29092019 - 2023: Controversy over Pastor Tunde Bakare's prophecy on Buhari's

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PAGE 16, SUNDAY VANGUARD, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019 By Josephine Agbonkhese 08054650907 Email: jossynovia@gmail.com NAOMI: I shared my story of abuse on the world stage From drawing inspiration from her travails as a victim of domestic violence in her first marriage and later a single mum, Naomi Osemedua became a global sensation, streaming live videos from the comfort of her home. As a nursing motherand with no tech background, she would hit the live button on ‘PeriscopeTV’ and simply begin to ‘talk.’ Soon, the world became her audience and in no time, she was nicknamed‘African Queen of Live Streaming.’ This was at a time when the live button was absent on most social media platforms. Gradually, the author of Amazon’s bestseller‘Socially Speaking -My Periscope Miracles’ became a highly sought-after inspirational speaker at conferences and seminars, a content creator and positive change coach. The alumna of Ambrose Ali University, Dale Carnegie Institute, Dr. Myles Munroe Global Leadership Mentoring Programme and University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, is today the Creative Director of the firm Sparkle with Naomi and the Chief Storyteller at Women With Stories International. Osemedua will be the only African speaking at the 8th edition of TEDx 2019 in the US next month. OW did you earn the ‘African Queen Hof Live Streaming’title? I started live streaming in October 2015. Before then, Iwas not a big fan of social media. I had no tech background and I assumed it was unnecessary. Everything changed when I hit the ‘Go Live’ button on the Periscope App. I was intrigued at how with one touch of a button, I could connect with the world. This was at a time when there was no Facebook, Instagram,Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn live platform. It was so profound because Periscope had a world map feature that would show you when people were ‘Live’ around the globe by a red dot. I would have people come into my live broadcasts on so many occasions and tell me: “Right now, you are the only one who is live on the African continent.” I invested in learning how to use the platform and soon people wanted to pay me to teach them. On the 6th month anniversary of ‘Going Live,’ precisely October 11, 2016,something amazing happened. My channel started trending live on the Periscope.tv app, making me the first African to trend on the platform with millions of users. Hence the title ‘African Queen of Live Streaming’ from my fans across the globe. ...but what inspires issues your talk about? I love to inspire people. As a people builder with amission to call out the seeds of greatness in others, I am obsessed about people living their best lives ‘now’. I am also on a mission to ‘die empty’. I do not want to take any of the gifts and talents that God has blessed me with to the grave. So, I show up daily online to ‘sparkle’ my world, like only Ican. What skills helped? I started with nothing but my smart phone and internet connection. What kept me in the game were three things: the right mindset, the willingness to ‘do it afraid’ because there is no ‘edit’ when you ‘go live’ and that could be scary for so many as they wonder about the mistakes they might make, and the constant investment in personal development. I’ve heard so much about Women with Stories. What’s the idea and is it meeting its objectives? During one of my live streaming sessions, I went public about my personal story of running away from home and eloping at age 22. People really couldn’t believe I experienced so much because I didn’t look like mypast. I kept getting messages of how my story was inspiring. The Women with Stories platform was launched on March 8, 2017,with a podcast in which I shared my story as the first episode; we even got featured on the International Women’s Day website. Over the next one year,we featured many more women from across the globe and in August 2018, as Iturned 40, we hosted the first ever global conference in Lagos with the theme:’Your Story is Your Gift’. At the Women With S t o r i e s International, we are on a mission to empower women to find and ‘own’ their unique stories, disc<strong>over</strong> their cure, serve others and “profit from it”. I am a living witness as the ChiefStoryteller. In April, I received an invitation to the Women Economic Forum inNew Delhi, India, where I shared my story in different sessions <strong>over</strong> six daysand received the ‘Exceptional Woman of Excellence Award.’ In October, I will be speaking at TEDx Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A and I am the only speaker fromAfrica in this year’s edition. You eloped? That was a major dark season of my life. Imagine losing your family and everything dear to you for love and then ending up being mistreated. My sons were not spared. No one should ever have to experience abuse in the hands of someone they love. How did you survive? Survival came in various forms in that season. I was cut off from my family, so, I needed to survive emotionally. I was a second year student in the university and therefore needed to survive academically too. Then there was the financial, marital and even motherhood survival struggle with my two sons. I had to grow up fast and learn new things as the years went by. I never dropped out of school. Instead, I started a business to survive and after school, I got a job. What key personal decisions helped? I have always loved reading from my early years at Living Faith Church International; Bishop David Oyedepo always talked about reading books. That prepared me for what was ahead. My favourite author was Dr.Myles •Naomi Osemedua Munroe. I read so much about purpose, potential and more. It’s phenomenal that I actually met Dr Myles personally in 2012 and was privileged to be mentored by him before his passing. I had a strong knowing that there was more to my life than my current situation; and that there was purpose behind my pain. So, in April 2009, I walked away and never looked back! But some remain in an abusive relationship... I believe you owe it to yourself to be alive first of all. Some stay for fear of how they will survive when they walk away, but end up getting killed in the process. Others stay for the kids who are not just watching, but whose entire adult life will be defined by decisions which they (the abused partner) didn’t make earlier. And the cycle sadly continues. What is your idea of a peaceful, nonabusive marriage? One where there is love and respect. My story has a happy ending; I found love again after four years of being a single mum and I got married for the first time in 2013 in the presence of my entire family and loved ones. When my husband Richard met me, he had never been married and he had no kids. We recently celebrated our 6th year wedding anniversary and our union is blessed with another son and a daughter. Richard has so much respect for who I am and the work I do and he really is my biggest supporter alongside my family.
SUNDAY VANGUARD, SEPTEMBER 29, 2019, PAGE 17 Nigeria @ 59: Nigerians deprived of s<strong>over</strong>eignty for <strong>over</strong> 50 years By Guy Ikokwu THE situation in Nigeria today is egregious and monumental that it gives a great majority of our people a feeling of total hopelessness in such a way that the general belief is that there must be a catalyst within the system. It is now clear to the Nigerian masses that they have been deprived of their s<strong>over</strong>eignty for more than 50 years by the high ranking military personnel since January 1966, which torpedoed the civilian democratic norms inherited in various discussions with our British colonialists, who had acted equivocally in their own self and economic interest. We have had nine constitutions in 25 years to usher in real democracy which our late heroic musician and artiste, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, called “Demon – Crazy.” That was a philosophical thoughtful expose but the perspective of our past decades show that our system of g<strong>over</strong>nance has really been demonic till this day. Faulty constitution The last 1999 constitution, which Nigeria had, was initiated by General Abudulsalami Abubakar. Today, we know that the 1999 constitution was a fraud as it was not delivered by the people of Nigeria. A university teacher, Dr. D. Ononogu opined recently that “only a people oriented g<strong>over</strong>nment that is responsive to the needs of the g<strong>over</strong>ned will survive.” Recently, Chief Afe Babalola SAN, in his reflection on the 1999 constitution said that, “the 1999 constitution is the problem with the g<strong>over</strong>nance of Nigeria today being an imposition” which has left the regions and states imp<strong>over</strong>ished and unable to carry out their economic and other functions with fiscal responsibility. Role of Generals The truth must be told that the Generals of the Nigerian military who had usurped the g<strong>over</strong>nance of the country, most of whom are still living today are General Yakubu Gowon, General Olusegun Obasanjo, General Ibrahim Babangida, General Abudulsalami Abubakar, and General Muhammadu Buhari while some of the expired and dead Generals are Muritala Muhammed, and Sani Abacha. The real issue among the Generals is the number of years each of them will preside <strong>over</strong> the economic resources and destiny of Nigeria, which no doubt has made all of them to clamour for at least eight years of leadership and have accumulated such domestic and foreign wealth that they cannot exhaust within their living years and cannot repatriate to Nigeria from the banks where they are stashed. No cause for cheer The state