Nigerian Pastors Who Are Enemies And Genesis of Their Quarrel

You can call it subtle enmity, if you like. But the truth remains that some of our leading pastors are not the best of friends. As a matter of fact, while some have been hiding theirs for years, there are those that even up till now cannot stand each other. Not only do they not talk, they readily abuse themselves whenever time permits. Come with YES INTERNATIONAL! as we unmask these preachers of the Word as well as serve you the genesis of all their quarrel…

CHRIS OYAKHILOME/T.B JOSHUA AND KRIS OKOTIE:

We doubt whether there’s been any war like theirs in the Christendom. Hugging the covers of nearly all the major papers in the country for months then, even The Nigeria Police, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and Christian Association of Nigeria had to wade in at some point. Okotie, founder of Household of God Church, accused his next door neighbour, Oyakhilome, of Christ Embassy, of hobnobbing with Joshua, whom he described as a shaman. Thus, contaminating the Body of Christ. And hell was literally let loose. Other men of God took sides and the war raged and raged. Till today, Okotie and Oyakhilome don’t relate. Likewise Okotie and Joshua, front man of Synagogue Church of All Nations.

KRIS OKOTIE/ANSELM MADUBUKO:

Their disagreement then shocked a lot of people. Do you know why? Both of them used to be so close. They attended the same University of Nigeria, Nsukka where the fire of their friendship was ignited; were each other’s ‘best man’ on their wedding days and so on. Even when Okotie was reigning as a pop star, Madubuko was backing him up from a corner as a D.J. With the coming of Household of God Church, Okotie put Madubuko in charge of the Healing Ministry. Then, one day, one unforgettable day, he ordered Madubuko out of the church – with a stern warning never to step into the church again. Of course, things ceased to be the same again for the two former close friends – even though, lately, they’ve been trying to patch it up.

DAVID OYEDEPO/TUNDE BAKARE:

Hate him, like him, Pastor Tunde Bakare does not care. One other noticeable thing about him is that there’s nobody he cannot chastise in the Body of Christ or take on, one on one. Obviously the Pentecostal radical, Bakare is not a supporter of some of the things they do at Oyedepo Winners’ Chapel. For example, the use of anointing oil, handkerchief and so on – and repeatedly, he has criticized that. Even though Oyedepo has never responded to any of his criticisms, it should be expected that he wouldn’t be happy with him. Bakare pastors The Latter Rain Assembly while Oyedepo is the G.O of Winners’ Chapel.

SAM ADEYEMI/GEORGE ADEGBOYEGA

Adeyemi pastors Daystar Christian Centre while Adegboyega is in charge of Rhema Chapel International. Before now, however, the former used to work for the latter. In fact, he was in charge of the latter’s Lagos branch and until he exited the ministry, both of them had a fantastic relationship. The rhythm of the music only changed when Adeyemi said he wanted to be on his own. And till date, the relationship hasn’t been restored to its former state – owing majorly to how some issues were handled at the thick of the crisis.

PATRICK ANWUZIA/JOSEPH AGBOLI

Anwuzia and Agboli are brothers. They both come from Ogwashi – Uku, Delta State and used to have a very chummy relationship until a wedge of asunder was put in between them. Like Adeyemi and Adegboyega, Agboli used to work for Anwuzia. But upon deciding to run with his destiny, palaver started – and till today, it still hasn’t been properly sorted out. Anwuzia founded Zoe Ministries while Agboli is behind Victorious Army Ministries.

THE CHILDLESS NIGERIAN WIFE.

I came across this post, a relevant story which is still alive in the Nigerian society. Here are a few excerpts

That beautiful day arrives. You dance, you are excited, you feel beautiful, finally you have been joined at the hip with the man of your dreams (or so you think)

Days pass, months crystallize into years and they begin to look at you. Your spouse begins to look at you because you have not uttered the words ‘I am pregnant’ Both families begin to give advice about how to get pregnant, you struggle with what to do while trying to stand firm on your beliefs.

When all you really want to do is run, run and stay on a bed forever.

Now and again, you are reminded that you are barren and little by little even your spouse begins to discount you as a human being. You are strong, so you must be strong.

Then in a moment of clarity in between your depression, you wonder where the ‘better for worse’ is.

You wonder if you have ever been really loved, you wonder if all the ceremony was for show. Truth is, you were married to provide a warm body and birth heirs to brag about.

Your sense of identity is lost because in your refusal to provide a child, you are not relevant in the scheme of things and everything you do is constantly weighed against the fact that you have not borne a child.


Now, I have a lot of amazing friends who would make amazing wives but for some reason, are yet to settle down. Then there are those amazing friends who have settled down and would make amazing mothers but they are not yet blessed with the fruit of the womb. I see them running from pillar to post, from one fertility clinic to another and my heart breaks for them. I find myself questioning God (I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it) why children are born into abusive poverty-stricken home with only a bleak future awaiting them and not in loving home so desperate for them.

