First Bank of Nigeria plc has again lived up to its billing of being truly the first when in February this year it unveiled the pioneering biometric Automated Teller Machines, ATMs. The idea is to improve security of its customers’ transactions and to explore the unbanked segments of the economy.

Interestingly, the new technology is expected to be available to existing cardholders who may wish to add biometric authentication on the bank’s ATMs as part of their transaction approval process. This is in addition to PIN selection. The new cardholders will automatically migrate to the new platform.

According to the bank, the new cards will feature fingerprint authentication, meaning that even illiterates would benefit from it as they could be issued cards with only biometric authentication functionality.

Mr. Bisi Onasanya, Group Managing Director of First Bank, said that “this development is consistent with the bank’s tradition of pioneering far-reaching innovations in the financial services industry, as they strive to continuously provide products and services that facilitate national growth and development. The biometric ATM initiative is a pioneering move by First Bank in the Nigeria banking industry for leveraging on the Customer Identification System, CIS, platform.

The platform was launched at the bank’s head office in Marina, Lagos, just as it will be extended to its strategic outlets soon.

Onasanya remarked that the bank intends to embark on a massive campaign to bring the new technology to the knowledge of the people. He said the bank acknowledges the fact that some people avoid the use of ATM because of the fraud issue. He also noted that with the added technology on biometric ATMs, it would be easier and safer for customers’ usage.

Chuma Ezirin, Group Head, E-business at First Bank, noted that in the increasingly technology-driven business environment, the bank is keen on providing solutions that are relevant to its customers’ dynamic needs.

The use of customers’ biometric features for authentication is to enhance security and also address challenges of migrating diverse segments of customers to electronic channels which provide convenience to customers.

This is a great feat for the bank, especially now that fraud prevention and building customers’ confidence on the use of electronic channels are key customer acquisition and retention strategies.

The biometric ATM solution is available to existing cardholders who may wish to add biometric authentication as part of their transaction approval process on the bank’s ATMs in addition to PIN selection, while systematically new cardholders would be issued cards with only biometric authentication functionality, noted Ezirin.

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1. UNIBEN Prof. Arrested For Falsifying Result In Favour Of PDP Rep Candidate http://bit.ly/g9w3Ms
2. OBJ : I NO DEY LAFF AGAIN as daughter defeated by ACN in Ogun State his home state ! http://bit.ly/flsRvZ

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1. Ni.gerian Michael Ikenna Nduanya to be executed by firing squad in Vietnam

A senior lecturer at the University of Benin is currently telling security agents all he knows about an attempt to doctor the National Assembly election result in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Ovia Federal Constituency in Edo state.

Dr. Paul Uwujaren, who was employed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the Collation Officer in Edo State allegedly attempted to doctor the result by inflating the total number of votes cast for the PDP candidate, Mr. Charity Amaeyaevbo.

According to the police in Benin City, the university don falsified the results of the polls conducted in Ugbogui ward 8 of the Federal Constituency.

Dr. Uwujaren, who is now with the State CID in Benin City, allegedly added 8000 votes to the 1,123 votes in favour the PDP candidate after collecting the sum of N5 million.

The alleged unethical attitude had resulted in the delay in declaring the result in the constituency leading to confusion.

Immediately the election was concluded, Dr. Uwujaren was said to have disappeared while the people waited anxiously at Iguobazuwa.

He was not seen even 24 hours after the polls.

Worried by the development and after failed attempts through the telephone and SMS to contact the lecturer, the electoral officer of the area, Dr. Chinyere Amakiri, alerted the Divisional Police Officer in the area, Mr. Awe Francis.

The DPO was able to get Uwujaren into the collation centre where he later presented the score sheet for Ward 8 amidst tension.

The controversial score sheet showed that the PDP scored 10,123 votes while the ACN had 1,337 votes even when only 3,500 voters were said to have registered in the area.

Dr. Uwujaren’s insistence that the scores were valid, forced the electoral officer to order a recount of the votes for the unit which resulted in the discovery that the PDP actually scored 1,123 while the ACN 1,337.

The senior lecturer, who was immediately apprehended, confessed to the crime admitting that he was pressured by the PDP officials in the area to inflate the figure after the sum of N5million was paid into his account with a new generation bank.

Police sources have hinted  that the PDP candidate would be invited for interrogation as the confession by the academic has indicted him.

The big joke was on former president Olusegun Obasanjo last night as it emerged that the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria had trounced candidates of his party, the PDP in parliamentary elections in Ogun State.

Obasanjo casting his vote

Obasanjo, the exponent of ‘I dey laugh o’, had his repertoire of laughter and sarcasm drying up, with his daughter, Iyabo Bello placing a distant second to the ACN candidate in the senatorial race.

