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Adesina’s Attack On Clergy: Afenifere Knocks President’s Aide

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The Pan Yoruba Socio-Political Group, Afenifere, has tackled the Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, for alluding that those criticising the President were doing so because he’s a Fulani man.

Its Secretary-General, Chief Sola Ebiseni in a statement in Akure, the Ondo state capital kicked against such ethnic allusion.

Recall that Adesina had latched at clergymen whose habit was to criticise the performance of the president and compared them to Pastor Kumuyi of the Deeper Life Ministry.

Ebiseni’s statement was entitled ‘Buhari’s Performance And Femi Adesina’s attack on the Clergy.’

He said; “Femi played some odious ethnic music when he alluded that many who were criticising the lacklustre performance of his boss were only doing so because they didn’t like being ruled by a Fulani man.

“There is no need reminding him that northern Nigeria which is now rendered asunder in ethnic relationships, as a result of Buhari’s government’s clueless or permissive treatment of security matters, was once ruled as One North, by Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto and scion of the Fulani Uthman Dan Fodio caliphate.

“Buhari is not more Fulani than Shehu Shagari, the mantra of whose government, as President of Nigeria, was One Nation, One Destiny. Umaru Yar Adua, as Fulani and President of Nigeria, did not spend two years to solve the problems of agitation amongst the youths of the Niger Delta.

“His Government toured the creeks, dialogued and sought understanding. He did not hold the whole of the people of the South-South responsible for the agitation for which he would have called the territory “water logged” and the people to be treated in the language they would understand, neither did he unleash state terrorism on the residence of any agitator as Buhari Government would want Sunday Igboho killed.”

Going biblical, Ebiseni said “From the days of Prophet Samuel to Saul; Nathan to David when he killed Uriah and took his wife Bathsheba; Elijah who told Saul that he and his household were the troublers of Israel, up to modern days Martin Luther king, Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Okogie, Bishop Gbonigi, Matthew Kukah and all, the commission of God to His prophets does not exclude speaking truth to earthly rulers.

“Of course, while these true men of God speak truth to power, there are legions of men, like the 400 prophets of Ahab against Micaiah and of Baals who lurk around power to massage the egos of rulers and cause them to sin the more.

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“Such advisers abound in this Government who make the President believe he has power over land use and some who would advise the people to choose between their lives and land and deceive the President that peaceful agitators like Sunday Igboho have capacity for territorial secession or that killing Nnamdi Kanu would stop Biafran agitation. Only God can save rulers from such counsels as He did of Ahithophel.

The group noted that Adesina’s “desperation for excuses appears not to spare any institution no matter how sacred.

“This time around, Femi has chosen to hide behind a patronising statement on Pastor Kumuyi of the Deeper Life Ministry to latch at the clergy for speaking truth to power.

“lt is absolutely within his right, for Femi to choose not to go to any church as long as he serves the Buhari’s government, but he cannot deliberately misrepresent Pastor Kumuyi to set him up as examples of prominent personalities who would see no evil or say nothing about evil in order that they may not be seen as denigrating government and men in power.

“He was particularly unkind to the Pastor of his own church which church he exited particularly because he chose not to stop criticising President Buhari after most of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls were released.

“Power must have done some incalculable damage to the psyche of Femi Adesina that he would not remember that five of the girls were brutally murdered and that in the release negotiated by the Federal Government, Leah Sharibu was singlehandedly and permanently denied her freedom for refusal to renounce her Christian faith.”

Ebiseni said; “Yet, Femi expected his own Pastor, as a leader in the same faith, to applaud Buhari for doing nothing extraordinary to bring Leah to freedom, if only to demonstrate that he is the father of all faiths despite his records of being a sharia agitator”.

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Grammy Winner Found Dead In Her Apartment

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Grammy-winning singer Mandisa, who rose to fame on season five of “American Idol,” has died.

She died on Thursday, April 18 at the age of 47, her representative said Friday.

“We can confirm that yesterday Mandisa was found in her home deceased,” her representative said in a statement. “At this time we do not know the cause of death or any further details.”

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“We ask for your prayers for her family and close knit circle of friends during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement concluded.

