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Musical Video: As Jerusalema sweeps the world

By Frank Tietie

Can anything good come from Africa? Yes! Everything good, especially good music.

Master KG’s Jerusalema is presently the biggest trending music all over the world at the moment. In Europe, the hit track has reached top of the charts in Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Israel, Portugal, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Spain and France. The hit track also swept the cultural landscape in Latin America, North America, the Orients, the Carribbean, including the countries of Nicaragua, Panama, Jamaica, Japan, Canada, the United States and South Africa where it has its origins.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Jerusalema hit track is the accompanying world challenge which has inspired hundreds of videos on YouTube by a large number of groups and individuals from all walks of life including doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, school children, old people, celebrities, monks, nuns, Startrek fans, construction workers etc. A must watch, include the ones by a South African law firm and some Swedish hospital workers.

Amazingly, many international corporate organisations have also used the soundtrack for their adverts. The advert of the Austrian Airlines stands out. The airline featured the hit track in its latest promotion with a marvelous synchronicity of its pilots and air hostesses, in a spectacular choreography. The royalties to Master KG from the use of his sound track in those international adverts can only be left to the imagination. The YouTube views are in staggering millions.

Master KG is from South Africa. Recently, Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African President, in a national broadcast, encouraged South Africans not to be downcast in the midst of the ravaging Corona virus pandemic. With pride and a hushed smile on national television, the South African President urged his fellow South Africans to embrace a new wave of hope that comes from reflecting and dancing to the Jerusalema song, being the latest African sensation from South Africa to the whole world.

Scanning through scores of videos of the Jerusalema challenge, performed by people of all races and colours, from every continent of the world, it is easy to note how powerful the art form of music can break racial barriers. Nothing from Africa has been so widely embraced by the rest of the world in recent times.

Apart from an embarrassing handful and the association of Burna Boy with its remix, Nigerian acts are largely missing in the Jerusalema challenge. Nigerians are presently too battered by storms of economic instability, intractable insecurity and political upheavals to join the Jerusalema challenge with their usual gusto and abundance of talent.

The Nigerian government must realise the powerful role and influence of the various art forms, especially music, in uplifting the morale of a nation during times of national crises. The Nigerian presidency must move quickly to identify with star Nigerian acts like Burna Boy, Tiwa Savage, Davido, Whizkid, Olamide, Phyno, Teni, Flavour, and a host of others, to galvanise a very badly needed hope among the Nigerian people.

As Master KG’s Jerusalema, is presently celebrated all over the world, let it be considered that Gongo Aso by Nice of Nigeria also had the same heavy and highly rhythmic beats as Jerusalema but it didn’t make the world wave as the latter. There must certainly, be something of a distinction between the two hits.

Jerusalema Challenge by the Law firm of Beatrice Mtetwa and Nyambirai in peaceful defiance of the ZANU-PF and the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa over persecution of human rights activists in Zimbabwe.

Lawyers who will do this in Nigeria are likely to face the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for conduct that is incompatible with the legal profession. Take note! 

  • Tietie, Nigerian Human Rights Lawyer, Media Aficionado, Collector of Music of the 60s, 70s 80s & 90s and Founder of Lifetime Music NG, writes from Abuja

U.S. voting rights activist Stacey Abrams nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche

OSLO (Reuters) – U.S. voting rights activist and Democratic Party politician Stacey Abrams has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her work to promote nonviolent change via the ballot box, a Norwegian lawmaker said on Monday.

Abrams, whose work was credited with boosting voter turnout last year, helping Joe Biden win the U.S. presidency, joins a long list of nominees, including both former President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, former White House adviser Jared Kushner.

“Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights,” said Lars Haltbrekken, a Socialist Party member of Norway’s parliament.

