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...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.

WASHINGTON – BP will set aside $20 billion to pay the victims of the massive oil spill in the Gulf, senior administration officials said Wednesday, a move made under pressure by the White House as the company copes with causing the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

The independent fund will be led by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In his current role, Feinberg is known as Obama's "pay czar," setting salary limits for companies getting the most aid from a $700 billion government bailout fund.

Obama was to announce the deal in a Rose Garden statement later Wednesday after wrapping up a meeting with BP executives at the White House.

The officials familiar with the details spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity before the announcement.

The still-unfolding disaster in the Gulf, as tens of thousands of gallons of oil continue to pour from the broken well daily, is jeopardizing the environment and ecosystems along with the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people across the coastal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Those affected ranged from fishermen to restaurateurs to oil rig workers idled by Obama's temporary halt to new deep-sea oil drilling.

BP spokesman Toby Odone declined to comment on the fund..

Several big questions remain unanswered, including when BP would start processing claims and paying people out of the fund; who and what would exactly be covered under the plan; how the White House and BP came up with a figure of $20 billion; and whether other involved companies will be required to chip in.

At $20 billion, the size of the fund is the same that was recommended by congressional Democrats.

BP has taken the brunt of criticism about the oil spill because it was the operator of the Deepwater Horizon rig that sunk. It also is a majority owner of the undersea well that has been spewing oil since the explosion.

But when the day of reckoning finally comes, it may not be the only one having to pay up. That's because Swiss-based Transocean Ltd. owned a majority interest in the rig. Anadarko Petroleum, based in The Woodlands, Texas, has a 25 percent non-operating interest in the well.

Feinberg ran the unprecedented $7 billion government compensation program for the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was a job that lasted nearly three years as he decided how much compensation families of the victims should get, largely based on how much income they would have earned in a lifetime.

As pay czar, Feinberg has capped cash salaries at $500,000 this year for the vast majority of the top executives at the five major companies that received bailout funding: American International Group, GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler Financial, Chrysler and General Motors.

The selection of Feinberg was praised by Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. "He did an amazingly good job in New York for the families of those lost on September 11 and received plaudits from all sides. I believe when Feinberg completes his mission here, the people in the Gulf will feel the same way," Schumer said in a statement.

The development came as Obama was meeting on his turf with top BP leaders to press the London-based oil giant to pay giant claims.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO Tony Hayward, and other officials walked slowly as a group from the Southwest Gate of the White House, climbing the steps leading to the West Wing.

Joining the president in the room were Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and the secretaries of energy, interior, commerce, homeland security and labor.

The meeting came the morning after Obama vowed to an angry nation that "we will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused."

The crisis began with a deep water well that blew out on April 20, killing 11 rig workers and triggering the spill.

Obama in his speech to the nation on Tuesday night backed creation of a fund administered by an independent trustee to pay damages and clean up costs associated with the spill.

For the president, the tough diplomacy with a few officials behind closed doors is a bookend to his attempt to reach millions at once. Using a delivery in which even the harshest words were uttered in subdued tones, Obama did not offer much in the way of new ideas or details in his speech. He mainly recapped the government's efforts, insisted once again that BP will be held to account and tried to tap the resilience of a nation in promising that "something better awaits."

Obama's forceful tone about BP's behavior shows how far matters have deteriorated. The White House once had described BP as an essential partner in plugging the crude oil spewing from the broken well beneath nearly a mile of water. Now Obama says BP has threatened to destroy a whole way of life.

An Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday showed 52 percent now disapprove of Obama's handling of the oil spill, up significantly from last month. Most people — 56 percent — think the government's actions in response to the disaster really haven't had any impact on the situation.

"I took [President Obama] to various locations while he was looking for campaign funds. Vera accompanied him to each meeting.

"About 10:30 pm, I drove them to the hotel and they went in together. She didn't ask me to wait or to be taken back to her friend's home - or to her home"

Tens of thousands of sympathisers yesterday trooped to the Emir of Kano's Palace to witness the funeral prayer for the late Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi.

The former governor of the old Kano State died on Sunday evening, following an encounter with armed robbers on his way to Kano from Bauchi State.

As the news continued to spread in the early hours of Monday in the city about the demise of the outspoken and firebrand former governor, people gathered around the city discussing and mourning. They all wore grim looks..

Tumultuous crowd

Immediately the death was confirmed, the Emir's Palace - which was the venue for the funeral - was besieged by sympathizers.

Thousands of persons, irrespective of party leanings, took part in the rowdy funeral. Crowd control was overwhelming for the authorities as they were unable to bring the corpse out of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital ambulance for the funeral prayer. The body was later brought to the palace at 12.45pm, where the deputy Imam of the Kano Central Mosque, Nazifi Dalhatu, led the prayers. The prayer was attended by the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, among several other dignitaries.

Other dignataries who witnessed the prayer include the governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido; the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; the former Labour and Productivity Minister, Musa Lawan Gwadabe; and the deputy governor of Kano, Abdullhahi Tijjani. The former governor has since been buried in the Tarauni Mosque in the city.

Among the dignitaries who paid tributes was Muhammed Abacha, the eldest son of the late Head of State, Sani Abacha. He said, "The loss is a monumental one, not only to the polity but to the entire human race. Rimi's single vocal voice has tremendously brought some purity in the elitism and political office holdership. Filling the vacuum he left behind is the greatest challenge that Nigerians as citizens would face in the next couple of years. The legacies he left behind in terms of social infrastructure, and otherwise is there for everybody to testify. The only justice Nigerians will do to Rimi is to strive hard to fill in his shoes, so that at least there will be some sanity in the conduct of life."

Former presidential adviser to President Shehu Shagari, Tanko Yakasai, said Mr. Rimi's death is a big loss not only to his family, but to the entire nation.

"Rimi was a dodged fighter, a fearless politician who dedicated his life to the unity of the nation and enthronement of everlasting democracy in the country. By his death, Nigeria has lost one of its pillars who stood firm in the struggle for the restoration of true democracy, not only in Nigeria but in the entire African continent. May Allah forgive his mistakes and grant his gentle soul rest in peace."

Tributes to a man of the people

Former Lagos State Police Commissioner, Abubakar Tsav, blamed police laxity for Mr. Rimi's death. "The death of Muhammadu Abubakar Rimi through armed robbery attack by a gang of blood thirsty armed robbers on the road brings to question the willingness and capability of the Nigeria Police to provide security for the people of this country. The federal, state, and local governments have on several occasions purchased and donated patrol vehicles to the police as well as provide money for fuelling to aid their operations. All these have not enhanced police efficiency in crime prevention and detection."

Rimi's younger brother, Sule Sa'a, said the Emir of Nasarawa, Hassan Ahmad, had advised the late Mr. Rimi to cancel the night journey. The younger brother, who sustained scalp injury during the encounter with the armed robbers, in tears narrated how "Rimi insisted on the journey to enable him meet some commitments in Kano."

Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, who is abroad, described Mr. Rimi's death as a big tragedy to the state and the entire nation. Mr. Shekarau, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Sule Yau Sule, said, " it is tragic, a big loss not only to Kano, but the nation in general. He was a political icon whose ideology is being emulated by many."

Former All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) governorship candidate, Kabiru Gwangwazo, described Mr. Rimi's achievement during his tenure as governor of the state as the best ever.

"From 1979, when he became the first elected governor of old Kano State, no governor in both Kano and Jigawa States, and probably in the whole north, can be compared with him in terms of service delivery and mass followership. Since his time as governor, all politicians and political parties recruit most of their leading elites from among Rimi's disciples. His shoes would be very difficult to fill."