of the Nigerian nation today as we celebrate our 59th independence anniversary was recently reflected upon by an international scholar, who said that “the issues now raging are corruption, cronyism, p<strong>over</strong>ty, cultism, violent crimes, terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, sectorial violence, Muslim fundamentalism which has polarized the religious sects and the g<strong>over</strong>nment into bloody clashes and loss of lives and properties.” The United Nations rapporteur to Nigeria said recently that the Boko Haram terrorism has accounted for the loss of more than 30,000 lives and several millions of internally and externally displaced refugees in IDP camps. Schools have been shut down and tertiary institutions have not opened for months since our last anniversary due to the unresolved issues between the g<strong>over</strong>nment and ASUU. It is the education of our youth that is hindered and drastically lowered. In the past year, the unemployment of our youths who are out of school or who used to have gainful employment in various institutions has really reached the 20 per cent mark. In 2019, Nigeria was said to have <strong>over</strong>taken India with a population of <strong>over</strong> one billion people as the p<strong>over</strong>ty capital of the world. Surely this has been an agonizing revelation for Nigerians due to the lack of performance of our present g<strong>over</strong>nments and particularly due to the unviable g<strong>over</strong>nance structure of Nigeria. Even with the present abject p<strong>over</strong>ty, politics is now the main source of wealth for economic consumption rather than a productive sector. Ex-G<strong>over</strong>nor Balarabe Musa, as leader of the conference of Nigeria’s Political Parties, said that “now we have leaders who only care about themselves and whose primary objective in life is self.” But the life expectancy of Nigerians is now an average of about 45 years with a lot of suicides currently, as life is not worth living for many, as the extended family living system has broken down in most rural communities and in the urban areas. Public officials’ humongous salaries, allowances If we review and compare the salaries of members of the National Legislature, not to talk of the State Legislature or the Executive, Ministers, Commissioners and their humongous infantile aides, it will be seen why there is in Nigeria such debilitating unrest and impatience in our g<strong>over</strong>nance system in the last 20 years. For example, the salary of a Nigeria Senator is said to be N750,000.00 monthly with a sitting allowance of N13.5million plus other numerous allowances for their wardrobes, vehicles, offices, multiple retirement and pension allowances, etc. It is such an amount when combined with those of the executive that has made our budget in the last four years of Buhari administration to be in deficit. It also resulted in the last recession from which we have not really come out, as Nigeria is still borrowing from the World Bank and the IMF to meet its recurrent expenditure with an economy that is growing at 1.95% per annum only till 2019. The quagmire of this situation led to the devaluation of Nigeria’s currency which is now N360 to $1 whereas after independence, the Nigerian Naira was stronger than the US Dollar. Just last week, Nigeria approached the World Bank for a $2.5billion loan which will help us meet our deficit budgetary provisions in which capital expenditure amounts to not more than 15 per cent. Nigeria has failed to meet its own responsibilities as espoused by the United Nations and the World Financial Communities unlike some other countries are doing in We are incapable of meeting the expectations prescribed due to our reliance on external loans for the execution of recurrent expenditure rather than the productive sectors of our economy with the capacity to pay back the foreign debt Africa. Back into debt trap We are incapable of meeting the expectations prescribed due to our reliance on external loans for the execution of recurrent expenditure rather than the productive sectors of our economy with the capacity to pay back the foreign debt. Nigeria’s foreign debt rose to $25,609.63 billion compared to the figure in 2016 of President Jonathan’s administration which was $9.760billion. It would be remembered that Obasanjo and Okonjo Iweala were able to get our external debtors to cancel a large chunk of our foreign debt due to the World Bank and IMF. Nigeria’s DMO office has again reminded the administration that most of the external borrowings are used for recurrent expenditures, like salaries and allowances and also to refinance maturing obligations which will not grow our economy. The United Nations listed the Millennium Developmental Projects which Nigeria and other developing nations should urgently focus on. These are: No P<strong>over</strong>ty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, Gender