who are strict vegetarians, goes for N75,000; sowing of seed for abundant wealth costs N200,000, while fortification of a worshipper against misfortunes and accidents goes for N100,000, among other sundry charges members of the congregation are made to pay.
The Bible, in the book of Malachi, admonishes Christians to give 10 per cent of their earnings to God as tithe so as to attract more blessings, but in the House of Canaan and Calvary Deliverance Ministry, tithe is 20 per cent of one’s income so that “God will answer prayers and requests very fast.”
A former member of the church, Uche Nnebedum, is currently engaged in a mother of all battles with owner of the church, Pastor Ekenechukwu Chukwumerem, in his quest to recover N3.5 million he was allegedly fleeced by the church.
 Narrating his ordeal, Nnebedum, who is the Director of Divine Favour Transport Company, said he had made a vow to recover everything the pastor deceitfully collected from him and also to expose the antics of other warehouse churches so that more people would not fall victim.
 
Encounter with the pastor
Nnebedum told Sunday Sun that he had met Pastor Chukwumerem in the quest for solution to some financial misfortunes he had suffered in his business.
 “I was directed to the church by my own blood relation, Amaechi Nnebedum, who did not know that the pastor was not genuine. I told the pastor that I was looking for solution to my problems and he laid his hands on my head and later said that I was now at the final bus stop. He told me that if I wanted my problems solved, the church would embark on special prayers for me. The prayers, according to him, would be held by a band of dedicated prayer warriors at GRA, Onitsha. The group, he told me, eats selected fruits only and the price is N75,000. I foolishly paid the money and that was the beginning of my ordeal.”
 ‘You need a voice for God to hear you’
Continuing, Nnebedum said: “After paying N75,000,  my problems increased, and when I told the pastor, again, he told me that I needed a voice that would speak for me so that God would hear me quickly. By this, he meant that God had directed that I should buy a complete set of loud speakers and public address system for the church.
“I bought a set of made-in-Nigeria speakers, but he rejected it until I bought imported ones, then he said the heavens had accepted my offering. He continued to brainwash me, telling me that if I could imagine how bright my future was, then I should not relent in doing whatever God said I should do. I know people who hear my story now will blame me or even ask whether I’m a fool, but they won’t know that I was under a spell then. He continued giving me false hopes and I continued sowing seeds and paying special tithes believing that things would soon get better, all to no avail.”
 
I borrowed money to pay tithe
“I continued to suffer in silence, to the extent that I sold my household items and started borrowing money to pay tithes. The pastor told me again that the next step was for breaking ancestral curses, which will cost N50,000. I paid the money and not quite long after that a friend gave me a luxury bus to manage. When I informed the pastor, he said I should sow a seed of N20,000 so that the heart of the friend who gave me the bus will be tender towards me.
“He also instructed me to surrender the first cash proceeds from the bus on its first trip. I did all these only for the vehicle to suffer brake failure on the first trip. It took three weeks before that bus made it to Abuja from Onitsha.
 
“If you are a good sheep, seek counsel from the shepherd”
According to Nnebedum, the pastor always tells the congregation to share everything about their private lives with him so that he could seek God’s view and tell them the outcome, and those who obey this injunction paid dearly for heeding this advice.
“Our greatest mistake was accepting to tell him everything about our lives. Whenever you told him about any problem you are having, he always found a way to convince you to part with more money.
“He convinced me that the luxury bus was a tool for greatness, which God sent to me. Even when the bus continued to break down, I was still spending money on it and also giving more money to him. The bus broke down again while on a second trip to Abuja after I had repaired it. The engine knocked. I complained to him. He became furious and said that I had offended the Holy Spirit by questioning its authority. As a punishment, he said I should do another thanksgiving of N50,000 if I ever want the vehicle to move again so as to placate the Holy Spirit.
 
‘Every word of mine is holyghostic’
“To confirm the efficacy of the pastor’s power, Nnebedum said he defied his directive to do another thanksgiving and borrowed money to repair the vehicle.
 “Immediately the vehicle was put in order, my boys loaded passengers from Abuja to Onitsha only for the vehicle to suffer brake failure again. It lost control and rammed into a culvert in Zuba. Four other vehicles were also hit in the process and I came back to the pastor crying. He told me that every word that came out of his mouth was ‘Holyghostic’ and to solve that problem, I must do a grand thanksgiving. 
“Still blinded by the spell cast on me, I borrowed money to buy a cow, household items, bags of rice, a television set, tubers of yam and another two giant loud speakers. He told me to monetise the cow for N60,000, so instead of presenting a live cow, I enclosed the cash equivalent in an envelope.”     
 
