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The travails of Apostle Johnson Suleiman and the inciting words of the Sultan of Sokoto (Part 2) By FFK

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An article written by Femi-Fani Kayode. Keep reading.
President Donald J. Trump summed it up rather well when he said, in reference to the Islamist terrorists and those that derive joy from committing genocide against Christians, that “they are sneaky dirty rats. They blow up people in a shopping centres and they blow up people in a church”.
He went on to say “we are fighting sneaky rats right now that are sick and demented. And we are going to win.”
Finally he said, “the execution of Christians is no longer acceptable”.

How right President Trump is. I thank God for his life every day. With him as leader of the free world, win we shall.

Yet sadly our Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who is undoubtedly a fine gentleman and who is a practising Pentecostal Christian, appears to be helpless and has done absolutely nothing to help and protect his own from the “sneaky dirty rats”.

Clearly he has no power and he does not have the disposition or the political will and clout to take a stand against this great evil.

The best he could do was to issue a tepid statement telling Nigerian religious and political leaders not to allow religion to drive us apart.

He did not condemn the genocide that was being perpetrated by the Fulani militias and neither did he commiserate with the families of those that were butchered or express regret about the inability of the Federal Government to prevent the carnage.

The persecution and killings of Christians appears to just goes on and on even when we have a man that is a Christian as our Acting President.

Yet consider what happens when Christian leaders complain and speak out against the mass murder, the genocide and the insidious attempt to wipe away our faith from the face of the earth.

When our Christian clerics and political leaders rise up and call on Christians to defend themselves and their families where and when the state refuses or is unable to defend them against the practitioners of radical Islamic terror and the barbaric and cruel Fulani Janjaweed militias, our government starts storming their homes, locking them up and inviting them for questioning.

President Buhari and his government is arresting, questioning, detaining and harassing those that are being subjected to ethnic cleansing and genocide on a daily basis and they are turning a blind eye to those that are inciting and doing the killing!!!

I say shame on them. And let this be made abundantly clear: no-one is intimidated or scared of arrest or even death because eventually death must come to us all.

There are at least 100 million Christians in Nigeria today and Buhari cannot kill us all or lock us all up.

To the last man and woman we will continue to call on our people and our brothers and sisters in Christ to defend themselves, their homes and their loved ones wherever and whenever they are attacked by those that hate and seek to wipe out our faith where the government of the day refuses or fails in its constitutional duty to defend and protect us.

The Christians of Nigeria will no longer behave like lambs that are silently being led to the slaughter. We will no longer be killed without a fight.

Our God and our constitution requires us to protect our own and fight back when we are attacked and that is precisely what we will do.

The great American patriot and one of the principal players in the war of independence against British colonial rule, Thomas Jefferson said,

“When injustice becomes a law, resistance becomes a duty.”

The leaders and the people of Nigeria need to learn from these profound words and take a cue from them.

Nobody likes violence and no-one wants a religious war. Peace and peaceful co-existence has always been our preference and has always been the Christian way.

However it must be clearly understood that if the radical Muslims in our midst insist on waging a bloody Jihad against us, we will not sit by idly and we will defend ourselves. Everyone must be clear on this. It would be a case of mutually assured destruction.

That is why the violence and the genocide that the Fulani militants are indulging in and perpetrating all over the north against Christians must stop.

That is why they must be arrested, prosecuted and hanged for their crimes against humanity.

His grace Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde of the Methodist Church got it right when he said,

“Suleiman should be law-abiding, let him go and face the DSS. Let us see if they will detain him and they will detain so many religious leaders in Abuja. Nigeria is greater than any religion and Nigeria is greater than anybody. The DSS should watch it. If they like, let me be the next victim. What is annoying them is that Suleiman converted from Islam to Christianity. Self-defence is permissible; they slapped our first cheek. They slapped the second cheek and we have no other cheek to turn for them. We may therefore resort to self-defence because this thing is becoming intolerable.”

The Prelate has spoken the mind of every right-thinking Christian in the country. Whatever happens to us as individuals does not matter. The only thing that matters is the defence of our people and our Church and the survival of our faith.

The Apostle Paul tells us in the Holy Bible that “to live is Christ and to die is gain”. Consequently we do not fear what any man, any government or any cruel despot and tyrant can do to us.

Rather we count it all as joy. When we are absent in the body, we are present with the Lord. As they say, Christians don’t die: they only change address.

The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was spread by the blood of the martyrs and the suffering and sacrifice of the saints.

The history of the Christian faith and the Church over the last 2000 years since the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is replete with examples of such suffering and sacrifice.

