I’ll donate confab money to charity –Bakare

 

Radical pastor and one of the delegates representing Ogun State in the ongoing National Conference, Tunde Bakare, has revealed that he will donate his own share of the allowances and stipends from the conference to charity.
Bakare, who spoke to Daily Sun in an exclusive interview, said he does not need the money, insisting that he is not in Abuja to for the money, but to render his services look to the country.
“I do not need the money they are paying. I am here to render my service to the country. If it becomes very important, I will give the money to charity,” Bakare revealed.
The pastor expressed optimism that Nigerians will align and accept the outcome of the resolutions that will emerge from the conference.
“What we expect is in line with the opening comment of Mr. President. We will all work together to build a Nigeria everyone will be proud of,” he said.
Bakare also vowed that he would not forsake the country, come rain or shine. He said he would stay and fix the problems of the country, stating: “No retreat, no surrender.”
According to him, “I am not going to walk out, no matter what. I am going to stay here and fix the problems. In war, no retreat, no surrender.
“I am certain that the outcome of the conference will be accepted by every Nigerian. I do not want to reveal what I have in my arsenal right now, so that we do not start unnecessary debates in the minds of people. We should wait and see.”
Similarly, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ayo Oritsejafor has said yesterday that the outcome of the National Conference will usher in peace and stability.
Oritsejafor, who spoke in Abuja during the National Consultation organised by the Think-Nigeria Christian-Muslim Movement, which had in attendance Muslims and Christian faithful, said: “I wish, at this juncture, to express my happiness on the ongoing National Conference, which Mr. President inaugurated on Monday. We are all pursuing justice, equity, love and understanding, which will ultimately usher in lasting peace in Nigeria.
“As we have kept faith with this conference, it shows that we have resolved to stay united and patient, for it is patience and steady focus that make the final difference between those who succeed or fail in what they set out to do. We love Nigeria and so shall continue to think Nigeria.”
Keynote speaker at the interactive forum, Professor Mohammed Al-Amin, said Nigeria is a sick country and needs the help of everyone to put the country back on the path of growth.
Al-Amin said: “The infrastructure in this country is collapsing. We need men of God and integrity to push the country back to its days of glory. If we do not do that, the crisis and annihilation facing this country are enormous. There is something wrong with the psyche of Nigerians. Religion has become an agent of wickedness and division instead of unity and love.
“Most of the people in the National Assembly did not get there based on merit. Many of them did not get there through the right means. It is a country that has a brain damage that can afford to do this.
“The resources of this country are enormous. They reside in the hands of a few people. Let us use whatever mechanism we have to ensure that the resources of this country are shared equitably.”

Pastor Tunde Bakare Rejects 12m National Conference Allowance,says “I will not take a penny”

Head of the Latter Rain Assembly church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has announced that he will not take a kobo as payment for attending the National Conference, which starts today.
Bakare, who was nominated by Ogun State told his congregation on Sunday, March 16, 2014 that he had accepted to be a delegate at the Conference. He said his decision not to collect money as a delegate was to dispel any speculation that his motivation for accepting to take part in the conference was material.
Each of the 492 delegates to the National Conference would be paid a total of N12m for the three month duration, an amount that has generated wide controversy with some Nigerians condemning the amount to be spent.
Bakare told the congregation that he would be giving them a weekly report as the conference progressed.
He said, “A friend of mine called me this (Sunday) morning that he heard on the radio that ‘Pastor Bakare had accepted to go, that his own fee is N12m’. Pastor Bakare will not take a kobo in the National Conference.
“I will not take a penny. It has nothing to do with others; that is by choice. We go with integrity of heart, it is not money. The God of heaven will prosper us.
“What I say here is what I will do there. I do not say others should do it, but I intend to do that so that our heart can remain pure. That does not mean the hearts of others are not pure but I don’t want anybody to think in any slight manner that the motive is this.
“This is the moment we have been waiting for, for this end I was born. Nigeria will be saved, Nigeria will be changed, and Nigeria will become great.”
Bakare also revealed that before he decided to be a delegate, he had spoken with Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu  Buhari (retd.), the man to whom the cleric was a running mate on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 presidential election.
He said, “Before I answered the call, before I said yes, I called General Buhari that ‘I don’t want our stands on this national conference issue to be different. The governor of Ogun State put me on his list, the Elders of South-West put me on their list. What do you say?’
“He said the All Progressives Congress might not be going, but you are free to go because you never can tell how God will help our nation. That does not mean I am in APC. People have been asking, ‘are you in APC,’ ‘are you in PDP?’ I have told you, I am on the side of God. In this season I don’t know until we fix Nigeria.”

