Nigeria News
Thank You Lord It’s My Birthday!
It’s my birthday today (the 24th day of April) and all I can say is thank you Lord for everything.
I sat down as usual to take stock of my life and try to evaluate this being called Stella DAMASUS.
I see the world around me now, how it was, how it has been, how it should be and how I wish it could be.
Through it all, I thank God for times I had plenty and times I had nothing.
The times I was happy and times I was sad.
The times I gained and the times I lost.
The times I was judged and criticized by too many and the times I was celebrated by only a few.
The times I loved and the times i could not love.
The times I fell and the times I picked myself up.
The times I made mistakes and the times I did it right.
The times I felt alone and the times I felt complete.
The times I was married and the times I was not.
The times I did not have anyone and the the times I had a family.
The times I thought I had it all and the times I thought I had none.
The times I thought I knew it all and the times I knew nothing.
The times I blamed the world and the times I blamed myself.
The times I thought I could fix things and the times I knew I could not.
The times I could have died and the times I was saved.
The times I cried and the times I smiled.
In all of this I realised that I could not really control any of these factors on my own. That was when it dawned on me that while we are here on earth breaking our backs to control everything, God has already done that and has decided who we will be, where we will be, how we will be and when we will be. So, no matter how hard people try to, it is impossible to interrupt other people’s lives or theirs. It is said that who God has blessed no man can curse and whoever God has already cursed, no man can bless.
I want to use this opportunity to say that it is time to start thinking right. We all have to acknowledge the presence of God and fear Him.
The world around us has changed so much and it is so scary.
People are killing young children, women, old folks; some are bombing places to kill innocent people who don’t even know them; some are kidnapping, many are raping young girls and more are killing their wives.
Also, brothers are killing brothers because of land and money; fathers are beginning to lust after their daughters; women find more comfort in their drivers than their husbands; pastors are loving their choir leaders.
Men prefer sex with other men and have decided to do it openly, women just hate one another for no reason and so many other unthinkable things that make our parents shudder at just the thought of it.
The greatest nations in the world still do not know why these things are happening or how they can be stopped. The most intelligent people in the world cannot provide any solutions.
What about the diseases that are killing people all of a sudden without cure? AIDS, cancer, meningitis, lupus, DVT, heart attacks and so on. With all the intelligent doctors in the world, we still have unanswered questions. If we sit and ponder these things, it’s not hard to see that we all need to fear God and turn to Him now that we are still able to.
I worry for our children and future generation and I ask myself the kind of world we are leaving behind for them? Will they be better or will they turn out worse than us? Will all the technology help their world or will it further destroy it.?
Today ( my birthday), I mourn the death of loved ones, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, children, women and men all over the world who died suddenly without any sign of sickness. may their souls rest in peace.
I wonder what their last thoughts or words were before life was taken from them. I wonder what they saw and how they felt. At that point were they able to right the wrongs they had done? Do they have the opportunity to ask God for forgiveness and let them enter into heaven or is it too late at that point?
I don’t want to have to wait till that point to find out. I want to start while I am still alive and able to change my thoughts, words, actions and everything about me.
The moment I realised the truth about life, love, success and God, it changed everything about me, and I am happier, more mature, fulfilled, more successful, though not necessarily in terms of money. I am talking about a quality of life that you can only achieve when you allow the owner of the world give it to you.
A lot of you might wonder what I am trying to do, some might even say ‘ha! Stella has turned into a preacher’. The truth is that I don’t have to be a pastor to speak the truth that I have come to know; and I don’t have to be a perfect person to know this truth.
Regardless of what a lot of people might say, think or even call me, it will not stop me from loving God and speaking the truth.
I have studied life, the word of God and realised that even the greatest people in the Bible who were used by God to do great things were no where near perfect. Even when His son came, he did not come for the righteous he came for the sinners. If God thought we were all so clean and perfect, why did He sacrifice His son and why did He still send the Holy spirit to teach us and comfort us.
I may not know much, but the little I know has taught me that life is not about the amount of money in my account, it’s not about the fame and glamour, it’s not about trying to get ahead of others, it’s not about speaking evil and telling lies about others just to look good, it’s not about the connections or positions, it’s not about the number of houses I have bought or built, it’s not even about the amount of money I give the church or how many gospel songs I sing. It’s about God and what He wants me to do for Him. It’s about the kind of life He expects us to live, it’s about the kind of love we should have towards one another.
If we fear and love God, our world will be a better place. Muslims, Christians, Jews, blacks, whites and whoever should be able to live together in peace. No fighting, no killing, no hatred and no judging.
It’s so painful that we cannot see how fast the world is ending. I remember the book of Revelations 3 vs 15, 2 Timothy 3 vs 1-5, especially Matthew 24:7 which says ” nations will go to war against nations, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world ( New Living Translation Bible). There are many more that most of you already know.
This article may not make sense to you but it means the world to me.
I am not perfect, neither are you. Even the priests and pastors who guide us are far from perfect, so no one should ever make you feel you are not good enough, no one should tell you that your sins are too much for God to forgive, no one should make you feel you have to go through him or her to confess your sins to God and ask Him for forgiveness, no one should mislead you and tell you that masturbation is not a sin and try to justify it by confusing himself more than the people who are already confused.
If you want the truth, read the Bible.
I am grateful to God for all the real men and women of God in the world who speak the truth and stand by it no matter what. So please ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to a good church where you can be filled spiritually and free to express yourself.
Like I said, I am not a pastor but I am living by this principle in Ezekiel chapter 3 vs 17 – 21.
God bless you all and thank you for all your birthday wishes. I love you.
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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.
Source: PM News
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
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Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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