It is not funny at all, how the Americans are gripped by the fear of uncertainty and the world catches cold as the President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House after his swearing in that is scheduled for 20th January, 2025. It is instructive to note, how one person can make the entire world jittery and flabbergasted. The reasons cannot be far-fetched and can be connected to his threatening utterances at his campaign rallies, targeting those whom he considers as his political opponents, holding positions in Public Service, especially the Department of Justice and others, whom he has vowed to use his office to challenge their unlawful existence in America, including the illegal immigrants that are to face mass deportation. His plans on the release of those who have been incarcerated regarding the January 6th 2021 insurrection on the Capitol Hill, which he is believed to be the mastermind, as well as his threat against the Palestinians and the promise made to end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day of assumption of power. Recall also, the strong message he sent to China on his planned increase of tariff on the goods manufactured by China. His planned policies that are at variance with those of his predecessor Joe Biden, in respect of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as the possibility of pulling America out of the Committee of Nations, who are in support of finding solutions to the problem of climate change. There is no gain saying the fact that the President-elect Donald Trump has so much in his mouth to chew, as well as having so much in terms of both the local and foreign policy issues to contend with. ALSO READ: Heralding the Emergence of the Unstoppable Kamala Harris as President of the United States of America Don’t forget also that he has only just four years to turn around the world into how he would like it to be, and probably forgetting that the blind man’s world is limited by the bound of his touch. However, it is not a surprise that one man can aspire to change the entire world in four years, especially when one considers the strong personality and the optimism of Donald Trump. This is somebody who admonishes that since one has to think anyway, one should think big. He is also a believer in the admonition that one’s reach should exceed his grasp because that is why the Heavens are there. In fairness to him, wisdom demands that no one should underestimate someone who overestimates himself. Having analyzed as much as one knows about the President-elect Donald Trump, it is important also to appreciate the fact that as fearful as reality is, it is not as fearful as the evasion of reality itself. To this end, it is important to make these important suggestions that are as follows to Mr. Donald Trump, the President-elect. Since the Pedestal that informed the choice of the theme or mantra of your campaign which is “making America great again”, was connected to Christianity, its actualization therefore becomes a task which only God who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth can make happen, it is therefore important to take the emphasis on “self” out of the equation, for no man who plays God will be able to remain as man again. A good example is King Nebuchadnezzar in the bible and King Herod in the bible also (Acts of the Apostles Chapter 12). ALSO READ: Bayelsa To Pay Pregnant Women N3,000 Monthly It is important also to note that God alone is the one that has the power to raise up and to bring down kings. God does spare the lives of people either for the declaration of His praise or for their destruction. In either of the two situations, God takes His glory which cannot be shared with any man, and remains unchangeable and unquestionable. We recall how God raised Pharaoh and for his destruction in the red sea. What determines what becomes of any man, whose life God has spared whether for glory or for destruction, is whether the man is well positioned in the covenant or not. There is a passage of scriptures that buttresses the assertion: “and you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18). The words, power and wealth, can be used interchangeably even as we are admonished to have respect to the covenant, because the dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of cruelty. To the President-elect, Mr. Donald Trump, magnanimity in victory is a mark of humility and behind the greatness of Moses was his meekness, for only the meek will God guide in judgement and he, will God teach His ways. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end are the ways of destruction. May the President-elect, Mr. Donald Trump not go in the ways of destruction. He should remember also that man is man because of others, alone, man is an animal. Together, we can make America better and greater. God bless the President-elect, Mr. Donald Trump. God bless America. ALSO READ: Kamala Will Make Americans Masters and Not Slaves of Their History
Trump’s Return Indicts Americans on the Bad Question They Failed to Ask Him