Oyakhilome’s response on abortion on facebook

 

 It’s trending like hot chocolate on facebook with the comments after the post on several blogs swinging in and out of his favour for his answer on if a woman should abort a child concieved after being raped.

Pastor Chris

We do not know who put the question to the pastor but he gave an answer.

It’s a controversial issue that has been debated all over the world. The catholic church for example condems the act of aborting a child for any reason. Do you agree with Pastor Chris on this one?
 

Benin, Warri agog for RCCG Region 13 Sports fiesta

THE  first edition of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Region 13 Sports Fiesta  will commence on April 26th through April 30th, 2014 across four centres in Edo and Delta States.
Tagged “Overflowing Sports for Life 2014” the event  will feature seven sports including chess, boxing, football, scrabble, table tennis, track and field events as well as wrestling.
Regional Sports coordinator, Pastor Felix Afe Johnson confirmed the date of the sporting fiesta and said the various committees have reached 80% level of preparation.
Pastor Johnson who also is the Assistant Pastor in charge of Province 2 Administration (PICP) Edo State said that all the fifteen provinces in the Region will take part  in the five day-event  “The venues  for the fiesta are situated in Benin City and Warri respectively.

Rev. Chris Okotie writes on NIS Applicants tragedy,

 

The big news this week was the inauguration of the National Conference, but the deaths of more than 16 young applicants who died in Abuja and other venues, during the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS recruitment exercise, overshadowed it. This tragedy mirrors the desperate situation of Nigeria.
One only hopes that this unfortunate loss of lives, coupled with the incessant Boko Haram killings and other youth-based violence, would serve as a wake-up call to the summiteers, that this country needs a new governance paradigm. If the conference cannot produce that, then the over N7 billion invested in it would amount to another colossal waste of our scarce national resources.

 

