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Iwuanyanwu denies telling Igbo to put aside Igbo presidency

Published

10 months ago

July 4, 2023

Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu

Iwuanyanwu denies telling Igbo to put aside Igbo presidency

OHANAEZE Ndigbo Worldwide has described as mischievous media reports that Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, it’s president general said that Igbo should put aside the issue of Igbo presidency.

A statement by Alex Ogbonnaya, national publicity secretary, made available to Realnews on July 3, said on the contrary, a Iwuanyanwu stated the major issues that justified the Igbo enthusiasm for presidency in 2023.

The full statement reads:

The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has been drawn to the news making the rounds to the effect that the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Engr. Dr. Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, CFR (Ahaejiagamba) has asked “the Igbos to put aside the issue of Igbo presidency”, amongst others.

“The foregoing remark is the height of a mischievous sensational press hyperbole, aimed at marketing their newspapers. That the Igbo should put aside the issue of Igbo Presidency” is a whimsical conjecture that represents the distorted imaginations of the maladjusted news purveyors.

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“Engr. Iwuanyanwu granted interview to a few journalist on Tuesday, July 2, 2023 and used to occasion to address the major issues that justified the Igbo enthusiasm for presidency in 2023. The report by Naijatweet captured the kernel of the discourse: I crave your indulgence to reproduce the Naijatweet version. “Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has offered insights into the Igbos’ support for Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party candidate, in the recent election. In a press interview, he explained that the Igbos believed it was finally their turn to produce the next President, after a prolonged wait since 1979.

“According to Iwuanyanwu, the region had consistently supported other Presidents from the South in the past. The Igbos have been deprived of holding top-level positions since 1979 when General Olusegun Obasanjo handed over power to the civilians… In 1993, General Ibrahim Babangida handed over power to Chief Ernest Shonekan, a Yoruba.

“Iwuanyanwu recalled that the Presidential election won by Moshood Abiola, was unfortunately denied him. He said that Abiola was his close friend, and “I supported him wholeheartedly. Even after Abiola’s victory was unjustly denied, Ernest Shonekan, was appointed as the head of the Interim National Government. Following the military era, the next civilian government was led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, both from the South West of Nigeria…Later, the Presidency moved to the South-South with Goodluck Jonathan, and Yemi Osinbajo, from the South West served as the Vice President. Now that the Presidency has been zoned to the South once again, the Igbos rightfully believe it is their turn.

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“Iwuanyanwu added that he contested presidency three times and has decided not to pursue that ambition any more. That was the kernel of Iwuanyanwu remarks.

“Chief Iwuanyanwu used the interview to point out that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is his personal friend for years but that he will never place his personal interest above the aspirations and justifications for the good people of the South East. Ahaejiagamba wondered how an Igbo leader could ask the Igbo to put aside the issue of presidency at a point the Peter Obi impressive exploits are gaining traction at the Presidential Election Petition Court in Abuja. Therefore, for anyone to suggest that the Igbo should put aside the issue of presidency is a false news, mundane speculation that dwells in bowels of the purveyors.

“Since his assumption of Office as the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Iwuanyanwu has remained consistent on a transformative philosophical framework that will change the Igbo Land. Iwuanyanwu maintains that the Igbo have the disruptive ingenuity that will transform the Igbo to an economic hub for the entire Africa.

“The Igbo Leader is very enthusiastic that the human and capital resources that the Almighty has endowed the Igbo are sufficient to put us on a top economic scale beyond the Nigerian ethnocentrism. Ahaejiagamba reminds the Igbo that this is a trying period that with God, we will ultimately overcome.”

Related Topics:Igbo Presidency Iwuanyanwu

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Nigerian pastor under fire over porn-addiction remedy

Published

9 mins ago

May 4, 2024

Trends Admin

Abel Damina

Nigerian pastor under fire over porn-addiction remedy

Popular Nigerian pastor and founder of Abel Damina Ministries International, Dr Abel Damina, has been knocked for his comment on the remedy to porn addiction.

Damina gave his submission while speaking on Comfort FM’s Righteous Invasion of Truth (RIOT) programme in Uyo in late February.

The clip of the sermon made the rounds on Thursday, where the pastor was asked how a person addicted to pornography could stop and get rid of it totally.

He advised such persons not to struggle to stop but should keep watching while listening to the word of God at the same time.

“Don’t struggle to stop watching the porn. Don’t struggle at all. Just keep watching the porn. As you are watching the porn, spend more time hearing the ‘word’. If you watch porn for one hour, spend three to four hours hearing the word of God.

“Take not. Go get all my teachings on Christ. Just keep learning and learning. After a while, you will find out that your appetite for porn is dying, and the appetite for the word of God is growing. Before you know it, when you see porn, you will be irritated.

