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OPINION: Discussing Portable, Apostle Suleiman, Fufeyin And Chosen Liars (1)

Published

2 years ago

September 20, 2024

Editor

Tunde Odesola

Inhumanity was an unknown word in humanity until some white perverts, backed by racist European royals, sailed all the way from Europe to motherland Africa under the darkness of commerce and christianisation, before drawing the guns of colonialism from under their cassocks to enslave Africa, despoil its minerals, loot its artefacts, condemn its culture and shatter its soul.

Since that singular misadventure and miscarriage of global sociocultural order about 200 years ago, the four cardinal directions of the compass – North, South, East and West – have, more than ever, pointed to insecurity, poverty, diseases and suspicion.

Before the last chains of colonalism were broken, the West had murdered sleep, keeping an eye on the world, especially Africa. The West, like an old church bell in a concrete tower, despite its far-reaching sound, still needs the human hand to nudge it to perform its ringing function. The West looks pleasant and prosperous to the eye but it is indeed poor in soul and broken in spirit.

The West: rightly calls Adolf Hitler’s killing of six million Jews pogrom. This West: made a place for Israel in the Middle East. But their West has no name for the centuries-old forceful uprooting and shipping of millions of Africans from their aboriginal habitats to lands of harshest weathers, unfamiliar foods, foreign tongues and strange God.

That West has gone back to the West. But its footprints on the soul of Africa have congealed like the pawprints of the lion coagulate in the blood of its prey. The East is no better. To assuage the sorrows, tears and blood of Africans colonised and forced into slavery, the West needs to seek remission from Africa and embark on reparation. This will soothe the years of colonial hurt and assuage the economic imbalance prevalent in Africa. One wonders why African leacders can’t speak in one voice to demand reparation.

But will the Nigerian government spend such a windfall judiciously if it ever comes? I won’t risk a bet on that, not in these hard times when a litre of petrol goes for N1,200, amid empty ‘e lo f’okan bale reassurance’. However, I believe Rwanda, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana and some other serious African countries will spend theirs gazillion-dollar windfalls appropriately. If it ever comes.

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The importation of Christianity to Africa by Europeans, with its attendant fortes and foibles, was, essentially, a manipulative tool in the hands of the enslaving Europeans, to make Africans stupid enough to exploit, and not to win souls for Christ. How would a race preaching to save the African continent from hellfire also loot and enslave it? The boa constrictor does not cuddle for love’s sake.

Christianity, I believe, would still have found its way to Africa without being escorted by colonisation, commerce and slavery because true western gospellers abound in Europe who would have brought Christianity to Africa with no strings attached.

Sixty-three years after independence, the wheel of religion has turned full cycle in Nigeria. The same end to which Europeans deployed religion as a tool of colonisation is the same end many Christian and Muslim clerics are today deploying religion as an opium to zombify worshippers. Particularly irritating are the actions of many Christian clerics that border on the absurd. Many Nigerian churches no longer preach hope and salvation to worshippers singed by government policies. Churches are now wrestling rings where pastors engage worshippers in body slams, takedowns, kicks and chokeholds to perform healings. Church services now provoke louder laughter than Tom and Jerry cartoons or ‘Visa On Arrival’ – a Nigerian TV series. The church is now a laughing stock.

But I didn’t laugh when I watched the video of one fellow in Auchi, Johnson Suleiman, who goes by the title of an apostle. Each time I wached the video, I shook my head in pity for the deceit that has engulfed Nigerian christendom. I watched it more than 20 times, hissing at each viewing.

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In the video, Suleiman claimed he raised the dead, that’s no problem; the snail once showed up in the gathering of horned creatures.

Suleiman told his jubilant congregation, “Three days ago, someone sent me a text from Monrovia, Monrovia is in Liberia, and he said, ‘My sister just died’. I said, ‘Oh, too bad, too bad, sorry about that’. He said, ‘My sister was your daughter’. I said, ‘Whose daughter?’ He said, ‘Your daughter.’ I said, ‘I don’t know,’ and he began to describe (her), ‘She comes to the headquarters, and (he) said a lot of things…I said, ‘Wait, wait, I know, I know that face; yes, that person you’ve mentioned gave me a seed and brought some stuff. He said, ‘Yes, she’s dead.’

“I said, ‘Ehn!? Who permitted her to die!? I said where is the body? He said it’s in Enugu State. He said she died in the fiance’s house. I said give the boy my number, and the boy sent me text. I said where is she now? He said ‘we are taking her to the mortuary’. I said ‘turn back’. He said, ‘Sir, what do you mean?’ I said, ‘Turn back, go back home. When you get home, don’t send me a text, call’. And he called.

“And I said, ‘Put one hand on her and just hold the phone. And I said, ‘Lord, IT IS BETTER for 1,000 STINGY PEOPLE TO DIE THAN FOR ONE GIVER TO DIE! And I shouted, ‘Abigail, this is not your time, in the name of Jesus….”

