The new general overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations has emerged, weeks after the founder of the church, Prophet T B Joshua died.
According to African News, the wife of the late founder of SCOAN has been chosen to take over the affairs of the church.
The platform noted that elders of the church met and declared Evelyn the successor to the televangelist.
A top aide of the deceased cleric was quoted saying, “Someone must take charge immediately and give spiritual direction on the mode of service continuity. So much spiritual and financial efforts went into building SCOAN and it cannot just waste away.”
Prophet Joshua’s wife and the deceased met 30 years ago and ever since has been serving as the second in command to her husband all along.
It was gathered that Evelyn, apart from being a preacher, also offers counsel to the church members
The two were married for 31 years and have three children until his death on June 5, 2021.
Meanwhile, the church has announced that the late televangelist would be buried at his church, in Lagos Nigeria.
The Synagogue church also disclosed that all activities would be broadcast live on Emmanuel TV
Nollywood actress, Nkechi Blessing Sunday has reacted to the death of Nigerian billionaire, Micheal Usifo Ataga who was gruesomely murdered by his sidechic, Chidinma Ojukwu.
Society gazette reports that Ataga, the Chief Executive Officer of Super TV, and a director in Super Network was gruesomely murdered by his side chic, a 21-year-old student of the Unilag on June 12th.
According to viral reports, he was found dead with multiple stabs in his neck, chest and thigh with a whooping sum of 5 million withdrawn from his account.
Reacting to the news of his death, Nkechi via her Instagram said that the 21-year-old Unilag student, Chidinma, killed her destiny helper.
According to the mother of one, Chidinma killed a destiny helper a lot of people are on their knees begging God for.
In her words; “People Dey pray Day and Night for destiny helper,E reach Chidinma turn she kill her own destiny helper…This life no just balance”
President Muhammadu Buhari has postponed his trip to London, the United Kingdom, for a medical follow-up visit.
Society gazette had reported that the trip was earlier scheduled for today, Friday, June 25, 2021.
But according to a short statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the trip has been pushed forward.
Though a reason for the postponement was not given, Mr. Adesina said a new date will be announced in due course.
In other news, a former Governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, has condemned the Muhammadu Buhari-led government over its decision to ban the operations of Twitter in Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH on the Twitter ban, Osoba, an ally to Bola Tinubu, insisted that such moves by Buhari’s government must be resisted.
The APC chieftain added that this is not the first time the federal government is trying to control the media, recalling that he had spent time in detention fighting for press freedom.
Osoba said: “Again, we will continue to resist it. This will not be the beginning or the end of measures by different governments to want to contain and control the media.
“We will be the ones to continue to resist such. I have been in detention many times in the past all because of the news I wrote. None of my stories have ever been denied, but governments all over the world will want to hide under security threats to do what they do.
“We are the ones that must continue to show that what we are doing is helping the nation and making sure that there is restraint on the part of those in authority.”
The Department of State Security Service (DSS) has invited controversial Islamic cleric Sheikh Abubakar Ahmed Gumi for questioning.
According to PeoplesGazette citing a report by VOA Hausa, the invitation came after a controversy between Gumi and the Nigerian Army.
The SSS spokesman Peter Afunanya is yet to respond to inquiry to confirm the arrest.
Recall that Gumi, during an interview with ARISE TV, accused the Nigerian military of aiding and abetting banditry in the North.
The Islamic cleric stated this while answering a question on the nationality of the bandits terrorising the North.
“These bandits are operating with a lot of criminal elements in our security system. Banditry is a business. How are the weapons being transported across the borders without any interception from security operatives? These weapons can’t come in without the knowledge of some people in the security system. There are people making money from this in the Military. The system needs a complete overhaul,” he said.
Reacting, the military said: “It is essential to remind ourselves that this same military, being accused of connivance, are the ones who recently put their lives on the line to rescue abductees of the Government Secondary School, Birnin Yauri from kidnappers.”
The statement added, “While the NA will not attempt to excuse the possibility of black sheep amongst its fold, it must be stated unambiguously that it will not condone any form of sabotage or aiding and assisting the enemy by any personnel.”
