Two Israeli hostages seen in latest video issued by Hamas

Hamas released a new video on Saturday that appeared to show two Israeli hostages who have been held in the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

The video is similarly filmed to previous hostage videos made public by the Islamist group, which Israel has condemned as psychological terrorism.

The two men, identified as Keith Siegel, 64, and Omri Miran, 47, speak individually in front of an empty background. They send their love to their families and ask to be released.

Miran was taken hostage from his home in the community of Nahal Oz in front of his wife and two young daughters during the Hamas killing spree that sparked the war in Gaza.

Siegel, who is a dual U.S. citizen, was taken captive with his wife from another border town. She was later released during a brief November truce.

The video was published during the Passover holiday, when Jews traditionally celebrate the biblical story of gaining freedom from slavery in Egypt.

At one point Siegel breaks down crying as he recounts celebrating the holiday with his family last year and expressing his hope that they will be reunited.

Around 250 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage during the Hamas assault, which killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, in the deadliest single attack in Israel's history.

In response, Israel launched an assault on Gaza, pledging to destroy Hamas and bring the hostages home. The assault has so far killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Reuters

The Odua Separatists fiasco in Ibadan is reflective of the politics of tribe that brought President Bola Tinubu to power. The politics of tribe and prebendalism whereby the psuedo elites use tribalism to gain economic and political power for self aggrandizement. Normally, the world runs on civilizationism whereby tribes that share common genetic and cultural origins unite in pursuit of collective aspirations based on civilizational values and survival. However, coloniality limits elites of former colonies to Pan Tribalistic perspectives unable to contest against civilizational blocs, and therefore frustrated into desperate, illegal, immoral and defeatist means to achieve their selfish goals.

From Banji Akintoye, an elderly retired professor of history, and other Yoruba separatists that distanced themselves from the Onitiri faction that attacked Oyo State government secretariat, I have always asked what other means apart from anarchy can fulfill their dream of breaking up Nigeria into tribal nations? It is obvious that with no tribe more than 25 precent of the national population, without a civilizational unity of tribes with shared origins and values, no tribe can achieve separatism, restructuring or any meaningful political aspirations through democratic means based on majority rule. So these media distancing are hypocritical and cowardly, knowing that madam Onitiri took the only step available to all separatists.

President Bola Tinubu's Emilokan push for presidency used ethnic irredentism when it was obvious that it was Southeast’s turn according to regional rotational presidency. In Yorubaland, especially in Lagos, tribal sentiments were fuelled against Igbos in the reprehensible tribal game. It is a game because the political elite are not really tribal supremacists since they marry and have business partners across tribal lines. It is just a tool to manipulate the intellectually and economically challenged for their selfish ends. It is like riding a Tiger's back, as the tribal supremacy and irredentism of the manipulative elite continue to the lowest rung, threatening everything. Tinubu used it to gain power, while others in the game of using tribe as a ladder, fenced out of the current government, will push for separatism, otherwise when Tinubu leaves office, irredentist Yoruba politicians will return to the lowest rung of the low-life political game.

Afenifere advocated a more strategic nation-building approach by uniting the Indigenous African ethnicities of South and Middlebelt that constitute more than the required 66 percent majority quorum to change the constitution. Being a mature socio-political organization, it focused on getting a true majority, not threatening anarchy like the separatists nor aligning with strange bedfellows like the prebendalists. To achieve electoral unity of the South and Middlebelt, then all groups must be treated with fairness and justice, which was why Afenifere's enlightened interest was to support the rotational presidency to Southeast and opposed Tinubu's Yoruba tribal irredentism.

Even though the policy was concieved during the Pa Reuben Fasonranti’s leadership with Olu Falae, they led some in the Akure wing that renegaded from Afenifere policy and supported Tinubu to power, in order to share in the prebendalist spoils of office.

Therefore it is hypocritical that while the Akure renegades went to Aso Rock to collect their prebendalist payback, they could publicly condemn their fellow tribal irredentists that wanted to establish a permanent tribal national structure through anarchy in Ibadan. Their lip service to restructuring for devolution of power was made obvious when Tinubu's head of police IGP Egbetokun voiced his principal’s opposition to state police. If Tinubu allows state police, how would he control it for elections? The prebendalists in power want to keep all the power during their reign, so they oppose true devolution of power that might weaken their hold on power. Therefore the remaining tribalists will continue to want to break up Nigeria, knowing the wilderness that awaits them after Tinubu's reign if Nigeria is not restructured and the groovy train moves to another geo-political zone.