Today January 20th, 2025 is significant in America for two important reasons. One of it being the Martin Luther King Day, which is a public holiday set aside for the remembrance of Martin Luther King Jr. It is a day to reflect on King’s contributions to equality, justice, and peace, and to recommit to his vision of nonviolent activism. The other reason is being a day for the swearing-in of the former President Donald J. Trump, in his second-coming as the 47th President of the United States of America. His second-coming, though a milestone achievement, is however not unprecedented, for America had Grover Cleveland as the first American President with a nonconsecutive two terms presidency in the United States of America, who was in the saddle between 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897. However, what makes the presidency of Donald Trump, especially his second-coming unprecedented and unique, is his record as the first former and serving American President convicted with a criminal offense, making him to wear the toga of a felon. Interestingly, the conviction of Donald Trump, after his first tenure in office, serves as the only saving grace for the American democracy, which has its pillar in the rule of law. Had the Judiciary missed the opportunity of meting out the deserved conviction and sentence, which although carries an unconditional discharge on President Donald Trump, America would have completely lost its respect among the Committee of Nations, as a beacon of light and the true champion of democracy. Martin Luther King Jr. Regardless of the criminal record of President Donald Trump, Americans went to the poll on November 5th 2024, and spoke loudly, though not clearly you may wish to say, by electing Donald Trump to return to the White House, as the 47th President of the United States of America. The peaceful conduct of the elections was also a credit to America and Americans, and this further cements the foundation of the American democracy. However, the incontrovertible truth that this development of the choice of President Donald Trump by Americans to be their 47th President, with all his baggage of atrocities, is that of the dearth of character. ALSO READ: 2019 Elections: Group Urges Nigerians to Set Religious Sentiments Aside Election in America “We say we want a renewal of character in our day, but we don’t really know what we ask for. To have a renewal of character is to have a renewal of a creedal order that constraints, limits, binds, obligates, and compels. This price is too high for us to pay. We want character but without conviction. We want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame. We want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend. We want good without having to name evil. We want decency without the authority to insist upon it. We want moral community without any limitations to personal freedom. In short, we want what we cannot possibly have on the terms that we want it.”- James Davison Hunter January 6th Capitol Hill Insurrection Noteworthy are the manifestations of the hands of God in this development as demonstrated by fearful acts that only the hands of God can bring to bear in the world of men. The passage to glory of the 39th President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter, who also is the longest-lived President of the United States, making it to 100 years, at a time when it was possible for the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to administer his funeral, wasn’t an accidental coincidence, especially going by the enviable and unprecedented legacy that he left behind and as a democrat. The sad event of the wildfire that came upon a prominent part of Los Angeles in California, which was unprecedented and was described as the kind that no any water system in the world can quench, serving to herald, the second-coming of Donald Trump, also deserves a special place in our hearts. ALSO READ: #ENDSARS: Nigerian Youths should Go On and not Give Up on the Struggle The last but not the least is the unfriendly weather of below zero negative degree, which makes it impossible for the swearing-in ceremony of Donald Trump to be held outside for maximum visibility, which no power of man can prevail on, is also very significant for those who are perceptive, and only those who observe these things will be wise and appreciate the place of the rule of God in the affairs of men. God uses the foolish things to confound the wise, but for as many as are perceptive and discerning, these are a divine invitation to President Donald J. Trump, to be cautious and not to lean on his own understanding. He should not mind what the sycophants are whispering in his ears, for God alone is the one who gives power and power is transient. Late Former President Jimmy Carter In conclusion, the best questions are those that are asked and no matter how good the ideas that one may have may be, as long as they need clarifications for perfection, until relevant questions are asked, the ideas may not see the light of the day, and the questions not asked, turn out as bad questions. Recall that the question that President Donald Trump posed to Americans during his campaigns and which gave him the needed support was “Were you (Americans) better off economically this year (2024), than you were 4 years ago?” The answer to his question was a capital No. However, the only question which Americans failed to ask in return was about what has changed in the character of President Donald Trump between when he was kicked out of office in 2020, and 2024 when he was seeking a re-election. Americans also failed to ask him why he could not build the wall that he promised to build to separate America from Mexico, in his first tenure of 4 years. Without gainsaying the fact, the second-coming of President
Why Serve the God of Israel?
