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Awakening the Giant Within You: Arise and Shine!

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By Tolulope A. Adegoke

“What do you do? How do you do it? You have got to add something to that which makes you unique; It is called carving a niche for yourself, as this helps you to do the ordinary things in extraordinary ways!” –Tolulope A. Adegoke, Ph.D., FIMC, CMC, CMS, CIV, MNIM

What are you into? What are you selling? Is it real estate? You had better asked God by prayer to give you a revelation that would make your company a rare one. Are you a lawyer? Ask God for a real revelation about legal services…become specialized also by studying and working hard for it! The Angel said to Mary about Jesus Christ in the Book of life (Luke 1:31) “His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save people from sin.” That’s simply specialization. He would have only one job, He was named what His job is. That means, His area of specialization is “salvation”. That’s why Christ was so successful while on Earth, He stayed with His focus.

You were created with the seed of influence on the inside. The seed is in you, and that’s the gift from God Almighty, The Maker. You will never get your greatness from EDUCATION alone! Education cannot give you a seed, but can only refine the seed you have on the inside. That’s why it is important to know and understand your purpose, so that you can take the right education.

Your seed is in you, already. Every one of you reading this article right now were born with a unique seed. Some people may not believe this, and that why I have got to prove to you that Trees never take their fruits to the market. I have never seen a Mango or Apple tree run you down to give you its fruits or seeds. The Mango or Apple tree simply brings forth its fruits, and the market comes to the tree for harvest.

As at 2007, My Mentor of Blessed Memory, Dr. Myles Monroe said, he had over 700 invitations to speak from different countries of the world for the year 2008. These people went looking for him on a little Island, miles wide, because he refined a seed in several ways and terms, by reading voraciously, listening to tapes and CDs of master (mentor or teacher) in his areas of interests and calling, and ends up using theirs better than they had it. But some people might end up saying, I am not going to live like him, but that’s your personal issue, but why not learn from master (mentor or teacher) who had lived, who are living and who would still live, and then make it better than they (ever) did it.

Whatever made great men to be “what” or “who” they were or are today, were learned from other master (mentor or teacher) or professionals who had lived, but the way by which they release it is under their individual unique gifts. That’s why you must break your ego per time to consistently learn from others, listen to relevant tapes and CDs, read books and articles in your areas of interests and callings, because your “tree” alone will never make a forest! Your little knowledge alone can’t give your wishes a ‘kingdom’ of its own in this generation. Above all things, you must learn to sit at the feet of Master (mentor or teacher)s directly or indirectly to lean and learn from their wealth of experiences. Closely or from afar by studying their beings via their deeds or “products” that comes in form of books, tapes or CDs, write-ups and results or influence!

Drop your ego! it won’t take you farther than you are; learn to live on the shoulders of giants to become relevant across nations and all through generations. It doesn’t matter being like them, what matter most is knowing “what” they know or knew so that you can know and act (do) better. And, truly, this is the authentic meaning of the principal thing called underSTANDING – you must firstly stay under, learn under and lean under, earn under a Master (mentor or teacher) or a giant before you can be trusted enough to stand on their shoulders to be greater than them, in all things, and among all beings (it is called a track-record). Listen to top minds in your areas of calling and harden not your heart – give entrance to the teachings that comes from them to you. Listen and absorb these teachings and make it sound like yours in your own unique ways according to the anointing or gifting which are embedded in you! this is called research – that is, searching deep into what had been searched, before. Then the world would pay you to hear it over and over again. And while you watch films or programmes on the Cable TVs, great men are busy studying, listening to tapes and CDs. Be kind to yourself enough not to be trapped by (irrelevant) TV programmes and other ideals that doesn’t edify your spirit man nor favour your course or beings or purpose.

Reconstruct yourself with the right “knowledge” (light) – you must know relevant things in this current age, so as to have an edge for ages to come. You can’t release what you have not eaten and digested, you cannot give what you don’t have! Be true to yourself, be wise, not just for yourself, but also for those that are dying for the seeds or gift that you carry, which you have carelessly or ignorantly failed or refused to refine and release. Permit me to say that Cable TV is a ‘thief’, it steals your time and controls your emotion. You have got to manage that remote control of yours, otherwise, it will manage your life!