Odua/Biafra Separatist aspirations are not only unachievable but undesirable since Yorubas and Igbos will be drastically cutting their 200 million plus people economic sphere. Like the 1967 Biafrans, they would be leaving behind their civilizational food basket in Middlebelt, and would lack food security even if they succeeded in breaking away. The Separatists can't find joy with the prebendalists in power that were empowered by the Northern Afro-Arabic civilizationists, who will pull the rug with the help of other Southern and Middlebelt tribalists, if Tinubu tries to restructure the political system that skews power to his Northern hegemony benefactors.

There are two civilizations in Nigeria and across Africa - the Afro-Arabic/Afroasiatic civilization that unites the Northwest and Northeast, made up of different groups taken over by different Asiatic imperialists at different times, and the Original African civilization that unites South and Middlebelt made up of a continuum of dialects with common genetic and cultural origins, broken up by Western and Arabic imperialists into tribes. Unfortunately, some of the elites of the Yoruba and Igbo extraction, the two most populous and prosperous indigenous peoples that are supposed to unite their civilization to challenge the Northern Afro-Arabic and European civilizational exploitation, are blinded by Pan Tribalistic perspectives and prebendalist political payouts. Instead of unachievable tribal separatism of the continuum of dialects, if the Afro-Arabic civilization remains stubbornly imperialistic, the best economic and political option is a civilizational divide along South Kaduna latitude, having the democratic and demographic numbers to achieve, not tribal nations.

Though the separatists, renegades and prebendalists all came out of the Obafemi Awolowo's Afenifere group, Awolowo himself was wise and articulate to know that Yorubas can't afford to to be irredentists because the numbers didn't add up to achieve any collective aspirations either nationally or globally, and irredentism was just to achieve selfish personal political and economic ambitions. Therefore he pushed alliances across South and Middlebelt, a legacy still being pushed by the real Afenifere that has created the South and Middlebelt civilizational alliance based on the same collective values of freedom and equity for all groups regardless of size, religion or ethnicity. The South and Middlebelt alliance will be more effective if there is a narrative that is not only about their collective political aspirations but covers their common genetic and cultural origins from which their common philosophical and moral values evolved.

As stated, the world is run on civilizational blocs, not “waka alone” ethnicities. Odua/Biafra Separatists often cite Scandinavian and other small European nations, South Korea, etc, as rich nations with lesser populations and resources than their proposed nations. Unknown to them that the nations cited rely on their civilizational economic blocs, which no African nation has. So their proposed nations will only be neocolonies to foreign civilizational blocs that would continue the deprivation of the masses through sellout psuedo elites.

The Abuja prebendalists that departed from Awolowo's Afenifere South and Middlebelt unity based on social democratic and welfarism prinicples, are realizing their folly now that they have reached the height and dream of their ethnic irredentism to control federal power. They are realizing that they need their own civilizational backing in order to politically restructure the nation for representative democracy of all groups, against their Northern hegmonic benefactors’ agenda. Also, since prebendalists use tribalism for their own selfish political and economic benefits, they naturally gravitate towards neo-liberal economics, so they ditched Afenifere's social welfarism for anti-poor neo-liberal economic policies pushed by Western civilizational bloc of USA and EU whose institutions like the IMF and World Bank arrest our prosperity with subsidy removals, debts and sabotage attempts to build our own industrial complex.

The tribal irredentists are caught between the Devil and deep blue sea, and can't win the genuine support of other tribes of South and Middlebelt, yet the Northern Afro-Arabic civilizationists are already shaking the table, with an eye on 2027. For political and economic restructuring to be possible, Afenifere and other South and Middlebelt groups must build a civilizational bloc that owes its allegiance to the indigenous African civilization aspirations of Justice and equity for all.