“And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them”- Exodus 6:3. Ignorance on the part of the Christians regarding who the true God whose name is Jehovah Nissi and limiting their understanding of God to being the God of Jacob, who also is known as the God of Israel, and allowing their activities about worshipping God to revolve around this myopic experience is the major reason why the realization of a peaceful world has hitherto been difficult to realize and elusive. It is of utmost importance to understand who Israel is and the reason why the name Israel and Jacob are used interchangeably in the bible. “This piece is not in any way to be regarded as antisemitism or an approval of what the holocaust represents, rather it is an eye-opening truth of the scriptures and a hammer that is poised to shattering the stronghold of darkness, which covers the earth and the gross darkness that covers the people.” “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter”- Isaiah 5:20. The knowledge of God has gone beyond how He revealed Himself to Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to that of Him who came into the world as the word of God and the entrance of whom gives light. Until we, especially the Christians, understand that what gave birth to the name God of Israel in the bible was the encounter which Jacob had with God, which gave him a change of name to Israel by the entrance of the word of God, which makes us the light of the world and the salt of the earth. “The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lightened upon Israel”- Isaiah 9:8. Terrorists Light is what enhances vision and visibility and without which darkness dominates. This brings to the fore the question of whether the Israel that we have today in the Middle East as a country is a theocratic or a secular state. As long as the behavior and characters of the state of Israel that we have today do not conform with what constitutes the source of peace in the world, nothing therefore makes any difference in it from the state of Palestine. “Serving the God that accepts the killings of human beings as a way of domination, conquest, ethnic cleansings, and the settlement of scores, is nothing different from idolatry, and any country or state that has this attitude in his DNA and exhibits this kind of behavior towards humanity, is therefore not different from those who are the proponents of the ideologies of organizations like the Hamas, the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), the Boko Haram, the ISWAP (Islamic State of West Africa Province), and all other terrorist organizations in the world.” To this end therefore, serving the God of a group of people in this category is nothing other than an abomination. This is where the Christians today have missed it, being intoxicated by the wine of religion instead of that of the Spirit of God, and the very reason why they blindly give their support to the state of Israel, who is culpable for the act of genocide, as can be seen in its war against Hamas and by extension the Palestinians. It is carnality to claim as Christians that we serve the God of Israel, for this God of the people, we claim to serve, is of the Jews but not for the Jews. ALSO READ: Introducing The 20th Edition of Livinghope Magazine and it Content Israel-Hamas War It is worthy of note that spiritual blindness is far worse than physical blindness and it is noteworthy also that the blindman’s world is limited by the bound of his touch, and to this end, whatever it is that deceives the blindman’s walking stick, has automatically deceived the blindman. A blindman who follows another blindman, both will end up in a pit, and this is very instructive. The scripture makes it clear in John 9:41 that “Jesus said unto them, if ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we see; therefore, your sin remaineth.” This scripture is a clear description of the position of the Christians today, hence the reason why they support the ungodly behavior of the state of Israel against Palestine. America’s support for Israel is not in any way a surprise, the reason being that America only claims that “in God we trust”, whereas it is not in any way in sync with the spirit that brings life into what it does. “This explains why in spite of America’s reputation as the strongest country in the world with the strongest economy and army, it was the country that lost the most to COVID-19, in terms of the number of the innocent Americans that died during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as an unfortunate victim to all natural disasters.” America therefore is a paradox and an analogy of the life of Naaman, the Syrian, whom the bible described in 2 Kings 5:1 as “Now, Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.” ALSO READ: What Manner of Man of the Year is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu? Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America America is not to blame, for it is not different from a blindman that is following another blindman, who also deserve to end up in the destination of the one that is following. How does it make any spiritual sense that the God of a state that is dependent solely on America for bombs to fight against his enemies, is the
Troubling the Troublers of Nigeria
