“False Prophesy”: Orizu Slams N5b Suit Against “Fr.” Chilaka

100
SATURDAY JANUARY 30, 2016
Vol. 15 No. 2
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Inculturation
Of The Gospel
See Page 6
Motto: Looking unto Jesus ( Heb 12:2)
Nkwo Nnewi Triangle Case Starts
At High Court
By Oliver-Ross Udeafor
N
NEWI: Nnewi High
Court presided by
J u s t i c e O . M .
Anyachebelu, has started
hearing the case instituted by
the registered trustees of NzukoOra Nnewi, on behalf of Nnewi
people, against the Anambra
state government over
alleged forceful take over of
the Nkwo Triangle, Nnewi,
by the government.
The case which
was instituted in 2014, first
came up for mention, on
Monday, January 18, 2016,
at the High Court before his
lordship, Justice Anyachebelu.
When the case was
called up at 9.25 am, the
plaintiffs, represented by Barr.
C.A.C. Uzoegwu, standing in for
A.O. Mogboh (SAN), announced
appearance for the plaintiffs, but
there was nobody for the state
government.
The case, which was
the first on the cause list for that
day, as suit No. HN/156/2014,
Pharmacist Mbadiwe Okongwu
and others versus Governor of
Anambra State and another,
after the plaintiffs' lawyer had
Contd on page 3
INSIDE
Stranded
Couple
Sells Own
Baby Boy
Pg. 14
Diabetes:
Symptoms,
Causes and
Research
Pg. 15
Bishop Hilary Okeke (M), Fr. Emmanuel Dim, Rector, Blessed Iwene Tansi Major Seminary, Onitsha, Fr. Leo Mozie Rector, All Hallows Seminary, Onitsha, Msgr. Onuorah, Msgr. Obiagba,
Fr P. D Akpunonu, Fr. Anthony Ibegbunam, Fr. Jude Mgbobukwa, other priests and Deacons during the feast of Blessed Iwene Tansi Major Seminary, Onitsha on Sunday, January 17, 2016
“False Prophesy”: Orizu Slams
N5b Suit Against “Fr.” Chilaka
A
Prince of the Igwe
Orizu dynasty, Prince
Orji Nwafor-Orizu, a
constitutional lawyer, has
slammed a five billion naira
suit against “Rev. Fr.”
Modestus Chigozie Chilaka
of the Catholic Diocese of the
East (Orthodox Catholics).
Prince NwaforOrizu, in a press briefing in
Nnewi, said that the five
billion naira was to
compensate for damages
done to his reputation and
character by “Fr.” Chilaka
who, during a crusade
organised at the field of the
Nigeria Technical and
Science School, Nnewi, on
Sunday, January 3, 2016,
called out one Mrs.
Elizabeth Orizu, the wife of
Prince Orizu's late uncle, in
a gathering of about five
thousand people, and said
that, he, Prince Orizu, was
responsible for the
s t a g n a t i o n a n d
backwardness of children
born in Elizabeth Orizu's
household.
“In that crusade, he
called out a woman called
Mrs Elizabeth Orizu, the wife
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of my uncle and said that I
was responsible for the
backwardness of her
children, both male and
female; that I used juju,
voodoo, charms and
witchcraft to destroy their
destinies, so that only my
own children will progress.
“He said that
b e c a u s e o f m y
enchantments and
witchcraft, no married
daughter of Mrs Elizabeth
Orizu was able to tarry in her
husband's home, as each of
them would get married and
still come back to her
father's house.”
Prince Orizu
expressed dismay that, after
practising law for thirty-six
years, and after contributing
Contd on page 14
Awka
Diocese Bars
Priests From
Costly
Burials
Pg. 9
Innoson
Set to
Empower
500 Young
Women
Pg. 7
Tallest
Jesus
Statue In
Africa
Unveiled
In Imo
Pg. 9
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
EDITORIAL
PA G E 2
Revisiting The Spate Of Political Defections
I
recent.
Umeh as a present. While giving reasons for her
defection, she said there were confusions within
the party and as such, may hamper it's chances of
producing a senator from the party that will
champion the course of the people.
In the almost 56 years of Nigeria's
independence, different political systems have
been experimented and implemented. But the
current lack of clear-cut ideologies, unbridled
selfish interests of politicians and lawmakers and
failure to pay attention to genuinely pressing
problems are, perhaps, what is frustrating
Nigeria's political scenario from reaching its full
maturity.
Senator Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo was
another politician who surprised many recently
on several fronts. Few days ago, the politician
changed his political party, church and style.
Perhaps, much more than any other politician,
Nwobodo arguably encapsulates the story of
defection and party criss-crossing to date.
Political analysts argue that swinging from one
party to another had been his political identity.
Every time an election period approaches,
Nigerians are usually inundated with political
defections and realignments of different sorts.
Hardly would a day pass without one hearing or
seeing screaming news headlines on the print and
electronic media on a high-wire politician in
consultation talks about his or her political
future. This usually ends in defection, or a group
dumping a political party for another usually
positing that it is for the greater good. In most
cases, this is purely based on some personal gains
rather than the interest of the electorates.
In 1978, he mulled the possibility of
joining the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), but
seeing the path towed by the array of political
high rollers, Jim tagged along with his friend,
Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim in the NPP. When Chief
Obafemi Awolowo began gaining popularity in
the South west, Jim, along with other like minds
in Waziri's Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP), was said
to have been instrumental to conscripting Dr.
Nnamdi Azikiwe into the party. Riding on the
back of the Great Zik, Jim overtook Ifeanyi
Obiekwe to become the NPP governorship
candidate, winning the governorship poll
without sweat.
n a bid to actualize their ambitions, some
politicians have been ditching the political
parties that brought them to limelight of
In Nigeria, politicians change party at will
and also take no time in adapting into their new
party. This, and of course many other reasons,
leave pundits with no option than to wonder if at
all there is any difference among political parties
and politicians apart from their names.
In this season of nullifications, out-right
cancellations and re-runs, these movements have
once again resurfaced. Recently, erstwhile
senator representing Anambra Central
Senatorial District, Senator Uche Ekwunife,
defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Senator, who was inaugurated in June, 2015,
had her election nullified by the Court of Appeal
sitting in Enugu on December 6, 2015 on grounds
of irregularities.
Within the highly elastic transition to
civilian rule conceived by the military, he also
moved through the Social Democratic Party
(SDP) under former military president, Ibrahim
Babangida's two-party experiment: the
Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) and
United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP).
This trend had been so in the country's
political landscape. In the very recent past, when
the fever of political defections blew across the
country, political analysts were surprised when
they woke up with the news of Governor
Olusegun Mimiko's defection from the Labour
Party (LP). This was the platform he used to win
the governor ship election in Ondo State in
February, 2009. This was the platform he was reelected on in October, 2012 for a second term,
making him the first Ondo State governor to win a
second-term election.
OUR MISSION
The former member of the House of
Representatives has, however, faulted the ruling
of the appellate court, saying the court acted like a
Father Christmas by giving her victory to Victor
OUR MISSION
The governor, who was in the PDP
before the 2007 governorship election, said he
took the decision to return to PDP in the overall
interest of “his people and the nation”.
Dr. Peter Obi, former governor of
Anambra State, tagged by many as “the cat with
nine lives” during his reign in the Awka
Government House from March 2006,
survived various impeachment and political
witch-hunt made. Each time he lost his seat, the
court rulings were always made in his favour.
He was re-elected as governor for a
second term and served from February, 2010
to February, 2014. Observers were not too
surprised with his defection to the PDP
because he was accused severally of
hobnobbing with the then ruling party during
his reign as governor of Anambra State.
The list is endless of politicians
defecting for one reason or another and now, it
is the APC that seems to be benefiting from this
arrangement. The larger picture of defection
would, however, be fully unveiled when the
party experiments with the power of political
patronage in the next one year or so.
In the meantime, it is however
interesting to note that the PDP is already
crying wolf over the possibility of a one-party
state while the APC, on the other hand, is
embarrassingly scandalized with daily upsurge
in the number of defectors into its fold.
Prof. Jonah Onuoha of the University of
Nigeria, Nsukka ( U N N), attributed the
“prostitution'' of Nigerian politicians to the
absence of strong political party ideologies
which, he said, makes politicians to
impulsively defect to a winning party.
Political observers believe, without
doubt, that the future of party politics depends
on how institutions of democracy conduct their
affairs. And since there could be no political
party without actors, the trend of defection
would definitely be a factor in charting a future
of the country's politics ahead.
The Holy Fathers
Intentions For
The Month Of
January, 2016
PUBLIC SCHEDULE OF BISHOP HILARY
ODILI OKEKE JANUARY, 2016
“To provide our readers with high quality, trustworthy news that is contemporary, engaged
Sun 24- Feast day of St. Paul’s Seminary, Ukpor
with the world and faithful to what the Church teaches so as to strengthen the faith of
Mon
25- Conversion of St. Paul- Patronal
Universal:
Interreligious
Dialogue
Christians & deepen their commitment to God in line with objective journalistic ethics.”
That sincere dialogue among men and
celebration of Bishop Hilary Paul Odili
women of different faiths may produce the
Okeke (prayers for his conversion)
fruits of peace and justice.