** Faloye, President, ASHE Foundation, is Afenifere Deputy Publicity Secretary

The enchanter recited the incantation with utmost fury: “River Niger and River Benue, the confluence is in Kogi State. Except say River Niger and River Benue no come meet for Kogi; if River Niger and River Benue come meet for Kogi, dem no go fit arrest Bello... Dem dey use EFCC pursue am, dem no go succeed o. Dem go lay siege for im house for Abuja… Except say I no be born of Igala kingdom… EFCC dey front, you dey back; you dey back, dem dey front; you dey left, dem dey right; you dey right, dem dey left; you dey centre, dem come there, you jump dem pass!…a lion cannot give birth to a goat…”

The repertoire is a typical exchange in African rituals. The target was the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), an organization headed by Ola Olukoyede. Olukoyede is said to be a pastor in Enoch Adeboye’s RCCG. So, three men gather in a place that looks like a forest. Woven round the heads of two of them like bandana is a white cloth. They crouch on their knees. The third, kneeling in the middle, carries a brown pot from which oozes a thick smoke. Libation ingredients are ready. They are: a black cock, tortoise, a green bottle which ostensibly habours in its bosom sacrificial liquor. The liquor is then sprinkled on the ground as libation. Two egg-like objects complete the ingredients of sacrifice. Either as an effigy or in person, the presence of the recipient of the ritual is always needed. His spirit needs to connect with the spirits.

So, a portrait of the man who gave self the sobriquet of White Lion, Yahaya Bello, is procured for the libation process. He is dressed in all-white attire like the god, Obatala. Obatala is a Yoruba god of purity. Then the one who looks like the chief priest begins to render a monologue that is known in African ritual practice as incantation. It is similar to the allocutus lawyers enter into on behalf of their guilty client. The aim is for the de-escalation of the pursuit of Bello by the EFCC, his alleged theft of Kogi State’s N82 billion notwithstanding. Bello’s matter got escalated towards the end of the week when the EFCC chairman alleged that the ex-governor paid in advance $845,852.84 to the Abuja school of his children. Bello has made feeble attempt to denounce this from his hiding hole with the ill-logic that it was paid with his hard-earned sweats. Why the rush to pay school fees till 2034 if where the money was got today would remain permanent?

Yahaya Bello and his apologists have been spurting out bunkum. They allege that the EFCC is hounding him. Let us assume they are right. First, it is shameful for a self-styled Lion to hide inside a hole like a coyote, thereby eating stale food reserved for effeminate animals. Don’t they say that the leopard, and by extension, the lion, does not eat stale food? (Ekun kii je’ran ikasi). It is thus lawless of Yahaya Bello not to honour the anti-graft body’s lawful invitation. Bello’s 8-year reign was notorious for his naked stomping on opposition’s human rights, running a government fittingly described as an orgy of violence. Why are executioners always afraid when swords are flung in their faces? His is reminiscent of the story of an executioner in Old Oyo Kingdom whose specialty was in decapitating his victims with relish. Upon courting the ire of the Alaafin and was sentenced to death, the ex-executioner suddenly became jittery. When the man about to decapitate him began to do the traditional acrobatics pre-cutting off of his head, jittery, the ex-executioner’s voice shaky, he asked what part of his body would be cut off, “my head or feet?” Celebratory townsmen who had gathered to witness his comeuppance were angered and demanded rhetorically what part of his victims’ bodies he relished in cutting off during his reign of terror.

Anthropologists of the pre-colonial era of the 20th century studying witchcraft were shocked. They had earlier submitted that occult practices would die with modernization and urbanization. However, in the last two decades, modernity seems to have lost the battle in Africa. The miserable and insecure nature of everyday life has made African politicians to go two steps backwards. Rather than the Gods of Christianity and Islam which they inherited from the colonizers, they have gone back to ancient practices preceding the incursion of Arab and European lords. Now, the patronage of priests, priestesses of divinities, herbalists, sorcerers and occults is key to resolution of political dilemmas. Politicians use charms, amulets, rings, belts, ritual, incantations for the attainment of political goals. Either it was a skit or reality, that viral video of enchanters seeking Bello to be set free typifies the usual scene in power relations in Africa. In the bid to attain, sustain or vend off irritants in political power struggles, there is widespread evidence confirming that many Africans today strongly hold on to beliefs which they got from traditional cosmologies. These have now constituted the core of their everyday lives. The Kenyan Mau Mau revolt is said to have been fought with African magical powers.

Magical and ritual practices are pervasive in power relations in Nigeria. This evidently affirms that when complicated issues and challenges of life confront Nigerian politicians, they quickly run to their tradition and origin. This equally demonstrates the ease with which they momentarily throw away their Christian and Islamic cloaks to hold on to the utilitarian purpose that magic and sorcery serve them. Late University of Leiden scholar, Stephen Ellis, in a 2001 article, “Mystical Efforts: Some evidence from the Liberian war” (Journal of Religion in Africa, XXX1, 2) described how young fighters in the Liberian war, sporting amulets which assumably made them bullet-proof, filled the streets with corpses. Monrovians were shocked at how the soldiers “(disemboweled) the bodies of their victims and (eat) their flesh or internal organs, particularly the heart.” The art of eating human heart is borne of a residue of practices in Africa. The belief is that, a person’s essence is contained in the heart and the blood. So, once the hearts and blood of these warriors are eaten and drunk, “the one who had just eaten them acquires some of the power formerly possessed by his victim.”