The last straw that broke the camel’s back
“After presenting all the items, the pastor was very happy. Out of excitement, due to the abundant gifts, he declared to the congregation that God had accepted my offering and that henceforth, my bus would now be called “good night Onitsha, good morning Minna /Abuja”, meaning that our journey would be hitch-free.
“After opening the envelope, he later called my brother on phone to inform me that I should bring extra N30,000 to balance the money for the cow, since, according to him, N60,000 was not enough to buy a cow. The next day, the vehicle was loaded in Minna, heading for Onitsha only for the engine block to blow into pieces in Delta State.
“At that moment, I felt like dying. I had lost the will to live and the people I’m indebted to were already chasing me around because cumulatively, the so-called man of God had drained me to the tune of N3.5 million. 
“My wife, who had been warning me to flee from that church, then saw my condition and invited her pastor to our home to speak to me. After counseling me, her pastor told me to run away from that church because the pastor was a fake man of God.  There and then, an inner power came into me and I made up my mind to go and demand a refund of all I had given him. When I went to his house in Asaba, Delta State, and confronted him, his wife reprimanded me for talking to a man of God that way. When I told her to watch her tongue, she entered into the inner room and suddenly brandished an empty bottle and broke it on my head. With blood gushing from my head, I went to a nearby police station to lodge a report against him. I narrated everything to the police and he was arrested. After interrogation, he agreed to an amicable settlement and promised to refund everything to me. We fixed a date to meet for a final settlement.
 
Complainant became accused
“While Nnebedum was hoping to collect the cash and items given to the pastor within the one week as agreed, the matter took a dramatic turn when Ekene petitioned the Delta State Police Command headquarters and alleged that Nnebedum and policemen from B Division invaded his house and threatened his life, ordering him to surrender all the items Nnebedum had used for thanksgiving. He also questioned whether perishable or imperishable items brought to the house of God for thanksgiving could be reclaimed after weeks from the church.
 “Though, I was the complainant in this matter, I was later summoned to appear at the Delta State Police Command headquarters. I was detained and later released on bail; but the pastor wasn’t done yet. He went further to sue me and the police at an Asaba High Court, asking for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights and an order restraining us from harassing him and his ministry. The matter has lingered because he has not appeared in court, but we are not perturbed.
 
Nemesis on its way
Investigation by Sunday Sun revealed that other members of the church are currently up in arms against the pastor.
As at the time of filing this report, the pastor has removed the signpost in front of the church and has gone underground. When this reporter called him on his mobile phone, the pastor, after acknowledging that he is the pastor in charge of the church, later denied himself. He said he was the pastor’s neighbour when the reporter identified himself and mentioned Nnebedum’s name. He refused to disclose his location and promised to get back to this reporter when the “pastor” returns. But he never did. Subsequent calls to his line were not answered.

The glamorous lovers’ day celebration on Monday turned bloody at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) when gunmen killed two students. Daily Sun gathered that the clash was between two rival cult groups, namely, Black Axe and the Buccaneers,’ over a female student allegedly snatched by the Capone of the Black Axe for Valentine celebration.

The action of the Capone , the source said did not go down well with the other group leading to the clash.
A student who witnessed the shooting said besides the two cult members who were shot dead, about four others sustained injuries and were ferried out of the campus by their leaders to shield their identity.

The sources said the cult members who carried out the attack were not UNILAG students but members from another campus, adding that the attack was carried out in a commando style with sporadic shooting.
An undergraduate student of English Department told Daily Sun that the Buccaneers’ group attacked the Black Axe members while another student returning from the Mosque said those who carried out the killing were not from UNILAG because they did not cover their faces.

It was learnt that as soon the shooting started, students scampered for safety while others took cover behind the wall and under cars packed around, while others ran into the halls to avoid being hit by stray bullets. 
A senior lecturer who confirmed the killings said the university management had met to curtail any reprisal attack while security personnel had taken over the investigation of the deadly cult clash.
When Daily Sun visited the troubled institution yesterday, there was uneasy calm, as most staff and students rebuffed efforts made by the reporters to get their comments.

However, one of the students who resides at Sodeinde Hall, said there was sporadic gunshots outside the premises which caused panic everywhere. 
It was gathered that the crisis, which erupted when the students were at the peak of lovers’ day celebration, created stampede on the campus as people ran for safety.