Honestly, I cannot imagine what these women go through. They have to put a brave face to the world while their heart aches. They have to smile and rejoice as their friends and others who married years after them give birth. They turn to God in fervent prayers, wishing with all their heart and soul that they don’t see their period the next month. And when the period comes, the depression sets in month after month after month. The pressure that the husband faces to be strong for the two of them, to comfort her, placate her and make her feel secure. There are many Nigerian men who stand with their wives in this trying times, but there are so many more who crack. They question the wife’s history and assume promiscuity , they put her down, they kill her spirit and sometimes (if they are not the one with the problem) they get another girl pregnant.

The level of wickedness that a childless Nigerian woman sometimes faces from her own fellow woman is unbelievable. Even those with wonderful mother in-laws begin to feel the brunt when years pass without a child. They begin to ask questions. Some want to find out if there is something spiritually wrong. Others get downright hostile. In gatherings, women constantly talk about the achievement of their kids in the midst of the childless one. I am not saying that you are not allowed to celebrate or be proud of your kid simply because someone else is yet to have, but a lot of tact is required in such circumstances.

I know a lot of my readers would probably be wondering ‘What is the big deal? Adopt already!! Use a surrogate or something’. These are excellent choices but Nigeria is still a long way from this. Thankfully IVF is catching on and more couples are going for it. However, it is very expensive and sometimes it does not work, discouraging a lot of people from trying. There are a lot of abandoned kids just looking for a home but the average woman wants to carry and birth her kid. And who can blame her?

I say a long deep prayer to all the ladies looking for a child. It is not easy to be patient and no one would ever understand how hard it is. All one can do is empathize. Please be brave ladies. God is not asleep and he will work, but don’t sit on your hands waiting. Get proactive, get fit and visit the fertility clinics. Baby dust to the childless Nigerian wife.barren woman



Source: http://herapereira.com/

13 Ways You Know You’re Dating a gentleman

1. You know where you stand. You are his girlfriend or you are a girl he’s dating but either way he’s not scared to define it. He’s not afraid that a girl will cry and run away if she doesn’t hear what she wants to, he wants a mature woman because he is a mature man.
2. You don’t have to prod him to become a real adult. He’s self motivated to improve on his own. If there’s an area of his life that needs improvement, he’s working on it long before you notice it.
3. Texting with him is peaceful. Sometimes you have conversations. Sometimes you make plans. But it’s never a power struggle of who initiates and who texts lasts. It’s not fishing for compliments or security. It’s simply a short form of communication.

4. He calls his mom. You don’t need to tell him to do this and he does it to keep in touch, not because he needs her stamp of approval on all his choices.
5. He has interests. Like actual interests. Not beer darts or meeting women. He reads the newspaper or books, and when you ask him his opinion on something, he has an answer.
6. When you spend the night at his place, it doesn’t feel like camping. His sheets are (reasonably) clean, there’s (gasp) toilet paper and (double gasp) fresh towels in the bathroom, and there’s something in the fridge other than beer.
7. He doesn’t disappear for days or a week at a time. He knows that if he needs space or some time to clear his head when he’s stressed out all he needs to do is say that. He’s strong enough to be upfront rather than running away.
8. He never says “just trust me” as an attempt to end a disagreement. He knows that if you’re expressing a concern, the solution isn’t to just tell you not to have it. He isn’t manipulative.
9. He doesn’t get jealous. Sure, it doesn’t make him happy when another guy hits on you while he’s checking your coats, but he doesn’t blow up about it. He’s secure in your admiration.
10. He doesn’t treat you like a child. If he disagrees with you he can tell you that. He assumes you want to engage with him rather than assuming you are a piece of glass that will shatter at the slightest disturbance.
11. He encourages you to grow and try new activities. He isn’t afraid he will be left in the dust and he genuinely wants the best for you.
12. You never have this conversation: “Where do you want to go?” “Uh, I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
13. You don’t have to play a guessing game when he’s upset about something. He tells you. Directly. With words. And you have a conversation and figure out a solution.

A Letter To President Jonathan From The Grave By Okey Ndibe

Dear President Jonathan: We, the more than 200 victims of Boko Haram’s latest savage bomb attacks, feel we must write to you from beyond the grave. Our simple message is summed up in the phrase: Enough is enough.

As you know, we were dispatched to our sudden death by the gruesome bombs of depraved people who think they have God’s mandate to kill and maim others. We did not commit any crime deserving of any punishment, much less the horrific deaths meted out to us. We were simply going about the business of our varied daily lives. We just happened to be about when craven men who take pride in playing god set about their heinous business of sowing bombs the way more honorable people sow yams.

