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Friday Sermon: A Season of Death

Published

5 years ago

March 15, 2019

Eric

By Babatunde Jose

Verily the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone).

It is He Who sends down rain, and He Who knows what is in the wombs.

Nor does anyone know what it is that he will earn on the morrow:

Nor does anyone know in what land he is to die.

Verily with Allah is full knowledge and He is acquainted with all things.

(Quran 31:34)

The gate of heaven is opened and there appears to be a rush to enter the Kingdom. It started from the onset of the New Year and no doubt has assumed epidemic proportion. There is death everywhere. It’s another ‘season of death’. People sleeping without getting up, for flimsy excuses such as a slight headache or sometimes for no reason at all: Some have gone for the simple reasons of engaging in Ballot Box snatching, picking the wrong pocket or even jaywalking! Last Wednesday, in Lagos a three story building housing an illegal school collapsed killing 16, 12 of whom were school children. There is however a spiritual reality to life as we know it. It is therefore appropriate for us to see the most recent deaths in this light. How else can we explain the death of our friend, brother, classmate and compatriot Ambassador Mustapha Abiodun Oluremi Dada-Bashua, who perished in the Ethiopian Airline crash last Sunday in Ethiopia; a country where he retired to after a meritorious service in our External Affairs, International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations Peace keeping in Darfur, Sudan and several other assignments where he served meritoriously without blemish. He was an accomplished diplomat extra-ordinary, a leader of men and a fine gentleman.

Biodun’s death encapsulate the saying that we live in seasons; “there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die . . . a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. This is however, our time to weep and mourn the death of a loved one. Ecc.3:1-4.

We might ask: what gaineth a man after all the toils of life, if all our efforts end in death? This is a big lesson for us to reflect on. Fifty-two years after passing out of Ahmadiyya Grammar School, Eleyele, Ibadan, thence to Ijebu Moslem College, University of Ibadan, NYSC in Maiduguri, Ministry of External Affairs, French language course in Dijon, postings all over the world, including Iran, Ivory Coast and later the Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, a stint with the UN Peace Keeping in Sudan and many other assignments, life has to come to an end in a plane crash. What have we gained after the toils in life? The Ecclesiastes asked: “What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it . . . . . . And God will call the past to account.”

The departed has left this life which is full of wickedness and injustice. “But definitely, God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

Our fate is not different from that of other creations of God: “Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?” Ecc.3:1-22

The Holy Quran tells us in 2:156: “when . . . visited by an affliction, say, Ina Lillahi wa Ina Ilehi Raji’un; ‘Surely we belong to God, and to Him we return”. At this moment we mourn other unfortunate victims of the ill-fated flight; 152 souls in one fell swoop. Allah knows best.

It is important for us to remember the admonition in Sura Muminum, which is a call to do all the good we can while there is time: The Almighty says, “Until, when death comes to one of them, he says, ‘My Lord, send me back again. So that perhaps I may act rightly regarding the things I failed to do!’ No indeed! . . .. . Then when the Trumpet is blown, that Day there will be no family ties between them, they will not be able to question one another. . . . . . . . Did you suppose that We created you for amusement and that you would not return to Us?’” (Quran 23:99-115). Surely we must all return to our maker just as our brother has. We must therefore remember death, seeing that it will come when it must.

“The most sagacious one from among you is he who remembers death the most, and the most prudent one from among you is he who is the most prepared for it.” – (Alam al-Din, no. 333)

Remember: Allah will not give anyone more time, once their time has come. Allah is aware of everything you do.” (63:9-11)

May the souls of the departed Rest in Peace and our brother ‘Tafa’ as my late father used to call him, be admitted to Jannatul Firdous; Amin.

Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend

+2348033110822

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Breaking: Wike Plans to Attend Thursday’s PDP NEC Meeting

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, may have concluded plans to attend the much advertised National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), billed to hold on Thursday, in Abuja.

Impeccable source, who is in the know, told The Boss that the minister, whose membership of the PDP is yet to be revoked even as he frolicks with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and serving in the President Bola Tinubu government as a minister.

