26012020 - How bad an example was set in Zamfara

More documents

Recommendations

Info

PAGE 28—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 26, 2020 CAROLINE MOORE: Driven by hatred for poverty, suffering By Charles Kumolu,Deputy Editor Caroline Moore is the Convener of Why I am Alive initiative and the CEO of Eureka Productions Ltd - a media production organisation that specialises in content creation, media buying and public relations among others. She is driven by the passion to ensure people find their purpose in life. She has done numerous projects that bordered on helping individuals discover their purpose of existence. Moore, who has partnered with renowned individuals and organisations like WIMBIZ, RCCG National, Glazia, Tara, and Trany among others, tells her story. How did you come about Why I Am Alive Initiative? It began when I started asking myself this question: Why am I alive? I had to go through a self-discovery phase. I would walk through life, drive through the driveway and see children under the bridges begging. Whenever I saw young able-bodied people running around hawking food items, I wondered if that is the reason they are on earth. I also wondered if this all they are going to do and then die. I would further wonder why I was privileged to be in a home where I could get the support I needed to facilitate my dreams. Why am I in a car and they are on the streets? I did not get the answers immediately but as I went through life, it gave me the strong belief that every living being is alive for a purpose. I hate poverty and suffering. That is why I felt I needed to use my passion and my greatest tool being my voice to fight it in creative and exciting ways. I decided to use my platform to pursue this through the contents we create. In other words, the Why I Am Alive Initiative came to be when I discovered myself and my purpose which is to support as many people as possible in discovering their life purposes. I was driven by the passion to see every person find his or her purpose in life and succeed at it. You often say that you believe everyone on earth is here for a purpose… Not just every human being but everything on earth is for a purpose. For instance, the purpose of a mobile phone is to eliminate the barrier of distance during communication. Water has various purposes, one of which is to aid digestion in plants and animals including man. Even waste products serve various purposes and the list goes on. Anything which does not serve a purpose is usually tagged useless and discarded or eliminated. If non-living things can serve purposes, man should as well. It is a bit different for man because he sustains the earth and possesses a consciousness. Therefore, he serves a bigger purpose. This is why every human comes to a point where his consciousness becomes restless because it can only be satisfied once that purpose is discovered and fulfilled. At what point does one realise he has a purpose? I would say every day. Purpose is not some massive things far away. It is the question we ask and answers daily, weekly and monthly. As soon as you gain consciousness of life, you would understand that being alive is a privilege. Therefore, you would desire to make it purposeful. Living purposeful lives As a parent, the easiest way to assist your child in living a purposeful life is to live by example and start living purposefully. Children watch and imitate their parents I hate poverty and suffering. That is why I felt I needed to use my passion and my greatest tool being my voice to fight it in creative and exciting ways consciously or unconsciously. Parents should watch their children closely and discover what their desires are. They should also understand how happy their children are when they engage in things that are of interest to them and support their dreams, goals and potentials. Doing that would encourage the children to live purposefully. Honourable field I will use myself as a classic example to answer this question. My father did not really support my career, I had to work hard and show him that it is an honourable field. Today, he is happy I fought for my passions, goals, and desires. He later became fully in support of it. I would advice youths to be diligent, hardworking and prove those who do not support their choices wrong but in the most decent and respectful way. It would take time. It would be difficult knowing that you love these people and expect them to be your top cheerleaders. At this point, you would have to be your number one cheerleader because if you can bring yourself up mentally, then, nobody can make you feel less. Since the birth of Why I Am Alive, what are the difficulties you have encountered and a few achievements you believe are worth celebrating? I am proud to say that the challenges we have encountered did not deter us from succeeding with the projects, instead, they made us realise that we are on the right path. Some of the challenges included getting benefactors to support the projects and a few financial constraints. But in 2019, we went to secondary schools and universities among others and empowered them through seminars, workshops and even provided some of them with scholarships. These scholarships covered fees for books, cost of feeding and of course, school fees. Our Market Women Empowerment Project, Why I Am Alive Masterclass and our just concluded Why I Am Alive Campaign: Nigeria Story Party, are considered great achievements. Support system In reference to one of the questions you just asked, family upbringing hinders the discovery of one’s purpose, being brought up in a family where other things except your purpose account for your success in life can be disheartening. Environment is also another one. Does your