As if he had an inkling of the turn of fates, Obasanjo had spoken around the theme of laughter when he voted at his polling unit in Abeokuta at 12:37p.m yesterday’s election.

Asked to comment on the rescheduled polls. He said: “You can’t say everything is a laughing matter the way I said ‘I dey laugh o’ because it is a serious matter now”.

But he spoke too soon as he merely preempted the end of his mockery over the travails of his political opponents.

Last night, the wheel turned full circle, with Obasanjo’s party losing to the ACN in Ogun State.

He got the taste of the new political change in his state at his polling booth, where the ACN candidate beat Iyabo by 194 votes to 85.

As observers said, the heavy trouncing is no longer a laughing matter.

The controversy over the Anambra Central Senatorial District election has been laid to rest.

Ex-Governor Chris Nwabueze Ngige of the Action Congress of Nigeria (AC N) was last night declared the winner.

Returning Officer Dr. Alex Anene announced that Ngige polled 68,208 votes to defeat his closest rival, former Minister of Information Prof. Dora Akunyili, who scored 68,164 votes.

Mrs. Akunyili ran on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Senator Annie Okonkwo of the Accord Party (AP) scored 23,346 votes. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate scored 18,578. Two people, Oguguo Okoye and Chudi Offodile, are battling for the PDP ticket.

The Returning Officer, who announced the result at the Tourist Gardens Hotel in Awka under tight security, said he had all authentic results duly written on Form EC8.

“No one else has the authority to declare the result of this election. No result was cancelled; all of them are intact”, he said.

A big row had broken out over the result as Mrs. Akunyili and Ngige claimed victory in the election.

Anene on Sunday alleged that his life was in danger and vowed to quit the job.

He said he was offered N10million, a duplex and a car to announce the result in favour of Akunyili, instead of Ngige, who, he said, won.

Last night, Anene said he wanted to complete his assignment.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Prof. Chukwuemeka Onukogu, had earlier announced the cancellation of elections in 10 wards across four local government areas. He ordered a rerun. He also announced Prof. Charles Esimonye as the new Returning Officer who would handle the rerun poll after Anene’s alleged resignation.

Onukaogu said areas where the rerun election would take place are: Enugwu-Ukwu Ward I; Nimo Ward I and III; Nri Ward II, which has two units; Obosi;  - Umunachi; Nkpor and Umuoji.

The wards are in Idemili North, Idemili South, Dunukofia and Njikoka local governments.

Onukogu said he canceled the elections in the four local government areas following protest from Ngige.

Charles Odedo of the ACN had earlier declared winner of the election in Idemili North/South federal constituency.

Akunyili last night declined to comment on the declaration of the ex-governor as winner of the election.

A lady who described herself as the Personal Assistant to Akunyili said on the telephone that her principal “is not the right person to answer this question.”

“If you listened to news this night (yesterday) you would have heard the results that were announced. That is what we know,” she said.

Documents revealing UFO sightings have been made public on an FBI official database.

RELATED PHOTOS / VIDEOS

The previously classified records, which contain information of extraterrestrial encounters dating back 60 years, show eye-witness accounts of flying saucers and alien life forms.

In one document, a special agent in charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office sent a letter to the FBI's director on 22 March 1950, claiming that an Air Force investigator recovered a spacecraft in a field near to Roswell, New Mexico.

It reads: "Three so-called flying saucers had been recovered in New Mexico. They were described as being circular in shape with raised centers, approximately 50 feet in diameter."

The report, which is registered on the FBI's online Vault library, then goes on to describe the 3ft human-like bodies of the aliens among the remains of the UFO landing.

According to the document, each foreign body was dressed in a fine metallic cloth and bandaged in a manner similar to the blackout suits used by speed flyers and test pilots.

The information comes after the Ministry of Defence released thousands of pages of UFO material at the National Archives last month.

Speaking with Yahoo! UK News today, Nick Pope, a former UFO investigator for the British Ministry of Defence commented on the reports, saying: "These documents are extremely interesting, but it's going to be very difficult to discover the truth after so many years. There are many questions for the FBI and the United States Air Force, but the problem is that nobody now working for these organisations will have been employed at the time of the incidents described."

"Even if we don't solve the mystery of UFOs and the Roswell crash, these papers show that the American government took a strong interest in the paranormal. Maybe 'The X-Files' is closer to the truth than people think."

David Hardy, an official from the FBI's Records Management Division said the declassification of secret files reflects a strong commitment to build public trust and confidence through greater public access to FBI records.

He said: "The new website significantly increases the number of available FBI files, enhances the speed at which the files can be accessed, and contains a robust search capability.

The Saudi Royal family today unveiled plans to construct the world's tallest building - which will be an incredible one MILE high.

Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia will be 1.6km tall (one mile) when it is completed and consist of hotels, offices, luxury apartments and a shopping centre.