Refine your fruits, and people would come searching for you… you will be found! The remaining part of this year (2022) is loaded with power, influence and double celebrations. If you are going to influence, you have got to find your gift, and those who need it would come and find you. For instance, when you want Mango or Apple, you have got to locate the trees which produces or carries them. How then does an Apple or Mango tree become one? Paul in the Bible says, “forget about the former things, you have got to forget about some things and some people”. Don’t be emotional about your destiny, but be intentional! One of the major secrets is found in the Book of Genesis 1:26-28. God created you in His Own Image, and said unto you:

i.                   Be Fruitful

ii.                 Multiply

iii.              Replenish

iv.               Subdue, and have dominion over all the earth.

 

i.                   God said, “Be Fruitful”! He never said be “seed-ful”! He knew He had already deposited the seeds in you, when He formed you. It is impossible to be fruitful unless you have seeds in you. it is seeds that brings forth fruits. The word ‘fruitful’ in the Hebrew word means to be productive. It doesn’t mean to have babies, alone. To produce means to be fruitful. To produce comes from life. The factories, manufacturing companies, shopping malls are mostly relevant because of their productivities from their production department, without it, all other department are dead areas. If you eat those nylon packs, cans, they will only kill you. it is the seeds which are packaged in those cans and bags that gives life. To be fruitful is the first ACT of God! That means, you must produce something after your kind, based on the seeds that you carry within you. It is a command to fulfil as human beings.

ii.                 Multiply – This means that, you have to reproduce what you produce.

iii.              Replenish means to distribute your fruits or gifts. Don’t keep them to yourself.

iv.               Subdue – this means to dominate the areas of your gifts.

Mr. Bill Gate, is a worthy exemplar in this context. He followed these procedures so effectively, which caused the entire government of America to come against him to break up his company. Bill Gate produced a fruit called the Microsoft Software, then he multiplied it, later distributed it, by replenishment, until he was able to subdue the market and control all systems to the point that the Congress had to call him to break the company. No one could have such power over America or the world. He became a dominated spirit. He dominated the world of software. He followed God’s plan and principles for mankind.

Whoever dominates, influences in their field or areas of calling. Inside of you is a fruit trapped in the seed that you carry, and that seed must bring forth the tree carrying your fruits, then, you are charged to multiply your fruits, so that it can be distributed, afterwards you can subdue your area of gifting. Here’s when you become known for something. You have become a brand of the “seed” that you carry to influencing your world!

As stated by the late Dr. Myles Monroe, “please ‘die’ after you are known for something!” To ‘die’ in this context means Self-discipline which requires isolation and processes in order to manifest and trejuvenate!

What are you known for? You have got a lot of work to do, if you haven’t found purpose. When you hear the name Michael Jordan, what come to your mind? Basket-Ball! Tiger Woods is known for Golf! Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are known for Football, the late Dr. Myles Monroe was known for “Purpose Driving Life”, infact he was awarded in America with a trophy labelled Mr. purpose! Oprah Winferey is known for Talk Shows! Please, kindly as yourself, what am you known for? Please work on something, so hard and so smart in the year 2022, such that it becomes your name or identity! That’s simply your assignment. You will never find a Mango tree trying to produce Apple! They stay with their seeds. They produce after their kind. It stays with its germ, and germinates what it is. Human are the only creatures that brings forth all kind of things, anybody know what to pick from them. They are one thing today, and something else tomorrow. What exactly do you do? What exactly are you good at, such that you effortlessly command dominion in that area? Develop it! That’s your calling.