The army insisted that its soldiers always adhered to rules of engagement and protection of fundamental human rights.
The outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has said the group is not after Northerners, but rather after killer-herdsmen terrorising the South-East.
Naija News earlier reported that Gumi said that Fulani herdsmen and bandits only abduct students for money while IPOB killed security operatives in the Southeast.
In an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday, Gumi had said: “IPOB is attacking the police, the army, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other government institutions; killing our men in service.
”And the herdsmen are kidnapping children not to kill them but to get money; so how can you compare somebody who is killing our gallant men directly to somebody who is kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them. Look, we need some fairness in what we are doing.”
But in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said Gumi was being mischievous and spreading falsehood.
He denied the allegations that IPOB and Eastern Security Network, ESN, are against Northerners, rather the group are tackling bandits and killer herdsmen.
The statement read in parts: “For Sheikh Gumi who never gave a hoot while killer herdsmen rampaged our communities to try to twist the fact is not only mischievous but an act of terror itself.
“No Northerner in any part of Biafra land can prove that he/she has at any time been attacked by IPOB or ESN. We are only chasing terrorists and bandits behind killings and kidnapping for ransom out of our land.
“Gumi should be ashamed that an Islamic cleric as he claims to be has suddenly become a mouthpiece for bandits and terrorists. That Gumi has special interest in bandits and terrorists is an indication that he is a terrorist and has never shown any empathy to their victims.
“Why is Gumi always advocating for terrorists and negotiating with them but never advanced the cause of victims of terror? What does Sheikh Gunmi have in common with bandits and terrorists?
“Gumi only wants to blackmail IPOB and ESN with his fabricated propaganda that we are attacking Northerners so as to provide more justification for his Fulani terrorists security agencies in Nigerian security uniforms to come after our innocent people as they are currently doing.
“This terror sympathizer wants to lessen the heat on his boys by instigating the security agencies against us. Can you see why Sheikh Gumi should be arrested for investigations and interrogations?
“We want to put the world on notice that Sheikh Gumi is the main sponsor of banditry and terrorism in Nigeria. He should be made to face the consequences of his actions.
“For holding talks with terrorists and championing their cause, he has a case to answer in the atrocities being committed.
“However, we promise Gumi and his likes that no amount of distraction will make us back down on our resolve to restore Biafra and defend our ancestral land against invasion by Fulani jihadists.
“We are formidable and we won’t give up on this mandate. ESN will not allow any person to occupy our forests again.”
Did you watch the interview granted about 10 days ago by Labour and Employment Minister, Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige, to Channels Television NewsNight program anchored by Ladi Akeredolu Ale? If you didn’t, then you missed something. But not to worry, you can still get to watch it online.
I have decided to call it Sermon on the Mountain, according to Dr Ngige. It was bold, frank, forthright, and something to be highly commended.
The medical doctor-turned-politician and now Conciliator General of the Federation parried no question. He answered them all. And most important was that he spoke boldly about the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) at a time most leaders of thought and people of influence in the region were still calling them ‘Unknown Gunmen,’ cowering under their beds, afraid of speaking the truth to a rebellion gone awry.
The first person I recall who spoke boldly about IPOB/ESN was Gov Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, when he addressed the Press at the Presidential Villa some weeks back. He said he knew who the unknown gunmen were. And he mentioned the group, saying he didn’t agree with their tactics, but he understood why they were doing what they were doing.
Another person who came boldly to sue for peace was former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzo Kalu. He urged the young men to sheathe their swords, and stop the self- immolation spree they were embarking on.
Some other interest groups issued statements that were tepid, neither here nor there, while others spoke from both sides of the mouth. It was obvious that they didn’t want to condemn the secessionist group, lest they become targets themselves. The group seemed impudent and irreverent enough to confront anybody.
But Ngige came out smoking, calling a spade a spade. He held nothing back, firing from the hips, asking for no quarter, and getting none. I was, therefore, not surprised when some days later, Governors of all the States in the South East came out as one body, denouncing secession, and expressing faith in a united Nigeria. Ngige and some few others before him had shone the light, and people were finding the way.
