Covenant HOME Orphanage

Shagari the Politician :

I just saw a video clip showing Alhaji Shehu Shagari, waxing a theology that Lagos belongs to all people.

The ownership of Lagos is a complicated matter. So complicated that it could not be resolved with a linear formula.

In the first instance, the way Shagari had put it is the way it should be. That Lagos should be for all and any Nigerian. But equally, Kano, Kaduna , Katsina, Owerri , Aba, Ph, and others should also be for all and any Nigerian.

The reality is that this is not the case. Most people agitating for heritage in Lagos or ownership of the place will not want an extension of the rule to cover their enclaves. Putting it bluntly, they want to claim Lagos but do not want to share Kano or Kaduna or Owerri.

I am an academic, but I have seen instances where the logic of tribalism has been taken to the widest possible extent. A VC in a federal university in Umudike did not consider people good enough for appointment except when they came from his village. Not even from any other part of Abia State but his real village. Yet, he had been trained at Ife and became a professor at Ife before being appointed a VC to the university in his state of origin. This is who we still are. And as the saying goes, those who live in grass houses should not throw stones. In case we are still in doubt about the image we are seeing in the mirror, let me remind us that when states were created some years ago, Enugu State for instance sent away all Igbos from other states from the Enugu State civil service, even when they were married to indigenes of Enugu State. Other states in the east did the same. These are Igbos claiming micro territories. Some of the perpetrators of this act of shame may be part of the agitators for the ownership of Lagos today. Let us look in the mirror and see who we truly are and can work towards who we want to be.

We should remember that even as Shagari was speaking his logic so eloquently, all Southerners, including those from Lagos where he spoke from, were treated like foreigners in job placement in Sokoto, his state of origin and in other states in the north. This may have changed now, but that was what it was. That is the depth of hypocrisy in the logic. Shagari was talking politically. And many of the agitators today are like him. Why do we cast stones at a pr******te when we ourselves like Judah had just given.our insignia to one in payment for illicit comfort?

When Shagari spoke, we should remember that the seat of power was in Lagos, and Lagos at that time was regarded as a Federal Territory. Just like Abuja of today, but not quite like Abuja. Not like Abuja because whereas the Nigerian government built Abuja from scratch, Lagos was already built largely before the federal might took it. In fact, it was the existing infrastructure in Lagos that had attracted the federal government to Lagos in the first instance. We should remember that before Lagos, there had been Lokoja and Calabar. Also, whereas Abuja area had been sparsely populated by the time it was chosen by the Justice Aguda Commission, Lagos has always been densely populated. It was next to Ibadan which at that time we had memorized as the most densely populated city in Africa.

Lagos has been at the forefront of pushing a Pan Nigerian agenda. It has been blazing the trail apponting non indigenes, encouraging non indigenes to do businesses and make a living including giving them free land to build shops and market. Many a non indigene are in the civil service and a lot more receiving pension. I believe it could have gone even further if we had pushed with a credible candidate for Lagos Governorship and not a neophyte whose only credential was that he had been an intern in a backyard company. Obi got so many votes in Lagos only because he is a credible candidate. Push a credible candidate, and we will see the gubernatorial wall tumbling down.

What am I saying ? It is good to push Lagos to go farther, but it is excellent and most desirous to drag other cities to join Lagos even where it has reached today. Those who are pushing Pan Nigerianism in Lagos should remember to push it from their home states. After all charity, they say begins from home.

This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the Lord,
the Maker of all things,
who stretches out the heavens,
who spreads out the earth by myself,
25 who foils the signs of false prophets
and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
and turns it into nonsense,
26 who carries out the words of his servants
and fulfills the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’
of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
and of their ruins, ‘I will restore them,’
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,
and I will dry up your streams,’
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’

Let us do it in a different way

It is election week in Nigeria . The 4-yearly episode that some people have called rituals.

They so call it because we have done it so many times before and we have obtained the sane result The results have been so predictable that many are now "election drunk".

Is this a Nigerian phenomenon ? Far from it. A look across the continent shows the graphic effect of the political nature or culture we have had in Africa since independence. Evidences abound in poverty, hunger, diseases, and all developmental negativities.

There is a saying from Rwanda, the land called the land of a thousand hills because if the hilly terrain . This land could also have been called the land of dancers and dancing for their dancing heritage. Everytime you visit the place, they are quick to remind you of their skills in dancing.