Tue 26- St. Timothy- Anniversary of the baptism
In service of the truth
Evangelization: Christian Unity
of Bishop Hilary Paul Odili Okeke
That by means of dialogue and fraternal
(remembrance of his new birth as a child
charity and with the grace of the Holy
of God)
Spirit,
Christians may overcome divisions. Wed 27- Plenary meeting of diocesan
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF NNEWI
Beware of Lassa Fever! 28/29- presbyterium
PUBLISHER
Bishop H.P.O. Okeke
Grand celebrations (golden jubilee of
- Avoid Random Hand Shake
DIRECTOR
Rev. Fr. Hygi Aghaulor, Ph.D.
bishop
Francis Okobo) at Nsukka
- Always Wash Your Hands Before Meals
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Rev. Fr. Anthony Ibegbunam
Diocese
- Avoid Rat and Rodents Around Your
Homes
Sat 30- Day with the Holy Childhood Association
EDITOR
Franz Ndulue
- Report Suspected cases to the Hospital
( Jubilee of Mercy with all children
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Solomon Mokwugwo
- Stop Consumption Of Bush Rats And
Sun 31- Pastoral visit to St. Patrick’s parish,
Rodents
ADMINISTRATIVE EDITOR Uche Okoye
Okija
- Consult Your Doctor Whenever You Have
Sun
31Collection for Consecrated men and
COMMUNITY NEWS EDITOR
Okoli Juventus Chukwunweike
Bleeding Nose, Protracted Headache and
women
Fever
NEWS EDITOR 1
Ifechukwu Ifedigbo
The Christian
NEWS EDITOR 2
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Amara Ezukwo
REPORTER
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Chioma Izuegbunam, Adinuba Jephta, Okeke
GRAPHICS
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Okechukwu Ngozi C.
Oliver-Ross Udeafor, Ngozi Asonibe, Oge Igbelina
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T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
NEWS
PAG E 4
Igwe Dr. Eze (Okofia VI Ukpo)
Celebrates 24th Ofala
By Franz Ndulue
t was a parade of who is
who at the 24th Ofala
Festival of His Royal
Highness, Igwe Dr. R.C. Eze
(Okofia VI), the traditional
ruler of Ukpo, in Dunukofia
local government area of
Anambra state, as prominent
disgnitaries from all walks of
life thronged the Eze N'Ukpo
ancient kingdom to participate
in the annual cultural fiesta.
Among notable
personalities present at the
rousing colourful ceremony,
held at the magnificent palace
of Eze Ukpo Dunukofia, were
Anambra state governor, Chief
Willie Obiano (Akpokuedike),
Deputy Senate President,
Senator Ike Ekweremadu,
Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator Chris
Ngige, Chief Victor Umeh,
former national chairman of
the All Progressives Grand
Alliance (APGA), and Senator
Ben Ndi Obi, erstwhile
Presidential Adviser on
National Assembly matters.
The Catholic Bishop
of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Dr.
Paulinus Okafor, and his
Anglican counterpart, Rt. Rev.
Dr. Alexander Ibezim, together
with a galaxy of traditional
rulers led by Obi of Onitsha,
Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe,
chairman of Anambra State
Traditional Rulers Council,
and top government
functionaries, frontline
politicians and giants of
industry were not left out.
Prince Engr. Dr.
Arthur Eze (Ozoigbondu), a
renowned business mogul and
philanthropist, resplendent in
his while traditional
chieftaincy regalia, joyfully
embraced and ushered guests
into the palatial Ofala arena
and his sprawling castle
bubbling with beehive of
human activities from dawn till
dusk with assorted dances and
masquerade troupes thrilling
the mammoth audience.
Governor Okenwa
Okezie of Abia state, Deputy
Governor (Dr) Nkem Okeke of
Anambra state, Igwe K.O.
Orizu, Obi of Nnewi, Igwe Dr.
Martin Ezeh (Idu II) of
Igboukwu, Lt. Col. Kalaja from
302 FAR Army Regiment,
Onitsha, as well as Alhaji
Isyaku Abdullahi (Turakin
Jiboga), Senator Annie
Okonkwo and Mrs. Catherine
Uju Ifejika, a frontline woman
activist, also graced the historic
event.
In a sermon during
t h e p u r i f i c a t i o n
commemorative church
service to herald the Ofala
festival, held at the palace,
Bishop Ibezim enjoined
I
Igwe R.C. Eze with His brother Prince Arthur Eze chating with Omelora Nteje Chief Nwakalor
Umuchigbonu Community Gets Basic Amenities
Raymond Ozoji
I
t is no longer news that
government alone cannot
provide basic amenities for its
citizenry. Although the social
contract theory posits that it is
incumbent on government to
make life worth living through the
provision of public utilities like
pipe-born water, health-care
facilities, electricity, good road
network and a host of other
amenities, but government is
often constrained to achieve this
goal due to limited resources.
As a result of the
foregoing, government, therefore,
endeavours to create an enabling
environment for public-privatepartnership. Through this
platform, private individuals as
well as corporate organisations
augment and compliment
government's efforts by assisting
in the provision of some basic
amenities necessary to improve
the living conditions of the people.
That was the situation,
on 4th January, 2016, at
Umuchigbonu community,
Umuike Ubahuekwem, Ihiala,
headquarters of Ihiala local
government area of Anambra
state, where all the villagers
trooped out in their numbers to be
eye-witnesses to the
commissioning of a multi-million
naira rural electrification project
executed by Ihekamba
Foundation for the community.
The multi-million-naira
electricity project which
comprised the installation of a
500 KVA transformer as well as
the reticulation of high-tension
cables across the community and
some other communities in
U b a h u e k w e m , w a s
unprecedented. By such singular
act of philanthropy, Ihekamba
Foundation brought
Umuchigbonu community to
limelight.
A l t h o u g h t h e
community had grappled with
perennial epileptic power supply
for many long years, but the ruraldwellers heaved a sigh of relief
that Ihekamba Foundation came
to their rescue. Their joy and
jubilation knew no bounds as they
trooped out en masse amidst
songs of victory over incessant
power outage and expressing
profound gratitude to God that
Umuchigbonu has finally
conquered erratic power supply.
Today, the community is
a force to reckon with in
Ubahuekwem. Inhabitants of the
community no longer drink from
the stream because pipe-born
water now flows across the length
and breathe of the community
while communal peace reigns
supreme in the area. During the
2016 edition of Chigbonu Day
Celebration, the occasion
witnessed the commissioning of
several projects that will impact
positively on the lives of the
people in the community.
First and foremost was
the commissioning of the 500
KVA transformer bought,
installed and donated to
Umuchigbonu by Ihekamba
Foundation. Another groundbreaking ceremony was the
commissioning of a box-culvert
constructed by Ezenwafor
family, and the installation of
Chigbonu road signpost at
strategic locations of the
community by the oldest man in
the area, was equally historical.
D u r i n g
t h e
commissioning exercise, donors
of the projects gave reasons why
they executed the projects for the
community. Founder of
Ihekamba Foundation,
Engr.Donatus Ihekamba
Onuchukwu, who spoke with
journalists, said he was grateful
to God for the gift of Engr. Kevin
Ihekamba Onuchukwu, his
younger brother, whom he
noted, had accomplished what
he started many years ago.
Engr. Donatus, while
stating the reason for the rural
electrification project, observed
that sometimes, the Enugu
Electricity Distribution
Company ( E E D C) was not
forthcoming in regular power
supply to the community; as a
result, Ihekamba Foundation
embarked on the electrification
project to cushion the effects of
incessant power outage in the
community.
He also stated that
apart from providing electricity,
the foundation planned to
intensify efforts on its
scholarship schemes,
construction of bus-stops at
strategic locations as well as
other projects to further revamp
the community. Although he
observed that Umuchigbonu
community has some pockets of
crisis to contend with, but also
expressed hope that warring
factions in the community would
come to a truce, noting that
Umuchigbonu is one family.
Prof. Emeka Desmond
Ezenwafor, an illustrious son of
Umuchigbonu, described the
gesture by Ihekamba
Foundation as unprecedented,
saying that the donation of an
electric transformer to
Umuchigbonu by the
foundation, naming of Chigbonu
road by the oldest surviving son
of Chigbonu, donation of the
portion of land where the
transformer was installed by
Obunadike family as well as the
construction of a box-culvert for
the community by Ezenwafor
family, were important
landmarks in the history of the
community .
On the issue of internal
squabbles in the community, Prof.
Ezenwafor stated that no
community thrives without crisis,
but expressed optimism that the
crisis would come to an end to
make Umuchigbonu community
much stronger. Furthermore, Mr.
Damian Nwabaso, a business
mogul based in Lagos and son of
the soil, expressed profound
gratitude to Ihekamba
Foundation for providing
electricity for the community.
He therefore, prayed for more
amenities to come to the
community through publicspirited individuals whose
passion to develop the grassroots
cannot be over-stressed. He
highlighted the need for free and
compulsory education for
indigent persons in the
community through scholarship
programmes while stressing the
need for peace and tranquility in
the community.
For Engr. Kevin
Ihekamba Onuchukwu, who is a
fellow of the Nigerian Society of
Engineers and stakeholder of the
Ihekamba Foundation, the joy of
being an indigene of
Umuchigbonu community now
knows no bounds. He told
journalists that it was the first
time the community had a very big
500 KVA transformer bought and
installed by the foundation.
He also explained that
Ihekamba Foundation is an
enduring legacy, giving
scholarships, providing skill
acquisition for youths in
Ubahuekwem , sinking bore-hole
water facilities at strategic
locations in the community,
construction of culverts as well as
a host of other community
projects, adding that the
electrification project was one of
the core areas of the foundation .
The oil and gas magnate,
who is a principal officer of Exxon
Mobil, further disclosed that
Ihekamba Foundation had plans
to extend its humanitarian
services to all the communities in
Ubahuekwem, Ihiala, though he
maintained that his community
development projects were not
driven by any political ambition
whatsoever, but due to his
passion to revamp the
hinterlands and better the lots
of the people therein.
He, therefore, made it
categorically clear that the
purpose of installing the
transformer in his community
was to foster economic growth
and social cohesion in the area.
According to him, the rural
electrification project executed
for Umuchigbonu by the
foundation was in line with
Governor Willie Obiano's fourpoint development agenda. The
petrochemical engineer was
however, of the opinion that in
the next ten years, he foresees
Umuchigbonu community with
95% graduates and literate to
engender prospects for
community development.
Also, the donation of
a box-culvert by Ezenwafor
family was a welcome
development; Prof. Emeka
Desmond Ezenwafor said the
box-culvert would provide
access to the northern route to
the community. He
emphasized that the culvert
would facilitate economic
advancement as well as social
development in the area.
Although he recalled that two
previous attempts were made
to construct the box-culvert but
were truncated by heavy duty
vehicles.