Let’s plumb the depths of the interview, and see what the former Anambra State Governor, ex-Senator, and two-time Minister said.
He was asked to comment on the security situation, first in the country generally, and then South East in particular.
The Minister made it clear that agitation for secession had always been there since return to democratic rule in 1999, under Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President.
There was MASSOB led by Raph Uwazurike, which wanted the sovereign state of Biafra, and from which some people broke off to form IPOB. There was also Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in the West, and Arewa Peoples Congress up North. There was also the remnant of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which repudiated the 1999 Constitution, and vowed to write a new one for the country.
“As the economic situation degenerates in the country, so does security degenerate,” the Minister submitted, adding: “The situation now is not as uncontrollable as some people paint it. The current government is trying its best.” Very courageous, if you ask me.
Ngige told his interviewer that he had been Governor, Senator, and now Minister since 2015, “and I can safely tell you that we need an ad-hoc, mid-term, and long term funding plan for security.”
Then to the big elephant in the room. Secessionist agitation by IPOB and its military wing, the ESN. The Minister said he was sorry for them, particularly as someone who was a soldier, and saw action during the Nigeria/Biafra Civil War.
“When I see those gathering Ak-47 from slain policemen to fight a separatist war, I laugh. MASSOB was non-violent. IPOB also broke off from MASSOB and was non-violent initially. There’s nothing wrong with referendum to determine where you want to be, as people would vote. But to want to use force, attack police stations, kill policemen, burn INEC facilities and correctional centers, you are only putting people in harm’s way. It is not good.
“Terming everybody in South East as IPOB member is not good for investment and business. Before this government came in 2015, bomb explosions were going off everywhere, including in Abuja. Boko Haram was everywhere, before they were chased out and confined to the North East. The government has done so well.”
The question was then asked whether the Igbo were truly marginalized in terms of political and economic power. The Minister paused, and said it was a tricky situation.
“I’ve noted the way appointments go, especially in the security services. There are some positions you must fill based on seniority, competence, and loyalty to the Commander-in-Chief. I’ve discussed this one-on-one with Mr President a couple of times. Seniority, loyalty and competence are very cardinal. But all these things can be discussed without necessarily taking up arms.”
The question turned to whether the South East had been marginalized in terms of infrastructure, and you see Dr Ngige in his elements.
“Nobody can say the South East has been shortchanged,” he posits. “It’s ignorance. What this government promised, it has fulfilled.
“When it got to office, several states were assisted to clear backlog of salaries. The South East was not left out. Policemen who served in Biafra, and who had been denied pensions got their entitlements. The Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, which had failed, and one lane had been turned to farmland, was rebuilt. A journey of three hours has now become 40 minutes.
“The Enugu-Onitsha road, passing through Awka, not touched by many governments before now, is being done. So also Enugu-Amansea, into Oji River. Enugu-Abakaliki is completed. Owerri-Aba-Umuahia is being done. Okigwe-Awudi to Ugah is being done. So also Onitsha to Nnewi.
“The Second Niger Bridge is the icing on the cake, costing N236 billion. That bridge will give economic life to the South East, South South, and part of North Central. It is about 53% done, and work is going on vigorously. Yet some people still say they are not remembered in infrastructure.
“The zone has produced Senate President for eight years, produced Deputy Senate President, Deputy Speaker, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Yet they say no appointments.
“Enugu Airport had the worst runway before. Today, it is now international in name and standard. Night landing is possible there now, and with the installed Instrument Landing Systems, planes can land there in the worst weather. And this was done by a President they say hates them.”
Dr Ngige attributes the antipathy to the President and the All Progressives Congress in the zone to the propaganda of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
“The party had thought no one else could make inroad into the zone, till I broke the jinx in 2011: winning the Senate seat on the platform of the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which they called a Yoruba party. It was the greatest fight of my political life.”
He laments that separatist agitation became stronger in the region when APC began to govern two states, declaring: “There must be a limit to politicking…some people don’t know when they are crossing boundaries.”
Dr Ngige describes President Buhari as a democrat, who is afraid of breaching the Constitution, adding that “he’s a willing horse, and people want to ride him to death, which is not fair.”