Naturally, the body of the water is in the degrees and this ranges from that of an ocean to that of a river and that of a well. However, flood can also be described as a collection of water but clearly different from the earlier mention for the simple fact that it is a natural occurrence and seasonal, and short live, not being able to stand the test of time. It is not worthy that the ocean is characteristically unsettled and turbulent, nevertheless humans still navigate through it to get to their desired destinations. As for the river, it is less turbulent when compared to the ocean, nevertheless it can pose a danger to a victim who jumps or falls into it lacking the capacity to swim. One notable difference between an ocean and river is that of the size and the fact that the weather conditions that impact negatively on waters normally have less effect on the ocean when compared with a river. It is not out of place to experience a decrease in the volume of the water in a river due to the impact of the weather condition but this situation does not apply to the size of the water in an ocean. The water in a well is also in the degrees going by how deep the well is and also depending on the location and proximity of the well to the source of water supply to it. It is insanity to expect that the weather condition that impacts negatively on the well water to have the same effect on a river let alone an ocean. ALSO READ: PFN Tasks FG on Leah’s Rescue Ocean Coming to terms with the reality we have in our hands relative to the stipulation of the Nigerian constitution that the security and the welfare of the citizens should be the primary responsibility of the government, the question that agitates the minds of Nigerians is about why the constitution which supposedly is a product of the citizens, that is, Nigerians, should in the first place contemplate the idea of a secure and a prosperous society where the probability of realizing such is incomprehensible and unattainable. Understandably, the world was not created by God to be inhabitable by humans and this can be seen from the historical Garden of Eden where it was designed for a peace and serene life until trouble came in. This clearly supports the fact that there is no trouble anywhere without a troubler and man is troubler of man because man is man because of others and alone man is an animal. Former President Muhammadu Buhari Democracy which is believe to be the government of the people by the people and for the people is gradually having it values eroded and diminishing in its primary assignment of giving it dividend to it adherence, and what is democracy without dividend, suffice to say that it is worse than autocracy. Wherever the people are agonizing and deprived of their inalienable right to live in a secure environment and enjoyed the natural endowments, you will always find the major causative factor as man which by extensions are the leaders. The truth that cannot be controverted is that only God-fearing leaders can make accessible God-giving endowments to the people and this alludes to the saying of the bible that when the righteous are in power the people rejoice but when people are groaning and crying out that they are hungry it is because the unrighteous are in power. Power you may which to know is transient but leaders easily forget and learn nothing from history. ALSO READ: 2019 Presidency: ‘Field Me As Consensus Candidate’ Okotie Tells PDP, APC Insecurity in Nigeria The security of lives and the property of Nigerians as well as the guarantee of their welfare as the constitution stipulates, is a cheap possibility if only the leaders can muster the political wheel to make it happen. Recall how the former President Muhammadu Buhari after his eight years that engendered the loss of thousands of innocent lives to the Fulani herders and farmers clashes with impunity, dividing Nigerians as never before along ethnic and religious lines and bankrupting the economy of the country, ended his tenure by begging Nigerians for forgiveness. Because Nigerians easily forgive and forget, that is why their leaders take them for granted and commit unimaginable crimes and go away with it. Should President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not have learnt an important lesson from the life of his predecessor and toe a path of honour and an integrity. Cyber-Crime Law Protest From what Nigerians have had gone bad for them now including the unconstitutional action of dismantling all the democratic structures in Rivers State, the insecurity problems that remain unabated with examples as the wanton killings of the Nigerians soldiers on a daily basis in the North-East, escalating banditry in the North-West, the mob action in Edo State that left more than sixteen Hausa travelers who are indigenes of Kano burnt alive, the most recent killing of innocent Nigerians in the Plateau where more than one hundred innocent and vulnerable citizens were gunned down and burnt alive and with many houses razed and the biting effects of the economic policies of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration on Nigerians and the draconian cyber-crime law used to silence dissenting voices against the policies of government in Nigeria, there is no better time than now especially with the protests that are engulfing the nation and leading it to a precipice, for the leaders to reflect and be ready to make amends that will usher in a positive change in the ways that Nigerians are governed now at the port before it is too late and lest the ship of Nigerians sink in the sea. ALSO READ: The Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump: More of the Trial of America than that of a Person – Samuel Adeyanju Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun Remember the saying that “kings have long arms,
