Prominent American Gospeller Storms Abuja,Worships At TOG

Prominent American Songwriter and Gospel artiste,Lenny Leblanc is at present in Abuja and he early this morning worshipped at Pastor Ike Monye's Temple Of God Church Abuja,where he thrilled many worshippers with many inspiring praise and worship songs.
Leblanc,who said he was  making it big in the secular music world  in the 1970s,was brought to Christ by his close friend,who was a drug dealer,but later met Jesus
 Leblanc said: “It was one of my friends, a Vietnam vet. This guy had been like a brother to me growing up and by this time he had become a drug smuggler. He said, “Lenny, I’ve been saved. I’m going to heaven and I want you to be there with me.” His friend’s words shook LeBlanc to his foundation. “I really knew this guy, and I could hear it in his voice.  Something profound was going on, and I knew it was going to change me.”
While singing one of his favorite love songs at the church's second service,Leblanc said"I love the passion of Nigerians;they are awesome!''
The gospel singer who was in the secular music industry for 20 years,is currently popular for most of the reigning Christian songs he had written and sung.
Leblanc ,while performing live at the church held the worshippers spell-bound with his gentle and slow gospel songs,as he rendered his popular "Falling'',There  is None Like You'',among others.
The American singer,who has been in the music industry for many years thrilled church members more when he rendered a yoruba praise song  ''Kabiosio'' perfectly-to the admiration of many,as the church erupted in thunderous ovation for his outstanding performance.
Leblanc,who is visiting Abuja for the third time with his band members will also be performing live at Pastor Shola Adesoye's church- The LightHouse Church at Sheraton Hotels,Abuja,at 6pm.

Boko Haram Amnesty: FG Is Legalising Terrorism-Christian Youth

The Youth Wing, Christian Association of Nigeria (YOWI-CAN), and Anglican Youth Fellowship, Nigeria have warned that the proposed amnesty to the dreaded Islamic sect, Boko Haram by the Federal Government is nothing but the legalisation of terrorism in the country.
President of YOWIC-AN, Dr. Simon Dolly and the president of AYF, Wuse Archdeaconry Council, Barrister Isaac Harrison, speaking at different fora in Abuja, explained that granting amnesty to Boko Haram “would have been given more muscles to deal with Christian youths”, who in the North had all along been marginalized by the same advocates of the pardon.
Dolly therefore appeal-ed to President Goodluck Jonathan “not to be cowed by politicians and few misfits and naturally rebellious persons in the North, who are attempting to use the Boko haram insurgency as a bait to correct what they have failed to do, while they were in power”.
He noted that those citing injustice, poverty and unemployment to justify the violence by the sect were not sincere, wondering if the poverty and unemployment were peculiar to Muslims in the North alone.
According to him, “are Christian youths in the North and indeed all over Nigeria not affected by growing unemployment, injustice and poverty? Would President Jona-than accede to requests for amnesty from MASSOB, OPC, Middle Belt and other groups with legitimate complaints against the Federal Government, if tomorrow they pick up arms to advance their causes?”
The cleric added that “the Federal Government should be prepared to face perhaps more dead-ly and sophisticated res-ponse, if amnesty is granted “to willful murderers masquerading as political and religious insurgents, who do not respect the basic tenets of humanity and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
YOWICAN was of the view that the govern-
ment should consolidate on the progress made so far by security operatives by arresting political leaders whose utterances and actions have implicated them. He maintained that “it is injustice if Almajari schools are built for the Muslim youths alone and funded by tax payers’ money.”