The structure will be twice the height of the world's current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and FIVE times as tall as Britain's highest building, The Shard.

The one-mile-high Kingdom Tower will eclipse the rest of the skyline. The £12 billion building will consist of hotels, offices, luxury apartments and a shopping centre

It will take a staggering 12 minutes to reach the top of the £12 billion building in the escalator.

The megastructure will boast a staggering 12 million cubic square feet of interior space - 12 times more than Number One Canada Water in London's Canary Wharf.

 

 

• 
  

 

It is being financed by the Saudi Royal Family-owned Kingdom Holding Company - which is the nation's largest company.

KHC, which has shareholdings in Apple, McDonald's and Amazon, has employed American company Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture who designed the Burj Khalifa.

Vast: A model of the tower which will cost £12billion. Visitors can reach the top by escalator

Skyscraper specialists Emaar, which built the Burj, are understood to have won the contract to construct the Kingdom Tower, which will be built outside the Red Sea port city of Jeddah as the centre piece of a new 80,000 population city.

But the announcement has been criticised with one design expert describing the idea of another 'phallic tower' as 'futile'.

Rory Olcayto, deputy editor of The Architects' Journal, said: 'The race to build the highest skyscraper is quite futile - where do you stop?  

'There's always a lot of British know how driving these projects which shows how important UK architects are on the world stage.

'But these buildings are missing the point and are a symbol of an old fashioned way of thinking.

'It's much better to look at something like the 3D China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing rather than a thrusting phallic tower.'

The structure will be twice the height of the world's current tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, and FIVE times as tall as Britain's highest building, The Shard

1. When people see you lying down, with your eyes closed they still ask:- Are you sleeping?

A: No! I’m training to die>:)

2. Imagine when you take an electronic equipment to a technician to get it fixed and he still asks you:- Need it to be fixed?

A: No, it got bored of staying home alone so I brought It over for a ride.>:O

3. When It’s raining and someone notices you going out, they ask: - Are you going out in this rain?

A: No, in the next one.:|

4. When you wake up, then comes an idiot asking you: - You Awake?

A: No. I'm sleep walking!(:|

5. Your friend calls your home phone:- Where are you?

A: At the bus stop!:/

6. They see you wet coming from the bathroom:- Did you just have a bath?

A: No, I fell in the toilet bowl!8-|

7. You are standing right in front of the elevator on the ground floor and they ask:- Going up?

A: No, no, I am waiting for my apartment to come down and get me.>:O >:O >:O

8. Your boyfriend comes to your house with a bunch of flowers. And you still ask him:- are those Flowers?

A: No baby! Na Carrots.:*

9. You’re in the toilet when someone knocks on the door asking: - Is anyone in there?

A: No! The SHIT is talking to you!:D

10. You're on the queue to buy tickets @ the cinema, a friend saw u & ask:- what are u doing here?

A: I'm here to pay my school fees!

e stand around a lot here at Men’s Health. In fact, a few of us don’t even have office chairs. Instead, we write, edit, and answer e-mails—a lot of e-mails—while standing in front of our computers. All day long. Why? 

It all started last summer, when Assistant Editor Maria Masters came across a shocking study in the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (one of dozens of research journals we comb each month as we put together the magazine). Scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over about 13 years, and found that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks.

That’s right—I said 54 percent! 

Masters immediately called the lead researcher at Pennington, a professor named Peter Katzmarzyk. Turns out, this wasn’t the first study to link sitting and heart disease. Similar research actually dates back to 1953, when British researchers found that (sitting) bus drivers were twice as likely to die of heart attacks as (standing) trolley operators.

Here’s the most surprising part: “We see it in people who smoke and people who don’t,” Katzmarzyk told Masters. “We see it in people who are regular exercisers and those who aren’t. Sitting is an independent risk factor.”

In other words, it doesn’t matter how much you exercise or how well you eat. If you sit most of the day, your risk of leaving this world clutching your chest—whether you’re a man or women—as much as doubles.

Bonus Tip: For the latest health, fitness, and nutrition tips and advice, check out our all-new Today's News channel!

This raised a rather obvious question: Why? Truth is, the researchers aren’t sure. But Marc Hamilton, Ph.D., one of Katzmarkzyk’s colleagues, suspects it has to do with an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL), which breaks down fat in the bloodstream and turns it into energy. Hamilton found that standing rats have ten times more of the stuff coursing through their bodies than laying rats. It doesn’t matter how fit the rats are; when they leave their feet, their LPL levels plummet. Hamilton believes the same happens in humans.

Still sitting? Then you should know that your office chair also: 

1. Screws up your posture. The fascia, the tissue that connects individual muscles into a full-body network, begins to set when you stay in one position for too long, says Men’s Health advisor Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S., a physical therapist in Indianapolis. If you’re hunched over a keyboard all day, this eventually becomes your normal posture.