The matter is simple and clear: the more Christians you torment, persecute, lock up and kill, the more the glorious gospel of our Lord and master will flourish and grow. It is a deep and inexplicable mystery but it is very real.

You cannot kill Christianity. You cannot shake our faith. You cannot stop the spreading of the gospel. You cannot deny us our rights. You cannot overwhelm us. You cannot intimidate us and you cannot defeat the God that we serve.

And, like Pharaoh, some may ask “who is this God?” The answer is as follows:

He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Blood of the Sprinkling, the Holy One of Israel and the I Am, That I Am.

He is the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the Lamb of God, the Lord of Life, the El Shaddai, the Elohim, the Adonai and the Ancient of Days.

He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the God of Gideon, Jeptha and Samson. He is the God of Moses, Joshua and David and the God of Daniel, Shedrack, Mishak and Abendego.

He is the solid Rock on which we stand and the holy foundation on which Peter built the Church. He is the husband of the widow and the father of the fatherless. He is the defender of the weak, the healer of the sick and the provider for the poor.

He is the Comforter whose Holy Spirit hovers like a small white dove and who roars and burns like a conquering lion and an all-consuming fire.

He is the Seven-fold Spirit of the Heavenly Hosts and the source and power of the four great winds of the earth.

He is the Man of War, the Prince of Peace, the Creator of the Universe and the Lord of Hosts.

He is the God of the Armies of Israel, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end and the giver and taker of life.

He is the God of all flesh who holds the universe together by the power of His word. He is the slayer of Pharaoh and Herod: none can stand against Him and creation bows before Him.

That is who He is and not even one hundred million inciting words from the Sultan of Sokoto or anyone else can change that.

For the Christians of Nigeria, despite all that we see, we must always remember that He is with us and, in the end, He will make all things beautiful.

We must shed our fears and, if nothing else, we must always remember that “to live is Christ and to die is gain!!!”

May the Lord deliver His people from the rising tide of evil in our country and may He strike down those that delight in shedding the blood of His children and in crushing the bones of His servants. Shalom. (Concluded.)

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Oil marketers counter Dangote

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Oil marketers counter Dangote

Oil marketers counter Dangote over allegation of substandard product importation

 

The Depots and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN) has countered the claim by Dangote Refinery that any oil importers landing petrol at a price cheaper than what the refinery is selling are importing substandard products and conniving with international traders to dump low quality products into Nigeria.

The refinery had made the claim on Sunday.

In a statement yesterday, DAPPMAN’s Executive Secretary, Olufemi Adewole, said none of its members was engaging in activities that could shortchange Nigerian fuel users by conniving with anyone to bring in low quality product into the country.

 

“We’ve said this for the umpteenth time, and it bears repeating, those in the downstream sector business of petroleum products trade are patriotic Nigerians who will not shortchange Nigerian citizens for filthy lucre. Our members are in this business to add value to the businesses of their fellow Nigerians and not to defraud them.

 

“Prices of products in the international market are dynamic as they’re dictated by prevailing circumstances at every given situation. We calculate our landing costs based on the dynamics of market forces, and the templates are always in the public domain. To claim that if the landing cost of imported product happens to be lower than that of the refinery indicates importation of low quality product is not only preposterous, but also fallacious. In any case, the management of the refinery has, until now, kept its cost and prices close to its chest and put it away from public scrutiny. “

“This type of submission, targeted at projecting our members negatively before the public, cannot help the management’s desire to have oil marketers patronise its products. What will ensure such patronage is transparency, fair play, and readiness to compete with others, including foreign refineries, on an even keel and on a level playing field.”

Adewole said the disclosure by the refinery’s management that the facility has a huge stock of 500 million litres fuel reserve came to its members as news.

“We were surprised because we believe that if the refinery has such huge stock, it’s the marketers that should be put in the know first.

‘Secondly, it was even more surprising given that the news came about the time the refinery was working on rationing what each marketer could pick from the refinery. If they had such huge stock, how is it then that they’re rationing what marketers could buy?

“On all these developments in the industry, the position of our members is very clear: we’ve always played by the rules, and we’ll continue to play by the rules. We’ll not be tired of advocating for a level playing field and a highly competitive and transparent sector that’s devoid of arm twisting and devoid of any form of dominant tendencies,” he said.

Similarly, the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) said it had concluded plans to import the best quality petroleum product and sell at far cheaper prices.

The association said it was awaiting the NMDPRA to grant it import licence, saying it “has successfully incorporated a strategic business unit called PETROL.”

