By Reno Omokri
The last time the wages of the Nigerian workers was raised was in 2010 when President Jonathan, ever the humanitarian, raised the national minimum wage to N18,000, which at time was equivalent to $112.
It is for that purpose that I commended President Buhari for signing the Minimum Wage Repeal and Reenactment Bill into law, which meant that the new minimum wage is N30,000 (still less than $112), but at least, it is something.
My praise for President Buhari is heartfelt because he had no need to do it, since the elections are over (but the court case is NOT), but he did it all the same. That is an act of good leadership on his part and shows that he empathizes with Nigerian workers. I appreciate him for it and urge him to take more poverty alleviation steps, such as building more schools and empowering youths by continuing with the YouWIN initiative.
Let me state that the Peoples Democratic Party is by far better than the All Progressive Congress, and I have no regrets supporting the PDP in the past and will not fail to support them tomorrow, if the Nigerian political firmament does not change much.
Having said that, let me also restate that I don’t have a friend or enemy in politics. If I see good, I will talk. If I see evil, I will talk. I am not a card-carrying member of either the PDP or the APC. My party is Nigeria. I am a card-carrying member. My party card is my passport.
So no one should mistake my objective praise as angling for position. I would rather die than serve in Buhari’s government. One Jonathan is better than 1000 Buharis in my book. Under the rain, under the sun, I will be loyal to President Jonathan.
There are still so many things to condemn in the Buhari administration. So, so many.
One of the condemnables is the issue of Justice Onnoghen, the suspended former Chief Justice of Nigeria.
Onnoghen was convicted and banned from public office by the Buhari administration. Abdulrasheed Maina was reinstated, then given double promotion and armed guards by the same Buhari government. The facts speak for themselves! Under Buhari, when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission see the APC broom they pass over to the next non APC member.
If you doubt this, then consider the following. Those applauding Buhari for suspending Onnoghen, should not forget that Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu, Buhari’s Minister of communications, was exposed for corruption by his own personal assistant who itemised his alleged criminal acts. Don’t forget that Shittu DID NOT perform his mandatory National Youth Service Corps service to the nation. Yet, the same Shittu sat in the Executive Council of the Federation meeting as they determined Onnoghen’s fate!
Ponder on that for as long as it takes for it to sink in.
So, yes, I commended President Buhari for signing the New Minimum wage bill into law, because Nigerians need it.
Perhaps it was in anticipation of the signing that Festus (Stephanie Otobo) Keyamo called President Buhari the ‘friend of the poor’.
I was actually tempted to disagree with Mr. Keyamo, but on second thoughts, I began to see that Festus Keyamo, SAN (Senior Almajiri of Nigeria) may be correct when he calls President Buhari ‘friend of the poor’.
President Buhari loves the poor so much, he DOUBLED their number in just 4 years. Not only does he love the poor, he loves EXTREME POVERTY and made Nigeria its headquarters as a sign of his affection. Poverty loves Buhari so much that it gave him the Paupers Touch, which is the opposite of the Midas Touch. With the Pauper’s Touch, everything Buhari touches turns to POVERTY.
As you are reading this right now, there are 60 million illiterate in Nigeria according to our own ministry of education.
60 million is more than twice the population of Ghana. Yet in the last 4 years, President Buhari’s federal government has not built even ONE new school. Meanwhile in Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo is building schools like there is no tomorrow!
Worse still, this same government that has not built one new secondary school or university, announced on Thursday April 18, 2019, that it would build six new juvenile prisons in the six geopolitical zones.
Has it occurred to the Buhari government that if they built schools, our youths will be too productive to end up in prison? If they OPEN schools, they will CLOSE prisons?
You see, there may be one thing that the Buhari administration has done that is praiseworthy, but there are at least 1000 other things that they have done that are condemnable. If I were to appraise this government academically, I would score them an F9.
And one of the reasons for the abysmal performance of the Buhari government is the obvious inferiority complex afflicting the President.
Let me cite one clear example for those who may doubt me. Can you imagine President Buhari condoling with France over the Notre Dame Fire? Oh, but he did. He did. Nobody died in that fire, but close to a hundred have died in Southern Kaduna at the hands of herdsmen this month alone. Where was Buhari’s condolence then? Nonexistent!
Last week, Imo Airport, was on fire. President Buhari DID NOT condole with Imo or even acknowledge the fire. Buhari even ignored deaths all over Nigeria (S. Kaduna etc), but he falls over himself to condole France over the #NotreDameFire.
If only we had a less inferiority minded leader like President Obasanjo, Nigeria would not now be the world headquarters for extreme poverty.
Reno’s Nuggets
Dear young girl,
A museum is a place to deposit old things. You are not a museum. Don’t allow yourself be a place where old men deposit their lust. Sugar daddies are diabolical. They make your life spiritually diabetic by emitting poisonous seed into you. The money they give you is cursed-by their wives they don’t show love to and their children they don’t cater for, amongst other curses. Have just 2 daddies. God and your biological dad #FreeLeahSharibu #RenosNuggets
Reno
You have the power to summon a stronger positive thought into your mind whenever a negative thought attempts to break into your mind.
tribute/Book review
For Tokunbo Olorunnimbe, Words are Not Enough
Bisi Daniels
The presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the Governor-elect of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and other top dignitaries at the funeral of Pastor Tokunbo Olorunnimbe, Principal Secretary of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, at the City of David Sanctuary, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Victoria Island, Lagos indicated the high regard people had for him.