It is an irony that each delegate would earn a whopping N12 million for the 3-month duration of the conference. By conservative estimates, N12 million is enough to provide self-employment for 12 resourceful graduates, and N7 billion could do likewise for thousands, some of whom perished under chaotic conditions in stadia around the country, while waiting for a poorly organised aptitude test by the NIS. The young graduate job-seekers who turned out for the tests filled up many stadia around the country, as if they came to watch high-profile football matches.
These hapless chaps paid N1,000.00 (One Thousand Naira) processing fee each. So, the Nigerian Immigration Service must have made quite some money, considering that in Lagos and Abuja alone, over 125,000 applicants turned up. We may be looking at millions of Naira that this monetised recruitment exercise generated for the NIS. There was record turnout in each of the 34 states for just 45,000 slots that the NIS advertised. The alarming job application horror is a clear evidence of the inability of our public institutions to manage events, resulting in poor crowd control and avoidable deaths through stampede. This is not an isolated case, it is a regular occurrence.
When things go wrong, our leaders seldom take responsibility. The NIS has tried to duck charges of culpability, by claiming that it outsourced the recruitment exercise to a private firm which actually collected the N1,000.00 levy. As usual, a panel would be setup to investigate this incident, followed by a white paper, and then, the report may end up gathering dust in a cabinet somewhere in Abuja, while government officials focus on the more important 2015 general elections in a country where competition for political power is about resource control, not the promotion of the general good of the people.
The fact that four expectant mothers died in this incident, with about 700 others reportedly injured, is enough reason why those who organised this event should not escape appropriate sanctions. Unfortunately, the Jonathan Administration is not known to punish errant public officials, although the NIS boss and the Internal Affairs Minister have been queried. In other countries where human life is valued, the President should compensate the victims and, more importantly, prevent a future re-occurrence. But the Federal Government has other priorities.
For me nothing else matters in our quest for a functional, self-accounting and representative democracy, than a fundamental change of the prevailing order which is responsible for our national predicament. It should be reasonably assumed that delegates to the conference would know this, but I have my fears.
Many commentators have observed that the composition of the delegates to this National Conference is skewed in favour of the old politicians, and some of those who ran this country aground. How can we expect any meaningful change from this set of people? 20th century ideas cannot solve 21st century problems. If you look critically, the composition of the participants in this conference reflects the geriatric propensity of our polity.
All the progressive nations of the world, especially those who have graduated from under-development to emerging markets, are being governed today by new sets of leaders, whose orientation reflects the new world order, and are thus able to successfully confront the challenges they encounter in their respective nations.
As this NIS recruitment tragedy shows, our meal ticket educational system is not designed to drive industrial development or produce resourceful, self-employed folks who can create opportunities, rather depend on employment. The belated introduction of entrepreneur studies in the newly remoulded college curricula is like putting the cart before the horse. While vocational studies have been introduced, there are no teachers to instruct carpenters, electricians etc.
I have long been advocating a shift in the paradigm of our educational sector, which should be anchored on Human Capital Development. Science subjects are foundation of technology. Without a solid, qualitative, continuous stream of local production of graduates in the technical, or science-related courses, our dream of industrial revolution as recently articulated in a widely publicised launch by Mr. President, would be a mirage.
The secret of Asia industrial miracle is that, leaders of that continent sent their students to Europe and America. The returning Asian students, who went to learn the technological wizardry of the West, laid the foundation of the technological revolution that produced the Tigers, who now threaten the scientific dominance of Europe and America. This is a model we could learn from.
Rev. Chris Okotie, a Pastor-politician wrote from Lagos

T.B Joshua , Pastor Oyakhilome disagree over Abortion after Rape

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy said a baby that is a product of rape can be aborted but pastor T.B Joshua doesn't agree with him. He says committing an abortion when raped is a double sin. Which of these pastors do you agree with?

Confab: Muslim Group Attack Bakare's Criticism Of Justice Kutigi's Short Arabic Prayer

MURIC have also accused President Jonathan of manipulating the delegates from the South-west geopolitical zone to be against Muslims from the area.
Pastor Bakare had allegedly said that he didn't understand what Justice Kutigi had said in his short speech.
Bakare had said: “Today again, you said it. I think you should pray in the way all of us understand because if I stand up and say, ‘Praise the Lord somebody,’ we will turn this place into a church service.”
MURIC today said in a statement that Bakare's attack on the Justice was to show his hatred of Islam and Muslims.
MURIC said: “Tunde Bakare’s attack is rather unfortunate. His criticism arose from premeditation. It is known all over the world that individual Muslims start speeches with a short Arabic phrase in which they seek Allah’s guidance in their utterances and Justice Kutigi did not do more than that. MURIC affirms clearly, unequivocally and unambiguously that the revered jurist has every right to do this.
“Tunde Bakare’s outburst was therefore a manifestation of pathological hatred for Muslims and their faith. “His behavior smirked of a gross lack of tolerance for the faith of others and portrays the pastor as an enforcer.
Attempting to stop the chairman from using his faith to guide him is an encroachment on the latter’s Allah-given and fundamental human right.” MURIC however advised Muslim delegates at the conference not to be provoked by Mr. Bakare’s criticism of Justice Kutigi.
It said, “MURIC appeals to Muslim delegates in the conference not to pay the pastor back in his own coins “MURIC expects Pastor Tunde Bakare to understand that a conference of this magnitude requires, first and foremost, mutual respect, understanding and tolerance of the highest order; not suspicion, rancour and ill-feeling,” the group said.
“Delegates need to guard their tongues and watch their language because a rancorous body language emerging from the national conference is capable of sending this country up in flames.
“Tunde Bakare has stirred the hornet’s nest by firing the first salvo. His request that religion should not be brought into the national conference is unrealistic, deceitful and hypocritical.Nigerians are religious people and this should reflect in our deliberations unless we want to deceive ourselves.
“The colonialists themselves bequeathed to us a controversial religious setting which must be discussed and reviewed at this conference. The status quo is chaotic. It must change. It must be done today, not tomorrow. This is the right time to address issues objectively. It is not the time for sentimentalities.
READ MORE:  http://news.naij.com/62354.html