To another big one. Would the Minister subscribe to President of Igbo extraction in 2023?
Why not? He canvasses a return to the Sani Abacha 1995 Constitution that prescribes rotational presidency with single term of five years.
“Let’s use it for 30 years, and the six zones would all have tasted the Presidency. We would heal all wounds, and have a more stable polity..
“But I believe APC won’t be unfair to the southern block of the party, which has three zones. We will sit down and discuss.”
It is said that dynamite comes in small packages. That was what the Minister proved by that interview. A human dynamo, not afraid to voice his convictions.
*Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity
Scheming by three blocs has placed the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in a fresh dilemma over the zoning of top positions ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Society gazette recalls that the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee was dissolved in on June 25, 2020, and the Buni-led Caretaker/Extraordinary National Committee was constituted with a mandate to conduct the party’s national convention within six months.
But on December 8, 2020 the tenure of the caretaker committee was extended to allow for membership registration.
The failure of the APC leadership to settle on the zone to produce its national chairman and presidential candidate is reportedly responsible for the delay in organising the convention of the party.
Top party sources and lawmakers had disclosed that the tenure of the caretaker committee would be extended by another six months next week.
It is believed that if the North produces the chairman of the party, the South will take the presidential ticket and vice versa.
It was gathered that scheming and machinations by various blocs to produce the national chairman of the party to place them in a better position in 2023 was one of the factors delaying the conduct of the national convention.
The three main blocs in the party are – the bloc of the Presidency, National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s camp and that of the governors, who are members of the party.
A former governor told DailyTrust that if the zoning arrangement of the party for 2023 is not properly managed, it would split the party.
“One of the reasons for the delay is to enable us to get our house together because, by the time the zoning arrangement is announced, fresh issues will come up. We need someone that has reasonable experience, maturity and is well-grounded to take over our party. Someone who can call anybody to order, bring all forces together and organise the party,” he said.
A ranking lawmaker and member of the party blamed the APC governors for the delay in organising the convention.
“They want to produce the next chairman of the party at all cost. They are the most influential bloc in the party, hence they are manipulating the system to favour them,” he said.
He said the statement of the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Atiku Bagudu, that the presidential ticket and the chairmanship seat are opened to all is part of the gimmick of the governors.
Bagudu had in May this year said, “APC belongs to all Nigerians. Everyone, from every part of the country, is free to aspire for any position in the party in line with provisions of our party’s constitution and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”
An ally of the president from the North West told DailyTrust that Buhari was fully aware of the scheming.
“They are scheming and we are watching. The governors’ bloc thinks they have to retain the control of the party for 2023 reasons. They are the most powerful clique in the party and they are the people controlling state apparatus of their party.
“But, I am sure that it is the intervention of President Buhari that will address the situation,” he said.
A party source however warned that extending the timeline for the caretaker would spark legal issues that would nail the party in the 2023 poll.
Brenda Ataga is the wife of Michael Usifo Ataga, a Nigerian billionaire, who was gruesomely stabbed to death, multiple times by his side chic, Chidinma Ojukwu, who has since been arrested.
Naija News earlier reported that Chidinma, an undergraduate of the University of Lagos, stabbed Ataga who would have been 50 years old this month, in several places at a rented Airbnb in Lekki area of Lagos, killing him in the process.
According to Street Journal, the late Ataga’s wife, Brenda is the National Project Coordinator of the LPG Gas Expansion Programme, in the office of the Honorable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.
She had previously served as the Special Adviser on Downstream and Infrastructure between 2015 and 2019.
She is a Mid/Downstream Commercial Strategist with over 15 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry and a 2018 Nominee of the prestigious Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu Fellowship.
Brenda also founded and seats on the board of a not-for-profit charity organization – True Foundation – which focuses on community and human capacity training for Women and Youths in barrios and IDP camps.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts Administration from the University of Lagos, BA Business Management from Lincoln University and an LLM from the University of Salford
Before being in public service, Brenda held key leadership positions in private sector, where she attained recognition as the first female and first under 30 to serve in the capacity of Supply Manager at OANDO PLC (West Africa).