2. Makes you fatter. This happens for two reasons. First, you burn 60 more calories an hour when standing versus sitting. But more importantly, says Hartman, when you spend too much time sitting, your largest muscle group—the glutes (a.k.a. your butt)—become lazy and quit firing. This is called gluteal amnesia. And it means you burn fewer calories.

3. Causes lower back pain. Weak glutes push your pelvis forward, putting stress on the spine, says Hartman. Here’s the other unseemly thing that happens when your pelvis tilts forward: Your belly protrudes, making you look 5 months pregnant.

Bonus Tip: For more strategies that will keep you fit and healthy for life, check out The Best Fitness Tips Ever!

So what’s a desk-bound worker to do? First, Hamilton suggests you change how you think about fitness. We have a tendency to segment our lives—work, home, and downtime. Exercise falls into the last category, something we squeeze into our busy schedules when possible. But if you stop thinking about exercise as an activity, and instead think of it as a lifestyle, it’s easier to make healthy choices throughout the day. 

In other words: Stop trying to be fit, and start trying to live fit.

Second, of course, is to stand more throughout the day. These strategies will get you up on your feet more often: 

Strategy #1: Take two breaks an hour. Grab a drink from the water fountain. Pop over to the cube next door to say hi. Or simply stand and stretch for a minute. AEuropean Heart Journal study of 5,000 men and women found that the quarter who took the most breaks during the day were 1.6 inches thinner than the quarter who took the least.

Strategy #2: Stand during phone calls. It may seem like a small thing but, as Hamilton told Masters: “Small choices will help move you in the right direction. . . . It all adds up, and it all matters.” 

Strategy #3: Don’t write long emails. If crafting an email will take longer than 15 minutes, go talk to the person instead. Or stand up and call them.

And if that’s not enough (and it may not be) . . .

Strategy #4: Ask HR for a standup desk. Australian researchers found that workers who log more than 6 hours of seat time a day are up to 68 percent more likely to be overweight. If you make the changes above and your waistline isn’t shrinking, a standup desk may be the answer. Make sure the screen is at arm’s length, and the top at eye level. Position the keyboard so your elbows are bent 90 degrees. Men’s Health Senior Editor Bill Stieg built his own. Check it out.

quote: "blessed are the cheesemakers "

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Introduction

I'm sure that everybody here has heard about Blondin before, but it is such a good illustration of trust that it bears repeating again.

Blondin was a 19th century acrobat, famous for his tightrope act 160 feet above Niagra Falls on a rope which was over a thousand feet long.

In 1860 a Royal party from Britain saw Blondin cross the tightrope on stilts, and again blindfolded. After that he stopped halfway and cooked and ate an omelette. Next he wheeled a wheelbarrow from one side to the other, and returned with a sack of potatoes in it.

Then Blondin approached the Royal party. He asked the Duke of Newcastle, "do you believe I could take a man across the tightrope in this wheelbarrow?"

"Yes, I do" , said the Duke.

"Hop in, then" , replied Blondin.

Well, the Duke declined Blondin's challenge. He might have believed Blondin could do it, but he wasn't about to trust him with his life.

When it comes to God, this kind of belief is not much good to him. God is looking for followers who will trust him with their lives.

That's the theme of the verses I want to look at with you today, Proverbs 3 verses 5 and 6. I'm just going to go through the verses clause by clause, so there are four headings: trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him; and he will make your paths straight. It would be helpful if you have a Bible to hand to have these verses open to refer to as I speak.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

The call on the Christian is to have the sort of trust that makes us prepared to put our entire lives into God's hands. Look at verse 5 of chapter 3, Trust in the Lord with all your heartref.

Simply believing in God is no good to us. We are to have faith, and trust is the practical outworking of faith.

Faith in God sometimes seems like a nebulous, airy-fairy concept, doesn't it? It's hard to pin down exactly what it means; it's hard to know whether we really have "faith".

We can understand trust, though, can't we? After all we find ourselves having to trust people everyday. We trust whoever built our house that it's not going to fall in on our heads. We trust the bank with our money. We trust whoever designed our video recorder that when we set the timer it will record the programme we wanted. Next week I shall be getting on a plane to Japan and investing a tremendous amount of trust in the pilot, the maintenance crews and the air-traffic control people. We exercise trust all the time, quite unthinkingly. We know what it means.

Trust is the practical outworking of faith: it is when we trust God that we show that our faith in Him is real.

The call here is not to a piecemeal trust in God. No, it's to a complete trust in God: trusting him with our whole lives. We are not to pick and choose—OK, Lord, I will trust you with my marriage, but not with my career—, we are to trust him with our whole hearts and put our whole lives in his hands.