Wherever Bello is at the moment, no one needed to be told that he is engrossed with one or a combination of three elements in the bid to confront the coercive power of the Nigerian state. In the tragedy that is Bello, these three elements must be making gross harvests from his calamity. They are, on the one hand, the religious combine made up of Pastors, Alfas and African indigenous religious rituals and magic. The second is, lawyers scrambling to profit from what they perceive as the loot from Kogi. Some shameless ones gathered in court last week to protest against the EFCC. The third is bloggers/journalists who by now must have offered to defreeze adversarial comments against him in traditional and social media platforms.

As guest speaker at a 2-day education summit which held in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in 2013, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, waded into the now popular syncretic practices among Nigerian leaders. His particular beef was with Nigerian leaders’ dependence on consultation of marabouts and prophets to acquire and sustain political power. “Give me the name of any head of state who has not been consulting marabouts and prophets and so on, sacrificing goats, animals in the dead of night to receive a third term in office and so on,” he said. The veiled reference was to Olusegun Obasanjo. Marabouts have become notorious in the incestuous relationship between politics and religion in northern Nigeria. They are traditionally Muslim religious leaders and teachers who functioned historically as chaplains serving in Islamic army of North Africa, the Sahara, and in the Maghreb.

Soyinka was right. After the Gideon Orkar volley of bullets on the Dodan Barracks seat of power had subsided, it occurred to Ibrahim Babangida that kinetic power alone could not guarantee his safety in power. IBB was reported to have consulted marabouts from Senegal who promptly buried live cows in Aso Rock to guarantee his fortification. Same went for Sani Abacha who reportedly imported seasoned marabouts to spiritually guard Aso Rock. Bowels of the four corners of Abuja reportedly opened up their wombs and swallowed countless cows in sacrifice. Marabouts from Cameroun were also said to have assured the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar that Olusegun Obasanjo would not have a second term, thus exacerbating the animosity between the president and his vice.

Spiritism is not strictly a Nigerian phenomenon in power relations. In political in-fighting among political elites, the belief is that, once the elites gain access to the spiritual world, they have clinched the needed vital resource in the constant struggle to secure advantage over their political rivals. Communication with the spirit world, use of sacrifices and protective objects, and divinations were potent means of achieving this. For instance, in Senegal, marabouts or Islamic holy men who belong to Sufi brotherhoods, wield such phenomenal influence that made them a source of political influence for decades. When Zimbabwe was fighting its war of liberation, the advice offered by mediums, believed to be possessed by spirits of ancestors, constituted a major requirement for anyone who sought the people’s political support.

President Felix Houphouet-Boigny was an example. A devout Catholic, he was said to have privately resorted to African mediums. Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire also ran a government of elite conspiracy of witches where marabouts were consulted at every point for the enhancement of political power.

For very many other African heads of state, clerics and known spiritualists were their advisors. Kenneth Kaunda was top among them. As president of Zambia, he had an Indian, Ranganathan, as consultant on power matters. So also did President Mathieu Kerekou of Benin. He had a Malian marabout called Mohamed Amadou Cisse, also known as 'Djine' or 'the Devil' as his spiritual advisor. Cisse once publicly espoused the Devil. He was hitherto advisor to some other African leaders like Mobutu and Omar Bongo of Gabon. Kerekou later appointed Cisse minister of state whose responsibility in the Beninese government was secret services. President Didier Ratsiraka of Madagascar too had a palace that boasted of an extravagant temple dedicated to Rosicrucian god. So also did Paul Biya of Cameroon and Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, both of whom were followers of Transcendental Meditation.