Embattled Yoruba actor, Omiyinka Olanrewaju James, popularly known as Baba Ijesha, who was arraigned at a Special Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, has been granted bail.
The actor, who was being tried by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo over charges bothering on rape, sexual assault and abuse of a minor, was granted bail on the ground that it was part of his fundamental human rights.
The group said it is obvious because the cleric is fond of defending bandits and also championing their cause.
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) says Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi is not only a spokesman for bandits and terrorists tormenting Nigerians but equally their main sponsor.
The group said it is obvious because the cleric is fond of defending bandits and also championing their cause.
According to a statement released to SaharaReporters by the IPOB’s media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful on Thursday, the nation’s security agents should arrest and prosecute Gumi.
IPOB, in the statement, also insisted that the Eastern Security Network (ESN), the IPOB’s militia arm was created to defend the people of the South-East from killers and criminals.
It noted that the bandits Gumi has been defending kidnap people for ransom, and also spill the blood of their victims.
The group released the statement to react to Gumi’s comparison of IPOB and bandits as groups bearing arms in Nigeria while granting an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday.
Gumi said, “IPOB is attacking the police, the army, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and other government institutions; killing our men in service.
“And the herdsmen are kidnapping children not to kill them but to get money; so how can you compare somebody who is killing our gallant men directly to somebody who is kidnapping children to make money and not to kill them. Look, we need some fairness in what we are doing.”
Reacting, the Biafra separatist group said, “The attention of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has been drawn to the latest ranting and ridiculous claims by terrorist apologist, Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, that IPOB, and Eastern Security Network, ESN, were killing Northerners. There is no iota of truth in such a mischievous and fallacious claim.
“In case the self-acclaimed Islamic cleric has forgotten, may we remind him that neither IPOB nor ESN is a terrorist organisation or killers like his bandit clients and allies. Spilling of blood is never part of our mandate.
“ESN is a child of necessity created for the defence of our ancestral land against terrorists and killer herdsmen wreaking havoc across our communities. ESN is only defending our hapless mothers and sisters who have been raped, maimed and attacked without any justification by Fulani herdsmen.
“Since December 2020 when ESN was set up by our leader, these vampires have been on the run because of the heat from our gallant operatives across Biafran forests. For Sheikh Gumi who never gave a hoot while killer herdsmen rampaged our communities to try to twist the fact now is not only mischief but an act of terror itself.”
The secessionist group also said it had not attacked any Northerners, adding that Gumi was only finding faults to blackmail IPOB.
It also said nothing would make IPOB abandon its objectives.
“No Northerner in any part of Biafra land can prove that he/she has at any time been attacked by IPOB or ESN. We are only chasing terrorists and bandits behind killings and kidnapping for ransom in our land.
“Gumi should be ashamed that an Islamic cleric as he claims has suddenly become a mouthpiece for bandits and terrorists. Why does Gumi have a special interest in bandits and terrorists is an indication that he is a terrorist but has never shown any empathy to their victims of other Nigerians (sic).
“Why is Gumi always advocating for terrorists and negotiating with them but never advanced the cause of victims of terror? What does Sheikh Gumi have in common with bandits and terrorists?
“Gumi only wants to blackmail IPOB and ESN with his fabricated propaganda he is, that we are attacking Northerners so as to provide more justification for his Fulani terrorist security agencies in Nigeria uniforms to come after innocent people as they are currently doing.
“This terror sympathiser wants to lessen the heat on his boys by instigating the security agencies against us. Can you see why Sheikh Gumi should be arrested for investigations and interrogations?
“We want to put the world on notice that Sheikh Gumi is the main sponsor of banditry and terrorism in Nigeria. He should be made to face the consequences of his actions. For holding talks with terrorists and championing their cause, he has a case to answer in the atrocities
“But we promise Gumi and his likes that no amount of distraction will make us back down on our resolve to restore Biafra, and defend our ancestral land against invasion by Fulani jihadists. We are formidable and we won’t give up on this mandate. ESN will not allow any person to occupy our forests again,” the statement added.