One of the victims of the attack reportedly ran into Sodeinde Hall for help, from where he was taken to the hospital.
Although the Hall Master of Sodeinde Hall declined comments on the issue, one of the officials, who wouldn’t want his name published, said the attack could not be linked to any cult group. He said there was increasing speculation that the perpetrators of the attack could be fighting for love. Efforts made by Daily Sun our reporter to ascertain the identities of the victims were unsuccessful.
The news bulletin of the university, Information Flash (ISSN 08195540) also captured the incident, while assuring the staff and students of the university of adequate security.

“The attention of the universities authorities has been drawn to the incident which occurred in one of the Halls of Residence in the late hours of Monday, February 14, 2011 where two persons were reportedly injured in fracas. The university management has commenced investigation into the unusual incident, in particular at a time when preparation for the first semester examinations due to commence on February 21, 2011 are in top gear. Security has been intensified to ensure safety of life and property on campus. Law enforcement agents have been involved to assist the university in this respect,” it said. 
Daily Sun learnt that students are leaving the campus because of the fear of reprisal attack while some parents called their wards on phone to return home until the situation is brought under control. 

The Deputy Registrar Information of UNILAG, Mr. Dare Adebisi refused to pick his calls or replied to text message sent to his phone.
When the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Samuel Jinadu (DSP) was called thrice, he promised to contact the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area and did not call back as at the press time....

what if my girl was called aharit instead of arit



My girl has always been my closest friend but not one day has she ever told me her

real name . She said her name is arit and many times i go Aight ? and she says Right

. Not one day has she dared to put it all together and say AHARIT !

I wondered why she would never tell me her real name . I wondered not for long as I

asked her to marry me . to which she immediately agreed . She had been waiting for

this for ages .


Now we are about to get married it is just a few days or even weeks away .



And I asked her for the last time What is your name Arit

And she said AHARIT and I looked at her and understood . AHA RIGHT !


He sold his birthright for a meal of porridge He ignored the 'Aharit' . That which

comes After . Show me Temptations and I will ask for the AHARIT .

Now we shall soon be together for ever even after the AHARIT !

Happy Valentine

Ephesians 4:2

By Henry Umoru
A Presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar Wednesday warned that if the leadership of the Party and that of the country jettison the already existing zoning arrangement, it would amount to making violence change inevitable.

Speaking Wednesday at National Stakeholders’ Conference, 2010 at the Thisday Dome, Abuja, the former Vice President who noted that he was not praying that the political situation of the party and that of the country should get to the level of applying violent means to address the nation’s problems, also stressed that if the PDP fails to embrace reforms, it stands the risk of making itself irrelevant.

Meanwhile, Former Senate President, Iyorchia Ayu has called on Nigerians especially those from the South to put behind them those eras in the 1960s which produced coups and counter coups in the country, just as northerners became Heads of State during the periods.

According to Ayu, “North is not set out to dominate anybody. I want you to ignore the Nigerian history of 60’s that produced coups and counter coups with its leaders as northerners. It was not conspiratorial on the part of the Northern political leaders, it was accidental..

“When we had opportunity we, not only brought out President Obasanjo who was in prison for treason out, but the north made him President even when his immediate community rejected him. It was the highest show of solidarity by the North. The least our brothers from the south can do is to demonstrate and reciprocate the goodwill.”

Ayu who admitted that the task ahead them is ensuring that the Consensus Candidate for the north, Atiku Abubakar gets the party’s ticket as well as become the President of the country come next year, said, “we are trying to tell you that we have difficult task ahead of us. If you are not present here today, the consensus effort would have been a failure. But with your presence here today, Atiku ceases to be the Northern Consensus Candidate but the Consensus Candidate of Nigeria.”

The Conference which had as its theme, “Building Consensus for National Unity”, was convened by the Northern Political Leaders Forum, NPLF, the Igbo Political Forum, the Yoruba Redemption group and the South South Unity Forum.

Speaking further, Atiku said, “Our coming here is not about Atiku, it is about the peace, the unity and stability of Nigeria as exemplified by all the speakers who spoke to this audience today. Today is about building consensus for national unity. We have some elder statesmen on consensus building. It is about the rule of law, due process and standing for what is right.

“I am an instrument for realizing these value. I promise that by the grace of almighty God, we shall bring this country back to the part of honour. Before I end this short address let me send a message to our great party the PDP: if the PDP does not reform, it stands the risk of making itself irrelevant. Let me again send another message to the leadership of PDP that those who make peaceful change impossible, make violent change inevitable.”

Also in his remarks, former Senate President Ken Nnamani who warned that some leaders of the country were planning to put national unity to the burner, stressed that rotation and zoning which has become part of the nation’s history, was beyond the north, the PDP, adding that it has become a national challenge.