2015 ELECTIONS: Rev Chris Okotie Message To INEC

Fresh Democratic Party, FDP, presidential candidate and founder of Household of God Church, Rev. Kris Okotie, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to obey the rule of law by recognising his party as a legally registered party in accordance with the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Okotie declared this when he addressed journalists in Lagos on Tuesday ahead of the 2015 general elections which he has indicated his interest to contest again as the party’s standard bearer.
Okotie’s Fresh Party was de-registered along with 27 other parties on 6 December, 2012 by INEC on alleged non-performance.
The flamboyant pastor who took INEC to court after his party was deregistered, won the case when a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Gabriel Kolawole, voided INEC’s decision.
The judge said while giving the ruling in 2013, that INEC acted unconstitutionally by deregistering Okotie’s party and that it did not give FDP fair hearing before taking the decision.
Okotie said despite the court’s ruling, INEC did not include the name of FDP on the ballot papers that were released in August 2013 for the Anambra State governorship election that took place on 16 November, 2013.
He insisted that INEC should comply with the court’s ruling to enable the party organise its national convention where it would elect officers to run the affairs of the party.
A lawyer who represented the party in court has said the Party would be returning to court to get an injunction against Ekiti, Osun and the 2015 general elections, until Fresh Party is recognised.


READ MORE: 

Pastor Bakare Explains His Criticism Of Justice Kutigi’s Islamic Prayer

The General Overseer of Later Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said his comment on the floor of the National Conference Tuesday that Chairman Idris Kutigi should refrain from starting his speeches with a short Arabic phrase should not be interpreted to mean hatred for Muslims and their faith.
Mr. Bakare had, at the first plenary of the Conference, drawn attention to the short Arabic phrase that usually precede Justice Kutigi’s speech at the Conference’s sessions.
The clergyman then called for a uniformed prayer at all meetings of the Conference.
“Mr. Chairman, yesterday you said something at the inauguration of the Conference and I did not understand,” Mr. Bakare said. “Today again, you said it. I think you should pray in the way all of us understand because if I stand up and say, ‘Praise the Lord somebody,’ we will turn this place into a church service.”
But in a statement Thursday morning, a group, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, said Mr. Bakare’s “attack” on Justice Kutigi was a premeditated demonstration of his hatred for Muslims and Islam.
Mr. Bakare has now denied the charge, saying he made the comment in the interest of national unity, cohesion and mutual co-existence at the conference.
“What we are saying is that let us adopt one simple language so that no one reads any religious connotation into anything we say or do,” Mr. Bakare said on telephone. We are not here for regional or religious issues. We must not be divided by tribal sentiments and religious prejudices. We must focused on building a new Nigeria.”
The clergyman explained that there was no way he could hate Muslims having been born and raised a Muslim himself.
Besides, he said, many of his relatives, friends and associates are Muslims.
“If I hate Muslims, I would not have accepted to be a running mate to a Muslim in the last presidential election,” Mr. Bakare explained. “I was born and raised a Muslim. I’m well versed in the Quoran having graduated from Islamic school on April 16, 1967.
“Many of my relatives are still Muslims. My older cousin was recently made the Are Adinni Musulumi of Egbaland and my family was well represented at the ceremony.
“I have no Islamophobia of any kind. Even in my businesses, I employ Muslims and non-Muslims and even those who don’t believe. I was born in the South but raised in Sokoto. My father was known as Sani Arewa and that is what is written on his tombstone. My uncle was Sarki Yoruba in the Sultan’s palace.
“So, you can see that I’m in no position to hate Muslims. All I’m saying is that we should be fair to one another. God created only one race. And that is the human race. We should not let religion or tribes to divide us.”