environment encourage what you want to do? Lack of support system can also discourage one from discovering his life purpose, when there is no source of encouragement or hope. Wrong mindset is dangerous. It kills dreams, goals, and potentials even before they are birthed. Bad relationships or associating with the wrong set of people usually lead to lack of support system and wrong mindset as stated earlier. Overcoming obstacles •Caroline Moore You need to open yourself up to content that would empower your mind consistently. Your mind is your greatest tool, be intentional for your mind to be empowered. Buy books, attend seminars and masterclasses, watch and listen to TV and radio shows, build the necessary relationships that will develop your mind positively and align with the purpose you desire to fulfill. To live a purposeful life or fulfilling one’s purpose, you need to discover your purpose, believe in it, have faith, pursue it relentlessly and keep the dream fresh. How has Why I Am Alive helped its participants so far? Why I Am Alive has helped challenge participants to be focused and intentional about achieving their life’s purpose. We keep tabs on our participants by asking them for feedback on the steps they have taken. The responses have been impressive. I am so happy about how many lives we have impacted. Once you have an encounter with us on any level or platform, you will never be the same again, except your village people have a hand in your matter. What do you have to say to those who believe financial security is a necessity for achieving one’s purpose? It is true but it is not the first thing neither is it the most important thing. Financial security may not come at first but if you discover your purpose, believe it and do not hesitate to go after it, the earth will surely respond to you. Leaders in Nigeria do not inspire citizens into fulfilling their purpose… They should create platforms such as Why I Am Alive Campaign that helps people achieve results. These platforms should be open at low or no cost at all. They also need to constantly serve as examples of how reliable these platforms are by being among the participants, not necessarily board members. When people see this, they would want to follow suit. Apart from ensuring purposeful living, what are your other areas of interest? I love creativity. It is undying and ever fresh. Every day, new things spring up due to creativity. We either appreciate them immediately or learn to understand them before appreciating them. I also have great interest in success. Who doesn’t want to be successful? It is jaw-dropping when those once referred to as hopeless eventually become successful. I am a huge fan of abundance. Whoever puts his or her skills or into use, abundance follows. I have always loved to produce and be in front of the camera as well as behind the camera, hence, the establishment of Eureka Productions. Why I Am Alive in 2020 Up next is this year’s Why I Am Alive Masterclass. The speakers would be announced soon and it promises to be awesome. I am encouraging everyone who reads or hears about it to be a participant. With the huge success of the first edition, we would be having the second edition of Why I Am Alive Party by the end of this year. Also, the Why I Am Alive films and our TV shows would all be epic.
SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 26, 2020,PAGE 29 EXECUTION OF CAN CHAIRMAN: They tell us B/Haram is gone but everyday Nigerians are killed —Omobude, PFN President • ‘Those who are benefiting from the system will deny that there’s no suffering but you and I know that the common man is going through pains’ By Sam Eyoboka REVEREND Felix Ilaweagbon Omobude, the National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), speaks on the execution of the Michika local government area of Adamawa State Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Rev. Lawan Andimi, by Boko Haram among other issues. Excerpts: On Andimi The killing of the CAN Chairman for Michika local government area of Adamawa State is tragic, condemnable, callous and a devilish act. Boko Haram has left no one in doubt that the Church is their main target and they had continued to push this since inception. The cases of the Chibok girls, Leah Sharibu, aid workers as well as several unrecorded cases are fresh in our memory and yet they have continued in this evil expedition. But the PFN is certain that good must overcome evil; no matter how dark the night is, light will conquer darkness. We cannot hold the government blameless on the issue of this fallen man of God because government has the responsibility to the citizens of this nation, irrespective of tribe or tongue or religion, and they failed to deliver; they should not believe that the people will keep quiet. Government wants us to believe that they have decimated Boko Haram; Boko Haram has been tactically defeated...and there has not been peace. Every week, these people either ravage a whole village and abduct whoever they want to abduct; they even confront army formations, so why are they lying to people that Boko Haram has been decimated? Without doubt, they still have all it takes to seize weapons from our military. With all due respect, I respect the efforts of our military men but let’s face the situation and do not let the world believe that the war against insurgency is over. It is not! The callousness of these people and by what they are doing, the issue for them goes beyond ransom. They actually wanted to execute the CAN Chairman and they accomplished their mission. We are not certain yet what the Adamawa governor did after he heard the appeal of the abducted CAN Chairman in a video sent to him and the Federal Government..... I don’t want to believe