Stop Corruption With Impunity,Onaiyekan,Sultan Tell Jonathan

Three Nigerian leaders, yesterday, examined the problems facing the nation and concluded that corruption with impunity was the major challenge stifling the country’s socio-economic advancement and stability.
The trio of Muhammad Sa ‘ad Abubakar 111, the Sultan of Sokoto, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja and the Niger State Governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, spoke at the 2013 Annual Conference and Award of Leadership Newspaper in Abuja.
While the Sultan and the Cardinal presented a joint address on how to rebuild Nigeria, Governor Aliyu served as the guest speaker at the ceremony, which conferred awards on eminent Nigerians, among them, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, who bagged the Leadership Governor of the Year.
The two clerics who frowned at the pervasive influence of corruption in the nation’s polity, asked the government to take urgent steps to halt the malevolent trend if the nation must make progress in the comity of nations.
The joint address, which was read on behalf of the two clerics by Onaiyekan, noted that the government has been rather too soft on corrupt persons and institutions thereby making it appear as if the monster was being celebrated.
They said, “This stealing must stop. Furthermore, stolen resources of the nation must be recovered and used for the common services for the poor because the stolen money from government treasury belongs to us and not the government.
‘’There is nothing wrong in granting pardon to those who have committed offences, but the government must first of all recover our stolen wealth from corrupt persons before pardoning them.
While acknowledging that there was a religious dimension to the Boko Haram saga, the two religious leaders pleaded with political forces to lend a hand towards finding a lasting solution to the problem.
Religion, an asset not instrument of destabilisation
They also admitted that the country’s Muslims and Christians share a lot in terms of common values and interest and urged that religion should be used as an asset in rebuilding the country rather than an instrument of division and destabilisation.
The Niger State Governor, who was the lead speaker at the event, noted that Nigeria’s political process had been characterised by deficient and largely unprepared leadership foisted on the nation.
Nigeria’s problem is inefficient leadership — Gov Aliyu
The governor said, “Our leadership recruitment process is disturbing. Often, we get leaders who are self-conceited, unwilling, unprepared or merely opportunistic and become desperate, choosing to amass wealth through corruption and becoming dictatorial to survive in power.
“Such leaders manipulate electoral voting along ethnic, religious or sectional sentiments, which have destroyed the linkages between politics and nation-building, creating room for mutual distrust, rivalry, violence and truncation of nation-building agenda.
The governor also condemned the growing graft in the oil sector, which he noted had ravaged the gains that the nation could have derived from the sector in the past five decades of oil exploration and production.
He said: “Instead of economic gains for the ordinary Nigerians, crude oil discovery in Nigeria appears to be more of a problem as it has killed agriculture, which was the mainstay of our economy”.
As a way out of the problems confronting the nation, the governor suggested the review of the country’s revenue allocation formula, the establishment of the right economic, social and economic perspective to put the county on a sound footing.
“While the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council is doing well, everybody must be genuinely involved in promoting ethno-religious harmony in this country,” he added.
Don’t blame present leadership for our woes — Gov Akpabio
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, stressed the need for Muslims and Christians to work together  to strengthen the bond of unity among Nigerians and facilitate development.
Akpabio cautioned Nigerians to desist from blaming the leadership of Nigeria, saying that the current problems plaguing the country did not start with the present administration.
According to him, Nigerians were merely suffering from the accumulation of the failures of the past, which the administration was battling to overcome.
“We cannot politicise insecurity in Nigeria. Corruption and violence can be eliminated if we as parents start the war from the home by restoring our moral values.
“My message for rebuilding Nigeria is that we should start from the spiritual realm, provide the needed infrastructure, rebuild the media to be more responsible in providing its services and refrain from churning out negative reports all the time”.
Let’s return to old National Anthem — Tinubu
Former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, called for the restoration of the former National Anthem, which he said, was more nationalistic and more appealing to most Nigerians.
“I believe that if that is done, we would have achieved some level of commitment from Nigerians to national ethos,” the Action Congress of Nigeria leader, said.
While Akpabio clinched the Governor of the Year, Onaiyekan and the Sultan, went home with the Leadership Persons of the Year.
Olusegun Adeniyi, Editorial Board Chairman of Thisday Newspaper, claimed the Author of the Year while the Spokesman for the ACN, Lai Mohammed was named the Politician of the Year.
Parliamentary system of govt
Meanwhile, former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alfa Belgore, yesterday, called for the adoption of a  parliamentary system of government in Nigeria to  solve the problem of corruption affecting the country.
Belgore,  who spoke on ways to check corruption said a radical approach should be adopted towards tackling the problem, suggesting the reversion to a parliamentary system of government, which he noted would  change the  endemic corruption in Nigeria.
He spoke at the 2013 PUNUKA’s yearly lecture organised by PUNUKA Attorneys and Solicitors, in Lagos, on the topic Wealth Management and Succession Planning: Best Practices, Anti Corruption Compliances and Red Flags.
Justice Belgore said, “If people who are going to decide matters in this country are elected,  you know today, your ministers, commissioners are not elected and it has created problems for us because they can be removed at anytime. Whereas in parliamentary system, if a minister or commissioner is a legislator, he will be there for the constitutional term of office.”
He observed that the inclusion of traditional institutions in Nigeria’s constitutional processes would also help in the fight against corruption, saying “ I believe sincerely that to kill corruption, we must go back to the system that we understand best. Culturally, we are different. We have a very established society. We call Nigeria Federal Republic of Nigeria but it is a different republic from other republics.
“We still have Obas, we still have emirs and they are still very useful but they are not involved in our constitution making.  The respect for these tradition institutions is dying gradually,” he said.
On her part, Lagos State deputy governor, Mrs Adejoke Adefulire, noted that corruption was more of the issue of personality than system, as a corrupt person will always be corrupt no matter the kind of system of government that is in operation.
She argued that the current  presidential system had already in it check and balance mechanism to check incidence of corruption, noting that no system of government can check corruption without attitudinal change of those in position of leadership.
Meantime, Managing Partner of the law firm, Chief Anthony Idigbe, SAN, described the topic as germane as life itself because it caused across social strata and creed but rarely discussed and called for for adequate planning to deal with succession issues both in the public and personal lives.