Photo

FILE PHOTO: Stacey Abrams is seen speaking on screen at the Wisconsin Center on the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 18, 2020. Gabriela Bhaskar/Pool viaREUTERS/FILE PHOTO/FILE PHOTO

King, a Baptist minister who became a leader of the 1960s civil rights movement, won the Nobel prize in 1964 and remains among its most famous laureates.

“Abrams’ efforts to complete King’s work are crucial if the United States of America shall succeed in its effort to create fraternity between all its peoples and a peaceful and just society,” Haltbrekken said.

Thousands of people, from members of parliaments worldwide to former winners, are eligible to propose candidates, and a nomination does not imply endorsement from the Nobel committee in Oslo.

Other candidates this year include Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organization and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

The U.S. Black Lives Matter movement, as well as Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the “Pentagon Papers” about the Vietnam War, U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and WikiLeaks, have also been nominated, as have pro-democracy and civil rights campaigners from Belarus to Poland and Hungary.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, but nominators can choose to reveal their picks.

Prominent former U.S. winners include Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama, and former vice president, Al Gore.

The 2021 laureate will be announced in October.

Reuters

Keep improving

‘From everyone who has been given much, much more will be demanded.’
Luke 12:48 NIV

Author H. Jackson Brown Jr quipped, ‘Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.’

If you know you have talent and you’ve seen a lot of motion but little concrete results, you may lack self-discipline. Look at last week’s schedule. How much of your time did you devote to regular, disciplined activities?

Did you do anything to grow and improve yourself? If you have been putting these things off and telling yourself that you’ll do them later, you need to work on your self-discipline.

A nursery in Canada displays this sign on its wall: ‘The best time to plant a tree is twenty-five years ago…

The second-best time is today.’ So starting today – discipline yourself. Why? Because:

1) There’s a price to pay to reach the next level. American playwright Sidney Howard remarked: ‘One half of knowing what you want, is knowing what you must give up before you get it.’

2) Be willing to start with small things. At first your gains will be small, but they will grow. The difference between the gold medal winner and the other contestants, is often just hundredths of a second.

3) Get into the right environment. Since improvement always requires some degree of risk and failure, pick a place where growth and experimentation are encouraged.

4) Believe that you can always do it better. Anything you’ve done in a particular way for a given amount of time, can always be done better.

So with God’s help, you can keep improving.

Bible in a Year: Exodus 14-15, Matthew 17

The Word for Today

Insecurity in leadership

‘Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others.’
Philippians 2:3 NLT

Here’s the dilemma of an insecure leader: if others excel in doing a job, they fear it will make them look bad. But they also fear that if they do the job poorly, they will still look bad. So they try to do everything themselves.

As a result, they fail to succeed or their success is limited. Paul addresses it this way: ‘Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.

Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too’ (vv. 3-4 NLT). Secure leaders are able to believe in others because they believe in themselves. They aren’t arrogant; they know their own strengths and weaknesses and respect themselves. When their people perform well they don’t feel threatened.

They go out of their way to bring the best people together, then build them up so that they will perform at the highest level. When a secure leader’s team succeeds, it brings them great joy. They see that as the highest compliment they can receive for their leadership ability.

One author writes: ‘Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others, than being ill at ease with yourself.’ So what should you do? 1) Know yourself. If you’re not naturally self-aware, ask someone you trust to name your three greatest strengths and weaknesses.

Don’t defend yourself when you hear their answers. Gather the information and then reflect on it. 2) Get help. You deserve it, you’re worth it! As you begin to overcome insecurity you will rise to a new level of blessing and achievement.

Bible in a Year: Luke 2:1-24, Psalms 13-15

The Word for Today

‘Water’ your seed with God’s Word

‘It is the same with my word.’
Isaiah 55:11 NLT

Isaiah writes: ‘The rain and snow come down from the heavens…to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word’ (vv. 10-11 NLT).

If you want a harvest you must sow a seed: ‘Whoever sows generously will also reap generously’ (2 Corinthians 9:6 NIV). But you must also water your seed, and you do that by praying and speaking God’s Word over it! That’s what will ‘cause the grain to grow’. Your tongue has the power to bring life or death (see Proverbs 18:21).