Be that as it may,
Prof. Ezenwafor disclosed that
plans were underway to
maintain the two-kilometerroad named after Ezenwafor
Ozoji, his late father, to make it
motorable, adding that the road
would be widened so that
people could move into the
community and contribute to
socio-economic development
of the community.
Nigerians to repent and
surrender their lives to God
whose kingdom is almost at hand
as the world gradually
approaches the rapture.
Bishop Ibezim prayed
for the successful reign of Igwe
Eze and the continued peace and
progress of the state and Nigeria
at large, emphasising that the
situation in the modern society
called for soul-searching by
everybody to make the world a
better place for mankind.
Delivering his goodwill
message, Igwe Dr. Eze V I,
thanked God for granting him
the grace to celebrate the 24th
Ofala on the throne, while
congratulating President
Muhammadu Buhari and VicePresident Yemi Osinbajo, for
their victory in the 2015
presidential election and hitchfree assumption of office,
wishing them successful tenure.
The royal father
thanked Governor Obiano for
appointment of Ukpo indigenes,
including Justice Arinze Akabua,
and also appreciated the roles of
the President-General of the
town, Group Capt. Benson Okoye
(rtd), Prince Engr. Dr. Arthur
Eze, distinguished guests and all
those who contributed to the
resounding success of the Ofala
festival.
In his maiden Ofala
welcome address on the
occasion, the PG, Ukpo
Improvement Union (UIU),
Group Capt. Okoye, thanked God
for the reign of Igwe Eze and
massive support given to the
town union's executives by the
people, particularly Prince
Engr.Arthur Eze, who helped in
establishing business centres
with 25 sets of computers to offer
job opportunities to youths in the
town. He also lauded Governor
Obiano's efforts towards the
beautification of Awka capital
city, remarkable improvement of
agriculture and other sectors of
the state's economy.
PG Okoye also
disclosed that the new leadership
of UIU planned to establish two
modern skills acquisition centres
and befitting civic centre, while
they had awarded scholarships
to many students, promoting
cultural revival, community
vigilante to ensure security while
calling for more support and
assistance to the union.
As usual, there were
various dances and masquerade
troupes thrilling the guests while
Prince Engr. Arthur Eze
(Ozoigbondu) threw open the
gates of his sprawling castle for
jubilant guests and Ukpo people
who came to felicitate with the
royal family, as he prayed God to
bless Igwe Dr. Eze and for
continued peaceful co-existence
of entire Nigerians.
Traditional Stool Wrecks Crisis in Oraukwu Community
T
ension is reportedly
mounting in Oraukwu
community, Idemili
North local government area of
Anambra state, following a fresh
crisis associated with the
selection of a successor to the
vacant throne of the town.
Since the former
traditional ruler of the
community, late Igwe Emeka
Ogbunude, joined his ancestors
about five years ago, it had
allegedly been difficult for the
king-makers to agree on the
modality for the selection of a
replacement for the departed
monarch.
It was gathered
that, while most people in the
community insisted that the
constitution of the town must
be followed strictly in
selecting a new king, another
group came up with stiff
argument that certain rigid
measures should be dropped,
in order to make the selection
processes easier.
Meanwhile, the
group that wants the
community to drop some
aspects of the selection
processes, recently, allegedly
tried to force the regent of the
town, Chief F. Chiedu, to
anoint a particular aspirant
as the next traditional ruler
without going through the
laid down processes.
Chief Chiedu also
told the journalists in his
house, at Oraukwu, that most
members of his camp insisted
that the constitution of the
town must be strictly
followed to the letter in
selecting the new traditional
ruler.
He argued that as
the custodian of the customs
and traditions of the people, he
would not compromise the
constitution of Oraukwu on the
matter, stressing that most
people in the community also
insisted that an unpopular
candidate should not be
hoisted on them.
He said: “Igweship in
Oraukwu rotates among the
villages that make up the
community. Usually, the
village whose turn it is to
produce the Igwe nominates
three candidates from which
one would be elected and
crowned the traditional ruler.”
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
POLITICS
Osita Chidoka Eyes PDP
Anambra Central Ticket
A
fter the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) in
Anambra state, allegedly
promised Chief Osita Chidoka,
former Aviation Minister, that the
party would sponsor him as the
party's standard-bearer in the
forthcoming Anambra Central
Senatorial re-run election and
abandoning Senator Uche
Ekwunife, peace is yet to return to
PDP in the state.
Impeccable sources
within the PDP National Working
Committee and the state chapter
of the party, disclosed that it had
concluded plans to nominate
Chief Chidoka, following the Court
of Appeal ruling, in Enugu, which
nullified the election of the former
PDP candidate, Mrs. Uche
Ekwunife, and ordered for a fresh
poll in Anambra Central
Senatorial Zone.
Mrs. Uche Ekwunife,
has since decamped to the All
Progressives Congress (APC),
vowing to win the primary
elections there, in a surprising
move to most political
observers.
According to our
source, the party's resolve to
nominate the erstwhile Corps
Marshal of the Federal Road
Safety Corps (FRSC), came on
the “heels of a quest by the
PDP to present a credible
alternative to Uche Ekwunife,
who has abandoned the party.
Osita Chidoka is seen as a very
capable politician to challenge
for the exulted position. He
has served three Nigerian
Presidents, from President
Olusegun Obasanjo,
President Umaru Yar'adua
and President Goodluck
Jonathan, in different
capacities.”
The party also
believed that his qualifications
which include, a Graduate
Diploma in Maritime & Ports
Management from the National
University of Singapore,
Certificate in Global Strategy
and Political Economy from
Oxford University and Masters
Degree in Transport Policy &
Logistics, School of Public
Policy, George Masons
University, USA, would position
him as one of the bright
parliamentarians
If Chidoka emerges
the PDP flag-bearer, he will be
expected to face stiff challenge
by Chief Victor Umeh, of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance
(APGA), and either Mrs.
Ekwunife or Mrs. Sharon
Ikeazor, the APC former woman
leader, who had since indicated
interest in the race.
T
Anambra Central: Ngige Draws APC Woman
Leader To Race, Vows to Dislodge Ekwunife
By Abuchi Onwumelu
secretariat, Awka, Ikeazor
said she had garnered enough
experience to serve her state
and people in that capacity
and would bring her
experience in partisan politics
to bear in the Senate, if
elected.
She vowed to
represent the interest of the
party with pride and great
honour, if given the ticket and
eventually wins the seat,
adding that she would ensure
that laws and policies that
would be in line with the belief
and principles of President
Muhammadu Buhari's
administration were pursued.
Responding, Ibe
expressed the joy of the party
that Ikeazor had joined the
race and assured her that the
party would follow due
process in bringing out its
candidate for the election.
F
ear has gripped
supporters of Senator
Uche Ekwunife camp, as
the Minister of Labour and
Employment, Senator Chris
Ngige, has reportedly asked
the pioneer national woman
leader of All Progressives
Congress (APC), Mrs. Sharon
Ikeazor, to step out for the
senatorial election.
Ikeazor indicated
interest to contest the Anambra
Central Senatorial District rerun on the platform of the APC,
amidst jubilation and support
from party hierarchy.
Ikeazor, who has held several
positions in the party, would
have Ekwunife, Ambassador
Jerry Ugokwe and others to
contend with in the fight for the
ticket.
Speaking when she
submitted her letter of intent to
the state chairman of the party,
Mr. Emeka Ibe, at the state
High Chief Ugonabo Commends the Catholic Church
By Ben Chike
T
Chief Osita Chidoka
Dasukigate: EFCC Cannot Arrest
Me or Any APGA Chieftain -Umeh
hose jubilating that
immediate past chairman
of the All Progressives
Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief
Victor Umeh, will be arrested in
connection with the scam
involving the former National
Security Adviser, Col. Sambo
Dasuki, would be disappointed.
This is because Umeh has
confirmed that the party did not
collect a single kobo to support the
Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in
the last presidential election,
noting that APGA's support for
PDP was essentially ideological.
“We didn't get into that
arrangement because of monetary
benefit. Not a kobo was given to
anybody or APGA. Some people
think that APGA, being a robust
supporter of President Jonathan,
more than the SDP and Accord
Party, which got N100 million
each, then, we must have got
more, but I am so happy that I
didn't entangle myself in such
t
h
i
n
g
.
“It would have been an
opportunity for those who are
worried that I am contesting the
senatorial election to come and
pick me up and dump me at the
PA G E 5
Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) cell.”
Speaking against the
backdrop of reports that some
other political parties, including
the Social Democratic Party,
(SDP) and Accord Party,
collected N100 million each to
support the PDP, Umeh said
that nobody collected a kobo on
behalf of APGA for the support
given to the PDP in the last
presidential election.
He told newsmen that
PDP's disqualified senatorial
candidate in the forthcoming
Anambra Central re-run, Uche
Ekwunife, was ruled out from
participating in the election,
noting that she cannot
participate in the same election
on the platform of two different
p o l i t i c a l p a r t i e s .
Affirming the ineligibility
of the former senator
representing the zone to contest
in forthcoming election, he said:
“Having been disqualified
through her previous party,
crossing over to the All
Progressives Congress (APC)
would mean that she would be
contesting one election on two
different platforms, if she were
allowed to contest.
“This is very absurd and I
think that she is wasting her
time and therefore, has to get
proper legal advice. Whoever
advised her that she can jump
from PDP to APC and become
its candidate and return to the
election, has not given her
p r o p e r
a d v i c e .
“Assuming that she had
that right, the Supreme Court
judgment that I explained, has
foreclosed that option. There is
nothing that can make the APC
present her for the election.”
he respect and
recognition the Catholic
Church accords nonfetish culture and tradition has
been commended.
T h e O g b u e h i
Ugonabo, High Chief Dan
M a b e z u e , O g b u e h i
Umuezeawala, Ihiala, gave the
gave the commendation during a
thanksgiving Mass to celebrate
his upliftment by Eze DaraIhiala, Di-arah Sir T.I Nwadialor
(KSM).
The occasion which
was started with a Holy Mass at
St. Paul's Catholic Church,
Umuezeawala, Ihiala, attracted
high profile chiefs, civil servants
and businessmen.