The bombs exploded in a fraction of a breath, left us no praying chance, no time even to think swift, endearing last thoughts about loved ones. Forget about saying hurried good byes. Incendiary, deafening blasts, and it ended. In a flash, more than two hundred of us, men and women, adults and children, became gored, scalded, bloodied bodies, twitching as we turned into corpses. The bombs severed limbs, tore open skulls, disgorged brains and viscera.

The rabid, misbegotten zealots of a twisted version of Islam planted the explosives that killed us. But the space and idea called Nigeria is complicit in our dastardly fate.

The pieces of our decapitated bodies had not been harvested yet when the Nigerian state commenced its mindless business of dishonoring the dead. The security agencies that could not anticipate and forestall the attack that wasted our lives began its usual dumb game of statistical fibbing. They said “only” twenty-something of us had died. And then, as the evidence mounted about the scale of the tragedy, they revised their figures upwards. Only seventy plus people had perished, they asserted.

Why does the Nigerian state resort to lies after every act of carnage? Isn’t it bad enough that the country’s security agents are unable to protect innocents from the murderous designs of evil merchants of death? What end is served by this macabre falsehood? Is there a prize of nobility handed out to countries that consistently under-report the number of people who perish in acts of violence? Even if twenty-five of us died, instead of two hundred, does that earn Nigeria some great glory? Does that make Nigeria a rosier destination for tourists? Are foreign investors perpetually on the lookout, waiting to rush their cash into any country that, a, routinely falsifies the number of casualties in terrorist attacks and, b, would place the word “only” before twenty-five or seventy-five corpses?

This morbid lying with figures is yet another way that Nigeria violates most of its populace. Most of those unfortunate enough to be called Nigerians are systematically degraded in life and diminished in death. Alive or dead, Nigerians don’t count!

About this time last year, two young men, blood brothers, set off pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the Boston marathon. Three persons died, with scores more injured. US officials did not spend one moment trying to mislead the world about the number of victims. Instead, from President Barack Obama through Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts to the mayor of Boston, one message and one message emerged: the perpetrators would be unmasked, and the people of Boston would grow stronger from the horror.

The full power and intelligence of American law enforcement got cracking. Investigations led to leads led to identification of the perpetrators led to a massive manhunt that led to the death of one suspect, the capture of the other.

Through it all, the American people, led by Mr. Obama, remained focused, resilient, determined to learn the hard lessons and to be more vigilant in order to avert, or at least reduce, future attacks.

What President Obama did, Mr. Jonathan, is a profile in what’s called true leadership. Let’s contrast his admirable example with yours.

Our torn limbs were still being gathered, it seemed, when you, President Jonathan, took off to Kano to keep a campaign date. It was deplorable enough that you felt the urge to proceed with partisan politicking hours after a dreadful series of explosions killed so many, physically scarred many more, and left uncountable numbers bereaved, shaken with grief. But the kind of political rally you choose to have spoke volumes about your profound confusion about the meaning and quality of leadership. You had on stage with you musicians who played heady music, as if the slaughter of Nigerians at Nyanya motor park was a crowning achievement of your presidency. You even swayed to the music, titillated your fellow party men and women with a few dance steps. Then you unleashed a torrent of lowbrow, partisan vituperations against your political opponents.

Here’s what you didn’t do, what you failed to do. You didn’t project a solemn expression that would have shown you were aware of what time it was in Nigeria—aware that it was Death time, Horror time, Mourning time. If you had to do an event in Kano, you might have used the occasion to spell out a major policy initiative for addressing the plague of Boko Haram. You did not tell confused, angry and terrorized Nigerians what you plan to do to checkmate those who deal death to others in the name of fighting western values.
No, you danced. You danced—we might as well say—on the corpses of those who died; on the wounds of those still bleeding from their injuries; on the agony of the bereaved. For you, sir, and for other Nigerian officials, leadership seems to be one giddy carnival that goes on interminably, must go on regardless of the number of corpses piling up on the streets, no matter the depth of disquiet on the faces of “ordinary” Nigerians for whom death at the hands of Boko Haram is a real and present danger.

You and your aides have often accused your political opponents of sponsoring sorties of Boko Haram attacks. If this is true, then it’s your duty to do something about it. Nigerians are sick of this ploy, tired of the fruitless pointing at faceless, nameless nemeses. Unmask the sponsors, now.  Order their arrest and prosecution, now. It doesn’t matter how politically or financially big they are. Go ahead: name, arrest and prosecute them.

If you’re scared of these champions of death, if the arsenal of your presidential powers can’t match their homicidal will, then it’s time you stepped down from the office you hold. If Nigeria’s crime entrepreneurs are so big that the president and the institutions of the state must cower in fear of them, then Nigeria has zero reason to continue existing.

Mr. Jonathan, stop this carnival train that parades streets piled with corpses! Leadership is not a party.

Please follow me on twitter @ okeyndibe
(okeyndibe@gmail.com)