“Word of God will kill that appetite completely and give you a healthy appetite. That’s what to do. Don’t try to stop. In fact, keep watching, but spend more time studying God’s word, and you will find out that before you know it, your desire for porn would be gone,” the pastor stated.

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However, this submission has been greeted by dissension, especially from conservative Christians on social media who believed that the pastor was encouraging people, mostly addicts, to sin.

A prominent pastor, Gideon Odoma of the Fortress Ministry, countered Damina’s submission while labelling pornography as a perversion.

“Christains have trivialise sexcapades. The things God call iniquities, we must never call it flexing,” he said.

The pastor, who had previously slammed Damina and Apostle Suleman for supporting the Old Testament over the New Testament, remarked that both of them have wrong teaching and their objective is to derail the Christians.

“The Damina and Suleman terms are wrong. It as if their only objective in life is to derail believers so they have a lot of time on their hands and they find different creative ways to say the same useless things — Your sin does not matter — they find all sorts of ways to discredit as it were,” he said.

Another prominent pastor, Chris Oyakhilome, while quoting Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 15, submitted that pornography is a sin that should be avoided completely.

He emphasised that God recognised nakedness as a feeling of shame because pornography is synonymous with prostitution as it draws from Greek’s linguistic corpus —pony—meaning prostitute.

“The indication is that once nakedness is being made public, it is a shame when you’re not a child. As far as God is concerned, that is a shame.

“It started from Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden apple. Their eyes were open and they found that they were naked and then covered themselves with leaves and hid from God. Christians desist from it. Those who believe in Jesus should not do it,” he stressed.

Aside from Oyakhilome and Odoma, some other Christians are lending their voice to fault Damina’s sermon.

One Rachael, who tweeted with the handle, @ab_seyi wrote, “I am fighting tears. Lord help this man, help his followers, help him not to die like this. This is sad.”

Sandra Okafor with the handle, @okaforsandra20 said, “Even the Bible said ‘flee from every appearance of evil’. You can’t want to stop doing something and still be doing it, expecting a miracle to happen because you’re reading the word of God. As one of the cessation steps for smokers, they’re advised to throw away and move away from their triggers, be it the cigarette boxes, lighters, smoking partners, and smoking environment, because you gradually become what you’re constantly exposed to. So this advice is biblically and also morally wrong.

“You’re supposed to throw away all triggers that make you want to watch porn and as you do your part, you ask the Holy Spirit to empower you and deliver you from its grip. It’s normal to stumble but thank God for the mercies of God that bring us back to Him.”

Nonetheless, while endorsing the contentious claim, Pastor Oge, the lead pastor of Circle Church, said he struggled with poor addiction in the early stage of his life, and despite seeing a therapist to stop the act, it continued.

Nigerian pastor under fire over porn-addiction remedy

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Sanwo-Olu appoints KWAM1’S daughter as aide

Published

14 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Trends Admin

Sanwo-Olu appoints KWAM1’S daughter as aide

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has appointed Basirat Damilola Marshall as the Senior Special Assistant on Tourism.

Damilola Marshall, the daughter of Fuji maestro, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall popularly known as KWAM1, disclosed this on her Instanstory on Instagram Thursday.

Her appointment has been attracting congratulatory messages from Nigerians.

In a recent viral video, KWAM1, during a performance at the coronation and birthday reception of Oba Sikirullah Apena on Thursday, thanked Sanwo-Olu for appointing his daughter into his cabinet.

The fuji singer noted that it was his daughter, Damilola, who asked him to publicly thank the governor for her appointment.

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She posted a flier with the logo of the Lagos State Government on her Instastory with, “Contraulations! Barrister Damilola Basirat Ayinde Marshall Esq on being appointed as SSA to the Governor of Lagos on Tourism.”

Congratulating her on the appointment, a Nigerian, Olanrewaju-Smart Wasiu, wrote, “Congratulations Barr. @damimarshall_ on your appointment as the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Tourism. This is a deserving recognition for your hard work and contributions to our party”, to which she responded by saying “Thank you, sir.”

Another person, Balogun Basia wrote, “Please, join me in congratulating my friend K1 and the entire family on the appointment of my daughter Barrister Basirat Damilola Marshall as the SSA to the governor of Lagos State on Tourism. Damilola, this shall be the beginning of many good things that will come your way and that of your siblings Insha Allah, Alaumoh Amin.”

Sanwo-Olu appoints KWAM1’S daughter as aide

News

I never said I’m a billionaire— Ex-Anambra CP

Published

14 hours ago

May 3, 2024

Trends Admin

Retired Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, CP Aderemi Adeoye

I never said I’m a billionaire— Ex-Anambra CP

Aderemi Adeoye, a retired commissioner of police in Anambra, has disowned claims that he described himseld as a “billionaire.”

