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‘BSc in Law’ and takeaways

Spiritual leaders, famously called ‘men/women of God,’ tend to carry an air of superiority around them. They are ‘fathers/mothers’ to followers who dote on their whims  and hang on their utterances as communication from a higher realm to which they are presumed to have privileged access. On his own pulpit, the man of God is law – a prerogative he deploys as he feels led by natural and supra-natural promptings. Because he is human like everybody else, he is fallible like everybody else; but the doting credulity of followers often pose a strong allure into feeling infallible that many men of God find difficult to resist. It would take a brutal encounter with contrary facts to bring him round to acknowledging an error and demonstrating genuine remorse in line with that acknowledgement. Dr. Paul Enenche, senior pastor of Abuja-based Dunamis International Gospel Centre, had such teachable moments in the last week over his misjudgment of a testifier, Veronica Anyim, as a liar. Anyim had duri
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Make America blaspheme again

It’s election year in the United States and electioneering for the country’s presidency, touted as the most powerful office in the world, is coming to the wire. Former President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee, is throwing all aces in the ring for his square off with incumbent President Joe Biden of the Democrats. It is a rematch of the 2020 race that Trump grudgingly lost to Biden and he is apparently leaving nothing to chance to gain an edge this time. His latest card is patenting the Bible – a divinely authored and universal literature – for sale as America’s patriotism codebook and item of merchandise. The ex-president posted a video on his Truth Social network by which he urged his supporters to buy the ‘God Bless the USA Bible,’ named after a ballad by country singer Lee Greenwood alongside whom he’s appeared at events, and whose song he airs whenever he takes the stage at his rallies. The mercantilist motive underpinning  the venture seeped through in the
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From prison to power

Less than three weeks ago, he was in prison on charges of violations against the Senegalese state. Today, he is the country’s president-elect, having won the election held 24th March against stiff power of incumbency that could have advantaged the candidate of the ruling coalition. Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44, is a political newcomer who has emerged the youngest president ever of his country. He won at first ballot with 54.28 percent of votes cast over the ruling coalition torchbearer, Amadou Ba, who distantly trailed with 35.79 percent of the votes according to official tally announced at the weekend by the Senegalese electoral commission. Faye will take power as substantive president few hours hence when the term of the outgoing president, Macky Sall, expires on 2nd April. His ascension in office by peaceful transition consolidates Senegal’s record as the most stable democracy in the West African sub-region, and should pull the country back from the brink of instability where it perche
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The siege of banditry

Security services were reported at the weekend to be revving up their response to the siege of bandits on Kaduna State. The police readied some personnel for deployment as special intervention forces in Kuriga, Chikun council area where bandits abducted 287 schoolchildren on 7th March, while police and military units were to be deployed in Kajuru council area following another mass abduction there early last week. Bandits had penultimate Sunday night struck at Kajuru Station, in Kajuru council area, and herded some 86 villagers into captivity. It was the eighth incident of bandit attacks  within four weeks in which more than 400 persons have been abducted, and it happened barely 24 hours after 14 people were kidnapped in Dogo Noma, another community in the same Kajuru council area. Since the 7th March abduction of Kuriga schoolchildren, there’ve been four other incidents. On 8th March, two residents were killed and many kidnapped by bandits during Friday prayers at Kwasakwasa community
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Return of Sheik Gumi

Controversial Muslim cleric, Sheik Ahmad Gumi, returned to national radar last week with a proposal to negotiate with bandits who recently abducted some 287 schoolchildren from Kuriga in Chikun council area of Kaduna State. He offered to facilitate the release of the kidnapped pupils should President Bola Tinubu give him the nod, and warned it would be a mortal mistake on the part of government to spurn the option of negotiation with the criminals. Gun-wielding bandits had penultimate Thursday stormed Kuriga Government Secondary and LEA Primary schools in the morning hours, shooting in the air and herding off more than 300 pupils and teachers into the forest unchallenged by security forces. About 25 of the abductees subsequently escaped the terrorists’ hold and returned home, but the others remained in captivity as at late last week. The Kuriga incident happened barely 24 hours after insurgents kidnapped some 200 internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly women and youths in Ngala, he
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Return of the native

Yoruba nation activist Sunday Adeyemo, better known as Sunday Igboho, is back on the circuit. He lately served notice that he is back to dislodge killer herdsmen from Yorubaland and would not be needing the assistance of conventional security agencies to do that, but only self-help collaboration of fellow natives. Igboho only just returned to Nigeria from self-exile for the burial of his mother and has been spewing outrage against the incidents of banditry that had hobbled his native Southwest region, while not excluding other areas of the country. He said it was up to the people of the region to liberate themselves from suspected killer herdsmen who are terrorising them. Addressing cheering supporters on the heels of the funeral rites in his hometown, Igboho in Oyo State, he contended that conventional security agents deployed to Yorubaland, as in Ekiti State where monarchs were recently killed in broad daylight, could not tackle down the killers. Self-help remained the gospel the kin
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Much ado about governance system

A group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives recently initiated a bill to revert Nigeria back to parliamentary model of governance from the presidential system presently being operated. The 60 representatives, who tagged themselves the Parliamentary Group, introduced a constitution alteration bill for transition to parliamentary system of government at House plenary penultimate Wednesday. They thereby stoked a national debate on the desirability or otherwise of the proposed model, which was what the country started with in its nationhood experience but discarded upon the collapse of the First Republic in 1966. Led by Minority Leader Kingsley Chinda of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, Rivers), the group comprises lawmakers cutting across party lines including the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). At a briefing of journalists following presentation of the bill, a spokesman for the group, Abdussamad Dasuki (PDP, Sokoto), voiced frustration of group members with huge costs
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