A post on the artist’s Facebook page said early Friday: “Mandisa was a voice of encouragement and truth to people facing life’s challenges all around the world. She wrote this song for a dear friend who had passed in 2017.”

“Her own words say it best. I’m already home / You’ve got to lay it down / ‘cause Jesus holds me now— / And I am not alone.”

Born and raised in Citrus Heights, California, Mandisa studied music in college before auditioning for Idol in 2005.

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Mandisa’s shot to stardom after placing ninth on “American Idol,” alongside favorites like Katharine McPhee, Kellie Pickler, Chris Daughtry, Paris Bennett, Elliott Yamin and eventual winner Taylor Hicks.

After her Idol elimination, Mandisa went on to release her debut album, True Beauty, in 2007. The LP debuted at No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums charts, a historic feat that made Mandisa the first new female artist ever to debut on the top of the chart’s 27-year history.

True Beauty was the first six albums Mandisa would release throughout her career, including an acclaimed 2008 holiday record, It’s Christmas, and her most recent offering, 2017’s Out of the Dark.

She went on to win a Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album in 2014 for her album “Overcomer.”

 

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Man Sets Self On Fire Outside Trump Trial Venue

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A man set himself on fire Friday outside the court where Donald Trump is standing trial in Manhattan, with officers rushing to extinguish the flames.

Burning clothes were strewn in the park, which was locked down by authorities, while ambulances lined up nearby on standby, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw, describing a strong smell of burning chemicals.

The scene unfolded moments after the full panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was selected for the trial of the former president in a hush money cover-up case.

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A male did light himself on fire outside of the Supreme Courthouse. We’re still gathering details from the field,” said a New York Police Department spokesman.

The fire department did not respond to a request for comment, but media reported the man had been taken away for medical treatment.

The incident happened in a park opposite the 100 Centre Street courthouse, which has been used by authorities to corral protesters, both pro-Trump and anti-Trump, as well as by some members of the media.

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The park, which is close to several courthouses and other buildings, is a popular local lunch spot.

Trump’s criminal trial, the first of a former president, is being conducted amid tight security in a 15th-floor courtroom swarming with Secret Service officers as well as court police.

New York’s police department had promised a major deployment to ensure the trial passes off safely, with the force’s head of intelligence John Hart calling it a “major challenge.”

AFP

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Police Storm Iranian Embassy In Paris After Man ‘In Suicide Vest’ Threatened To Blow Himself Up

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A man has surrendered to police after he reportedly threatened to blow himself up at the Iranian consulate in Paris with a suicide vest.

According to Mail Online, the man gave himself after 2pm, walking out of the consulate with his hands in the air and giving himself over to police at the scene.

‘He had no explosives or weapons on him,’ said a security source. ‘He was placed under arrest immediately and taken away to a secure police station for questioning.’

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Specialist BRI officers continued to swarm around the area, together with sniffer dogs, just in case explosives had been hidden in the area.

‘The security perimeter will be maintained for a while yet,’ said the source.

The individual was for a time holed up inside the building in the French capital’s 16th arrondissement in a room with the ambassador, one report said.

He was said to be wearing an explosive belt and equipped with an object that resembled a grenade, Europe 1 and other sources reported earlier.

The area was cordoned off and evacuated, with a police source saying that an ‘intervention was imminent’.

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This suggested officers had been preparing to storm the building.

‘A witness saw a man enter carrying a grenade or an explosive belt,’ a source told France’s AFP news agency, adding that an elite police unit had been mobilised after the consulate requested an intervention.

‘The man presented him at the consulate, and then removed his coat, to show off an alleged explosives vest,’ another security source said at the scene.

‘He said he was carrying a grenade, and then placed a national flag on the floor. He said he wanted to avenge his brother.’

Police ordered the city’s Metro Line 6 to be interrupted as a safety measure.

Europe 1 reported that the embassy contacted the police requesting assistance, reporting that the man was inside the building. It said he was holed up in a room inside the consulate ‘in the presence of the ambassador’.

There were no reports of an explosion.

The incident came amid increasing tensions between Israel and Iran, with the Jewish state today launching strikes against the Islamic Republic.

This was in response to Iran launching over 300 missiles toward Israel on Saturday, 99 percent of which were intercepted by Israel and its allies.

 

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