The Christian, who has put his or her faith in God has to get into that wheelbarrow when God challenges us. We are to trust in the Lord with all our hearts.

How can we make sure that we are trusting in God with all our hearts? The following verses show us.

Lean not on your own understanding.

One problem is that we all think we know better than God. All of us are tempted in the manner of verse 7, do not be wise in your own eyesref.

We think we know better than God, but the reality is that, like Adam and Eve in the beginning, our wisdom and understanding is weak, crooked and unreliable. Like a worm-riddled walking-stick, if we lean on it we're going to fall over.

Nonetheless, we persist in trying to do things our own way, believing somehow that our ways are better than God's ways. That we know better than him.

In terms of our Blondin illustration trusting in our own understanding is like getting half-way accross the tightrope and then shouting "Oi! Blondin! You don't want to do it like that" . Then we leap out of the wheelbarrow and starting trying to push it ourselves. A hundred and sixty feet above Niagra Falls on a tightrope this is unlikely to be a good idea, is it.

No, it's madness. But that's what we try to do all the time. We believe we know better how to run our lives than God; we try to lean on our own understanding.

We would do well let Solomon who wrote these very words we're looking at be an example to us of the dangers of leaning on our own understanding. He started off brilliantly as king, didn't he, by asking God for wisdom and then building the temple for him. At first Solomon pleased God and was obedient to him, but then he began to think he knew better than God. He acquired an army for himself and imported horses from Egypt; he accumulated vast amounts of silver and gold and built himself a palace even more opulent than the temple he'd just built. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He began to opress the people.

All of this was in direct contravention of the laws for kings laid down in Deuteronomy 17 of which Solomon was well aware. He simply thought he knew better than God. He leant on his own understanding and the eventual result was the split in the kingdom of Isreal and effectively the end of God's people as a whole nation.

In the same way, if we persist in leaning on our own understanding rather than trusting in God with all our hearts then our lives will also end in ruin.

What is the alternative to leaning on our own understanding? It is to lean instead on God's truth. God's ways are not our ways, so we need to learn them from somewhere. Just look back a little to Proverbs chapter 2 verse 6 where it says,the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.ref This is solid, reliable understanding that we can lean on, that we can build our lives upon. It is the understanding written for us in this book, the Bible: words from God's mouth.

Lean not on your own understanding. Lean instead on the wisdom of God's word. As we daily read and understand his word we will be learning to think His thoughts after Him. And that will help us as we seek to trust in him with all our hearts.

In all your ways acknowledge him

The emphasis in this clause is not so much on acknowledging God, which is pretty much taken for granted, but on theall your ways part. In all your ways acknowledge him.

Running right through the lives of many, many people in churches today is a dividing wall between what they see as their Christian lives and what they see as their non-Christian lives. This is the so-called sacred–secular divide.

The sacred–secular divide is the assumption that God cares about what I do on Sunday morning in church but not on Monday morning in the office. It is the assumption that God cares about whom I give my money to but not how I earn that money in the first place. It is the assumption that God cares which church I go to but not which house I live in. It is the assumption that God cares about my Bible reading but not about my television viewing. It is the assumption that God cares about my sin but not about my toothache.

We all make these kind of assumptions all of the time: our lives are divided up into the secular and the sacred and the Berlin wall keeps them apart. Often this suits us, doesn't it? There are parts of our lives we just don't want God interfering in, aren't there?

But God passionately wants to break down that dividing wall and to be God of our whole lives: for us to trust in him with all our hearts. And in this verse he tells us how to do that: in all your ways acknowledge himref.

The call is to take every part of our lives, every minute of every day and to acknowledge that all of it is part of our journey with God. Not one part of the Christian's life should be secular: God is there with us in the office; he is there with us as we drive our cars; he is there with us as we pick the kids up from school. He is watching television with us; he is with us down the pub. All of this is sacred, not just the church, homegroup and quiet-time bits. Let's acknowledge him in all our ways.

We can get a indication of how well we are acknowledging God in all our ways by looking at what we pray for, what we are thankful for and what we worry about.

Once when I was moaning to a wise friend about my work he asked a simple question: "do you pray for your work?" I didn't—ooops—sacred–secular divide! I started praying for it, and guess what: it was transformed.

Thanking God is another way of acknowledging him in all our ways. So we make a point as a family of saying grace before all our meals, not just as a ritual, and not just thinking him for our food, but for all our blessings that day whatever they might be. It helps us to acknowledge God in all our ways.

Another indicator: are the things you worry about different from those you pray about? They often are for me: it's more clear evidence of the sacred–secular divide. I worry about money, but I rarely pray about it. How strange is that? The apostle Paul was keen to break down this sacred–secular divide in his readers when he wrote these words in Philippians chapter 4 which you will know well,

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.ref

In all your ways acknowledge him.