Many Killed As Christian-Muslim Clash In Kogi,Taraba

At least 25 people were killed in violent clashes, at the weekend, between Christian and Muslim mobs in Taraba State, prompting a round-the-clock curfew, an aid worker has said.
This happened as gunmen suspected to be armed robbers killed three persons in Yola, Adamawa State capital.
The toll of the weekend violence reached 32 after local government elections in Kogi State left four, including an aspirant, dead.
“We have recovered 20 bodies from the violence so far,” the Taraba aid workers  said about the Friday unrest in the town of Wukari, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital Jalingo.
“We are still going round the town in search of more bodies,” he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media about death tolls.
Authorities have imposed a curfew in the area following the bloody clashes, officials said.
Local residents said  the violence erupted when the funeral procession of a traditional chief from the predominantly Christian Jukun ethnic group marched through a Muslim neighbourhood chanting slogans, which Muslims viewed as an act of provocation.
Tensions have been on the rise in the mostly Christian town of Wukari since February, when a dispute over the use of a football pitch between Muslim and Christian soccer teams set off sectarian riots that claimed several lives.
In the Adamawa incident, the  three victim were killed at a popular shopping centre in Vinikland along the every busy Yola – Mubi Road.
Eyewitnesses said the gunmen earlier robbed an NNPC Mega Filling Station and another private filling station before they proceeded to the shopping centre.

*Gov. Wada

According to the eyewitnesses, the gunmen drove to the filling stations and the shopping centre in a  Peugeot 406 car as they pretended to be customers before carrying out their operations.
At the two petrol stations, it was gathered that their sales for the day  were carted away by the gunmen.
Two of the victims of the incident at the shopping centre were said to be to staffers of  a  new generation bank in Adamawa, though this could not be ascertained at press time.
Following the incident, the ever busy Yola – Mubi Road linking Borno, Yobe and other parts of the North East sub-region was cordoned by a joint military operation.
It was not clear whether arrests were made, though the state police command confirmed the robbery incident.
Kogi: Polls violence
In Kogi State, yesterday, violence marred council polls in some local government areas with four persons reported dead and an election office razed.
A councillorship aspirant in Awo Ward 1 in Ojoku District of Ankpa, Adonis Omeh, one of the victims, was, on Friday night, allegedly shot at close range by unknown assailants.  Omeh, who allegedly contested the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ticket in the ward with two others, was said to be  returning from a meeting with party members when he met his untimely death.
Reports from Odu Ward 1 in Dekina Local Government said two persons were killed during a clash between PDP and ACN supporters over distribution of electoral materials.
The identities of the victims (both from the governor’s ward) could not be ascertained.
At Alloma, former Governor Abubakar Audu’s home town, Mr John Okpanachi, a youth leader, was allegedly shot dead by assailants in police uniform for challenging them over non-receipt of electoral materials.
The assailants were said to have also abducted the ACN councillorship candidate in the area, Mallam Danjuma Yunusa, along side some youths who were thrown into their vans and driven away.
Confirming the incidents, Kogi Police Public Relations Officer, DSP, Amadi Nwaneri, said only one person was killed in Dekina and was yet to get the reports on the Awo and Alloma killings.
In MopaMuro, the Deputy Governor’s Local Government, elections were marred by people suspected to be members of the opposition who stalled the polls till noon.
The Deputy Governor, Mr. Yomi Awoniyi, said: “From Friday night the opposition were playing out their words to stop the elections. For six hours this morning, they were causing riot and beating people. We had to call for (police) reinforcement before they could allow materials to be used. You can go to the hospital to access for yourself”.
One of the victims, Mr. Juwon Elekula, who is the NULGE secretary and was to serve as presiding Officer, said he was dealt machete blows on the head when he insisted to conduct the elections.
Election office razed
The state Independent Electoral Commission office in Bassa local government area of the state along with election materials were burnt by unidentified party supporters on Friday night.
Dino’s arrest
The spokesperson for the opposition in Kogi, Dino Melaye, was arrested on the eve of election but released four hours later.
Dino, leading a protest from the G.R.A, Lokoja, was accosted at the Kogi Hotel Roundabout and  apprehended by security personnel shortly after addressing a press conference stating the opposition’s stand to boycott the council polls.