Marabouts, herbalists, sorcerers and occult chiefs of the Bellos of this world and other African leaders become repositories of highly confidential state information. These are got in the process of spiritual interventions for the captive leaders. Feckless and desperate in the bid to attain and cling on to power, they divulge details of innermost governmental secrets to them. A 1998-published journal article written by Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar with the title, “Religion and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa” (The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 175-201) discusses how leading marabouts have pre-knowledge of coups d’e tat and other secrets of power. Amadou Cisse, for instance, knew virtually all the secrets of power in Benin. So did another marabout, Amadou Oumarou 'Bonkano', who was appointed chief of national intelligence service. Having known details of President Seyni Kountche of Niger’s operations, Oumarou attempted a coup against Kountche, his patron and employer.

At a random and conservative estimate, ninety per cent of Nigerian politicians, aside the Christianity and Islam they profess in broad daylight, patronize priests, herbalists, sorcerers and occults. They probably have discovered that the immediacy of execution that these African deities possess cannot be found in the Western God. Again, I tend to submit that the rash of theft of public money among them is borne out of the presumed fortification they are promised by African deity priests and priestesses. They offer human beings as sacrifice in the process. Unknown to them, they kill the proverbial hunchback, Abuke Osin, the favourite servant of Obatala god, in the process of acquiring these powers. Unjustly shed blood fight back.

According to renowned living archive of Yoruba traditional institution, Yemi Elebuibon, in his The Adventures of Obatala: Ifa and Santeria God of creativity, (2016) the hunchback was one of the faithful servants of Obatala who he sent on errands. Having become rich due to his generosity to the Abuke Osin, Tortoise, Alabahun the fabled trickster, envied Ojugbe, his neighbour. Impressed by his generosity to the hunchback, Obatala chanted some incantations which deposited precious beads, gold and other ornaments inside the carapace-like chest of the hunchback. So when Ojugbe rubbed the hunchback’s chest, he became stupendously wealthy. Stingy and unable to compete with Ojugbe-kind generosity, Tortoise lured the Abuke Osin into his house and forcefully rubbed his chest which refused to emit money. He then killed this servant of Obatala and incurred the wrath of the god.

The moment the Nigerian state allows Yahaya Bello, for whatever reason, to escape the wrath of the law, its last lever of strength will snap off. Whoever kills the Abuke Osin should pay dearly for it.

The Bull at 71

A few weeks ago while on phone with the Sawe of Ilesa, Akinwande Akinola, as an identifier, I reminded him that as a young school leaver from the C & S High School, Iyemogun, Ilesa in the 1980s, I became his Messenger. Akinola, now in his 80s, was then the Managing Director of International Breweries Ltd, brewers of Trophy beer. The old man must have wondered how the then indecipherable seeds lying inside a small walnut pod could become a delicacy to bite today. As a die-hard comparativist, I love mentoring the youth of today who see only hopelessness in the horizon. In my narration of a tomorrow, I place yesterday side by side today and counterpoise the future with today. Inside them are hidden fruits whose plum harvest no one can tell. Akinola was one major icon that a young school leaver like me saw and swore to crawl my way to become somebody in life.

Of all that is said about the Chairman of Globacom, Mike Adenuga, two attributes catch my fancy the most. One is his grass-to-grace story. The other is his personification of the tigritude philosophy of Leopold Sedar Senghor, parodied in a conversation Wole Soyinka once had. Soyinka had lovingly articulated the tigritude of a tiger thus: "A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude; he pounces". Put succinctly, when a tiger is in the jungle, he does not sit regally in the forest to mouth his prowess by saying "I am a tiger". Upon a walk past the spot where the tiger has walked heretofore, what confronts you are a conqueror’s memorabilia like the skeleton of the duiker, decapitated head of an impala and caked blood that paint the jungle leaves red. When you see these insignias, as the holy writ says, verily I say unto thee, these are proclamations that a tiger was here.

Experiences of life either toughen one into a monster or open up the trough of humanity latent in those experiences. For Adenuga, they seem to have provoked and strengthened his humanity. If the youth of today can study his life, his rise to where he is today, they have the tendency of providing ample ground for their role-modeling and mentorship. His life can unlock the can-do spirit in them and open situation-blurried eyes to see a glorious tomorrow.

History has it that the young Adenuga, born April 29, 1953, wasn’t your idea of a silver spoon. With a school teacher father and businesswoman mother, Juliana Oyindamola Adenuga, (nee Onashile) as early as when he was a student of Ibadan Grammar School, Adenuga swore that his life would make a difference. Those who knew him while growing up in Ibadan in the 70s talk about a young man who hawked lace cloth materials while distributing soft drinks. Coupled with the renowned industry and financial doggedness of Ijebu people, Adenuga must have caught the bug of the business acumen while helping his mother oversee her businesses. He subsequently pulled himself off by the lace of his canvass by working as a taxi driver in America to eke out a living and self-secured the funding for his university education.