The danger of persisting in the sacred–secular divide is that we will be half in the wheelbarrow, half out. Frankly that's not going to be very comfortable, is it? And there is always the possibility that we might fall out completely.

He will make your paths straight

On the face of it this looks like an encouraging promise, and it is. It's a promise that with God's help as we trust in him we will eventually reach the destination that he has in mind for us. An eternity of joy in his presence.

But it is also a little bit of a warning. It reminds us that our path in life is God's path, and his way may not be the way we would have chosen for ourselves. As Jesus said,

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.ref

God's path is not the path we would naturally take, and God's idea of a straight path is not necessarily our idea of a straight path.

So the final element of learning to trust in God with all our hearts is being prepared to go wherever he is taking us. It may not seem like the path of least resistance at the time, but looking back we will always see that it was the straight path after all.

Sometimes there will seem to be insurmountable obstacles in our way, and we will begin to doubt that this is the straight path that God is leading us on.

But this is all part of learning to trust in the Lord with all our hearts. Removing the obstacles is his job! He will make your paths straight.

We often read about these things in the biographies of great Christians of times past, don't we? They try to follow where they believe God is leading but huge obstacles loom up in their way. Humanly speaking the situation is impossible, but this is God's way of teaching us to trust him with all our hearts. We need to trust his promise to clear the path before us.

I in no way resemble the Christians you read about in books, but I did have my own small experience of learning to trust in God to clear the path about a year ago.

I believed that God was leading me to study theology and Bible teaching more deeply, but to do this I needed to go part-time at work. Humanly speaking this seemed impossible. I work for a Japanese company where 60 hour weeks are more normal than 22 hour weeks, and I needed to get the Japanese management to approve this. Frankly, I thought it was a non-starter.

Nonetheless I was pretty sure God was calling me to this, so I applied for the course anyway, and tried to trust in God for the rest, bringing it to him in prayer. Well, to cut a long story short, through what I believe was God's work, I not only got approval to work part-time, but did so with the full support of the management. God made the path straight.

And he will make your paths straight too if you trust in him with all your heart. So be prepared to go where God is taking you to, and be prepared to trust in him to make the path straight. When we get into the wheelbarrow, we go where God wants to take us.

Conclusion

I just want to recap as we finish.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart: in other words, get into the wheelbarrow!

Lean not on your own understanding: in other words, don't get out and try to push yourself.

In all your ways acknowledge him: in other words make sure you are fully in, and not about to fall out.

He will make your paths straight: in other words, be prepared to go where God wants to take you. And trust him to make the way clear.

One of my two-and-a-half year old daughter's favourite activities is jumping into the wheelbarrow and getting me to give her a spin around the garden in it. It's quite touching really the complete trust she has in her old Dad. Let's be a bit more like that with God: trust in the Lord with all your heart. He is completely trustworthy.

Coming face to face with the knowledge that your spouse is cheating on you is one of the most painful things to happen in relationships. This could even be more destructive if you try to count the cost of what you’ve invested within your time of being together; denying yourself of some personal treats just to be sure the other person gets a fair share as well.

It may also interest you to know that some cheats think they are so discreet that you cannot, in any way, connect to the games they play but this doesn’t stop the fact that someone is being hurt and somehow, the truth would come to the fore.

Anna  was recounting her emotional experience on her dying bed, while nurses could neither cry nor scream, following the fact she was one of them and well known for her marital commitment.

After lots of checks and tests to determine what was wrong with her health, the doctors decided she be brought to stay in the hospital for close monitoring but things still didn’t get any better.

The Spring Hospital where Anna was dying was on the other side of city where her husband could only go by cycling, finding a place to park was a serious challenge as lots of people went there to see and spend time with loved ones. Greg loved cycling but doing it so often within a short period became really hard. This time, he didn’t bother knocking on the door, just went inside instead to cool off his panting. His wife, snared in a bad dream, was breathing heavily and sounded like she was running for her life. That’s how he remembered her: always in motion, never still until sickness made her slow down and finally could only gaze at life with very little contribution.

Looking at Anna, you could tell she definitely had something to say but was too flabbergasted to do so. Each time she made an attempt, flood of tears would end the session and everyone kept thinking she was in severe pains for the ailment they couldn’t trace.

Rolling to the left side of the bed, she made a partial contact with Greg, who just walked in to the room and jeered a relief as she beckoned on her colleagues to come round. Then she began her confession: the truth about what was eating her health up so badly, pointing to her husband sitting by her side, she whispered, “he knows my pains, he put me in it and has refused to let me out.”