So speak words of life over the seed you’ve sown. God told the Israelites, ‘You have said…What have we gained by obeying his commands…those who do evil get rich’ (Malachi 3:14-15 NLT).

Have you been saying things like that too? If you have, be careful: Grumbling was the sin that kept the Israelites going around in circles in the wilderness for forty years. Just because God promises you something doesn’t guarantee you’ll automatically get it.

There are certain things you must do: First, refuse to be a complainer. ‘Do not grumble, as some of [the Israelites] did – and were killed by the destroying angel’ (1 Corinthians 10:10 NIV). Second, get into agreement with God’s Word.

‘God…calls into being things that were not’ (Romans 4:17 NIV). Faith agrees with God’s Word before the results are evident. So if you’ve been sowing and not been reaping, this could be your key.

Today begin to water each seed you sow by speaking God’s Word over it, believing Him for a harvest of blessing.

The Word for Today

Strength through sharing

‘Many of the believers began to confess openly.’
Acts 19:18 NCV

Speaking about the church at Ephesus, Paul writes: ‘Many of the believers began to confess openly and tell all the evil things they had done…So in a powerful way the word of the Lord kept spreading and growing’ (vv. 18-20 NCV).

Spiritual healing happens in churches like this one. So if you find yourself trapped in a pattern of repeated sin and failure, seek out mature, committed Christians who aren’t shocked by your problem, who won’t divulge your confidence, and who know how to pray for you and with you. Jesus gave His followers the authority to hear confessions and proclaim grace.

‘If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’ (John 20:23 NKJV). A spiritual catharsis takes place when someone looks you in the face and says, ‘God forgives you, I forgive you, now forgive yourself and walk in God’s forgiveness!’ Forgiveness is such a powerful force that it can actually facilitate healing.

James writes: ‘Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.

If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective’ (James 5:14-16 NIV). And if you’re not sure who you should talk to, or who you can trust, start with your pastor.

The Word for Today

IGP Adamu has not stepped aside – Force Headquarter

Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, on Tuesday evening debunked reports IGP Mohammed Adamu has stepped aside and handed over the running of the Force Headquarters to Sanusi Lemo, the new Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations.

Mba, who spoke on the phone with The Nation, Not TheNigerialawyer simply said: “I am not aware of it.”

With the development, Adamu remains the Inspector General of Police, despite having reached the mandatory 35 years in service as stipulated by the law on Monday.

The last announcement from the Presidency over the matter was from Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu on national television on Monday saying he was unaware of any imminent announcement of a new IGP.

Shehu had said the President, who returns to Abuja on Tuesday, should be should be on his desk by Wednesday, raising expectations that a major announcement may be made in respect to situation.

The President returned to Abuja on Tuesday evening.

The situation has led to speculations from various circles.

The Nigeria Lawyer

Day After Retirement, Adamu Goes To Office In Uniform As Buhari Delays New IGP Appointment Over Ethnic Consideration

SaharaReporters gathered that police officers at the Force headquarters were upset and shocked when the IGP appeared at the Louis Edet House in uniform.

Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, on Tuesday showed up at the Force headquarters in Abuja wearing his uniform despite the fact that he has attained the statutory age of retirement, SaharaReporters has gathered.

Adamu, who was officially due for retirement on Monday, has refused to hand over the reins of leadership to the most senior officer as expected.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu

SaharaReporters gathered that police officers at the Force headquarters were upset and shocked when the IGP appeared at the Louis Edet House in uniform.

“He’s still here now, he refused to hand over despite not given an extension by the President, he is a lawless man,” a police officer said.

The President was supposed to convene a meeting of the Police Council which has the mandate to appoint a new IG but that had not been done as of time of filing this report.

However, findings indicate that the council that comprised the President, state governors, and the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, merely adopts whoever is appointed as IG by the President, contrary to its prescribed roles.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, earlier said he was not aware of the imminent announcement of a new police chief.