that the governor didn’t do anything: whether what he did was enough is another thing. Whether he did it when they needed it is another thing. At times, when you look at the scope of these things, it’s beyond a state government. I don’t think the Federal Government can wash their hands off this and put the blame on the state. It’s a national issue. It’s a national war. The people are out to cause mayhem to discredit the government of the day. They want to prompt religious disharmony among the people. And no responsible government should fold its hands and watch this happen. It’s an understatement to say whether the Federal Government is aware of what’s happening and they know the enormity of the task. They know the viciousness of Boko Haram or ISWAP. A government that engages in deceiving the people, making us feel that there’s nothing when there’s something calls for major concern. It’s the concern of the Church. We will understand if government has failed and says they have lost control of security and tell Christians to move out; but they tell us this place is safe and everyday people are killed. We heard about four seminarians who were abducted a few days ago at the Good Shepherd of Kakau Major Seminary along Kaduna-Abuja highway. These things keep happening and, whenever they happen, you condemn them. It’s not about condemning alone. It’s not enough! We need action. What’s the Church doing to engage government? At various fora we have made our stand known. We have made representations. CAN has presented our position a number of times to the Presidency. We have made state-of-thenation addresses and we have at various opportunities...We are Nigerians and we love the country. We are patriotic. We don’t want to make things terrible for everybody. What they are trying to cause is an ill-wind that will blow nobody any good. No one has monopoly of violence. We are trying to control our young people and pacify them and we expect government to do the needful by getting these people to account for their sins. Many of them are out-of-school and there are no jobs for them, so what do you expect? The Church cannot pick up arms. We cannot call for uprising to cause more trouble in the land. So we continue to hold our elected officers responsible because they swore to an oath to protect the lives of Nigerian people. And this, they have failed. The Church will continue to speak out. Should the Church just continue to pray without exploring other options? You suggest to us. Are we going to cause violence? Will that be the best for everyone? I still believe there’s nothing better in this circumstance than prayer and engagement of government. We engaged in inter-religious dialogue even as we engage the traditional institutions. For now, that appears to be the limit of what we can do. Whether government listens or not, the beautiful thing is that democracy gives a people a time-frame. Although democracy has not matured in Nigeria, you can’t fool the people for ever. If a party comes to the people and promises to give security, power and water and, at the expiration of their term, they didn’t deliver on any of these, democracy provides an opportunity for the people to revolt with their votes. So, if anybody thinks they can deceive Nigerians forever, buying them bags of rice, wrappers thinking that will solve their problems, Nigerians are getting wiser. As a Christian leader, will you say that there are elections in this country? In all frankness, I will not say that the results of elections in Nigeria reflect the will of the people. But it is a step forward. The days that one man will hold on to power with the gun and without recourse to the Constitution are over. We all now must begin to enlighten our people and fight the social ills. People buy their way to power and circumvent whatever laws that were made for the sanctity of elections and, going by recent happenings, people are beginning to lose faith in the judiciary. But, to me, it’s all part of the process. We are getting there but very slowly. Do you agree with the school of thought that the increasing wave of insecurity is part of the plan to Islamize the country? I think that people Every week, these people either ravage a whole village and abduct whoever they want to abduct; they even confront army formations, so why are they lying to people that Boko Haram has been decimated? overemphasize this Islamization thing as if the Church is weak or afraid and lacks capacity. That’s not the case. The Church is not sleeping. Muslims have a right to evangelise if they will do it peacefully, just as Christians have a right to do same and we are doing that in our own way. Let me remind you that many attempts have been made in the past and to some extent they didn’t yield the fruits that the enemies expected. While I will not ask the Church to go to sleep, we should not have sleepless nights over Islamphobia. I don’t think that that day is soon, if it will ever come. The Church is not sleeping. We are still working, praying because Nigeria belongs to all of us. In this country, OIC came and people thought that overnight it would bring a cloud over us. Then Sharia came; even when we cannot claim total victory yet, those who are enemies of the Church know it is not a walkover in Nigeria. But they appear to be making inroads... We are also making inroads, not through bow and arrows, not through violence but we are making inroads. The Church is the g r e a t e s t nightmare of Islam. I think we should also harness our strength. That Constitution thing fell like a pack of cards and whatever they have raised up... If there still be a Goliath, God still has a David. Catholic Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah made a profound statement, comparing