Amazed, questions poured in quick succession to make her explain what she said, but pain had eaten her up so much she could only say a few things: “Greg is cheating on me, he’s having an affair with my best friend who also works in this hospital. I was telling her so much about my marriage, the things I suspected Greg was doing (without tangible evidence) and she went ahead to become the reality of my suspicion. She knew all about my job schedule and any time I was at work, she’ll be with my husband and even pass the night in my home. One night, I took ill at work and decided to go home for a good night rest just to find out that Greg had a woman in our bedroom and it was my friend and colleague. Yes, it was painful but I agreed to let go and forgive both ends for the sake of peace, but Greg blatantly refused to stop the illicit affair, instead, he threatened to kill me the day I open my mouth to say it to anyone. He’s protecting his position in the society but my happiness was gone. Today, I speak for there’s little hope for me to live anyway. I have suffered in silence, I won’t also die in silence.”

How to spot a cheat

•When your spouse is overtly protective of his mails, phones and messages, you’ll be tempted to ask what he/she is hiding from a loved one. Dealing with this requires a lot of wisdom because as adults, we are entitled to privacy but when privacy poses strain on love, what should be done?

•Reduced communication is another subtle aspect of a wobbly relationship. People who talk freely may not be able to keep secret, so to fool the other party, there seem to be little communication. It’s often said that a man’s mouth is the window to his heart, if he keeps this window open, sooner or later, the world would know what lurks in the dark.

•Watch out for extremes: It’s totally impossible to cheat and remain the same. The culprit will either ever be making empty promises or talk about things you can do together in the future that however, somehow, never materialise. If you bring them up, there’ll be tons of excuses as to why they’re not possible, this is the negligent attitude. On the other hand, he/she might suddenly appear to be unnecessarily nice and supportive; totally blindfolding you to believe there’s so much love for you. Can you equate love with gifts and riches, no, love is meant to be for humans not material things.

Finding yourself in the position of being cheated could be horrible but would you let it destroy you like Anna ? No, it’s not necessary, talk about it, forgive, sit down together and work out how to move your relationship to a more romantic level, don’t let any parasite distract you, love is sweet.

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It was indeed an odd hour. The expectation by the suspects was that they had perfected their strategies to smuggle human parts from Kebbi State through Minna to Gwagwalada in the Federal Capital Territory at about 3am last Monday. Unfortunately for them, nemesis caught up with them.

Last Monday, eight suspects, including five non- Nigerians, were rounded up at the Chanchaga end of Minna, the state capital along Minna – Paiko road by the Police.

The suspects were said to be driving on top speed in a bid to beat a police checkpoint but they were eventually forced to a halt.

When asked to subject themselves for the routine check, the suspects decided to play games with the police who uncompromisingly insisted on searching them. The uncompromising stance of the police eventually paved way for the shocking discovery.

After carrying out a check on the suspects and the car without any incriminating exhibits found on them, the policemen insisted on checking the boot of the car. The suspects initially resisted but after insistence by the police, they succumbed.

In the box which was brought out from the boot of the car were parts of a male human body neatly parked.

The suspects were heading for Gwagwalada to deliver the “good” to a 41-year-old herbalist, Adamu Jibrin Mokwa.

Five of those arrested are Abdulkadir Audu, Isah Mammam who is the driver of the vehicle, Dogo Haruna, Sadi Dogobi and Hamisu Abdullahi, all of Benin Republic nationals.

Others are Atiku Maiturari and Abdullahi Gwandu from Kebbi State.

After an on-the-spot interrogation by the police at the checkpoint, the suspects were taken to the Police Headquarters Minna for further interrogation.

One of the suspects, Abdullahi Gwandu confessed to the police that he actually had a business deal with Atiku Maiturari to convey his guests to Gwagwalada to deliver some goods.

He said he did not resist the offer since he thought it was a normal business engagement.

Asked whether he knew the content of the box found in the boot of the car, Abdullahi said he only knew it was a package of assorted meat but did not even bother to ask or find out the exact type of meat.

One of the suspects also confessed to how they came about the human parts. He said a Fulani dead body was exhumed after which the needed parts were dissected from the main body before they headed for their destination — Gwagwalada.

Reacting to the development, the state police spokesman, ASP Richard Oguche described the act as barbaric, adding that investigation into the matter was still on.

He promised that all those involved would be fished out and made to face the law no matter how highly placed such people are in the society.

ASP Oguche promised that those involved will be charged to court immediately after Police have concluded their own investigations.

The herbalist, Adamu Jibrin Mokwa, had during interrogation also confessed that Atiku Audu had actually contacted him to embark on a special prayer for the successful actualisation of his political ambition and promised to pay him N2 million for the prayers.

He however denied having a fore knowledge of whether some human parts would be sent to him for the prayers.

The PPRO stated that the suspects have also confessed that they are mere agents to their master who is resident in Birnin Kebbi, adding that they are ready to lead the police to Kebbi State.