In his homily during
the Mass, the parish priest of St.
Paul's Catholic Church, Rev.
Father Philip Nnadi, said that
thanksgiving to God is a major
way of showing gratitude to God
for his grace, mercy and
protection at all times, adding
that such would serve as
reflection time on our journey
from January to December.
The priest reminded
Christians of the need for them
to get involved in all Church
activities and to shun hatred
among them. He charged elected
representatives to initiate
constituency projects that would
Ogbuehi Dan Mbaezue, Sir T.I Nwadialor and the Ichies in group picture after the Mass
touch the lives of those that
voted them into offices.
Ogbuehi Dan
Mbaezue, after the
thanksgiving Mass, thanked
the parishioners, priest and
others for identifying with
him at the occasion.
He paid special
tribute to Ezedara Ihiala, DiArah Sir T.I Nwadialor (KSM)
for his leadership qualities to
the people.
Cultural displays
and musical rendition by
Church choir added glamour
to the day's occasion.
Security Operatives Praised for
Hitch Free Christmas, New Year
By Ben Chike
T
he reduced incidence of
road accidents and crime
wave especially kidnap
witnessed in Anambra State
during last Christmas and New
Year festivities had continued to
attract commendations.
To this end, a
transporter, Chief Charles Agu
Onyeka, expressed optimism
that such decent and cautions
driving culture exhibited by
motorists and commercial
vehicle drivers as well as Okada
operators would continue.
The former NzukoOra Nnewi boss also expressed
joy at the level of security
Anambra State government
provided during the festive
periods.
He commended the
huge success recorded at the
celebration of HRM Igwe
Orizu III 90th birthday and the
52nd Ofala festival, especially
the attendance of major
traditional rulers in Anambra
state as well as governors and
politicians from far and near.
He used the
opportunity to call on the
federal government to
revamp moribund industries,
factories, mills and agrobased ventures within and
outside the state.
Anambra PDP To Conduct
Senatorial Primary
Election 'Soon'
T
h e
P e o p l e s
Democratic Party
(PDP) in Anambra
State says it will soon
conduct the primary election
for Anambra Central.
The announcement
was made by the State
Chairman of the party, Ken
Emeakayi, during the
solidarity visit of the 109
wards and seven local
government executive
committees of the PDP from
Mr. Emeakayi
Anambra Central Senatorial
district.
According to Mr.
Emeakayi, the party at the state
level would liaise with the
national executive to fix a date
for the primary election while
the agitation for the release of
Barr. Olisah Metuh since the
election has a time frame.
He called for calm
among the members in the face
of all the travails of the party,
maintaining that it remained
strong and formidable both
in the state and at the
national level.
The senatorial
primary election was earlier
suspended by the PDP in
agitation for the release of
the National Publicity
Secretary of the PDP and
leader of party in Anambra
State, Mr Olisa Metuh, by
the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission
(EFCC).
One of the candidates,
Uche Ekwunife, has
defected to the All
Progressives Congress
(APC).
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD
Inculturation Of The Gospel
I have preached to you and
instructed you both in
public and in your homes,
urging both Jews and
Greeks to turn to God and
to believe in our Lord Jesus
(Acts 20:20-21)
Most Rev. Hilary Paul Odili Okeke
The Divine Mandate, Make
Disciples of all Nations
42. The principal task of any Christian, especially a Christian
evangeliser is to carry out the mission entrusted to the Church by
Jesus Christ – In words of St. Paul, “the mission the Lord gave me
– to bear witness to the good news of God's grace” (Acts 20:24).
This witness is to be borne to all nations, Jews and Greeks alike.
The Gospel is not limited to any group. It is a message of salvation
for all humanity – “Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations;
baptise them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the commands I gave
you” (Matthew 28:19-20). The Lord was aware of the peoples and
their cultures. The apostles coming from the Hebrew
background had to break into the universality of humanity to
proclaim the Good News. It took a special intervention of God to
make Peter go to the gentiles in the household of Cornelius with
the Lord telling Peter, “What God has made clean, you have no
right to call profane” (Acts 10:15). The whole humanity is the
theatre of the Gospel. St. Paul introducing his letter to the
Romans stated, “For I see no reason to be ashamed of the gospel;
it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who has faith –
Jews first, but Greeks as well – for in it is revealed the saving
justice of God: a justice based on faith and addressed to faith. As
it says in scripture: Anyone who is upright through faith will live”
(Romans 1:16-17).
Breaking out of the Ghetto
43. Breaking out of the limitations and “ghetto” of Hebrew
cultural system in order to proclaim the Gospel to all nations was
not easy. Even when the Gospel was proclaimed to the gentiles
and God opened the door of faith to them, some men from Judea
came and insisted that the gentile converts to Christianity must
be inserted into the Hebrew culture: “Unless you have yourselves
circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved” (Acts
15:1). The meeting of the Apostles at Jerusalem resolved the
matter in favour of the primacy and supremacy of faith, that
people are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus (see Acts
15:11). The Apostles in their letter stated: “It has been decided by
the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to impose on you any burden
beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to
idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from
illicit marriages” (Acts 15:28-29). The faith which as Pope
Francis wrote remains “unique, since it is capable of illuminating
every aspect of human existence ... Faith, received from God, as a
supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our
journey through time” (Encyclical Letter Lumen Fidei, no. 4).
This unique light of faith must illuminate human culture so that
God's people can live their culture in the light of faith unto eternal
salvation,
Inculturation, Incarnation or Indigenisation of the
Gospel
44. The danger that is always lurking around is the enculturation
of faith and presenting the enculturated faith as the Faith. This is
the crux of the problem of missionary work: transporting the faith
with the clothing of a particular culture to another cultural area
under the guise that that was the faith. Peter Schineller has
pointed out this flaw in evangelisation: “The fact is that lack of
adequate inculturation in previous missionary efforts has often
resulted in the need to focus on inculturation. In Nigeria today,
for example, one is not usually sharing the gospel for the first time
with those who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Rather, one
encounters a western European form or model of Christianity
that is widespread and growing, but a form that is not indigenous
to Nigeria. In other words, one has to in some ways de-westernize
Christianity, strip it down to the essentials, in order to inculturate
gospel values into Nigeria” (A Handbook on Inculturation,
Paulist Press, New York, p. 11). The words of Peter Schineller call
for the process of incarnation. There must be kenosis (emptying)
of the present form of Christianity imported with the garb of
Western European Christianity for the gospel to take flesh in
Africa, in Nigeria, in Igboland. Inculturation brings out that
process which St. Paul gave us in Jesus Christ, “Who, being in the
form of God, ... emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
becoming as human beings are;” (Philippians 2:6-7).
Emptying in order to be Filled
45. The words of Peter Sarpong, later Archbishop of Kumasi,
Ghana can reinforce the need for this emptying of the
contemporary Western Christianity in order for the Catholic
Church in Nigeria to have a Nigerian Christianity, indeed, an Igbo
Christianity: “Alas, he [the African] searches in vain for his
heart's desire in the Catholic Church. The Christian Church in its
wake abolishes his cherished institutions through which he was
himself. In fact, the drums and African dances were completely
proscribed as unbecoming of a Christian. Puberty and initiation
ceremonies, the mainstay of juvenile morality, communal
festivity, and social solidarity, were condemned by 'Christianity'
as repulsive, repugnant, abhorrent, ridiculous, etc. We are now
able to lament that its inception, 'Christianity' did not realize
that the African ground had long been carefully prepared by
God for the reception of the Christian seed; and that that seed
had in the course of the centuries inevitably put on the cultural
garments of different civilizations, Jewish, Greek, Roman, etc”
(See Peter Schineller, A Handbook on Inculturation, pp.
11-12).
Faith and Expressions of Faith
46. Avery Dulles has a similar view about the missionary
strategy that tended to identify faith with the cultural
expressions of faith. According to him, “in earlier centuries,
missionaries tended to carry their own cultures with them.
They did not distinguish clearly between the faith and its
cultural expressions. Converts were trained to express their
newfound faith in the language and style of the missionaries,
who came for the most part from Western Europe or, more
recently, from North America. As a result, Christians in North
and South America, Asia, and Africa tended to be highly
Europeanized or at least Westernized, and in many cases they
remained small foreign enclaves estranged from the culture of
Inculturation touches every aspect of
the faith and Christian life. It is not a
haphazard and selective affair.
Generally, most people are inclined to
emphasize the liturgy as the theatre of
inculturation. St. John Paul II
quoting the Fathers of the First
Special Assembly for Africa of the
Synod of Bishops brings out the
universal and integral nature of
inculturation: “Inculturation is a
movement towards full
evangelization. It seeks to dispose
people to receive Jesus Christ in an
integral manner. It touches them on
the personal, cultural, economic and
political levels so that they can live a
holy life in total union with God the
Father, through the action of the Holy
Spirit".
their nation” (The New World of Faith, Our Sunday Visitor
Publishing Division, Our Sunday Visitor Inc, Huntington,
Indiana 46750, p. 114). The assessment is true in that there was
a marriage between Western civilization and cultures on the one
hand and Christianity on the other hand giving birth to Western
Christianity. The danger was that this Western Christianity was
spread as the Christianity. The converts to this Christianity
were uprooted from their culture and given Christianity in the
colonial garb.
Christianity Challenged and Challenges all Cultures
47. While agreeing with the fact that Christianity has put on
cultural garbs of various places, we must also state that
Christianity challenged all those cultures, the Jewish, Roman,
Irish and other European cultures to achieve what Christianity
is. In the Council of Jerusalem, Christianity challenged the
Jewish culture and came out with what could be considered as
the essentials. In his missionary journeys, Paul continued to
challenge various cultures which he encountered. At Athens, he
was faced with religiosity that was very remarkable. In his
speech before the council of Areopagus, he stated: “Men of
Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you
are in all religious matters, because, as I strolled round looking
at your sacred monuments, I noticed among other things an
altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. In fact, the unknown God
you revere is the one I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:22-23). He
preached the one true God, the God who raised Jesus Christ
from the dead! The Greek soil, like every soil, had been carefully
prepared for the reception of the seed of the Gospel. But every
soil has the limitations of containing some things that may not
allow the seed of the Gospel to germinate and grow. Generally,
this is polytheism that inspired most religions and cultures
including past European cultures: Greek, Roman, Irish,
German etc. At Iconium, Paul had to stop the people from
worshipping him and Barnabas as gods Hermes and Zeus and
used the opportunity to condemn the worship of empty idols
and invite the people to follow the living God who made sky and
earth and the sea and all that these hold (see Acts 14:11-18). In
Ephesus, Paul had to confront the silversmiths who made a
living from making silver images of the goddess Diana (Acts
19:23-40).