Gov Orders Christian Religious Studies Back To Northern State

Niger State governor, Dr. Babangida Aliyu has given approval for the immediate recruitment of Christian Religious teachers to commence the teaching of the subject in all public schools in the state.
Besides, proprietors of all private schools in the state have also been directed to re-introduce religious studies into their curriculum.
The teaching of Christian religious studies had been tactically suspended in all public schools in the state during the last administration under the guise that there were no qualified CRK teachers in the state.
However, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Niger state chapter, Rev. Dauda Maigari during a courtesy visit to the state governor with his members raised the issue on the need to recruit CRK teachers whom he said are readily available to take up the appointments.
Addressing journalists at the end of its weekly Executive Council meeting in Minna, the state Head of Service, Barrister Abass Bello said the governor has graciously approved the recruitment of 259 Christian Religious knowledge teachers for all public schools in the state.
The Head of service explained that the CRK teachers will form part of the 6,000 unemployed graduates to be recruited immediately out of the 17,000 graduates that registered for the Graduate Engagement Scheme.
Barrister Bello said out of the 6000 to be employed, about 1000 of them would be made to teach Christian and Islamic religious knowledge as part of the steps taken by the state government to bring back morals into the youths.
“The state government has taken this step as a deliberate way of restoring morality and discipline back into the youths as a way of denouncing crime and toeing the path of peace,” he explained.
He said all the 6000 successful will undergo 3 months training during which the University and Higher National Diploma holders will be paid N10,000 monthly allowance while those with Diploma and National Certificate in Education (NCE) will also receive N8000 monthly before being formerly absorbed under the civil service rules.
It was reliably gathered that most of the 6000 underlisted will be posted to various schools to teach while others will be engaged in agriculture.
“Both Christians and Muslims in the various schools will be  encouraged to study both religion in order to have an insight of  the two religions  as a way appreciating the religions and one another in future,” the Head of Service remarked.
According to him the students may not even sit for either of the two  papers  in their WAEC and NECO examinations but just make them have the knowledge of the two religions.

Be More Sensitive To Workers’ Welfare, Archbishop Martins Advises Government

The Federal Government has been urged to be more sensitive to the welfare of Nigerian workers by creating an enabling environment that would adequately reward productivity and uphold the dignity of all workers.
Making this call in his Labour Day’s message, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most. Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, in a release signed by the Director of Social Communications, Msgr. Gabriel Osu, tasked the government on the need to be more proactive in providing employment for Nigerian youths and ensuring that Nigerian workers are well provided for through prompt payment of their pensions and gratuities after their retirement.
He frowned at the recent monumental fraud uncovered in the management of the nation’s pension scheme and wondered why the government, through the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary have been foot-dragging for long in bringing to justice those implicated in the pension scam.
According to Archbishop Martins, the government’s reluctance in bringing to justice those who have allegedly plunged the long-suffering Nigerian workers into untold hardship by siphoning their collective pension and gratuities was capable of ridiculing its much touted commitment to fighting corruption to a standstill.
“At a time like this, I want to join all people of goodwill to congratulate our workers and all the labour unions. I also urge the government to look more into their welfare so that we can have a more viable and proactive workforce needed to move our economy forward. But it does not end there.
“For us to progress and become one of the 20 industrialized nations of the world, it is imperative that all the clogs in the wheel of progress of the Nigerian workers must be addressed decisively so that the frequent incidences of strike would become a thing of the past,” the cleric advised.
While commending the government’s commitment to ensuring steady supply of electricity through the privatization of the power sector, the Archbishop called on the Minister of Labour and Productivity, and other relevant agencies to ensure that outstanding issues bordering on the job security of the workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria are resolved amicably to ensure a seamless transition to the new owners of transmission companies.

The Eldest Son Of Pastor Adeboye

He is the eldest child of Pastor Enoch Adeboye and his wife, Folu. A successful entrepreneur, Adeolu co-runs  luxury clothing stores in Lagos with his wife, Tope.

Surprisingly, in spite of their high-profile standing, they remain reserved and down to earth. For one whose father is the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, nothing short of an exemplary attitude is expected of him and this was what Deolu Adeboye put up at a recent function