Oguche called on members of the public not to see the police checkpoints in the country from negative perspectives, pointing out that they have succeeded in trapping down deadly armed robbers and other criminals at various check points across the country during which stolen vehicles and other properties worth million of naira were recovered.

He said rather than attack the police for mounting check points, they should be complemented and necessary co-operating given them when duty calls for the normal routine check. By so doing, he said, members of the public will also be contributing to the war against criminals in the society.

ABIA STATE
Abia South PDP Enyinnaya Abaribe
Abia North PDP Uche Chukwumerije
Abia Central PDP Nkechi Nwaogu

ADAMAWA STATE
Adamawa South PDP Ahmed Hassan Barat
Adamaw North PDP Bindawa Jibrilla

ANAMBRA STATE
Anambra South PDP Andy Ubah
Anambra North PDP Prince John Emeka

EBONYI STATE
Ebonyi North PDP Christopher Chukwuma

EDO STATE
Edo North ACN Domingo Alaba Obende
Edo Central ACN Ehigie Uzamere
Edo South PDP Odion Ugbesia

GOMBE STATE
Gombe Central PDP Mohammed Danjuma Goje

ONDO STATE
Ondo North LP Robert Ajayi Boroffice
Ondo South LP Kunlere Boluwaji

BENUE STATE
Benue North west PDP Bernabas Gemade
Benue South PDP David Mark

LAGOS STATE
Lagos Central ACN Oluremi Tinubu
Lagos East ACN Gbenga Bareehu Ashafa
Lagos West ACN Ganiyu Solomon

House of Representatives:
Hon Dayo Bush Alebiosu, ACN
Mrs Jumoke Abidemi Okoya-Thoma ACN

OGUN STATE
Ogun Central ACN Gbenga Obadara
Ogun East ACN Adegbenga Kaka
Ogun West ACN Akin Odunsi

OSUN STATE
Osun Central ACN Olusola Adeyeye
Osun East ACN Omoworare Babajide Christopher
Osun West ACN Mudashiru Oyetunde

OYO STATE
Oyo Central ACN Ayoade Adeseun
Oyo South ACN Olufemi Lanlehin

ENUGU
Senate
Enugu East Hon. Gilbert Nnaji, PDP
Enugu North Senator Ayogu Eze, PDP
Enugu West Senator Ike Ekweremadu, PDP

House of Representatives seats
Hon. Ofor Chukwuegbo, PDP
Amb. Kingsley Ebenyi, PDP
Hon. Patrick Asadu, PDP
Bar. Tobias Okechukwu, PDP
Hon. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, PDP
Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, PDP
Hon. Peace Nnaji, PDP
Mrs. Stella Ngwu, PDP

KWARA
Senate
Kwara Central Dr. Bukola Saraki, PDP
Kwara North Alhaji Muhammed Shaaba Lafiaji, PDP
Kwara South Senator Senator Simeon Ajibola, PDP

House of Representatives
Dr. Ali Ahmad, PDP,
Alhaji Moshood Mustapha, PDP,
Alhaji Zakari Muahmmed, PDP,
Hon. Ahman Pategi, PDP,
Dr. Rafiu Ibrahim, PDP

IMO
Senate:
Kema Chuikwe PDP
Senator Osita Izunaso PDP
Matthew Ifeanyi Nwagwu PDP

House of Reps
Mbaitoli/Ikeduru, PDP
Ideato North and South, PDP
Isu, Njaba/Nkwere/Nwangele, PDP
Oru West/Oguta/Ohaji, PDP

NASARAWA
Senate
Solomon Ewuga, CPC
Senator Suleiman Adokwe, PDP, Nasarawa South

House of Reps
Dr. Joseph Kigbu, PDP
Idris Yahuza, CPC

SOKOTO
House of Reps
Alhaji Saadu Nabunkari, PDP
Umar Muhammed Bature, PDP
Alhaji Abdullahi Muhammadu Wamakko, PDP
Aminu Shehu Shagari, PDP
Alhaji Isa Saliu Bashar, PDP,
Alhaji Kabir Marafa Achida, PDP,

PLATEAU
House of Reps
Bitrus Kaze, PDP,
Mrs. Beni Lar, PDP,
Simon Mwankon, PDP,
Aminu Jonathan Punwet, PDP,
Innocent Tisel, PDP,
Idris Ahmed, ACN

FCT, ABUJA
Senate
Hon. Philip Aduda, PDP,
Musa Abari, CPC

House of Reps
Isah Egah Dobi, PDP,
Zephaniah Jisallo PDP

AKWA IBOM
Senate
Mrs. Helen Esuene, PDP South South
Alloysius Etuk PDP North west

KEBBI
Senate
Kebbi North Isa Galaudu PDP

Adamawa
Senate

PDP won all 3 senatorial seats

Katsina

CPC won all 3 Senatorial Seats