PA G E 6
The Need of Inculturation of the Gospel
48. Inculturation is necessary. Inculturation understood as
the incarnation of the Gospel in autonomous cultures and at
the same time the introduction of these cultures into the life of
the Church signifies “an intimate transformation of the
authentic cultural values by their integration into Christianity
and the implantation of Christianity into different human
cultures” (St. John Paul II, Encyclical Letter, Redemptoris
missio, no. 52). By inculturation, the Church makes the Gospel
incarnate in different cultures, and at the same time introduces
peoples, together with their cultures, into her own
communities (see Redemptoris missio, no. 52). People's
culture is like the soil in which the seed of the Gospel is sown.
The soil is necessary for the seed to germinate and grow. It is
important to know the type of soil in which the seed is to be
sown. The parable of the seed shows the importance of the
texture of the soil. According to Jesus Christ, the sower went
out to sow seeds; some fell by the roadside and were trampled;
some fell on patches of soil on rocky ground and shot up but
shrivelled because of lack of depth of the soil; some fell among
thorns and were choked by the thorns; while some fell on good
soil and grew and bore fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty,
some thirty (see Matthew 13:4-9; 36-43).
Incarnation of the Word of God: The Word became
Culture!
49. It is important to ensure that the word of God is inserted
into the culture. Inculturation in this case means that the word
of God takes flesh in a particular culture, taking in the elements
of culture that are compatible with the gospel and inserting
faith in that culture. Pope St. John Paul II brings out the close
connection between the mystery of Christ and inculturation:
“Given the close and organic relationship that exists between
Jesus Christ and the Word that the Church proclaims, the
inculturation of the revealed message cannot but follow the
'logic' proper to the Mystery of the Redemption. Indeed, the
Incarnation of the Word is not an isolated moment but tends
towards Jesus' 'Hour' and the Paschal Mystery: 'Unless a grain
of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it
dies, it bears much fruit' (Jn 12:24). Jesus says: 'And I, when I
am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself' (Jn
12:32). This emptying of self, this kenosis necessary for
exaltation, which is the way of Christ and of each of his disciples
(cf. Phil 2:6-9), sheds light on the encounter of cultures with
Christ and his Gospel”(Ecclesia in Africa, no. 61).
Appropriate Missionary Strategy required
50. The missionary strategy will help the missionary to divest
the message of the cloak of one culture in order to insert the
message into another culture. In general, this process of
kenosis, the emptying of cultural elements of one area is
difficult. Some people import customized Christianity, that is,
Christianity that has put on a particular cultural garb, into
other cultural areas without the emptying. The result is
shallowness of faith as the imported version cannot penetrate
into the very soul of the people. Peter Schineller points out the
need to carry out the process of kenosis in re-evangelizing
Africa: “Thus the church today, in view of the imperative of
inculturation, must often undo what has been done poorly,
must re-evangelize what was badly evangelized when the
gospel was presented in western European categories and
thought patterns” (Handbook on Inculturation, p. 12).
With proper inculturation, the Christian message will be
rooted in the very soul of the people, in the culture. Avery
Dulles states accordingly: “By retaining their heritage, they
[converts] can better appropriate the gospel; they can function
more effectively in their ethnic countries and contribute more
to the Church they are joining” (The New World of Faith, p.
114). Proper inculturation “allows people to preserve their own
identity ... to foster whatever is implicit in them to the point
where it will be fully explicit in the light of truth” (St. John Paul
II, Fides et Ratio, no. 71).
Integral Inculturation
51. Inculturation touches every aspect of the faith and Christian
life. It is not a haphazard and selective affair. Generally, most
people are inclined to emphasize the liturgy as the theatre of
inculturation. St. John Paul II quoting the Fathers of the First
Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops brings out
the universal and integral nature of inculturation:
“Inculturation is a movement towards full evangelization. It
seeks to dispose people to receive Jesus Christ in an integral
manner. It touches them on the personal, cultural, economic
and political levels so that they can live a holy life in total union
with God the Father, through the action of the Holy Spirit".
Thanking God for the fruits which the efforts at inculturation
have already brought forth in the life of the Churches of the
Continent, notably in the ancient Eastern Churches of Africa,
the Synod recommended "to the Bishops and to the Episcopal
Conferences to take note that inculturation includes the whole
life of the Church and the whole process of evangelization. It
includes theology, liturgy, the Church's life and structures. All
this underlines the need for research in the field of African
cultures in all their complexity” (Ecclesia in Africa, no. 62).
Most Rev. Hilary Paul Odili Okeke
Bishop of Nnewi
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
NEWS
PA G E 7
NEMA Sympathizes With Victims of Nnewi Gas Explosion Petrol Stations In Residential
- As Obi Consoles Victims' Families
T
he National Emergency
Management Agency
(NEMA) has revealed that
Federal Government will supply
medical items needed for the
treatment and quick recovery of
the victims of recent Nnewi gas
explosion.
The South-East Coordinator of NEMA, Mr. James
Eze, made the disclosure when he
visited the surviving victims of the
explosion now receiving
treatment at the National
Orthopedic Hospital, Enugu, and
University of Nigeria Teaching
Hospital (UNTH), Ituku-Ozalla,
also in Enugu state.
The explosion, which
occurred on the eve of 2015
Christmas, led to the death of
about six people instantly, while
several others got various degrees
of burns.
Eze told newsmen that the
government would further equip
the Regional Burn Centre, situated
at the National Orthopedic
Hospital, Enugu.
“NEMA commends the
staff of both federal hospitals for
their commitment to duty even in
this festive season. The three
victims in the Regional Burn
Centre, at the National Orthopedic
Hospital, Enugu, and the pregnant
victim at the Intensive Care Unit of
UNTH, are in stable condition and
responding to treatment. And we
pray it continues to get better,
while the agency would assist
these health institutions with
medical items to improve their
services as well as help in the
speedy recovery of these victims,
especially the Burn Centre,'' he
said.
I n a r e l a t e d
development, Anambra
Commissioner for Health, Dr.
Joe Akabuike, who also visited
the victims, said that Gov. Willie
Obiano sent him to reassure the
hospitals that Anambra state
government would pay every
kobo spent on the treatment of
the victims.
“Gov. Obiano is deeply
concerned and had also sent me
to give him up-to-date
information on the condition of
the victims sent to the two
federal referral hospitals in
Enugu. And thank God, all the
victims are doing well and
worthy of note is the pregnant
victim, who is now conscious and
she is responding very well to
treatment,'' Akabuike said.
Earlier, Dr. C. U.
Nwadinigwe, Chief Medical
Director of National
Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu,
assured the agency and
Anambra state government that
the victims would be given the
best medical care.
I n a r e l a t e d
development, the former
governor of Anambra state, Mr.
Peter Obi, has condoled with the
families of
victims of the
recent fire
incidence at
N n e w i ,
describing it as
“tragic and
regrettable.”
Obi, who said
h e
w a s
downcast,
prayed to God
for the repose
of the dead and
courage to
those they left
behind to bear
the loss with
equanimity.
Whil
e submitting
that humans
c a n n o t
question God
in all matters, including birth and
death, Obi however advised the
people to be vigilant at all times
and observe safety guides, in
order to avoid similar occurrence
in future.
Igwe expressed
solidarity with the Governor of
Anambra State, Chief Willie
Obiano, the Igwe of Nnewi, Obi
K.O. Orizu III, and the entire
Nnewi people, especially the
Chicason Group, over the
incidence.
“Nnewi is directly
affected by the unfortunate
Areas To Face Sanction –Ngige
M
Obi
incidence; we must show
solidarity to them, bearing in
mind that, as Donne John said,
'any man's death diminishes me
because I am involved in
mankind.''
Describing 2015 as
not so good for Anambra state,
in terms of human tragedy of
shocking proportion, including
the accident that happened at
Umuchu, the one at Nanka, and
fire outbreak in several
markets, and prayed to God to
guide and guard the state in
2016, so as not to witness such
gory scenes again.
Innoson Set to Empower 500 Young Women
-Hosts Face of IVM Pageantry
T
he Innoson Vehicle
Manufacturing Company
(IVM) has unveiled plans to
empower over 500 Nigerian
youths aimed at giving back to the
society and encouraging the spirit
of entrepreneurship. This was
revealed in a press conference
which held at the IVM complex,
Nnewi, Anambra state.
The pageantry is
collaboration between the IVM
and the Nigerian Students
Leadership Forum (NSLF).
Addressing the
newsmen, the chairman, CEO of
IVM Company, Chief Innocent
Chukwuma said that the Innoson
Group has, for over the years,
contributed immensely to the
manufacturing of durable and
affordable automobiles for
Nigerians and Africans in a bid to
eradicating the importation of
tokumbo automobiles in Nigeria,
thus, making Innoson IVM the
first made in Nigeria automobile
brand.
Chief Chukwuma who
was represented by the general
manager, Mr. Onusogu Nnamdi,
stated that the face of IVM is a
way of contributing to the
development and empowerment
of young Nigerians.
“After many years of
our numerous businesses and
patronage from Nigerians, we
feel that the time is now ripe to
give back, especially through
this medium, as it affects young
Nigerians.
“In the project, over
500 young women will be
trained and empowered with
different skills that will be of
tremendous benefit to them and
our country at large.
“However, there are consolation
prices for contestants and many
young Nigerian women will be
empowered to start their own
business with the skills they
acquired from this project”,
Chief Chukwuma stated.