Its spokesman, Joseph Obele, said PETROAN had concluded plans with her foreign refinery counterparts and financial partners to import the best quality of PMS and “then sell far less than the present selling rate of PMS in Nigeria.”

He said the allegations that PETROAN would import inferior products and that an international company was trying to establish a PMS blending plant in Lagos “are all strategies for Dangote Refinery to push others out of the market…”

Also, Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, in a statement by its Chief Executive Officer, Bob Dickerman,  denied blending substandard petroleum products.

 

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Why Protesters demanded Kyari’s resignation

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Why Protesters demanded Kyari’s resignation

Why Protesters demanded Kyari’s resignation

 

Scores of youths stormed the headquarters of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited on Monday, demanding the immediate resignation of the Group Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mele Kyari.

The protesters, led by some Civil Society Organisations, described Kyari’s leadership as incompetent, citing skyrocketing fuel prices, endless fuel queues, and economic hardship in Nigeria.

The protesters carrying placards with different inscriptions such as “we demand the immediate resignation of Kyari”, among others, said the leadership of the NNPCL boss has failed.

The aggrieved youths led by Abdullahi Bilal of the (Two Million Man March Against Oil Scam Cabal) and Barrister Napoleon Otache and Olayemi Isaac from Citizens and Economic Freedom Rights Activists in Nigeria demanded immediate action to address what they described as failed leadership in managing the country’s oil sector.

Central to the protests were grievances over skyrocketing fuel prices and the never-ending queues, which they argued have driven inflation and plunged millions of Nigerians into poverty.

They also decried the importation of adulterated fuel, which they said is a corrupt practice that harms citizens by damaging vehicles and businesses.

They demanded an immediate halt to these imports and accountability for those responsible, questioning how substandard fuel continues to enter the country despite quality control assurances.

Additionally, the group criticized the unfulfilled promise of the Dangote refinery to resolve Nigeria’s fuel crisis, expressing frustration over the billions of dollars spent on refinery development and refurbishing existing facilities.

They argued that despite these investments, fuel shortages persist, leaving Nigeria reliant on costly imports even as an oil-producing nation.

They urged President Bola Tinubu to intervene by overhauling leadership in the oil sector, enforcing greater accountability, and putting citizens’ needs first. The protesters vowed to continue mobilizing until their demands for reform and transparency are met.

Speaking to journalists during the mass demonstration, Abdullahi Bilal said, “The Two Million Man March stands as a united voice for every citizen who has been betrayed by a system that continues to enrich a few at the expense of many.

“Today, we call for the immediate resignation of the current leadership in the country’s oil sector. Their management has failed Nigerians.

“Under their watch, we have seen fuel prices skyrocket without consultation or consideration of the devastating impact on the people. We have endured fuel scarcity while substandard, adulterated fuel is imported, causing further hardship.

“We demand the complete removal of the fraudulent fuel subsidy regime that has only served to enrich a select few. Full deregulation is necessary to introduce transparency, competition, and fairness to our oil sector.”

On their part, Otache and Isaac, insisted, “This act of economic sabotage has led to endless fuel queues, skyrocketing fuel prices, and unprecedented disruptions in the daily lives of Nigerians.

“We demand an immediate end to fuel queues, transparency, and accountability from all involved parties.  We want to know how substandard fuel continues to enter the country despite assurances of quality control.”

On July 7, 2019, former President Mohammadu Buhari appointed Kyari as the 19th GMD of NNPC, but with the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act, his current portfolio is without recourse to previous employment ranks in the company.

NNPCL reacts

Reacting, the NNPCL spokesperson, Femi Soneye, said the protestors lack understanding of the sector.

He explained that contrary to their agitation, the GCEO ensured Nigerians had access to fuel at N620 per litre for over a year, even when the landing cost was above N1,100.

Responding via a chat, Soneye said, “Unfortunately, they lack understanding of the sector. If they were informed, they would know that the GCEO is not responsible for the fuel price increase; in fact, he ensured Nigerians had access to fuel at N620 per litre for over a year, even when the landing cost was above N1,100.”

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Renewed Hope Agenda and Impacts in Aviation* By Mary Odoma

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Renewed Hope Agenda and Impacts in Aviation* By Mary Odoma

*Renewed Hope Agenda and Impacts in Aviation*

By Mary Odoma

 

President Bola Tinubu’s knack for selecting top talent is unparalleled. In his quest to build a prosperous Nigeria, he’s assembled an exceptional team. By leveraging their expertise, experience, and strategic insight, he’s fostering national stability, economic growth, and a sustainable future.