Option Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Best for Nigeria in 2027
In the words of Winston Churchill, the Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, “In every age, there comes a time when a leader must come forward to meet the need of the hour. Therefore, there is no potential leader who does not have an opportunity to make a positive difference in society. Tragically, there are times when a leader does not rise to the hour”. There are times and seasons for everything and matter under the sun. Our times are not in our hands but in the hands of God our Creator, who is the beginning and the end and who decrees the end from the beginning. History is the story of past events in relation to human activities and Nigeria not being an exception, cannot run away from history. Everything certainly dies but not history. The waves of change are blowing across the world and in a unique way that calls for attention, especially of those who are perceptive and who also have what it takes to manifest at the appointed times as the agent of change. It is instructive how the late 39th Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter served only one term in office, between 1977 and 1981, continued to serve humanity using the vehicle riding on the vehicle of the Jimmy Carter Foundation to touch lives across the globe, having being able to define reality as a responsible leader and died in 2024, being the only USA President that lived up to one hundred years. Understanding purpose is critical and the responsibility of any leader first and foremost is to be able to define reality. The same was not the case with President Donald J. Trump who was the 45th President of the United States who served between 2016 and 2019 and was voted out of office, but had his come-back after the one-term tenure of President Joe Biden in 2024, making him the 45th and the 47th President of the United States. ‘’Every leader has a unique reality to define as well as a peculiar vision to run with, those who failed to define their realities ended up as unfulfilled, not being able to reach their full potential’’. Swearing-in of the Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan The same scenario played out in Ghana, which is a neighbouring West Africa country. The current President of Ghana, John Mahama, was the Former President of the country between 2013 and 2017 but had his come-back in 2024. Every leader has a unique reality to define as well as a peculiar vision to run with, those who failed to define their realities ended up as unfulfilled, not being able to reach their full potential. Nigeria is at a crossroads and in dire need of a saviour, and there is no magic or miracle that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria can perform between now and next year in 2026 when he would have spent three years in office and the governance abandoned for politicking towards 2027 to exonerate himself from being a failure, using the metrics of insecurity, bad economy, as well as heightened corruption to appraise the achievement of his administration. What we have today in Rivers State which epitomizes the highest level of illegality and criminality, where all democratic structures have been dismantled with impunity, the escalation of insurgency and banditry in both the North-East and North-West, with the report that one hundred soldiers have been killed by the Boko-Haram terrorists in a period of six months, the escalation of killings on the plateau allegedly by the Fulani herdsmen where about two hundred precious lives were lost within a period of two weeks as well as mis-prioritization of critical infrastructure, Nigerians do not need a seer or a soothsayer to tell them that the country is sitting on a keg of gun powder, and going down the drain. It would amount to the pursuit of a shadow and erroneous complacency to be admonished under the guise of a dead hope that is said to being renewed to wait any longer without nipping the problems that escalate with time in the bud. ALSO READ: C.A.C at 100: Centenary Celebration Ends amidst Funfair President Donald J. Trump of the United States ‘’Nigerians do not need a seer or a soothsayer to tell them that the country is sitting on a keg of gun powder, and going down the drain. It would amount to the pursuit of a shadow and erroneous complacency to be admonished under the guise of a dead hope that is said to being renewed to wait any longer without nipping the problems that escalate with time in the bud’’. In conclusion, the political alignments and realignments that are going on currently including attempts by the major political parties to form a coalition with the aim of taking over power from the All Progressive Congress Party (APC) which has President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the saddle, may end up as mere academic exercise and in a fiasco, except a round peg is found and there is the readiness to make it go into the round hole, which impliedly is to coalesce around the Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR. In addition, all progressive parties should consider it worthwhile to form an alliance with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which is the number one opposition party with the highest number of governors after APC. This is a clarion call on the Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan from Nigerians to rise up to the occasion, taking into cognizance that had King David of the bible decided to limit himself to being king over Judah in Hebron, where he reigned only for seven years, he would have missed destiny and the opportunity to reign over the whole of Israel for another thirty-three years in Jerusalem and that would have meant to him living a life of depravity due to fear and lack of clarity of vision. ALSO READ: Akwa Ibom Government to Demolish Churches,