the Federal Government with Boko Haram and saying the only difference is that terrorists use bomb to achieve their aims. Do you agree? I respect Bishop Kukah. I hold him in high esteem. I believe he’s more knowledgeable than me especially in this area. So, I don’t take his words with a pinch of salt. I didn’t read that statement but it’s up to government to tell the world that they are not what the Catholic Bishop described. Nigerians today are wise enough to know the truth. We voted this government into power in what we supposed was a civilized method. And if the government is not measuring up, the people have the prerogative to voice their grievance in whatever way they can. I think that’s what Bishop Kukah has done. It’s a language of dissatisfaction with government. Is that sinking down to the generality of Nigerians because we also saw the attempt by Omoyele Sowore to lead a protest against government and what happened to him eventually? I can tell that there are challenges that developing countries face. We have to fight totalitarianism and the people need to be enlightened and someone must pay the price for it, like the one Sowore has had to pay. It also underscores the point that no matter how strong you are, the voice of the people will be heard. To your question, when this government came into power, the Naira was exchanging for dollar at N170 or so and they promised to make it to exchange at one to one. But instead, they devalued it and, today, you need about N360 to buy one dollar whereas wages have not insignificantly increased. The people have been under severe pain as new people are not being employed while every year thousands of graduates are turned out of schools. Those who have served for 35 years in the civil service are being retired but new ones are not employed. You can ask questions...do you turn your water tap and you see public water running? Everyone is sinking borehole everywhere. These are indices. Go to the hospitals or the schools...in most states of the country, pupils are sitting on the floor...more •Rev Omobude and more people are buying power generators. That’s the situation. Majority of Nigerians are in pains. Those who are benefiting from the system will deny that there’s no suffering but you and I know that the common man is going through pains. But shall we continue like this? Honestly, I know that even in developed countries they have their challenges and, at times, the dimension is great. I believe that if we fail to do the right thing, we may not automatically be like Britain or America but attempts to do the right thing will move us forward. To the credit of this government, they launched a war against corruption which is what every Nigerian needs to support if it’s wholesome. Because corruption has set us behind in no small measure and it is still reigning in this country despite all that is being said or done. Even in the public service, you don’t need to go too far before you see it. It’s a problem that we all must deal with decisively. How do you score this government’s economic programme in the last five years? As far as I am concerned, the nation’s economy is worse than what it was in 2015 when they came in. That’s the way it seems and in every area. When they came in, petrol was selling for N87 per litre but now it’s selling for N145 and they say they are still subsidizing the product. You are in Lagos while I live in Benin City, there’s no difference in electricity which is worse than what obtained when they came in. On agriculture, I can give them credit because during this Christmas Nigerians ate made in Nigeria rice. That is a positive thing: we must go back to the land. Nigerians should consume what she produces. That’s a positive thing to do and I only wish that they improve on it. We are increasing taxes and borrowing more. Is that a positive thing too? I am not an economist and I cannot talk much on the borrowings and all the rest but I can tell you that you can borrow and borrow until you become a slave to the lender. That’s in the Bible. The painful thing is that there’s no nation that people don’t pay tax. We should encourage our people to pay taxes, but the people also want to see what their taxes are used for. Anywhere you go, you see governments upgrading their airports and infrastructural facilities and people are happy to pay their taxes because they can see what governments are using their taxes for. But the Benin-Lagos highway has been under construction since the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, President Goodluck Jonathan inherited it, it outlasted him and the Buhari government’s first term is over and the portions that were completed when it started have spoiled. So, what do you say?
Page 2 and 3: PAGE 2—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 2
Page 10 and 11: PAGE 10—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY
Page 14 and 15: PAGE 14— SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY
Page 16 and 17: PAGE 16 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY
Page 20 and 21: PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUAR
Page 24 and 25: PAGE 24 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUAR
Page 30 and 31: PAGE 30 - SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY
Page 32 and 33: PAGE 32 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUAR
Page 36 and 37: PAGE 36—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY
Page 42 and 43: Viewpoint By Victor Fagbulu As Ogun
Page 46 and 47: 46 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 26,
Page 48: SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 26, 2020 S

26012020 - How bad an example was set in Zamfara

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?