His latest win is in Aviation and Aerospace Development, where he’s appointed a fearless and straightforward leader, Festus Keyamo, SAN. Keyamo’s commitment to excellence makes him an ideal fit. President Tinubu’s vision for Nigeria is taking shape, and his leadership choices are truly commendable.

A dedicated, charismatic and impactful lawyer, the dynamic and astute developer is a terror to mischief makers and enemies of progress. A tough and forceful personality who is determined with an ultimate goal to change Nigeria.

Appointed on 21st August 2023 as the helmsman of the Ministry, Keyamo has been unwavering in his drive for positive transformation, reforming the sector and bringing about enduring positive impact in a transparent manner.

Renewed Hope Agenda and Impacts in Aviation*
By Mary Odoma

His Ministry has the core mandate of regulating air travel and aviation services in the country. It is also responsible for overseeing air transportation, air development, maintenance, provision of aviation infrastructural services and other needs.

A very patriotic Nigerian, Chief Festus has several achievements, in line with the Renewed Hope Aviation Roadmap approved by President Tinubu to his credit.

In a steadfast commitment towards revitalizing the nation’s aviation sector, Mr Keyamo was able to ensure the approval of the concession of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (MAKIA), Kano Airports. This is in line with the initiation of the Nigerian Airport Concession Strategy.

Also, in line with the Federal Ministry of Aviation Roadmap, Chief Keyamo initiated the signing of an MoU with the Nile University for the take-off of African Aviation and Aerospace University (AU). This milestone achievement of the Minister aims to integrate and create an avenue for the training, research and development of ready middle-class manpower for the sector.

Equally, under his watch, the pragmatic leader led the Ministry into partnership with the ICRC and also a collaboration with the IFC on infrastructural development. This partnership is to both develop and implement a comprehensive and durable framework that will meet the infrastructural needs of the sector over a long period.

Through Keyamo’s congruence and dynamism, the BASA arrangement is another revolutionary innovation aimed at ensuring the operationalization of direct flights between Nigeria and Brazil.

Keyamo’s motivation and altruistic devotion to having a functional aviation and aerospace sector also moved him to upgrade the Muhammadu Buhari, Airport, Maiduguri to the standard of an international airport. This airport is ready to commence full operation on January 1, 2025

In the area of staff motivation, retirees of the Ministry now have no cause for alarm as their interest is covered. Recently, the Ministry honoured 24 retirees drawn from the lowest rung to the highest. It is in a bid to acknowledge those who have contributed immensely to the growth and development of the sector as Nation-builders.

His prompt response to issues including distress reveals an empathetic personality and someone who is very much alive to his responsibilities. Recently, while reacting to the accident involving a helicopter on the 24th October 2024, Mr Keyamo, immediately upon receiving the distress call, activated protocols aimed at search and rescue operations, mandating all relevant bodies to do everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of the passengers on board the ill-fated vehicle.

The Minister was also actively involved with all the relevant agencies towards ensuring a coordinated response. His active and physical involvement led to the minimization of casualties.

In a show of collaboration and solidarity, the Hon. Minister travelled to far away Marrakesh, Morrocco, to give support to the 2024 International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) congress. His presence was to underpin the importance the federal government attaches to the role of the transport workers in stabilizing the aviation sector.

Festus Keyamo as the Honourable Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development is certainly the best thing that has happened to the industry. He has exhibited passion, dedication and selfless forthrightness in the discharge of his duties and a total comprehension of what it takes to carry out his roles. He is well-groomed for the job and his background has helped him greatly towards shaping the positive impact he is making on society.

Today, Festus has proved that a faithful, disciplined, and dedicated Nigerian can stand out of the crowd because he symbolizes what governance is all about. These feats can only be achieved by a man with the right comportment and conduct in the service of humanity and the fatherland.

Deserving of note is that Chief Keyamo, through the foresight of President Tinubu has well-prepared team leaders appointed as heads of the agencies of the Ministry.

The supportive and collaborative roles of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Nigeria Metrological Agency, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Nigeria Airspace Management, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and the Nigeria Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), have brought about those tangible and noticeable volte-face experienced today in the Aviation sector.

With Keyamo at the helm, Nigeria’s aviation sector is experiencing a transformative shift, thanks to President Tinubu’s foresight in appointing well-prepared team leaders. The Nigeria College of Aviation Technology, Nigeria Metrological Agency, and others are working together to bring about tangible change. Keyamo’s dedication, discipline, and commitment to service have improved Nigeria’s image and reformed the aviation and aerospace sectors.

Odoma is the President of New Nigeria Network [NNN[ writing from Abuja.

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