Nnamani who noted that Nigeria has a lot to learn from the process that brought out Atiku Abubakar, stressed that it showed high sense of humility and patriotism, just as he said that if the choice was from some parts of the country, there would have been series of court litigations now, adding that zoning must be adhered to against the backdrop that all political office holders were beneficiary of same process.

The former Senate President who called for the externalization of the Consensus candidate process, also called on Nigerians to disregard comments by the President General of Ohanenze Ndigbo, Ralph Uwachue, adding that as a country, we lack political will to implement agreements, adding that some politicians were over heating the polity for their gains, even as he said that there was tension in PDP because of plans to circumvent the rules.

Roll call

General Ibrahim Babangida, General Mohammed Aliyu Gusua, Atiku Abubakar, Former Chairman, Police Affairs Commission, Chief Simon Okeke, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu; Lawal Kaita; AVM Hamza Abdullahi; Deputy Governor of Kwara State, Ajia Chinyere Ogugua Agagbo; Funke Adedoyin; Professor Babalola Borishade; Alhaji Isa Ozi Salami, Professor A.T. Abubakar, Professor Sam Oyovbaire; Lawal Batagarawa; Saleh Hassan; Haruna Adamu and Saleh Hassan.

Others were former Deputy governor of Kogi, Patrick Adaba, Air Commodore Ibrahim Alkali, Farouk Bibi Farouk; Udenta Udenta; Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Professor Osita Ogbu; Mrs Titi Ajanaku, Chief Peter Biakpana; Oyewale Fashawe; Hassan Mohammed; Aboki Shuluwa; Saleh Jambo; Dr. Sam Egwu, Professor Chinwe Obaje, Professor A.B.C Nwosu; Kalu Idika Kalu; Ibrahim Kazuare; Senator Yushua Anka, Senator Hamman Bello, Dubem Onyia, Representative of Israeli Ambassador, among others.

I remember sitting in Mr. Kayode’s geography class in secondary school, an atlas in hand looking at political boundaries; countries way beyond my reach. “I will reach the North Pole,” I often said to friends and family, oblivious to the fact that I was sitting in tropical sub-Saharan Africa and had never seen snow at that time.

Never in my wildest thoughts would I have imagined realizing my specific childhood dream was a few votes and judges away.

Reaching the Arctic Circle seemed a precursor; this imaginary line I’d only traced fingers across on a map. Over the summer, I took a road trip along Sweden’s eastern coast towards the Arctic Circle with my parents.

We finally arrived unceremoniously at the “sign”. Getting out of the car, Mom casually tossed her black scarf over her shoulders, sunglasses resting on her face.

“Where is it?” she asked.

“This is it,” I responded.

“The Arctic Circle?” She wasn’t sure..

“Yes!”

“But where is the thing?” She prodded.

“There is no ‘thing’. It’s an imaginary line.” I tried to explain.

“Hmm…Ok then, let’s get back in quickly before a moose gets us…”

--

As an experienced travel writer, blogger, and photographer, documenting our polar expedition exceptionally through engaging narrative reports and vivid photography will be an absolute honor and once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and Quark Expeditions.

The wind will bellow in an eerie yet welcoming fashion. Frigid waves will trash against the ice breaker, intimidating yet slowly guiding us north. We will sail past dramatic towers of icebergs, awe struck. Whales will surface to observe us visitors, ensuring we proceed reverently. Voyeuristically taking in fluffy white polar bears and corduroy brown walruses through my lens, a glimpse into the wonders of our world will be offered up.

I will blog, tweet, photograph, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook like crazy too...sharing our incredible expedition through social and traditional media outlets with everyone who dares to dream beyond the status quo.

I will scribble "epiphanies" into a spanking new journal, filling pages with dreams and experiences leading up to this grand moment.

Finally landing on centuries-old ice at the top of the world, I will scream at the top of my lungs… “I’m a loooong way from Africa!”

Please cast your fair and honest vote to fulfill this once unreachable dream.

http://www.blogyourwaytothenorthpole.com/entries/15

NEXT:

Workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), on Wednesday, begin an indefinite industrial action.

The workers are protesting the nonpayment of their monetisation arrears among others. The workers, under the aegis of National Union of Electricity Employees, had on Monday, released a memo instructing all members to lock all the gates to PHCN's offices and installations nationwide..

The workers' strike is coming two days before President Goodluck Jonathan is scheduled to unveil his power generation and distribution blue print. The workers are also protesting the procedure that government plans to adopt in the privatization of power distribution.