The keys to bearing fruits in this generation for generations are:

i.                   The Seed must first be in the “right environment” (Location). choose your association wisely! Locate your place, settle in there and invest, as did Isaac in the Book of life (Genesis 26:12).

ii.                 Isolation: If you desire to become great, then you must practice the law of isolation. Isolate or separate yourself from friends that are wired to end your destiny! For a seed to become a tree, it must first be taken away from the earth and hidden under the ground for “incubation”. When they ask you, where have you been? Tell them, you have been studying! How come you no longer go to parties? Tell them, you have been listening to relevant tapes and CDs that develops the king in you to manifest in your areas of purpose on earth. Isolation aide germination. Every single seed must die for it to germinate. To ‘die’ means self –discipline. You die to friends, old habits, old association, old club life – cut them off! To develop yourself, you must be intentional, not emotional! A seed will not become a tree until it dies! Many people are poison, please beware! Help your destiny to move with those that carry the value that your destiny need to function and develop or manifest with! Light beget light! Follow after your cravings! If you are stupid, don’t follow stupid people. Don’t roll with the kind of people you will never deem fit to hire to grow higher! In 2022, you have got to change some of your friends.

iii.              Germinate – every seed must germinate. This means that, you must motivate yourself from a source. You have got to find people who motivates you, that makes you to germinate, go to seminars that would improve that which you carry. Read books that would fine-tune your essence. You have got to be around people that helps you to germinate, those that would influence you to dream big and become bigger! Don’t move with scared people – people who are scared to dare big things. Run away from those that look down on the qualities on the virtues that you carry!

iv.               You have got to “Water the Seed” – This means that you constantly develop a program to manage your development. That means, you must join organizations that improves the quality of your being, put yourself on a reading program. Discipline yourself to read at least two books, a month. You have got to water yourself to keep flourishing!

v.                 Fertilizer (Destiny Boosters) – this means that you have to refine and refresh your program to constantly grow yourself. Some people are poison. You do not need poison; you do not need pollution! What you need are refiners, boosters. May God give us wisdom to discern and stop keeping bad company. Bad company isn’t limited to those that smokes or drink, but those that subtracts from you and divides you! Move with those that adds to your values and multiply the grace that you carry!

vi.               You need Sunshine. If you must develop this fruit tree, you need special networking. That means, you get to network with organizations and people who become your light. This is the specialty of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ, our Saviour, God Almighty, Our Father in Heaven, and good friends in the Body of Christ and professional people who can lead you to higher ground. You need to network with people who can get you to where you need to get to. Your networks determine your net-worth. This year 2022, review your network, and see if your net is working.

vii.            Pruning – Many don’t like this. If you must develop the fruits, there must be pruning. Pruning means, you have got to cut off some people, ideals, practices, habits, situations and opportunities which are liable to cut off your destiny! You have got to manage people, time and situations in your life. You can outgrow your friends, and when this happens, it’s time to leave. Always know when to leave people. When you start growing and your friend aren’t then, you become a misfit. Be careful! Run!

viii.         Time – When you put a seed into the ground, it takes time for it to germinate. You can’t force it to grow. If you must maximize the remaining part of this year as your best year, yet you have got to use your time wisely. Don’t rush growth! You have got to accept the processes. The processes are necessary for the purpose to be fulfilled. Process takes time and it requires patience! You can’t rush success, but you can guarantee it.

ix.               Patience – when you start working with a tree, you plant a seed, and you have got to be patient. When you put a seed in a cup or into the ground, it takes its required time to grow, so, you have just got to be patient with the process of fulfilling purpose. Do you really know why many aren’t really growing? No patience! Great men are very patient people; they don’t emerge into greatness without having gone through the required processes without the instrumentality and practicality of patience. This is why there is so much crime rate in many part of the world today. People want instant success. They don’t want to work to pay for a CD player, they want to break into your house and get it, instantly.  It is called CRIME! There is no other beautiful word to describe it. Crime is crime and those involved in its act are criminals. They don’t want to save and put money in the bank, rather, they want to just rob the bank. Delayed gratification? No! they can’t handle it. Take your time to complete the processes in school. Don’t quit! Hang on there, go for it! Attend that evening school. All trees need patience. One thing about trees is that, when it grows up to become big, it can withstand a whole lot of pressure because of its firm root which took time to sprout. Its stands there… because of patience.

God has bought you over with a new attitude to rejuvenate and to MANifest, just as He intended for you. Therefore, Arise and Shine!

Thank you all for reading.

Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke is an accredited ISO 20700 Effective Leadership Management Trainer. E-mail: adegoketolulope1022@gmail.com

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Opinion

The End of a Political Party

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By Obianuju Kanu-Ogoko

It is deeply alarming and shameful to witness an elected official of an opposition party openly calling for the continuation of President Tinubu’s administration. This blatant betrayal goes against the very essence of democratic opposition and makes a mockery of the values the PDP is supposed to stand for.

Even more concerning is the deafening silence from North Central leadership. This silence comes at a price—For the funneled $3 million to buy off the courts for one of their Leaders’, the NC has compromised integrity, ensuring that any potential challenge is conveniently quashed. Such actions reveal a deeply compromised leadership, one that no longer stands for the people but for personal gain.

When a member of a political party publicly supports the ruling party, it raises the critical question: Who is truly standing for the PDP? When a Minister publicly insulted PDP and said that he is standing with the President, and you did nothing; why won’t others blatantly insult the party? Only under the Watch of this NWC has PDP been so ridiculed to the gutters. Where is the opposition we so desperately need in this time of political crisis? It is a betrayal of trust, of principles and of the party’s very foundation.

The leadership of this party has failed woefully. You have turned the PDP into a laughing stock, a hollow shell of what it once was. No political party with any credibility or integrity will even consider aligning or merging with the PDP at this rate. The decay runs deep and the shame is monumental.

WHAT A DISGRACE!

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Opinion

Day Dele Momodu Made Me Live Above My Means

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By Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

These are dangerous days of gross shamelessness in totalitarian Nigeria.
Pathetic flaunting of clannish power is all the rage, and a good number of supposedly modern-day Nigerians have thrown their brains into the primordial ring.

One pathetic character came to me the other day stressing that the only way I can prove to him that I am not an ethnic bigot is to write an article attacking Dele Momodu!

I could not make any head or tail of the bloke’s proposition because I did not understand how ethnic bigotry can come up in an issue concerning Dele Momodu and my poor self.

The dotty guy made the further elaboration that I stand accused of turning into a “philosopher of the right” instead of supporting the government of the day which belongs to the left!

A toast to Karl Marx in presidential jet and presidential yacht!

I nearly expired with laughter as I remembered how one fat kept man who spells his surname as “San” (for Senior Advocate of Nigeria – SAN) wrote a wretched piece on me as an ethnic bigot and compelled one boozy rascal that dubiously studied law in my time at Great Ife to put it on my Facebook wall!

The excited tribesmen of Nigerian democracy and their giddy slaves have been greased to use attack as the first aspect of defence by calling all dissenting voices “ethnic bigots” as balm on their rotted consciences.

The bloke urging me to attack Dele Momodu was saddened when he learnt that I regarded the Ovation publisher as “my brother”!

Even amid the strange doings in Nigeria of the moment I can still count on some famous brothers who have not denied me such as Senator Babafemi Ojudu who privileged me to read his soon-to-be-published memoir as a fellow Guerrilla Journalist, and the lionized actor Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD) who while on a recent film project in faraway Canada made my professor cousin over there to know that “Uzor is my brother!”

It is now incumbent on me to tell the world of the day that Dele Momodu made me live above my means.

All the court jesters, toadies, fawners, bootlickers and ill-assorted jobbers and hirelings put together can never be renewed with enough palliatives to countermand my respect for Dele Momodu who once told our friend in London who was boasting that he was chased out of Nigeria by General Babangida because of his activism: “Babangida did not chase you out of Nigeria. You found love with an oyinbo woman and followed her to London. Leave Babangida out of the matter!”

Dele Momodu takes his writing seriously, and does let me have a look at his manuscripts – even the one written on his presidential campaign by his campaign manager.

Unlike most Nigerians who are given to half measures, Dele Momodu writes so well and insists on having different fresh eyes to look at his works.

It was a sunny day in Lagos that I got a call from the Ovation publisher that I should stand by to do some work on a biography he was about to publish.

He warned me that I have only one day to do the work, and I replied him that I was raring to go because I love impossible challenges.

The manuscript of the biography hit my email in fast seconds, and before I could say Bob Dee a fat alert burst my spare bank account!