There are several Mike Adenugas dotting the landscape of Nigeria. Unfortunately, rather than see prosperity in the current hardship, they are blinded from a prosperous future. I am sure that as plenty dotted the landscape of the 1970s and 80s when Adenuga was struggling to wriggle out of lack, complaints of an opaque tomorrow also filled the land. Determination and vision helped him punch the walls of challenges that lined his way to the top.

Now to my second fancy about him. Bookmakers claim he is the richest Nigerian. The names of some others are equally mentioned. Adenuga does not attempt to denounce or affirm this. This does not seem to matter to him. He has something in common with MKO Abiola who once said he might not be able to say that he was the richest African, but that he attempted to be the most generous African. Rather than worship wealth as is the vogue with rich Nigerians, Adenuga deconstructs wealth by becoming a tree that makes a forest without noise. Those who have seen him are far between but his imprints dot the landscape. Like the Soyinka tiger, Adenuga does not proclaim his tigritude. However, when you walk past the spot where his tiger has walked heretofore, the memorabilia confirm that The Bull is indeed the tiger of humanity. It is said that he grants a $32 million annual scholarships to students and endows professorial chairs for research and development in the mould of Bill and Melinda Gates.

If you read the autobiography of Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, you would have a glimpse of how Adenuga suffered to get here. In 2001, his application for GSM licence met its waterloo, leading to huge financial loss. His Ogun State kinsman, Olusegun Obasanjo, who was busy making billionaires of other people from other ethnicities, swore to liquidate him. Like Bob Marley said about the magical touch of his feet, Adenuga’s feet are personified in his audacity, his focus, his hardwork and a brain that is tirelessly innovating.

Adenuga’s life should be a book of inspiration daily read by upcoming youths. It should also demonstrate to emergency mega-billionaires who litter Nigeria that money is a vehicle, a journey and not a destination that they erroneously assume it to be. Money should not be venerated because in doing that, its vanity looms large. By deconstructing it, money assumes a utility and functional humanity of its own that gives its owner unquantifiable joy and satisfaction. This is wishing The Bull a happy 71st birthday tomorrow. 

For Ayogu Eze and Ezinne Margaret Nwomeh

On Thursday last week, I had just arrived Enugu for the funerals of Ezinne Margaret Nebechi Nwomeh of Ozalla in Enugu State when another news of demise hopped in like a demonic apparition. Big brother and friend, Ayogu Eze, senator who represented Enugu North, had passed on.

I met Eze 21 years ago there in Enugu. Once the Commissioner for Information in the first term, I felt it a great honour to serve with him in the state. Blessed with a gift of the garb, Eze was detribalised in every sense. Perhaps resulting from his matrimony to a woman of my stock or his years as journalist with the Guardian newspaper, Eze had inspiring stories to tell about his association with the Yoruba, a language he struggled to flaunt.

A couple of years back, told I was visiting Enugu, he visited me in my hotel room where, for hours, we filled the gap of physical absence from each other. I reciprocated later on by attending his father's burial at Enugu-Ezike in Igboeze North where I was treated to a variety of Igbo culinary delicacies.

Talking of culinary delicacies, Mama Nwomeh reminded me of my Enugu years when her son, my friend, Dan and I used to dash to her Ozalla, Four Corner home. Her first demand was what we would eat. As we gathered in Ozalla for her wake ceremony on Friday, I spent quality time with her son, Benedict, a professor of surgery and vice-chair of global surgery in the department of surgery at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center where he drilled down on the humanity of his mother. 

Widowed at the age of 23, Ezinne Nwomeh single-handedly guided her five children to the zenith of their lives. She could have taken them to the motherless home for the challenges ahead her were daunting. Wrote Ben in his tribute to Mama: “On the fateful day of March 12, 1970, tragedy struck our family as Papa was called home, leaving Mama shattered. The war had just ended, and Mama, at the tender age of 23, found herself widowed with five young children to care for. Angela, the eldest, was merely 7 years old at the time. Mama was thrust into a world of uncertainty, facing homelessness and the daunting challenge of providing for her children with no means to do so.