The Season of Shameful Defections among the Political Parties in Nigeria
“One thing is for sure and certain, that is the ruling party APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, cannot succeed in turning Nigeria into a one state party no matter how much they try. The best that they can get is to create a room for anarchy and push the people to the wall, thereby turning the country upside down.” The defections that are going on currently and on the rise among the political parties in Nigeria, especially from the opposition parties of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labor Party (LP) to the ruling party of All Progressive Congress (APC) is to say the least, appalling, disgraceful, and senseless. It is senseless because there are no rational reasons and justification for such actions that only suggest that the defectors did not engage their critical thinking potential but only acted instinctively, making them not different from animals. Looking at the personalities involved in this barbaric act, one thing that stands out and is obvious about their character is the lack of integrity which informs any behavior that leaves much to be desired at any point in time. These defectors who are members of the house of assembly and the only Governor who is that of Delta State who announced his defection from PDP to APC just yesterday fit in also for description as a chip off the old block who also are a replica of their father, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose character is far from being transparent, being shrouded in secrecy and having his two sides, both the good and the bad not fermented together. ALSO READ: Pastor Charges Politicians, Youths on Violence Free Politics President Bola Ahmed Tinubu he Governor of Akwa Ibom State who is supposedly a pastor and elected on the platform of PDP is also reported to have joined the band wagon of the politicians who lack integrity, because he has been reported to have endorsed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2027 elections, for what reasons or the good works of Bola Ahmed Tinubu you may wish to ask. These defectors are people whose conscience are dead not being able to stop them, but who also have failed to pray for cold feet. The reported defection of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, and his counterpart Governor Umo Eno, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, came as a surprise, but juxtaposing their actions with the rumored criminal corruption allegations of their predecessors who are currently being haunted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which is the anti-graft agency in Nigeria, only confirm the speculated coercion and intimidation of these Governors who have been presented with the only option of defecting to the ruling party (APC) as a bail out for their predecessors who are more or less like their political godfathers. More governors from the PDP are also expected to defect to the ruling party so that their sins can be forgiven. What kind of politics is being played in Nigeria? What is certain is that the way by which the ruling party is going about the disorganization of the major opposition political parties and silencing the dissenting voices can only make “ants” out of Nigeria which is believed to be the giant of Africa and “rats” out of our politicians who pretend to be democrats but who in the real sense, are demagogues. ALSO READ: CAN, Southern Kaduna Attack El-Rufai Over Killings National Assembly Members One thing is for sure and certain, that is the ruling party APC and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, cannot succeed in turning Nigeria into a one state party no matter how much they try. The best that they can get is to create a room for anarchy and push the people to the wall, thereby turning the country upside down. The journey towards 2027 will be quite interesting, for I foresee the unimaginable happening not only to Nigerians but to Nigeria as a country. Nigerians are not in need of a leader come 2027, but a savior and his emergence will have no recourse to any structured political parties. We should all expect a tsunami that would be disruptive more than the EndSARS and the obedient movements. The Nigerian politician can only defect from his party, but cannot run away from himself. A word is enough for the wise and the glory of the latter days shall be greater than that of the former. God bless Nigeria. By Samuel Tunji Adeyanju GMN Chief Executive Officer, USA This entry was posted in Editorial, Politics. Bookmark the permalink.