Confab: Northern Muslim Accuses Jonathan of Having Hidden Agenda

The apex body for Islamic organisations in the North, the Jama’atul Nasril Islam, has accused President Goodluck Jonathan of having a hidden agenda with the convocation of the National Conference.

The JNI, led by the Sultan  of Sokoto, Alhaji  Sa’ad Abubakar,  said despite the concerns expressed by well-meaning  Nigerians, the President had gone ahead to inaugurate the conference, in Abuja on Monday.
It also said that Moslems were short-changed in the selection of delegates to the conference.
The JNI’s Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Aliyu, at a news conference on Wednesday in Kaduna, said no amount of conferences would solve the myriad of problems confronting Nigeria, except “when our leaders lead with justice and equity in the country.”
He said the process of selecting delegates to the conference negated  the spirit of democracy as majority of delegates to the conference were Christians.
According to him, 62 per cent of the delegates to the conference are Christians while the remaining percentage is shared by Muslims and other religions in the land.
The Secretary-General said that of specific concern to the JNI was the representation of the security exports in the conference, noting that out of the 18 security exports at the conference, only 22.2 per cent were Muslims.
He said, “What is most disturbing  is that the Muslim leadership and Islamic groups have called the attention of the President  to this matter but he has paid no attention to the concern of the Muslims
“Let me comment on the conference, which the Federal Government has convened. It is on record that many Nigerians, including the leadership of the Muslim community in the country, have expressed various concerns regarding the confab.  Nigerians have warned that the confab is ill-timed given that electioneering is about to begin. Even with all these cries, the conveners have gone ahead to host the conference.
“We are however worried that the process of selecting participants to the conference has been observed to have thrown away all known dictates of fair representation in a democracy, which will no doubt affect the credibility of the outcome of the conference. Although, democracy is a game of number, this has not been respected.
“We find it a great disregard and disrespect  to the conscience of the Muslims that of the 20 delegates of the Federal Government, only six are Muslims. No Muslim is deemed fit to make the list of the Nigerian Economic Summit
“In fact, in the representation of the security agencies, Muslims have been so unimaginably short-changed with only one Muslim out of the  six retired  military and security personnel.”
The JNI boss also touched on the increasing number of attacks in the north, noting that the region was drifting into destruction.
He said, “One needs not to be told that almost the whole north is on fire.
“In the north today, police stations and military barracks,  which are supposed to be the most secure have become the most vulnerable to attacks.”
He then appealed to all Nigerians, irrespective of their religious and ethnic affinity to come together to address the problem of insecurity in the country   in order to safeguard the future of the nation.

Mixed reactions trail Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s response on abortion on facebook

It’s trending like hot chocolate on facebook with the comments after the post on several blogs swinging in and out of his favour for his answer on if a woman should abort a child conceived after being raped.

Pastor Chris

We do not know who put the question to the pastor but he gave an answer.

It’s a controversial issue that has been debated all over the world. The catholic church for example condems the act of aborting a child for any reason. Do you agree with Pastor Chris on this one?

-Culled from Vangaurd Newapaper

Fire guts Christ Embassy

Property worth millions of naira were, Tuesday, destroyed when fire consumed the main auditorium of Christ Embassy Church, located on Billings Way, Ikeja, Lagos.

When Vanguard visited the scene, it was gathered that the fire started at 6.30pm from an apartment which housed about 14 power generating sets.

It was further learnt that the fire started as a result of power surge from one of the generating sets.

Sources said that immediately the church members noticed the fire, they tried putting it off with their in-house extinguishers.