“Amidst the haze of post-war years, my earliest memories of Mama began to take shape. Even as a young child, I observed her unwavering resolve to secure our survival. One poignant memory stands out vividly: Mama's relentless struggle to ensure we had food on the table…While instilling in us the code of honor expected of the “children of Peter Nwomeh,” Mama also went to great lengths to ensure we enjoyed a normal childhood alongside other neighborhood kids. She taught us the importance of family, tirelessly working to maintain connections with all our extended relatives, in every direction, and never once attempting to sever our ties with anyone.

“Mama fostered a spirit of generosity within us, serving as the driving force behind the creation of the Peter Nwomeh Foundation. In honor of both our parents, it will now be renamed The Peter and Margaret Nwomeh Foundation, and its sister charity, the Peter and Margaret Nwomeh Foundation USA.

“As we bid farewell to Mama, we do so with hearts full of gratitude for the seventy-seven years of love, sacrifice, and unwavering devotion she bestowed upon us. May her soul find peace in the loving embrace of our Heavenly Father, and may her memory continue to inspire us all.”

Yesterday, as we celebrated this amazon’s 77 eventful years on earth in Ozalla, my heart grieved on the passage of Ayogu. He was an avuncular spirit who left fond memories in the hearts of everyone he encountered. Sleep well, Ezinne Margaret Nebechi Nwomeh and the great soul, Ayogu Eze.

The Lord told me a story. A man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by armed robbers. They stripped him of his belongings and beat him black and blue. They beat him until he slumped and died. Then the Lord asked me a question. He said, “Femi, what happened after the man died?” 

I did not know the answer, so I asked the Holy Spirit. He said: “They stopped beating him.” Then He said to me: “Femi, if they are still beating you, it is because you are not dead yet. Once you are dead, the beating will stop.”

What does a dead man do if he is abused? Nothing! What does he do if he is provoked? Nothing! What does he do if he is flattered? Nothing! What does he do if he is tempted? Nothing! What does he do if a seductive woman undresses in front of him? Nothing! What does he do if he is offered a bribe? Nothing!

Whatever you do, a dead man does not react. He is dead to this world but hopefully alive to God. That is what it means to be born again. Therefore, Paul says to born-again believers: “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:11).

Are Christians Born-again?

The word of God says: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Many Christians claim to be born again, however, old things have not passed away in us. We claim to be born again but we remain the same. We then try to put the new wine of Christ in an old bottle. But this cannot work. We come to Jesus by faith. But faith without works is dead. (James 2:20).

The man who is born again is that man who was crucified with Christ. That means when Christ died, we also died.  Our body of sin was nailed to the cross. We then came back to life when Jesus rose from the dead.

However, we do not come back to life as our old selves. We come back to life as new men and women. We come back to life in the likeness of Christ. Jesus becomes our life. (Colossians 3:4).

Baptism into Christ’s Death

We are baptised into Christ’s death when we are truly born again. The old carnal man of the flesh, which is congenitally unrighteous, is crucified with Christ. That sinful nature is responsible for our alienation from God. It ensures that sin is natural to the man in the flesh. And righteousness is unnatural.

David says: “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” (Psalm 58:3).

You do not have to teach a child to tell lies. Telling lies comes naturally to him. But you have to teach him to stop telling lies. However, no matter how much you teach him, he cannot stop. He cannot help himself. As long as he is in the flesh, he will be a slave of sin.

But when a man receives Christ, he comes alive spiritually and the Holy Spirit comes to live in him as his Helper. The Bible says: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17). The Holy Spirit breaks down the gates of brass, and the bars of iron that have tied him to the life of sin in the kingdom of death.

Prophecy of New Birth

When a man is born again, he discovers that an Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled in him. He finds that there are two competing natures in him. This is how God describes this to Rebecca:

“Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23).

This is where Christians miss the road. We are not determined to realise this prophecy that the older shall serve the younger. We fail to insist as Jesus did: “Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44)

The older man is the man of the flesh, that comes with natural birth. The younger man is the man of the Spirit, that comes alive when we are born again. The word of God says the older shall serve the younger. But in most Christians, including those of us who claim to be born again, the younger (the spirit) still serves the older (the flesh).

Crucified Flesh

The reason is that we do not allow our flesh to be crucified. When the flesh is crucified, our body of sin dies an agonising death. Death by crucifixion is slow. But the inevitable end is death.

This is presented symbolically by the war between the house of Saul and the house of David: “Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”  (2 Samuel 3:1).

When the flesh finally dies, we are freed from sin: “For he who has died has been freed from sin.” (Romans 6:7).