Explaining the motive
behind the pageantry, the NSLF
national coordinator, Prince
Echem said, “This is pageantry
with a sharp divergence from the
norm as far as pageantry is
concerned in Nigeria. The Face
of IVM seeks to celebrate the
beauty, brain and the
empowerment of women. It is
further geared towards
promoting the Innoson Vehicle
Manufacturing (IVM) brand
which has continued to live the
Nigerian dream. The IVM brand
has given strength and voice to
the “Made in Nigeria” mantra.
This is a platform to further
develop our young girls in
becoming self-reliant”.
Prince Echem further
stated that the pageantry is out to
help the contestants in building
self-esteem, poise and
confidence, learn a skill, build
leadership skills and enhance
community development and
empowerment through
humanitarian service as well as
projecting a positive image of the
Nigerian Youth to the rest of the
world.
Speaking further about
the prizes, Prince Echem said
“The Star Prize is IVM G5 SUV
and N500,000 Naira plus a one
year Job offer with an attractive
pay. The first runner-up will go
home with the sum of 1 million
naira while the second runner-up
goes home with 500,000. The
first nineteen
contestants will get
N50,000 naira”.
He explained
t h a t a l l t h e
contestants will be
trained in one out of
five different skills
acquisition, with
certificates from
UNESCO-UNEVOC
and University of
Nigeria Nsukka
(UNN) adding that
the best five from
each class will be
empowered with
capital to start up
their businesses.
He disclosed
that girls between the
ages of 18 and 25 are
eligible to contest. He stated
that interested contestants
s h o u l d l o g o n t o
www.nslf.org.ng to register
after which a payment of
N5,000 naira will be made in
Zenith bank. He directed that
interested persons can call
08037637653 for enquiries.
Concluding, he
added that the winner of the
contest will become a skill
empowerment ambassador
and will hold skill acquisition
trainings in various states of
the federation.
On his part, the
coordinator UNESCOUNEVOC, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof.
Emmanuel Osinem, pointed
out that the contestants will be
trained in Cosmetology, Beauty
Care and Salon, Culture and
Tourism, Fashion and Design
as well as Food preservation.
He posited that this is the
innovative angle of this project
which, according to him, is
different from other
pageantries.
Prof. Osinem added
that there will be competency
based evaluation for the
contestants at the end of the
training for winners to emerge.
inister of Labour and
Employment, Dr.
Chris Ngige, has said
the Federal Government will
sanction petrol stations located
in areas where they pose danger
to the public.
Dr. Ngige announced
this during his visit to the scene
of gas explosion at the head
office of Chicason Group of
Companies in Nnewi, Anambra
State, in which some lives were
lost.
He said: “Many petrol
stations across the country are
located at residential and
densely populated areas where
they could pose danger to the
public. Such filling stations will
soon be sanctioned by the
government.
“Government has a
duty to protect lives of the
people and will take every
necessary step to protect the
people especially workers in
industries, so that they will not
be exposed to unnecessary
danger.”
The minister
expressed shock at the
magnitude of damage
caused by the gas plant
accident, saying
precautionary measures
would be taken to save
lives of workers in the
nation's industries.
He said: “I am
really shocked at the
magnitude of damage
caused by the gas
explosion.
“I thank God
that you did not lose any
member of your staff in
t h e i n f e r n o . ”
He said the recent spate
of major industrial
accidents were
reminders of the unsafe
conditions being faced
Awgbu Community Gets New
Police Station, Patrol Van
By Abuchi Onwumelu
T
he Commissioner of
Police in Anambra
State, Mr. H.H Karma,
has commissioned a
permanent Police station and
a Hilux Police Patrol Vehicle
in Awgbu community of the
state.
Addressing the
residents, Mr. Hassan Karma
commended their initiative in
contributing to the
development, saying it was
worthy of emulation by all and
sundry.
He encouraged
them to sustain the tempo of
support for the police and
always report suspicious
In his vote of thanks,
the chairman of the occasion,
Hon. Chief Godson Obi (Owelle
Ogbunka) described the project
as a lofty one which would go a
long way in impacting on the
lives of young Nigerians. He
called on young women to
embrace this opportunity.
characters and movements in
the community to ensure a safe
and secured environment.
T h e
P o l i c e
Commissioner recalled that
Anambra State was formerly
regarded as an unsafe place to
live in or do business due to the
alarming rate of violence but the
cooperation of the police, other
security agencies, the state
government and the people of
the state helped to reduce the
trend of crime.
He assured the people
that the new police station
would assist the Divisional
Police Headquarters while
urging the Divisional Police
Officer of Ajalli Division to take
proper charge of the new police
station.
T h e
L o c a l
Government Chairman of
Orumba North, Hon. Okey
Enekwe, called for a new police
division to be created in the LGA
to serve over five communities,
as well as help in combating
border clashes with the
neighbouring Enugu State.
Those present at the
occasion include Mr. Esuo
George, the Business
Development Manager of IVM
and Mr. Amaluchukwu, the
factory manager.
Highpoint of the
occasion was the unveiling of
the grand prize, a brand new
Innoson G5 SUV.
by many at work and
neighbourhood communities,
citing example of explosions
involving pipelines, petrol
tankers, steel mill, killing nine
workers in Ogun State and
chlorine leakage at water works
in Plateau State.
Sympathizing with
Chicason Group and families of
those who lost their loved ones in
the inferno, the minister said his
ministry would send health
inspectors to the company to
certify the health safety
environment of the
establishment.
He directed the officers
in his ministry to liaise with the
management of Chicason Group
and compile comprehensive
information about the damage
caused by the gas plant accident.
Earlier, Managing Director of
Chicason Group, Chief Linus
Ilozue, said an interim report of
the accident had been forwarded
to the office of the minister,
pending when the final report
would be ready.
Mr. H.H. Karma
The PresidentGeneral of the community, John
Onwuka, also thanked the
community for rallying to
achieve the feat, stating that the
communities must not return to
the days when jungle justice was
meted on the people by some
elements in the traditional
community police.
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
NEWS
PA G E 8
Abandoned Bridge Project Causes Terrible
Accidents in Nnewi
By Ngozi Asonibe
T
here was a terrible accident
that occurred on January
19, 2016, along Eme Court
Road, Umuezeana, which links
Obi Umudim and Nnewi/ Ozubulu
axis.
The Christian Outlook
gathered that no live was lost and
the main cause of the accident was
the abandoned bridge that has
reportedly claimed many lives,
due to frequent mishaps at the
spot.
Lamenting his bitter
experience, Chief (Sir) Emma
Okonkwo, the owner of a
Mercedes Benz Jeep ML 350
(4MATIC) that was involved in the
accident, attributed his
misfortune to the state
government which abandoned the
Umuezena Bridge over a year now.
He said: “I dropped
some government officials from
the Ministry of Enviroment, who
inspected the abandoned
projects at Nnewi and while
coming back, at the bridge, a
water tanker on speed hit me and
I fell inside the abandoned
bridge with the front of my car. I
was trapped and there was no
w a y I c o u l d r e ve r s e o r g o
sideways when water tanker was
approaching, and it hit me. The
bridge is a death trap that should
be completed to avoid losing
more lives of innocent people
there.”
In his own remark, Ide
Peter Anazodo, one of the
stakeholders of Umuezena
community, Umudim, Nnewi,
urged the state government to
complete all the abandoned
bridge projects in the area. “We
have been experiencing such
terrible accidents at this spot.
We have complained to the State
Ministry of Works, but they have
given a deaf ear to our request.”
M
The former Anambra
State Governor spoke yesterday
at his Urueze, Alor in Idemili
South home while meeting with
the burial committee. He
described his late father as his
friend because they shared
stories and many other things in
common.
Senator Ngige said the most
interesting aspect of the
deceased's life was that he
admired the late sage, Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, because of
his free education policy in the
Western Region.
His words: “My
father's life was a book of many
volumes where you learn a lot
of lessons. There was not a day
I did not learn a new thing from
him.
T
he All Progressives
Congress (APC) screening
committee on Monday,
disqualified Senator Uche
Ekwunife from contesting in the
forthcoming Anambra Central
Senatorial District rerun elections
under the umbrella of the party.
In a report gathered by
Breaking Times, the screening
committee noted that Senator
Uche Ekwunife could be classified
as more or less a fair weather hen,
raising deep concerns over the
way and manner she dumps
political parties at will, leaving the
parties factionalized. She jumped
from the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) to All Progressives
Grand Alliance (APGA) to
Progressive Peoples Alliance
(PPA) back to PDP or vice versa
and now to APC, the report
emphasized. They further noted
that her antecedents contravene
Section 4(3) of the 2014 Guideline
for nomination of candidate for
public office.
Senator Uche Ekwunife
at standard five, he vowed that
all his children must acquire
western education and the same
thing lured him into giving
scholarships. The man we are
talking about dropped his
original name Ujokanma (fear is
better), and adopted his
nickname “Okwudike” (voice of
a strong man) because he did
not want to associate with fear.”
“Because he stopped
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo
will arrive in the state on
Recall that Senator
Uche Ekwunife who was sacked
by the Appeal court in Enugu on
December 6, 2015 on grounds of
irregularities dumped the PDP
for the APC, citing her decision
as an important one because the
Igbos needed to have a strong
representation in national
politics.
The state APC Interim
Publicity Secretary, Mr. Okelo
Madukife, could not pick his call
to confirm the development, but
Uche Ekwunife was reportedly
unhappy when the news broke to
her of her disqualification. She
was said to have raised a rant
threatening to take the All
Progressive Congress [APC] to
court. But the chieftains of the
party were said to have
intervened to calm Ekwunife
into accepting the decision of the
screening committee. She was
promised an appointment from
the Buhari administration in
return for her silence.
and emulate the Holy family as
their model.
He further emphasized
the benefits of following the steps
of Blessed Virgin Mary, as,
according to him, she helped the
stranded bride and groom during
the scarcity of wine when she
pleaded with his son, Jesus, to
help out.