*Scene of the fire

However, the fire escalated and spread to the church main auditorium. The church management declined speaking on the incident.

An eyewitness, Mr. Oladele Akintayo, said: “Before the arrival of the emergency teams, several property had been destroyed by the raging inferno.”

General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Agency, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke Osanyintolu and Director of Fire Service, Mr. Rasaq Fadipe, said that the fire raged for about three hours before it was finally put out by the combined team of the emergency agencies at the scene.

Oke Osanyintolu said: “There is no casualty, but one of the fire service men sustained injury. The church lost a number of power generating sets and other property.”

According to Fadipe, “it was a very serious fire outbreak. The fire involved the generator house. A lot of armoured cables were also affected by the inferno. They have about 14 big generators that were affected and the church’s stationary diesel and petrol tanks.

“However, with the effort of the fire service officials, we didn’t allow the tanks to burst. And we also prevented the fire from spreading to the air conditioner house.”

He blamed the church for the extent of damage, saying “when my men arrived the scene, they were restricted by the church members who wanted to take over the affairs of putting off the fire.

“I had four fire trucks on ground from Ilupeju, Isolo, Ikeja and Alausa with 10,000 tones of water each and 18 factory-fitted generating sets to combat the inferno.

“The fire involved the power house and the warehouse, where compressors were stocked. We faced serious interference from the church members.

19 Redeemed Church members, 45 others die in multiple crash

A multiple crash on the Potiskum-Maiduguri highway, involving three vehicles on Monday killed 35 people, including 19 church members on their way back from Lagos where they attended a religious meeting.

“All the 19 members of Redeemed Christian Church of God who were travelling in one bus were burnt beyond recognition as the bus caught fire on collision with the other two vehicles which also burst in flames shortly afterwards,” said Yusuf Sani, spokesman of the Federal Road Safety Commission in Yobe state.

“The victims in the other two vehicles were returning from a wedding.”

The spokesman blamed the collision, which occurred on the highway, on speeding.

On Sunday, 20 traders returning from a local market were killed when the open van they were in collided with an articulated truck, Sani said, attributing the accident to “reckless overtaking”.

Sixteen of the 20 victims were girls who had been selling wares, he added.

Another 10 persons also died in another crash on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

“We recorded 55 deaths in two road crashes on Sunday and Monday due to speeding and reckless overtaking,” said Yusuf Sani, Nigerian Road Safety spokesman for Yobe state.

On the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway crash, the Commander of Olympic Unit of the commission, Mr Tanya Adeoye, who made the confirmation, told newsmen in Ibadan that the dead were burnt beyond recognition.

Adeoye said that four persons survived the crash which involved two trucks and one 18-seater Toyota Hiace commercial bus with registration number BDG 767 XB.

He said that the bus, which was travelling from Ibadan to Lagos was rammed into by a truck while it stopped to allow another truck with registration number SW 175 EPE to pull out of a quarry.

He attributed the accident to speeding and dangerous driving, saying that “the commercial bus immediately went up in flames and the flames later spread to other trucks.’’

He said that the four people who sustained injuries were in the trucks and had been taken to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan for treatment.

“The victims who were burnt beyond recognition were deposited at the Adeoye State Hospital mortuary,” Adeoye added.

He disclosed that the commission was making efforts to contact the families of the victims through the driver’s manifest which was not burnt.

Accidents are frequent on Nigeria’s poorly maintained roads due largely to speeding, overloading and reckless driving.

Culled from PM News

Abuja Church Doles Out $100 to Members, As Another Offers Free Val Shopping

Abuja Church Doles Out $100 to Members, As Another Offers Free Val Shopping

COZA Pastor's Accuser,Ese Walters Gets Married

Ese Walters,the lady who alleged that COZA'S Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo had sex with her and showed her another level of Grace got married today in Abuja.


The man she married is an On Air Personality in Abuja...Ese Walters is now Mrs Ese Ark....congratulations.

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