The Source told The Boss that Wike’s impending presence at the NECeeting on Thursday is not unconnected with plans, already hatched with some governors, to weaken the opposition PDP.

“Yes, we have on good authority that FCT minister, Wike is planning to attend the NEC meeting tomorrow all in a bid to weaken the fabrics of the PDP, and pave the way for the continuation of the Tinubu administration come 2027, and by extension, relapse Nigeria to a full blown one party state.

“From every indication, Wike and his co-travellers, are bent on unleashing the same crisis ravaging the third force, Labour Party, and Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso’s Nigerian National People’s Party (NNPP) on the PDP for the APC to remain the only political party in the country, and ensure that Tinubu has no challenger, come 2027,” the Source said.

It would be recalled that Wike has boasted over and again that there’s no opposition against Tinubu’s re-emergence in 2027, and that they have made sure of that. He has been compensated with the Ministerial job after he withdrew support for his party, and supported the APC and Tinubu to emerge as national government.

The Source further revealed that in the attempt to actualize the intended one party state, a lot of funding is ongoing to ensure that concerned stakeholders are ‘settled’ handsomely.

Wike, prior, during and after the 2023 general elections, has been floating in between the two major political parties; the APC and the PDP. While he claim to still be a member of the PDP, he is functioning as a minister in an APC government, mocking the inability of his party to discipline him.

Political stakeholders have concluded that the outcome of Thursday’s PDP NEC meeting will determine the path Nigeria’s political trajectory will take, and that it may portend the end of multi-party system and political democracy if Wike succeeds in his plan.

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Bribery, Corruption: APC Suspends National Chairman, Ganduje

Published

5 days ago

April 15, 2024

Eric

The All Progressives Congress ward in Ganduje, Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area, has suspended the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje.

The party ward legal adviser, Halliru Gwanzo, announced the suspension while addressing newsmen in Kano State on Monday.

Gwanzo cited allegations of bribery against Ganduje levelled by the Kano State Government as the reason for the suspension.

“We decided to suspend Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje from the party due to the seriousness of the allegations against him,” Gwanzo said.

Meanwhile, efforts to contact the Chief Press Secretary to the APC National Chairman, Mr Edwin Olufo, failed as his mobile phone was unreachable.

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Akpabio Commits to Collaboration with Tinubu, Governor Umo Eno

Published

1 week ago

April 12, 2024

Admin

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has stated his commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and Governor Umo Eno to ensure the delivery of democratic benefits to the people of Akwa Ibom State.

Akpabio stated this in his country home, Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, while briefing his constituents on the journey so far as their representative in the red chamber.

He assured the people of Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District of his commitment to their welfare in appreciation of their total support for him, President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in last year’s election.

The Highpoint of the constituency briefing was the distribution of over 10,000 bags of rice and other essentials for his constituents from the wards, to the local governments.

A statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Jackson Udom, quoted Akpabio as saying, “I am here once again, to thank you for standing by me, our President and the party, before, during and even after last year’s elections. I have come to say thank you and also bring Renewed Hope to you all.

“As the President is doing his own, the Senate President is also doing his bit and being complemented by the state governor, Akwa Ibom would be the better for it. We have finished elections and politics, we are now into governance. The governor of the state must touch you, because he is the governor of all the people in the state irrespective of political affiliation.

” As I am touching you now from the political angle, I will also touch the state without any political party affiliation. Most of the projects we are putting in place would be used by people resident in the state. Relax, things are getting better.”

The former Governor of the state, assured his constituents that his current position as the Senate President would be used for the development of the state in collaboration with the President and the Akwa Ibom State Governor.

Hear him: This Senate President is not the one that would be fighting the state government. I will collaborate with , I will collaborate with , to make the state better for us all. We cannot be out of government for a long time. You have to go to a government that carries you along”

Akpabio promised to work for his constituents and Nigeria with all his strength, noting that, “as the President of the Senate, I am for the Southern region and the entire country. I may not come here regularly to tell you what I have been doing for you, but you will be feeling the impact on way or the other. Our unemployed youths would be gainfully employed. I will construct a mini stadium in all the local governments in the district, for our youths to develop their sporting potentials. ”