But that and the tributes showered at the occasion do not tell the full story of the man whose demise last month has locked many people in shock. Words are hardly enough to show what manner of man Toks really was. He was best appreciated in a real-life encounter and I enjoyed every moment with him. He was a rare gentleman, whose favourite garment was humility.
One of the memorable encounters was on day I received an early morning call from him. Three significant things happened that day.
It was an invitation to attend a morning service at the Headquarters of RCCG on Cemetery Road, Ebute Metta, at which Pastor Adeboye was to lay hands on people.
Some people who had experienced it spoke of how they felt anointing flow from the General Overseer’s hand like current to them. I needed that experience so I rushed to the service, where Toks was looking out for me. At the end of the service, he invited me to his office on the 5th floor of the headquarters. As I laboured up the stairs, Toks disappeared, sprinting up the stairs, leaving me amazed.
Panting on arrival at the 5th floor minutes later, I noticed his calmness. He didn’t tease me. He welcomed me with a smile and led me to his office. The experience was significant because from the book I was trying to write on him, I knew that years before he had been seriously ill and had only been healed by God through Pastor Adeboye. Running up the stairs showed me he was as fit as fiddle.
The third experience that morning was a big one. He delivered a big gift from Pastor Adeboye to me.
For most of the day, I was saying “heehe” to myself because of the significance of the gift.
There is another incident I was always remember. I had interviewed Toks twice for the book I was working on, but as work progressed, my spirit nudged me to write about his boss first.
When I told Toks about the switch, I was pleasantly surprised he showed no sign of bitterness. Rather, he supported me throughout. The book, “Stories of Pastor E.A Adeboye: The Power of Testimony,” has been published.
Tall and slim, he was friendly, without being too playful. His spontaneous smiles were complemented by sharp eyes that brimmed with intelligence. There was always that understated hint of a rich pedigree for people who took his quietness for granted and those who look down on secretaries. Toks was not an ordinary secretary.
He was the Principal Secretary and Chief-of-Staff of Pastor Adeboye, but like his boss, he wore no airs – just his disarming simplicity. Toks, as unassuming as they come, was born in the United Kingdom, the eldest son of Justice Ishola Olorunnimbe and the late Simisola Olorunnimbe. He was trained as a lawyer at the University of Lagos and Cambridge University. He served in many ways at the RCCG, especially as pastor of several parishes, including City of Palms.
It took me a few one-on-one encounters to know the perspective of his wife. In her tribute, Mrs. Modupe Olorunnimbe, described him as honest, humble, diligent, patient, generous and considerate.
She said her husband ran a good race and was fulfilled and ready to meet his creator. If you ever met Toks, you will agree.
He served God wholeheartedly from the day he went with his friends to a service of RCCG, where he answered a call to the altar by Pastor Adeboye, the same man he would later serve as a secretary.
Toks shared his story with me. His account:
That morning, after much reluctance, he told his friends,
“I think I’ll go along with your group and see first-hand what happens in this one-hour service. I had not taken my bath and never intended to be part of this new movement. Certainly not this morning. Not ever. Still a force appeared to override my feeling. I felt I was being compelled to go and see what was happening at the RCCG located in Cemetery street. So I pulled a Tee shirt over a pair of trousers, did a quick face splash and squashed myself into the overcrowded beetle and off we went.
The Church could not have been more pedestrian and unexciting. Three hundred odd worshippers or so were clapping and singing heartily. It was just as I imagined and I kept asking myself why I came. Soon, there was a prayer session, after which the place became a bit more settled and the preacher started his sermon for the day. Can’t remember what the message was about, but in about half an hour he was done. He then invited people to come forward and accept Christ. I was waiting for him to round up so I could leave. Again a force kind of kept me from leaving and a strange thought suggested I respond to what I now know to be the altar call. I resisted with every muscle in me, almost shouting ‘No way!’ The struggle must have lasted for a while but before I knew it, I found myself in front of the altar.
I cannot say up till today whether I walked, flew, crawled or was carried. Soon we, about five or so, were asked to kneel down for prayers. As I knelt for the prayer I felt a surge of live current surge from my head throughout my entire body. It was so sudden and surreal that I thought I probably imagined it.
Then it happened a second time. By the third I wanted to get out of the church as soon as possible.
We were taken away for counselling and a short word of welcome to the family of God and the Body of Christ.
My friends were ecstatic. They threw their arms round my neck, hugged me, congratulated me, rejoiced with me and could not contain themselves. I really wondered what all the fuss was about. I was thinking, ‘So what?’
Yes, I was dragged out by an irresistible force. I was determined to nip this strange phenomenon in the bud.
I was quiet and feeling sorry for them as they were in for a rude shock. At the end of the service we left for home. But in spite of the mute objections in my head, Pastor E.A. Adeboye was going to be the major influence on me for the rest of my life.
Strangely, I missed church only once that year. By December of that year, we had gone through New Believers’ class and were baptised by immersion at the Unilag water side.
The significance of what had taken place was lost on me. Several years down the line, I am still thanking the Lord Jesus for saving me by force.”
Toks was a gentleman fuelled by love for God and mankind, as I knew him to be.