This was how Suleiman raised the unknown dead woman, who didn’t deem it fit to come out openly for thanksgiving days after she was raised. There’s no video of the formerly dead Abigail in the public space; no one knows her, what an ingrate she probably is for melting into thin air like a fart. That Suleiman raised the dead because she wasn’t stingy is a classical example of transactional gospel which is anti-Christ. In the wisdom of Suleiman, it’s better for 1,000 stingy people to die than for him to pray for their forgiveness.

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I wonder if the God of Suleiman travelled to Baal when armed men attacked his convoy along the Benin-Auchi Road about two years, killing seven persons, including three policemen and four others. Suleiman, who was in a bulletproof car with his wife and children during the attack, said, “The truth of the matter is this, you can’t kill me. My life is in the hand of God.” The excort vehicles used by the police and the other persons killed in the attack were not bulltproof.

This Suleiman was the one who proclaimed he didn’t want COVID to end because he bought a jet during COVID lockdown a few years ago. Hear him, “In COVID, I bought a jet. The third one, I have three…I was praying for COVID not to end because I was resting. While people were complaining, my wife asked me, ‘Can life be this sweet?”

Although Suleiman later came out in another video to say the statement was a slip of the tongue, claiming he never meant to say he was praying for COVID not to end, the questions that come to mind include: was the ‘can life be this sweet’ remark by his wife also a slip of the tongue? Or was he lying with his wife’s name? What life was his wife referring to as sweet – buying a plane when the whole world was on lockdown? Why did Suleiman have to wait till his reckless speech attracted a backlash before he renounced it? If he didn’t mean every word of his imprudent statement, he should have long repudiated it before it boomeranged.

Do you know what the street calls lamba? This is it. I don’t know how Suleiman’s congregation sat down calmly through this lie of a testimony which he delivered with so much braggadocio. If I was in his church, I would have shouted, “Oluwa mi, eyi o wa po ju!?,” and Gbenga Adeboye, the late fabulist and extraordinary comedian, would have turned in his grave. I don’t have the power to wake the dead.

Hear Suleiman’s lamba, “I got a jet and after three months, I noticed I need to service the jet. I sent the jet for servicing. As the people got the jet, it was very fine, the company that’s to service it, they didn’t touch it, they refused to service it, we would call them, call them, call them, they refused, for one year, they didn’t touch it, they made sure all the parts, because an aircraft, the way it works, every part of an aircraft has a timeframe, whether you use it or you don’t use it, if it’s more than one year, you have to change, they didn’t touch it, they made sure all the parts ran out of time. I struggled and bought the parts again. When they fixed the new parts, they were not picking call(s) again, they didn’t touch it…”

“For three years, they were begging, they said ‘this plane is fine, please, sell it for us’. I said, ‘Are you people ok? Ok, don’t fix it again, give me’. But you cannot fly it when it is not in shape. I begged, I pleaded, I almost started crying…(I said) give me, they said, ‘sell it (to) us’, (I said), ‘give me’, they said, ‘sell it (to) us’…”

To be continued.

Email: tundeodes2003@yahoo.com

Facebook: @Tunde Odesola

X: @Tunde_Odesola

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Xenophobic Attacks: Oshiomhole Tells FG To Retaliate Against South African Companies In Nigeria

Published

12 hours ago

May 5, 2026

Editor

Senator Adams Oshiomhole has called on the Federal Government to retaliate against South African businesses operating in Nigeria following the recent attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

Speaking during plenary on Tuesday, Oshiomhole said the Federal Government should consider revoking the working license of South African owned companies such as MTN and DSTV.

He argued that Nigeria must respond firmly to what he described as persistent hostility against its citizens.

“I am not going to shed tears. If you hit me, I hit you. I think it is appropriate in diplomacy. It is an economic struggle,” Oshiomhole said.

He argued that while some South Africans accuse Nigerians of taking their jobs, Nigerians should return home and take over employment opportunities created by major South African companies operating in the country, including MTN and DSTV.

“When we hit back, the President of South Africa will not only talk but will also go on his knees to recognise that Nigeria cannot be intimidated.

“We will not condone any life being lost. If a crime has been committed under the South African law they have the right to bring any such person to justice, but to kill our people as if we are helpless, we will not allow that,” Oshiomhole added.

DAILY POST reports that several Nigerians in South Africa have reportedly been attacked, and their businesses destroyed, in ongoing xenophobic attacks in the country.

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IGP Orders Officers Display Name Tag On Uniform, Gives Update On State Police

Published

12 hours ago

May 5, 2026

Editor

The Inspector General of Police, IGP, Tunji Disu, has ordered all police personnel to always have their name tags on their uniforms for easy identification.

Disu disclosed that only police personnel who are undercover are exempted from displaying their name tags.

Speaking on Tuesday, Disu said: “All police officers should have their name tags. All of us on the high table have our names apart from the undercover among us so if you look at all the Commissioners of Police we have our name tags, so it’s not our standard.

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Court Orders SERAP To Pay DSS Operatives N100m For Defamation

Published

17 hours ago

May 5, 2026

Editor

The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has ordered a non-governmental organization, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, to pay N100 million as damaged to two operatives of the Department of the State Services, DSS, for unjustly defaming them in some publications.