Mr Jonathan had, on Monday, approved the sale of 11 power firms, which are subsidiaries of the power company. The government insisted that this move will help to checkmate the high aggregate technical, commercial, and collection losses suffered in the course of electricity generation and distribution in the country.

VANGUARD:

SHAH ALAM: Four Nigerians who abducted the son of a Nigerian politician studying at a private university in Cyberjaya, were arrested together with their Malaysian and Indonesian girlfriends in Cheras.

Selangor acting CID chief Asst Comm Omar Mamah said the 28-year-old student was abducted while walking along the main road outside his campus on May 23rd and was kapt tied down in a rented terrace house in Bandar Damai Perdana, Cheras for a month.

All four Nigerians and two women in their 20s to 30s were arrested 14 hours after the victim was released at about 1:30am on June 20th, in Cybajaya. All have been remanded until June 27th.

Busted: ACP Omar(centre), his deputy K.C.Khaw(left)

and Inspector Siti Sarah Johari Showing some of the seized items

during the press conference at the selngor police headquarters in

Shah Alam yesterday.

"We were alerted of the abduction after the victim's brother informed the police on May 24th, the day after the incident, upon receiving a call from their parents in Nigeria," he said, adding that the abductors had asked for a RM30,000 ransom.

ACP Omar Mamah said the victim had been hit on the head, back and legs and received outpatient treatment at a hospital in Cyberjaya for his injuries.

"Police also seized three laptops, a camera, 15 hand phones, 11 forged passports as Zimbabwe, Zambia,

Pakistan, Thailand and Philippines passports were found," he said.

ACP Omar Mamah added that the group was also linked to another abduction on Feb.18th, where a Nigerian student from the same versity and her friend were abducted.

Both female students were released on Feb.24th after their families in Nigeria paid a ransome of US$15,000 (RM52,500).

ACP Omar Mamah said that all the four Nigerians do not have valid travel documents.

By EDWARD R. HENRY

edward@thestar.com.my

From the photo it is clear that one of the boys is black I hope say no be naija man pickin !

An eight-year-old girl cuddled her teddy bear and cried as she told a jury in a recorded interview that she had been raped by two ten-year-old boys.

The defendants sat with their mothers in the well of a courtroom as the recording was played at the Old Bailey yesterday. The girl, who was interviewed by specially trained police, said that the boys had refused to return her scooter unless she did what they demanded. She said that they led her from a lift at a block of flats to a bin shed, then a hedge, and exposed themselves and raped her.

Wiping away tears, she said that while it was happening she had thought about going to a sweet shop with her mother.

She said that on the day it happened, in October, she had been playing with her younger sister and a five-year-old friend when the boys approached and led her away. They told her to pull down her underwear, warning that she wouldn’t get her “scooter from the bush” if she didn’t

Sometimes rushing her sentences, the girl said: “Then they took me and my friend downstairs to the bin shed and they put the bins near the entrance so we couldn’t get out. We wanted to go out but they wouldn’t let us. They put the bins so no one could see us.”

Rosina Cottage, for the prosecution, said that the girl’s mother had been told by her younger daughter, who returned home alone, that the two boys had been “hurting her”. The alleged victim’s mother and younger sister went to look for her and came across the mother of the younger defendant and a five-year-old playmate.

When the boy’s mother asked the little boy where her son was, “he said that he was in a nearby field and that he was with her and that he was hurting her”, the prosecution said.

He pointed to the field and they went to find the children. The girl’s mother went into the field in Hayes, West London, but could not find her. “As she was walking out she saw her with the boys and asked what they had been doing. They all said nothing,” Ms Cottage said.

The mother asked for her daughter’s scooter back from the younger defendant. As they walked home, the woman “could see things were not right with her daughter”. It is claimed that the girl later told her mother what had happened and the police were called.

The judge and three barristers in the case are appearing without their usual wigs and gowns because the defendants and alleged victim are so young. Mr Justice Saunders has also moved from the raised judge’s bench to the lower court clerk’s seat. The sitting hours will be shortened.

The two boys often discreetly asked their mothers or solicitors questions and occasionally pointed at the screens used to show maps and CCTV footage of the area. The girl was introduced to the jury via a video link from an anteroom of the court after the taped recordings had been played.

Opening the case, Ms Cottage said that after the alleged attack the girl was taken to hospital complaining of stomach pains, and scratches and grazes were found. When officers interviewed the older boy he denied raping the girl and blamed the other, who said nothing to the police.

Both boys deny two charges of rape and two of attempted rape. The trial continues.