That is a story for another day but it is important to say today that their heritage in dancing has influenced the adages they use to describe this despicable phenomenon of changes that bring no changes in the lives of the populace .

They quickly say, to describe their politics after genocide, that the dancers may be changing but the drums are the sane .

This sadly , has been the case in Nigeria also. The dancers have changed several times , but the drums are the same .

I am writing , hoping that we will have an election. If , we do by any chance, let us make it an election with a difference . An election where we will change the dancers , change the drums and change the drummers. Let us do this with our PVCs . This is possible because we are Nigerians.

When mourning becomes excessive :

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” ( 1 Samuel 16:1)

Mourning is a natural phenomenon that cuts through all cultures. It is a state of deep grief especially associated with a loss of something perceived to be precious. It could be the loss of a loved one , a loved job. It could be a broken relationship , or a lost contract . People mourn to express their heartfelt grief when such things have happened.

Mourning is also recognized in the Bible . Jesus , in the classical sermon on the mount in Chapter 5 of Matthew said " Blessed are those who mourn , for they will be comforted.

Going through the Bible we see different places where people of God mourned. When Israel was invaded by an enemy (Joel 1:8); Ezra mourned over the sins of the people ( (Ezra 10:6); Nehemiah mourned when he heard that his beloved city , lay in ruins (Nehemiah 2:4).

Kings and important dignitaries were also mourned at different times in the Bible . We saw the case of Jacob (Genesis 50). In our scripture today , it was the case of Saul who had just committed Spiritual su***de and has been rejected by God. And God was there to encourage the Man of God Samuel.

In this passage, God was laying some principles on the table for us. Mourning should not be excessive is the first clear message . The second, is that we should not mourn like the hopeless do. The third is that God will not leave a vacuum. He will not reject one without anointing a replacement . Halleluyah.

Paul would later enunciate the heart of these same principles when he was writing to the Thessalonians using his blood as the ink, so to say (1Thessalonians 4: 13). He encouraged them never to mourn like those without hope. He went on to say that we have Eternal Hope is Christ Jesus and should not mourn like those without this Hope , for whom ALL has been lost and lost forever.

We have a Hope . A Hope which is Eternal .

When we sin, mourning is right and appropriate for our sins. Psalm 51, verse 17, encourages sinners to mourn , to grieve , and to wail. Janes 4 verses 8-9 encourages us when we sin to change our laughter to mourning and our joy to gloom.

But we should not live in perpetual mourning. Rather , we should let the mourning usher us into repentance and renewed relationship with God. It is repentance that can turn our mourning into eternal joy when we sin.

When we mourn over other things that we have lost -could be a loved one, loved job, lost position, lost relationship or lost contract, the principles are the same. We should not mourn excessively , we should not mourn as if we have no Hope, and we should not mourn as if God has created a vacuum.

In many instances in the Bible .the Lord commanded the people not to mourn at all because His actions had a higher purpose. In the deaths of Nadab and Abihu , Aaron ,Ithamar and Eleazar were commanded NOT to show any signs of mourning.

The fact is that God"s actions in our lives always have significant higher purposes.

Joseph lost the comfort of home and paremtal love for a higher purpose. David lost the excitement with the sheep in the forest for a higher purpose . God is always doing things in our lives to take us to a higher purpose.

And to those who have lost tangible things and are still mourning , we should end our mourning knowing that God is always replacing lost things with better things. When Saul was lost as a king in Israel, God replaced him with a much better and more effective David . I can go on to talk about Elisha coming to replace the tired Elijah with double his anointing. God is always working a higher purpose for those that love Him ( Romans 8: 28). He has made everything beautiful in its time ( Ecclesiastes 3:11). His higher purpose for you is a beautiful one.

Continuing to mourn endlessly cannot bring back the Lost Saul and it cannot make us meet the anointed David.

Therefore, I ask you today again for how long are you going to continue to mourn your lost Saul? God has anointed a David for you. Why continue to belly ache or grief over the lost Saul especially when David has been identified.

God is asking you, as He had asked Samuel, to put yourselves together and get ready to move on (v. 1).

I know that moving on may not be easy to do.
I know that certainly, it may be difficult. A person that has played such a big role in your life now lost so suddenly.