Being a ragged-trousered philanthropist, a la the title of Robert Tressel’s proletarian novel, I protested to Dele that it’s only beer money I needed but, kind and ever rendering soul that he is, he would not hear of it.

I went to Lagos Country Club, Ikeja and sacked my young brother, Vitus Akudinobi, from his office in the club so that I can concentrate fully on the work.

Many phone calls came my way, and I told my friends to go to my divine watering-hole to wait for me there and eat and drink all that they wanted because “money is not my problem!”

More calls came from my guys and their groupies asking for all makes of booze, isiewu, nkwobi and the assorted lots, and I asked them to continue to have a ball in my absence, that I would join them later to pick up the bill!

The many friends of the poor poet were astonished at the new-fangled wealth and confidence of the new member of the idle rich class!

It was a beautiful read that Dele Momodu had on offer, and by late evening I had read the entire book, and done some minor editing here and there.

It was then up to me to conclude the task by doing routine editing – or adding “style” as Tom Sawyer would tell his buddy Huckleberry Finn in the eponymous adventure books of Mark Twain.

I chose the style option, and I was indeed in my elements, enjoying all aspects of the book until it was getting to ten in the night, and my partying friends were frantically calling for my appearance.

I was totally satisfied with my effort such that I felt proud pressing the “Send” button on my laptop for onward transmission to Dele Momodu’s email.

I then rushed to the restaurant where my friends were waiting for me, and I had hardly settled down when one of Dele’s assistants called to say that there were some issues with the script I sent!

I had to perforce reopen up my computer in the bar, and I could not immediately fathom which of the saved copies happened to be the real deal.

One then remembered that there were tell-tale signs when the computer kept warning that I was putting too much on the clipboard or whatever.

It’s such a downer that after feeling so high that one had done the best possible work only to be left with the words of James Hadley Chase in The Sucker Punch: “It’s only when a guy gets full of confidence that he’s wide open for the sucker punch.”
Lesson learnt: keep it simple – even if you have been made to live above your means by Dele Momodu!

To end, how can a wannabe state agent and government apologist, a hired askari, hope to get me to write an article against a brother who has done me no harm whatsoever? Mba!

I admire Dele Momodu immensely for his courage of conviction to tell truth to power.

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Opinion

PDP at 26, A Time for Reflection not Celebration

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By Obianuju Kanu-Ogoko

At 26 years, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) should have been a pillar of strength, a beacon of hope and a testament to the enduring promise of democracy in Nigeria.*

Yet, as we stand at this milestone, it is clear that we have little, if anything, to celebrate. Instead, this anniversary marks a sobering moment of reflection, a time to confront the hard truths that have plagued our journey and to acknowledge the gap between our potential and our reality.

Twenty-six years should have seen us mature into a force for good, a party that consistently upholds the values of integrity, unity and progress for all Nigerians.

But the reality is far from this ideal. Instead of celebrating, we must face the uncomfortable truth: *at 26, the PDP has failed to live up to the promise that once inspired millions.*

We cannot celebrate when our internal divisions have weakened our ability to lead. We cannot celebrate when the very principles that should guide us: justice, fairness and accountability,have been sidelined in favor of personal ambition and short-term gains. We cannot celebrate when the Nigerian people, who once looked to the PDP for leadership, now question our relevance and our commitment to their welfare.

This is not a time for self-congratulation. It is a time for deep introspection and honest assessment. What have we truly achieved? Where did we go wrong? And most importantly, how do we rebuild the trust that has been lost? These are the questions we must ask ourselves, not just as a party, but as individuals who believe in the ideals that the PDP was founded upon.

At 26, we should be at the height of our powers, but instead, we find ourselves at a crossroads. The path forward is not easy, but it is necessary. We must return to our roots, to the values that once made the PDP a symbol of hope and possibility. We must rebuild from within, embracing transparency, unity and a renewed commitment to serving the people of Nigeria.

There is no celebration today, only the recognition that we have a long road ahead. But if we use this moment wisely, if we truly learn from our past mistakes, there is still hope for a future where the PDP can once again stand tall, not just in name, but in action and impact. The journey begins now, not with *fanfare but with resolve.

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