He stated, “The President returns to Abuja (from Katsina) on Tuesday. He should be on his desk by Wednesday. I don’t know when he will do this. One thing I can assure you is that in places sensitive like that, no vacuum will subsist, so therefore, the system will take care of itself.”

Shehu also stressed that the appointment of the next IGP would not be based on ethnic considerations.

“The President will rather have an Inspector-General of Police who will make you and I safer, protect lives and property than one who is more pronounced by his tribal marks,” he noted.

Shehu said it is impracticable for top security appointments to be made based on ethnicity or regions.

However, a Presidency source on Tuesday told SaharaReporters that Buhari and the ‘cabal’ had engineered a desperate and sectional move to hedge out a southerner, Moses Jitoboh, an Assistant Inspector-General of Police from Bayelsa from becoming the next IGP, all aimed at elongating the Northern grip on the nation’s security architecture.

It was also learnt that the Buhari-led administration does not want Jitoboh because he is a southerner and a Christian. 

Section 7 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 has positioned Jitoboh, 50, as the only qualified officer to become the next Inspector-General out of all the AIGs currently in the Nigeria Police Force.

SaharaReporters gathered that 23 of the 24 AIGs who are general duty officers are up for retirement between January 8, 2021 and March 1, 2023, either based on enlistment or age. Only Jitoboh, the youngest of them all, has more than eight years left in service — twice the legal requirement.

His status should have triggered his preparation to take charge of police affairs from Adamu, a Muslim northerner from Nasarawa, but the President and his associates are loath to name a Christian southerner of Ijaw extraction with the potential to lead the police for nine years and are racing to circumvent the law and name a northerner as the IGP.

There are four northerners favoured by the cabal namely the Force Secretary, AIG Usman Alkali Baba; the AIG in charge of Zone 13, Awka, AIG Dan-Mallam Mohammed; Commandant, Police Academy (POLAC), Kano, AIG Zanna Mohammed Ibrahim, and the AIG in charge of Zone 12, Bauchi, Sanusi Nma Lemu.

SaharaReporters however gathered that they are due for retirement between January 2022 and March 2023 while the new police law signed by Buhari in September 2020 mandated that only an officer with at least four more service years’ grace could be appointed as IG.

Jitoboh, who is presently the AIG in charge of Border Patrol, enlisted into the police force on June 10, 1994. He is due for retirement on June 10, 2029. 

He is a multiple degree holder and PhD candidate in Geographical Information System at the Graduate School of Abia State University and an alumnus of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State.

Jitoboh was at a time the AIG in charge of Zone 8 police command as well as Commissioner of Police, Adamawa State Command. He also holds a Certificate in Negotiation and Leadership, Harvard Law School Programme on Negotiation, Harvard University, Boston, USA, as well as Certificate in National and International Security Policy, Harvard Kennedy School for Governance, also at Harvard University. Between 2018 and 2019, he was Commissioner of Police, General Investigations (GI) at the Force Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (FCIID) Annex, Alagbon, Lagos.

He was aide-de-camp (ADC) and Chief Personal Security Officer (CPSO) to ex-president Goodluck Jonathan between 2010 and 2015.

Despite glaring evidence, President Buhari has frequently denied allegations of being sectional, often citing his appointment of ministers from southern states without noting that it is a constitutional requirement for all states to have at least one minister in the federal cabinet.

Yet in 2017, Buhari declined to appoint Walter Onnoghen as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, despite a looming constitutional crisis. But when he fell ill and was flown to London for extended medical treatment, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo quickly moved to avert the crisis by forwarding Onnoghen’s name to the Senate for confirmation. 

Barely two years later, Buhari ultimately plotted the inglorious ouster of Mr Onnoghen, a southern Christian, expectedly sourcing his replacement from the North.