“If Mary cannot solve
our problems, she could be a
means of solving our problems,”
the cleric explained.
which started since 2012, in
Isseke.
he Catholic community
According to him, it was
in Isseke ancient
being organized and coordinated
kingdom in Ihiala local
by the Lagos branch of Isseke
government area of Anambra
Progressive Union, IPU, with the
State, organised fervent prayer
support of other branches
programme which lasted
including the home branch.
between 6th and 8th January,
He stated that, 2016
2016. The crusade was titled,
edition was different, in that the
“Hope For The Hopeless”.
free medical test was organised to
The three-day prayer
diagnose various ailments and
and fasting session was
treat people.
presided over by Rev. Fr.
Speaking further, the
Bartholomew Okey Agu
chairman, Lagos branch of IPU,
(C.S.Sp), of St. John's Catholic
Hyghman Nwabueze, expressed
Church, Attakwu, Akaegbegratitude to Isseke people for
Ugwu, Enugu, Enugu State.
coming out en masse to pray for
The Holy spirit filled
the good of the town. He called on
programme, held at Central
the citizens of the town to do good
School, Isseke, also attracted
things for the progress of the
other priests and evangelists.
town.
Rev. Fr. Okey Agu, in
Rev. Fr. Greg Ibe, the
his message to Christian
Parish Priest of St. Joseph's
faithful at the well attended
Catholic Church, Isseke, thanked
programme, charged the
God for the success of the prayer
community to embrace God,
crusade and believed that
trust and believe Him, so that
Almighty God would answer the
He would do new good things
prayers of his people.
for the town. He assured that
God is the only hope for the
hopeless (Ezekiel 37.11-14).
The three-day prayer
programme attracted many
people in the town and
neigbouring towns, including
the traditional ruler of Isseke,
H R H, Igwe Emmanuel C.
Nnabuife (JP), as well as
members of Igwe's cabinet,
who came together to start the
New Year with prayers, fasting
and devotion in order to seek
the face of God for the year.
C h a i r m a n o f
Planning Committee of the
crusade, Mr. Asobara George,
told newsmen that the prayer
programme was biannual event Rev. Fr. Bartholomew Okey Agu (C.S.Sp)
T
Secretary to the
Government of the Federation,
(SGF) Babachir David Lawal
will lead the Federal
Government's delegation to the
burial on Friday.
The screening
committee, however
commended the doggedness and
faithfulness of Barrister Sharon
Ikeazor, who was a member of
the defunct All Nigeria People's
Party (ANPP), woman leader of
the defunct Congress for
Progressive Change (CPC) and
woman leader interim National
Executive Committee of the All
Progressives Party (APC). They
highlighted the fact that her
trajectory shows loyalty,
perseverance and consistency to
the emergence of the APC and
was consequently recommended
to fly the party's flag in the rerun
elections.
T
he parish priest of St.
David’s Catholic Church,
Azigbo, Rev Fr. Henry
Okenu, has urged Christians to
always seek the intercession of
Mary. He made this call in a
homily during the Eucharistic
celebration on Sunday,
January 17, 2016, at St. David
Catholic Church Azigbo.
He admonished
Christians, especially parents,
to show love to each other, train
their children in the fear of God
By Willie Rothmans
“He fought for the
helpless, the voiceless, the
down trodden, without looking
for any compensation, which
led to him resigning in 1958,
for standing his ground against
British intimidation.
APC Disqualifies Ekwunife
By Justus Okeke
Catholic Community In
Isseke Organizes Crusade
Ngige: My Father Left The Legacy Of Fairness, Equity
inister of Labour and
Employment Senator
Chris Ngige has said
his late father, Pa Pius Okonkwo
Ngige left legacies of truth,
fairness and equity.
Fr. Okenu Urges Christian To
Seek the Intercession of Mary
Thursday. President
Muhammadu Buhari will
arrive on Friday.
Chieftains of the All
Progressives Congress (APC),
and members of the
diplomatic corps are also
expected. Others, according
to Ngige, include Senate
President Bukola Saraki,
Speaker of the House of
Representatives Yakubu
Dogara, and others.
Anambra State
Governor Willie Obiano and
his Enugu and Imo states
counterpart, Ifeanyi
Ugwuanyi and Rochas
Okorocha, will be hosts.
Schoolboy Builds His Own
‘Mini Duplex House’ In Ozubulu
N
igeria is a country of
talents, and they should
be discovered at a young
age.
A junior secondary school student
from Anambra state, identified as
Chinecherem, has already
impressed thousands of Nigerians
by single-handedly constructing a
mini duplex house.
A Facebook user,
Ugochinyere Doreen Obi, shared
the photos of the architect-to-be
on January 8: “Ran into this boy
this evening at Ozubulu, Anambra
state. You won't believe, this boy
single-handedly constructed this
duplex. This is a talent that
won't just die.
“He is filled with
dreams and ambitions. His
name is Chinecherem, a JSS3
student of Archdeacon
Secondary School.
“I can't do more than
giving him money and posting
this wonderful handwork of
his, so, please, kindly share this
until it gets to the right
person(s) that would help him
achieve his dreams. He has to
go far. Thanks!” the author of
the post concluded.
Nkwo Nnewi Triangle Case Starts
At High Court
that since the case was filed in
Contd from front page
announced appearance and
no lawyer appeared for the
defendants, he applied for
hearing notice to be served
on the state government.
The trial judge
thereafter adjourned the
case to March 7, 2016, for
further hearing.
Our judicial
correspondent reported that
three of the plaintiffs,
Senator Onyeabo Obi,
Pharm. Mbadiwe Okongwu
and Barr. Damian Okolo,
were in court, but there was
no representative of the state
governor and the AttorneyGeneral of the state, who
were the defendants nor
their legal representatives in
the court.
Speaking to
newsmen after the court
session, the plaintiffs'
counsel, Barr. Uzoegwu, said
2014, nobody from the state
government had entered
appearance nor filed any reply
to his clients' statement of
claim.
He also said that even
when they went for pre-trial
conference, the defendants
did not attend, maintaining
that they want to serve the
defendants for them to be
aware of the case and that after
the service, the matter would
go on whether the defendants
entered appearance or not.
It would be recalled
that the people of Nnewi went
to court when the state
government entered the Nkwo
Nnewi Triangle, jointly owned
as common patrimony of the
town without the consent of
the people of the industrial
community and handed it over
to a private organisation to
develop.
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
OTHER DIOCESES
Bishops, Others Celebrate Ezinne Grace Ezezue at 90
-As Nigerians react on benefits of celebrating old age
By Odogwu Emeka Odogwu
F
riday, January 1, 2016, was
unique for the family of
Ezinne Grace Amanjide
Ezezue (Awube-Nwanyi), as she
clocked 90 years old, throwing
Umueze village, Amawbia, in
Awka South local government area
of Anambra state, into festive
mood and exciting celebration.
The memorable
birthday celebration heralded by a
thanksgiving Mass, attracted three
Catholic Bishops, including
Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, Most
Reverend Hilary Odili Okeke,
Bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Most
Reverend Dr. Peter Okpaleke, and
the Auxiliary Bishop of Awka,
Most Reverend Dr. Jonas Benson
Okoye, who officiated the birthday
Concelebrated Mass.
About 89 Catholic
Priests, led by the Parish Priest of
St. Mathew's Catholic Church,
Amawbia , Rev. Fr. Valentine
Offormata, an Enugu Catholic
priest, Rev. Fr. Michael Nneji, and
numerous Reverend Sisters across
the globe, including Oklahoma
(USA) and Canada, who graced the
occasion, praying for God's
continued blessings and grace on
the celebrant and her family.
The Anambra state
Head of Service, (HOS), Mr. Harry
Udu, Emeritus Prof. and retired
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Prof.
I.E.M Nwana, Principal Secretary
to Governor Willie Obiano, Mr
Willie Nwokoye, as well as
business tycoons and
educationists across Igboland,
witnessed the landmark event.
It was a worthy
celebration amidst pomp and
pageantry, featuring assorted
activities, and a buffet with fish
and cow barbecue for guests
from United Kingdom and
United States of America.
Ezinne Ezezue's
family all over the world
returned for the celebration,
including the families of Mr.
Peter Ezezue, her oldest son,
Mrs. Ngozi Okafor, popularly
known as Evidence (nee
Ezezue), Mr. John Ezezue, Mr.
Sam Ezezue, Rev. Fr. Vincent
Ezezue, and Mrs, Ifeyinwa
Ezeora (nee Ezezue).
The family members
invited a music maestro in the
gospel song sphere, Gozie
Okeke, and his musical team
who electrified the atmosphere
with soul-soothing musical
lyrics and rhythm to the extent
that priests took to the dance
floor led, by Rev. Fr. Ekene
Nwosu, of St. Patrick's
C a t h e d r a l , A w k a .
A priest, Rev. Fr. Aroh,
anchored the event as Master of
Ceremony and even tactfully
lured Rev. Fr. Vincent and his
brothers and sisters to come on
dance for their mother, as they
just wanted people to merry and
p r a y
f o r
t h e m .
Everybody joined as
Gozie's band gave their best
tunes to the admiration of all
and sundry, including the
Bishop Okpalaeke felicitating with Ezinne Ezezue during the event
security-men on duty and there
was no dull moment. Priests were
equally on duty for better service
d e l i v e r y .
The celebrant, Ezinne
Grace Amanjide Ezezue (AwubeNwanyi), in her remarks, reassured that she would not relent
in her faith in God, adding that
openness to God guarantees
much to life, even as she
encouraged all Christians,
irrespective of denomination, to
seek God first at all times and
tarry with God in all situations.
She said life of
prayerfulness, without bitterness
and acrimony for anybody as well
as absolute trust in God and
generosity with God's blessings
had helped her to actualize her
dreams in life and thanked God
for the opportunity to attain 90
years.
She thanked her
children for taking good care of
her and enjoined other children to
take care of their parents, saying,
she had no regrets serving God
and poured encomiums on her
demised husband, late Patrick
Nnaemeka Ezezue, who she
“ran the race with.”