The court also ordered SERAP to tender public apologies to the defamed officers,
Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele, in two national newspapers, two television stations and its website.

Besides, the organization was also ordered to pay the two operatives N1 million as cost of litigation and 10 percent post-judgment interest annually on the judgment sum until it’s fully liquidated.

Justice Yusuf Halilu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory gave the order on Tuesday while delivering judgment in a N5.5 billion defamation suit instituted against SERAP by the DSS operatives.

The judge found SERAP liable for unjustly defaming the two DSS operatives with allegations that they unlawfully invaded its Abuja office, harassed and intimidated its staff, in September 2024.

In the offending publication on its website and Twitter handle, SERAP alleged that the two operatives unlawfully invaded and occupied its office with sinister motives.

The judge held that the publication was in bad taste especially from an organization established to promote transparency and accountability, as nothing in the publication was found to be truthful.

The DSS staff had listed SERAP as 1st defendant in the suit marked CV/4547/2024. SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, was listed as the 2nd defendant.

In the suit, the claimants – Sarah John and Gabriel Ogundele – accused the two defendants of making false claims that they invaded SERAP’s Abuja office on September 9, 2024..

Counsel to the DSS, Oluwagbemileke Samuel Kehinde, had while adopting his final address in the mater urged the judge to grant all the reliefs sought by his client in the interest of justice.

He admitted that although the names of the two claimants were not mentioned in the defamation materials, they had however established substantial circumstances that they are the ones referred to in the published defamation article by SERAP on its website.

The counsel submitted that all ingredients of defamation have been clearly established and the offending publication referred to the two officials of the secret police.

However, SERAP, through its counsel, Victoria Bassey from Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, law firm, asked the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that the two claimants did not establish that they were the ones referred to in the alleged defamation materials.

She said that SERAP used “DSS officials” in the alleged offending publication, adding that the two claimants must establish that they are the ones referred to before their case can succeed.

Similar arguments were canvassed by Oluwatosin Adefioye who stood for the second defendant, adding that there was no dispute in the September 9, 2024 operation of DSS in SERAP’s office.

He said that since SERAP in the publication did not name any particular person, the claimants must plead special circumstances that they were the ones referred to as the DSS officials.

Besides, he said that there is no organization by name Department of State Services in law, hence, DSS cannot claim being defamed adding that the only entity known to law is National Security Agency.

The claimants had in the suit stated that the alleged false claim by SERAP has negatively impacted on their reputation.

The DSS also stated, in the statement of claim, that, in line with the agency’s practice of engaging with officials of non-governmental organisations operating in the FCT to establish a relationship with their new leadership, it directed the two officials – John and Ogunleye – to visit SERAP’s office and invite them for a familiarization meeting.

The claimants added that in carrying out the directive, John and Ogunleye paid a friendly visit to SERAP’s office at 18 Bamako Street, Wuse Zone 1, Abuja on September 9 and met with one Ruth, who upon being informed about the purpose of the visit, claimed that none of SERAP’s management staff was in the country and advised that a formal letter of invitation be written by the DSS.

John and Ogundele, who claimed that their interactions with Ruth were recorded, said before they immediately exited SERAP’s office, Ruth promised to inform her organisation’s management about the visit and volunteered a phone number – 08160537202.

They said it was surprising that, shortly after their visit, SERAP posted on its X (Twitter) handle – @SERAPNigeria – that officers of the DSS are presently unlawfully occupying its office.

The claimant added, “On the same day, the defendants also published a statement on SERAP’s website, which was widely reported by several media outfits, falsely alleging that some officers from the DSS, described as “a tall, large, dark-skinned woman” and “a slim, dark skinned man,” invaded their Abuja office and interrogated the staff of the first defendant (SERAP).

John and Ogundele stated that “due to the false statements published by the defendants, the DSS has been ridiculed and criticised by international agencies such as the Amnesty International and prominent members of the Nigerian society, such as Femi Falana (SAN)”.

“Due to the false statements published by the defendants, members of the public and the international community formed the opinion that the Federal Government is using the DSS to harass the defendants.”

They added that the defendants’ statements caused harm to their reputation because the staff and management of the DSS have formed the opinion that the claimants did not follow orders and carried out an unsanctioned operation and are therefore, incompetent and unprofessional.

The claimants therefore prayed the court for the following reliefs: “An order directing the defendants to tender an apology to the claimants via the first defendant’s (SERAP’s) website, X (twitter) handle, two national daily newspapers (Punch and Vanguard) and two national news television stations (Arise Television and Channels Television) for falsely accusing the claimants of unlawfully invading the first defendant’s office and interrogating the first defendant’s staff.

“An order directing the defendants to pay the claimants the sum of N5 billion as damages for the libellous statements published about the claimants.

“Interest on the sum of N5b at the rate of 10 percent per annum from the date of judgment until the judgment sum is realised or liquidated.

“An order directing the defendants to pay the claimants the sum of N50 million as costs of this action.”