In 2018, Buhari oversaw the infamous removal and controversial replacement of Matthew Seiyefa, a former acting Director-General of the State Security Service from Bayelsa. After seeing that the senior positions from which he could appoint the next SSS DG were occupied by southerners, Buhari ignored them to name Yusuf Bichi from Kano, years after his retirement from service.

Last year, Azuka Azinge was removed from office as Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on allegations of false assets filings. Azinge was subsequently replaced with a northerner and was never prosecuted for the purported allegations.

Ex-National Pension Commission chief, Chinelo Anohu, was similarly booted out of the office and her position immediately ceded to the North.

Sahara Reporters

Peter Obi: N400bn too much… I can help FG procure vaccines for N150bn

Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra, says Nigeria doesn’t need more than N150 billion to procure COVID-19 vaccines.Advertisement

Osagie Ehanire, minister of health, said in December 2020 that the federal government needs about N400 billion for COVID-19 vaccines.

According to Ehanire, N400 billion would be required to vaccinate 70 percent of Nigeria’s over 200 million population, at $8 per person.

Commenting on the issue when he featured on ARISE Television on Tuesday, Obi said there are issues of transparency regarding the procurement of vaccines.

The ex-governor said Nigeria would not have needed to spend so much in procuring vaccines if its National Vaccine Production Facility was operational.

“The issue of vaccine is one that I feel a sense of pain. Nigeria as a country in 1940 established what we called National Vaccine Production Facility domiciled in Yaba, and that was able to produce virtually all the vaccines we used in the days of smallpox, yellow fever, and that facility was shut down in 1991 to be refurbished and upgraded, there was nothing wrong with it,” Obi said.

“And till today that has been the case deliberately so that people can import vaccines and sell to the government.

“Now I hear that we are looking for N400bn. Well, I am at loss. Our budget this year for health is N547bn. I don’t know if they are going to take this vaccine procurement from it, because if they do, we are left with N147bn.

“For the vaccine procurement also, we need to have transparency in the procurement. Today, vaccine in India costs between $2 25 cents to $3. That is an average of $2.75 and if you say you are going to use N400 billion, that is about $1bn. If you divide $1bn by $2.75cents each, that is about 350 million doses which is far in excess of what we need.

“World Health Organisation said if you can inject 70 percent of your population, that’s it. 70 percent of Nigeria is about 140 million so we are actually looking for 140 million doses. Considering that some other people are going to give us some free, we actually don’t need more than 120 million. But even if we’re buying 140 million, we just need about three hundred and eighty-something million dollars which is about N150bn to buy it.

“If they have a N400bn budget to buy the vaccine, my suggestion, they don’t need to award contracts in this vaccine, let them just call Serum institute in India and plead with them. I am sure they will even give us discount. If they want I can go for the negotiation. It won’t cost more than $2 each.”

On Monday, Enahire said the federal government is expecting 15 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in February.

The Cable

Court orders Adamawa ‘witches’ to heal three-year-old girl

A magistrate court in Adamawa has ordered seven people to restore the health of a three-year-old girl whom they reportedly admitted to bewitching with a strange illness.

The defendants include 60-year- old Halima Jonta of Dumne town, in Song local government area of the state, and five other children between the ages of four and six.

According to TheCable, they were said to have been arrested by the community leaders and arraigned for allegedly afflicting the victim with a life-threatening illness through witchcraft.

During the court session, Jonta confessed to have killed seven people in seven years with the help of two other alleged witches since she joined the cult in Dumne town. The defendants who admitted to have bewitched the child accused one another and other relations for initiating them into witchcraft.

The suspects claimed they made efforts to heal the three-year-old girl but without success. T

hey said only Dudu, another suspect who is now at large, can undo the spell.

Delivering a ruling, Umar Gangs, the magistrate, ordered the arrest of Dudu. He ordered the defendants to heal the child within 24 hours, adding that the court would hold them responsible if the health condition of the child deteriorated.

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