There may be some things you are considering in your heart which are preventing you from going forward . Samuel , the great Prophet had the same feeling. In verse 2 (of the same chapter 16 in 2 Samuel), he expressed fear of death. But in the same verse and the one after it, the Lord emphasized the use of Wisdom in going forward . If you apply Wisdom , you will be successful . What is this saying to us? Knowing that Jesus is the Wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24), we can see that what we need for us to get to the desired purpose of God is no other person but Jesus . With Him , all the fears cone to nothing. Besides this,. God was also preaching pragmatism. We need to come to terms with what had happened and move forward. We need to get up , put ourselves together , and be on our way.

In addition to the Wisdom of God who we now know is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, we also need obedience. Samuel did what the Lord said ( v 4) in total obedience. But preceding obedience is to clearly hear God. Samuel did what the Lord said. We need to seek time with God to hear Him clearly on our matter. What is He saying ? And once we have heard Him, we should obey Him completely.

Hearing God and obeying Him should not just be at the beginning of the new journey , these should be applied though the journey until we get to the newly anointed David.

As we approach David , we must know that there may be a flurry of options which are from the devil. They are called "Devil's alternatives " . Some of them may even present themselves like Eliab who the Great Prophet Samuel saw and said " Surely , the Lord's anointed is before Him" . In appearance , Eliab looked, appeared, talked , and probably acted like the anointed , but he was not. This appearance even deceived the Man of God.

God said to Prophet Samuel in verse 7 , " do not look at the appearance or at the physical endowment or stature". He went on to say that the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance , but the Lord looks at the heart.

In other words, in your search for the identified David, do not be swayed by the glitters for not all that glitters is gold.

It was not only Eliab that was the alternative presented by Satan at that meeting , there were six more men with equally deceiving stature that were presented by Jesse their father . With the help and guidance of God, all these alternatives were rejected.

This must have been hard on the Prophet who had the reputation of unparalleled accuracy. He must have done a rapid check in his mind of what he had heard from the Lord. However, after he had been assured he had heard correctly , in confidence, he spurted out the only logical question. "Are all the young men here " (v 11)? he asked. That question also must have reminded Jesse that he had another son who was in the bush with the family livestock. David had been in the bush with the family livestock.

Let me digress a little. It was his turn to keep family livestock. That must have been after his six elder brothers had had their turns. David , however, had been diligently keeping the livestock in a way better than the other six elder brothers because he had many testimonies including the testimony of having wrestled with the bear and the lion in different attempts to rescue family livestock from being killed or taken away.

His Elder brothers must have demonstrated a different attitude to the sheep in their care at their time. There was no history that any of his elder brothers ever bothered to rescue mauled animals when they were caring for them. These elder brothers would be green with envy when they learnt later about these at the war front against Goliath as David was convincing Saul to let him go after Goliath. The elder brothers had their opportunity to have acquired the skills needed but they botched it.

There was also enough proof that doing what David had done in rescuing the sheep was as heroic as it was uncommon.
Even Saul himself did not have such a testimony as a youth. We can therefore understand why he was persuaded by such to allow David go after Goliath. David would later slay Goliath and thereby rescue the National honor. God never makes mistakes when replacing a rejected or reluctant person.

Going back to the main strand of the story now.

On the new journey, alternatives will come from the Devil and we need the discernment of God to sieve them out.

I am encouraging you today to stop mourning for the Saul that you have lost because that Saul has been rejected by God. Arise , fill your horn with oil and move on so you can meet with the identified replacement. Meet with the David of your situation.

God will help us.

Brother Wale

Let us do it this time :

Elections are knocking again in Nigeria and various political parties are trying to convince the electorate.

This is to remind every Nigerian that as a Nation, we have a duty to all of Africa , the whole Black race across the world , and indeed the world.

Our dream which comes out of this sacred duty is to build a nation that will be the pride of Africa and the Black race all over the world.
Make Nigeria a choice place to visit , to work, to invest , to raise children , and a place to retire. Yes, we can do it using our PVC. Yes, the PVC.

The PVC tells stories. Sadly, it has told several tales of woe as far as our country is concerned. But we have this one chance now to make a difference .

Not race , not religion should dictate how we use our PVC. I say this because our oppressors have no problem uniting across these lines. They talk of religion when they are more satanic in attitude. They talk of race only to deceive . I remember these factors gave us the story of the "the best president Nigeria never had "

This time around, let us be determined that our PVCs will give us the best president Nigeria has ever had. A president that will take us towards our dream . Let us do it this time.