Equality, Clean Water and Sanitation, Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Reduced Inequality Sustainable Cities and Communities, Responsible Consumption and Production Climate Action, Life below Water, Life on Land, Peace and Justice, Strong Institutions, Partnerships to achieve the Goal. Holding leaders accountable An analytical fact check by Nigerian experts maintained that for democracy to work properly, public figures need to be held accountable for what they say or do. Their claims should be publicly assessed with skills and evidence from institutions in economic, finance, technology, science, banking, universities, corporate institutions, media and industries in order to distill or sort out facts from fiction. The performances of Nigerian institutions in the past three years and particularly in 2019 are bedevilled by fiction and propaganda in the statistical realm and nonpatrician analytical domain. As Nigerians, we cannot appreciate where we are in order to improve on g<strong>over</strong>nance situations in the interest of our own well being. It is known that at the moment, Nigeria depends on a mono economic structure which is crude oil to the extent of about 80 per cent. The non-oil sector has not yet achieved its optimal capacity hence the current deficit budgeting. In fact the present administration in which the President is also the Petroleum Minister and in which the NNPC controls the production, the refining and the sale of our crude, has been financially worrisome in respect of its very poor accountability. Nigerians are surprised to learn this year that we spent more money importing refined petroleum products from abroad •Ikokwu than the amount for which our crude oil is sold to foreign entities. Nigeria’s NNPC is still employing the crude oil swap for imported petroleum products due to the inabilities of our own refineries. Indeed, the NNPC is spending trillions of naira on oil subsidy, a situation that is fuelling monumental corruption and unaccountable financial applications. Informed experts and IMF have urged the Federal G<strong>over</strong>nment to scrap the colossal funds involved in the corrupt subsidies payments so that Nigeria’s economy can urgently be rejuvenated and our system of g<strong>over</strong>nance should be constitutionally restructured through the urgent devolution of powers to the states or federating units where s<strong>over</strong>eignty lies. The Nigerian-Benin border was recently sealed leading to very high rise in commodity prices yet there is still a clandestine smuggling through the borders at night and with motor cycles in Northern borders. All these are in breach of the Agencies Free Trade Agreement just signed. It is hurting our economy. In the last two months, President Buhari’s g<strong>over</strong>nment in a bid to start his first year of the second tenure, made two proposals to the National Assembly. One was for the control of the river sides and water ways in the country and the other was for the 774 local g<strong>over</strong>nments to be made autonomous financially and other wise and removed from the control of state g<strong>over</strong>nments. These proposals are unconstitutional for a set up of true federalism, which enunciates the truism that s<strong>over</strong>eignty belongs to the people at the grass roots and therefore the residual and main constitutional powers should belong to the states, which will cede some limited powers to the central g<strong>over</strong>nment, to be able to execute some <strong>over</strong>all Nigerian factors such as immigration, defence, foreign affairs, and some infrastructure, etc. In the last two years, the Southern and Middle Belt leaders have been proposing a restructured polity since President Buhari rejected the implementation of the detailed resolutions of the 2014 National Conference convened by President Goodluck Jonathan, by consigning the reports to the archives and turning Nigeria into a so called ‘unitary federalism’ which is an unknown contraption in legal jurisprudence. With the state of the Nation today in such a deplorable situation, the Southern and Middle Belt and the Sahelian Upper Northern areas of Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones should wake up from their slumber and make a final push for the realization of a new g<strong>over</strong>nance structure for Nigeria to move to greater heights. An analytical and unapologetic observer in the social media last week said “All the Southern but accused slaves and other useful idiots in their regions should be recalled and placed on cognitive psychotherapy for total emancipation, freedom and redemption despite their height of Continues on page 9
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29092019 - 2023: Controversy over Pastor Tunde Bakare's prophecy on Buhari's

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