Jesus came to earth in the likeness of sinful flesh to break the power of sin in the flesh. He used spiritual powers to prevail over the flesh. He refused to accede to the demands of the flesh.

He allowed malefactors to arrest Him. He did not resist when they beat Him. They clothed Him in purple and put a crown of thorns on His head. They slapped Him and spat on Him. They mocked Him, saluting Him as “the King of the Jews.” They then led Him out naked and crucified Him.

In all this, Jesus put up no resistance: “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7).

We can only emulate Jesus’ example if we walk in the spirit. We cannot if we walk in the flesh. If we do not crucify the flesh, the old man of the flesh will make us respond to abuses with abuses, insults with insults, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Crucified Life

Many Christians are not aware that we are supposed to be baptised into Christ’s death. Even when we undergo water baptism, we only see this as a religious ritual, without realising its practical implication.

Thus, Paul asks the Romans:

“Don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” (Romans 6:3-6).

Jesus died for us so we can live for Him. But we Christians do not see the crucified life he exemplified as “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6). We give an eye for an eye. We give a tooth for a tooth. We fight, we cheat, and we steal. We abuse others, curse, and betray our friends.

We don’t walk in the spirit. We walk “in the internet.” We do not spend time in prayer but on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

We fornicate and commit adultery. We pledge: for better, for worse; for richer, and for poorer, but then divorce our wives and choose younger models. We walk in lies and hypocrisy. We tell lies all the time. We waste our lives trying to make money. We love the world and the things in the world. We are lovers of pleasure not lovers of God.

But then we go to church on Sunday. Go to midweek services. Speak in tongues. Fall under the anointing. Sing praise songs and quote choice scriptures.

Jesus warns: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:21-23). CONTINUED.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; www.femiaribisala.com

A report by an open-source blockchain website, Elastos on Thursday revealed that 20 per cent constituting at least one in five Nigerians are using Bitcoin to carry out transactions everyday.

According to the platform, the research was compiled from online interviews conducted with 1,407 self-defined ‘tech savvy’ respondents in Brazil, Germany, Nigeria, South Korea, UAE, UK, and US.

The interviews were completed by a third party, registered market research company and completed between 30 March and 04 April ’24.

The report further revealed that 67 percent of Nigerians would have more trust in Bitcoin to protect their life savings than traditional services such as banks, local governments and, even, cash.

It read, “The inaugural BIT Index (Bitcoin; Innovation & Trust) – compiled from over 1,400 self-defined ‘tech savvy’ respondents from 7 countries across the globe – sheds light on the actual perception and use of Bitcoin in people’s daily lives, irrespective of its current valuation. Elastos’ BIT Index is part of ongoing research to better track the ‘real world’ use of Bitcoin together with users’ motivations, expectations and barriers around the same.

“In particular, the data reveals the role being played by emerging markets in terms of understanding, usage and confidence around Bitcoin.  Nigerian respondents’ levels of usage and trust compare starkly with those expressed from so-called ‘established’ markets such Germany and the UK and Germany where daily usage levels are just 8% (for German respondents) and (9% for their UK counterparts).

“In terms of trust – in addition to Nigeria – significant proportions of respondents from Brazil (35 percent) and the UAE (32 per cent) would have more confidence in Bitcoin-based services to protect their life savings compared to those from markets such as the UK (20 per cent) and Germany (22 per cent).

“When it comes to ensuring the integrity of online transactions, emerging market respondents also revealed their relative confidence in Bitcoin, compared to alternatives. According to the data 66 per cent Nigerian respondents and 35 per cent from Brazil have more confidence in Bitcoin-based systems than alternatives such as banks, or national Governments, compared to figures of just 16 per cent (Germany) and 21 per cent (UK) who feel the same.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Hargreaves, Elastos’ Global Head of Business Development & ESG, described the BIT Index’s inaugural findings as indicative of the role the ‘global south’ is playing in the adoption of decentralized currencies such as Bitcoin.

“The BIT Index offers a fascinating and sobering insight into the industry. The fact that over two-thirds of Nigerian consumers and a third of their counterparts from the UAE and Brazil would feel more confident entrusting their life savings in Bitcoin than traditional financial instruments speaks volumes about the protagonism these regions are already playing.  In many instances, the driving factor is the absence of viable – accessible – alternatives to, for instance, conduct cross-border transactions or mitigate the impact of inflation,” he said.

Punch