Adeoye said this on ‘The Morning Show’, an Arise Television programme, on Friday.

He said that he has never amassed wealth nor abuse his office, adding that the civil service rules and police code of conduct does not bar anyone from investing neither is the law against buying shares.

The retired commissioner also denied saying he would compete with Aliko Dangote, the Forbes’ richest African in 10 years time.

The group accused him of operating a “Ponzi scheme” and misappropriating funds meant for investments in Alpha Trust Investment Club, the cooperative co-founded by him

“May I request that you provide the clip where I said I am now a billionaire,” Adeoye said.

“I never said so and i am shocked that erudite journalist of very high reputation will simply run with a story they never researched. I have never said anything of such. I weigh my words before I alter them and every word say, i say in good faith. I never said I am now a billionaire and anyone who has proved to be contrary is challenged to produce it. Now going to whether I have used my office. Those who make their assertion can also prove that if they have evidence.

“I have never abused my office. I have never amassed wealth. I have never done anything that is against civil service rules or any law known to man.

“Civil service rules and police code of conduct does not bar anyone from investing. There is no law against buying shares. There is no law against investing in land or property. The only thing is that you must be able to justify the means.

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On April 27, the commissioner bowed out of service after 35 years of service and 10 months of leading the police command in the state.

He revealed that during his service period, he equipped himself through trainings in Nigeria and abroad, gained financial education, leading to the establishment of an investment club in 2018.

Olusegun Adeniyi, a former presidential spokesperson and chairman of THISDAY editorial board, in article tittled “The Billionaire Police Commissioner” alleged Adeoye to have said his net worth is now N20 billion and he has set his eyes on displacing Aliko Dangote as the richest man in Africa within the next ten years.

Adeniyi said he is not opposed to legitimate ‘side hustles’ but there is a problem when public officials acquire stupendous wealth that is impossible to explain and then make a show of it.

He added that he conducted a search at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC)and google search, and the results were shocking as a business concern with a portfolio of N20 billion is not listed at the CAC.

Reacting to this, the retired commissioner said he did the same google search himself and found several entries that explained to the world what the investment club does and its mode of operation.

“It is an investment club that has an arm that is registered with the local state government as a cooperative and we are registered with the corporate affairs commission (CAC) Olusegun Adeniyi, in his verdict calling, claimed to have done a google search and he couldn’t find anything else,” the commissioner continued.

“Even though when I did the same google search myself, I found several entries that explained to the world what we do and how we do it. He said he checked the CAC database and he could not find us, meaning we are illegal, meaning we don’t exist. That’s a fallacy.

“I have our certificate of registration here, and I hereby display it for the world to see. This is for CAC. Not only are we registered with CAC, our armament files are up to date with the CAC. Like I mentioned earlier, our known arm is also registered with the local state government as a cooperative. Here is our school certificate issued by the EFCC. So you can begin to see when someone says we don’t exist, we are not registered, and I’ve shown evidence that we are, including registration with EFCC.

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Adeoye added that the former presidential spokesperson only found out a petition to the inspector general of police by renegade members expelled for criminal conduct.

“The inspector general of police is a disciplinarian. He does not tolerate nonsense and the IG will not condone an officer going into anything that is against the ethics of the job, and we look on, the IG never does that.

“The IG forwarded the petition to me in the spirit of fairness, and I replied, addressing every issue that was raised in the petition, the IGP was satisfied.

The retired commissioner clarified that the name of the club he founded is Alpha Trust Investment Club, adding that it is an investment forum and not a business entity.

“Our purpose is to invest. Not to do business. So we don’t have an office, We don’t have overhead costs, we have no employee. We don’t pay salary, we don’t run generator. We have no official car, we don’t refund the expenses of any kind.

“We never campaigned publicly for membership. We simply put out an update and our members informed their relations and friends who might be interested and for 5 years of our existence, we have paid dividends every year without fail. We pay dividends once a year. The question you ask about how we put resources together is very simple.

“Only thing members pay, those who are officials of the club, is their data and that data each person uses for his work is seen as their individual contribution to the growth of the club. Only thing we spend money on is organizing our meetings.

“Physical meetings and this is paid for by membership dues which is 5,000 Naira per member per annum for anyone to be a member, he must be a Nigerian. Irrespective of where he is domiciled in the world. Number two. He must have a visible means of livelihood. Which we verify. Usually we demand to see workplace identity card and we do further to verify. If he did, his documents are genuine. We do background check.

“We insist that any member we are to admit must not have a criminal record or a pending criminal matter at any police commission in Nigeria. Those who are pending matters with EFCC are excluded. Majority of our members are Nigerian professionals all over the world.

So, anyone to be admitted must meet these criteria. He has a visible means of livelihood. He is now free to indicate how many units of our shares he or she wishes to buy, subject to a minimum of 50,000 units.