In a vote of thanks,
eldest son of the family, Mr. Peter
Ezezue, thanked all who graced
the 90 years birthday ceremony
and prayed for blessings upon
their own families.
A special goodwill
message came from His Holiness,
Pope Francis I, who sent his Papal
blessings to Ezinne Grace Ezezue
(Awube-Nwanyi), praying for
God's abundance of Divine Graces
as she ages gracefully. He said the
celebrant remained a blessing not
only to the family, but to
numerous others, adding that she
was instrumental to the peace and
unity as well as development of
t h e
f a m i l y .
Her first Daughter, Mrs.
Ngozi Okafor (Evidence), noted
that her mother taught them to
receive visitors and has remained
at peace with all mortals
irrespective of ethnic and
religious leanings, expressing
gratitude to God for sparing their
mother as they could have done
nothing much w ithout he r.
But, Mr. Samuel
Ezezue, the fourth child of Ezinne
Ezezue, based in USA, said his
mother was dogged and
determined in anything she sets
her mind on, hence, they took
after her and their late dad, who
he said, took good care of them.
He said both made them
appreciate life's values, adding
that people should shelve
Awka Diocese Bars Priests
From Costly Burials
A
wka: The Catholic
Bishop of Awka
Diocese, Most Revd.
Paulinus Ezeokafor, has
directed the priests of the
diocese to desist from
officiating at costly burials.
To this end, cooking
of food and sharing of
souvenirs during funerals
would be moderated.
Ezeokafor urged the
priests to adhere strictly to
the directive, insisting that
whoever violated the new
order would be sanctioned.
The bishop, who expressed
displeasure at what he
described as unnecessary
expenditure during
funerals, asked the Igbo to
shun ”flamboyant burials.”
He urged them to
take a cue from Hausa
Muslims who, he said,
spent little or nothing
during burials.
He said, “The order
will soon be extended to the
laity in Awka Diocese. We
are starting with ourselves
(the clergy). We are doing it
to help ourselves and
relatives.
“Even if the dead is
Mama Father or Papa
Father, there will be no
cooking of food and sharing
Most Revd. Paulinus Ezeokafor
pessimism about celebrating
people especially, their parents
and relatives while alive.
On his part, the Head
of Service (HOS), Anambra
state, Mr. Harry Udah, a lawyer,
supported celebrating people
while they are alive rather than
at death, and to the musician,
he intoned, “I found it
meaningful and the lyrics by the
musical maestro, Gozie Okeke,
happens all the time, as many
would not value celebrating
their own until the person is
dead. Celebrating one while
alive has been the most
colourful, the reason being that
what you do for the dead person
is meaningless and a waste of
resources. I congratulate them
for celebrating their mother''.
Also contributing,
second son of Ezinne Ezezue,
Mr John Ezezu said his
mother's humility, religiosity
and generosity was unique and
exceptional in the community,
adding that she set a standard
unequalled in moral values. He
described her as a blessing to
the family, requesting God for
more grace upon her.
While performing the
toast, a Brother, Reverend
Ekene Nwosu, of St. Patrick's
Catholic Cathedral, said Ezinne
Ezezue lived for all, even as her
daughter Mrs Ifeyinwa Ezeora,
nee Ezezue, was delightful to be
part of the family celebrating
her mother at 90, asking God
for better health as she ages.
She prayed God to guide and
protect their guests and their
families better in 2016, so that
they would witness abundance
of God's grace.
Mrs Anuta Josephine
prayed all children to learn
from the Ezezues and celebrate
their parents when they would
appreciate it. She said the bible
said 70 years was the age and
any extra thing is a blessing,
hence, she has since added 20
years on the biblical age two
s c o r e
a n d
t e n .
In his sermon , the
Manager , St. Michael's Model
Comprehensive Secondary
School, Nimo, Rev. Fr. Francis
Nonso Okoye, expressed
gratitude that the celebration of
Ezinne Ezezue coincided with
the celebration of Virgin Mary's
Divine Motherhood, nothing
that the celebrant's life of
holiness, prayerfulness love
and charity to others as well as
hard-work, assisted her to live
long.
Prof. Nwana, retired
UNIZIK Deputy Vice
Chancellor, said celebrating old
people prolongs their lives, as
they celebrated his father until
he died at 99 years,
commending people who
understood the secret of
celebrating old age, just as he
condemned the attitude of
lavish funeral ceremonies for
the dead rather than the living.
The Auxiliary Bishop
of Awka Catholic Diocese, Most
Rev. Dr. J.B. Okoye, had earlier,
presented his own birthday gift
to Ezinne Ezezue and called on
Christians to celebrate their
parents while alive and not at
death.
“This celebration is
worthy of emulation, because it
helps to prolong life. That's why
we are thanking the members of
the family for doing the right
thing because, I charge people
to celebrate their parents while
alive and not when they are
dead. It is beneficial to gather
people to celebrate when one is
living and not when one is
dead.”
PA G E 9
Tallest Jesus Statue In
Africa Unveiled In Imo
O
RLU: The Bishop of
Orlu Catholic Diocese,
Augustine Ukwuoma,
on Friday, January 1, unveiled
the African tallest statue of
Jesus Christ weighing 8.5
metres (28 ft) at St. Aloysius
Catholic Parish, Abajah, Imo.
The statue, made of marble, is
bigger than the 20 metres (66
foot) Ramesses II Abusimbel
statue in Egypt.
Bishop Ukwuoma
performed the ceremony
shortly after a Mass attended by
the Bishop Emeritus of Orlu
Diocese, Most Rev. Gregory
Ochiagha, and more than 100
priests at St. Aloysius Parish
Abajah compound.
Mr. Obinna Onuoha,
who donated the Jesus statue,
had constructed 2,000 seating
capacity parish Church at St.
Aloysius in the year 2012.
The unveiling of the statue was
used to mark the wedding
golden jubilee ceremony of the
parents of Mr. Obinna, Geoffrey
and Lolo Justina Onuoha.
Bishop Ukwuoma,
who described the statue as
magnificent, commended Mr.
Onuoha's family for the gift and
their benevolence to the church.
“This statue is a great
symbol of Christian faith, and I
pray that for the Catholics, that
the statue will continue to
constantly remind us of what
Jesus Christ stands for us.
“For other passersby, looking at
the statue, will also bring them
closer to Jesus,'' the Bishop
said.
Speaking on the
golden jubilee, the prelate used
the medium to remind marital
couples on the need to see
marriage as a vocation through
which they could positively
impact on the society.
“God did not call any of us clergy
and religious to be fathers and
mothers, but those called into
this vocation must use it to reflect
God's peace, love and unity.
Mr. Onuoha, the
Managing Director of Premier
Petroleum Ltd., and the donor of
the statue, said he constructed
the statue to fulfill a vow he made
to God in the year 1997.
“Asking why I
constructed this statue is like
asking how do I came to this
world, I am a Christian and a
Catholic and Jesus statue
represents my faith.
“I believe we are here on earth for
different purposes and each
person moves with his instincts,
and I was motivated to do this to
build up the faith of this
community,'' he said.
Mr. Onuoha, who did
not mention the cost of the statue,
added, “It took about three years
to construct and erect the Jesus
De Saviour statue at Abajah.''
Fr. Gerald Amadi Celebrates
Silver Jubilee of Priestly
Ordination
Concelebrating priests at the
O
werri: The entire
Ihitte Isi-Mbieri
community in
Mbaitolu LGA bubbled with
activity on Wednesday,
December 30, 2015, as Rev.
Fr. Gerald Ekpemarachi
Amadi, their Parish Priest,
celebrated 25 years of his
priestly ordination in a grand
style.
St. Benignus
Catholic Church Ihitte-Isi
Mbieri was the venue of the
silver jubilee which attracted
dignitaries from far and near,
including the Catholic
Archbishop of Owerri, His
Grace Most Rev. Anthony
J.V. Obinna.
Other dignitaries
were: Nze Obi Emmanuel
Nnaji of Enyiogugu Mbaise
and his wife, Ozioma (Nee
Nwoga), Hon. Emmanuel
Ohakim, former Chief of Staff
Government House Owerri
and his entire family, Engr.
Anokwa of the Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN), Engr. C.C. Agogbuo
and a host of others.
The Parish Pastoral
Council Secretary, Mr.
George Amakaihe, the CWO
President, Lady Nene Ugorji
and many other prominent
parishioners graced the
occasion. Chief Clement
Onumaegbu Amadi was
among the leading members
of the jubilarians's family
present.
jubilee Mass included: Rev. Fr.
Prof. John Obilor, Rev. Fr.
Reginald Egbu, the Vicar for
Zone Five Uzoagba, Rev. Fr.
John Ihenacho and Rev. Fr.
Jonathan Ezenwoke. The
Secretary to the Archbishop and
Chancellor of the Archdiocese,
Rev. Fr. Alphonsus Oha as well
as Rev. Fr. Isaac Chima, Deputy
Director of Assumpta Press also
graced the occasion.
Preaching the homily,
Rev. Fr. Reginald Egbu,
reminded the jubilarian of the
need to keep alive God's grace
imparted on him when he was
laid hands on during his
ordination 25 years ago.
“Since the spirit of
God is not that of timidity but
power, love and self-control, Fr.
Amadi has cause to rejoice for
God's sustenance these 25 years
in the Lord's vineyard, which is
not a common feat,” he said.
Rev. Fr. Gerald Ekpemarachi Amadi
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
COLUMN
PA G E 1 3
FAMILY AFFAIRS
With
New Year: Repositioning
IGBELINA The Family For Success
Mrs. Ogechukwu
08067670740
T
he future, they say, lies hidden in the present that is what you do
today will determine what you will become tomorrow.
Futhermore “we all shall reap what we sow; it is how we make our
beds so shall we lie on it”.
All the above quotations have one thing in common: “Be
prepared” they all talk about being ready by taking special care of what
we do today so as to reap in abundance tomorrow.
There are two types of repositioning; the physical (healthy
living) and spiritual (closeness to God) types.
Every new year is an opportunity for everyone most especially
families to start the year positively by repositioning themselves for
another 12months of hustle and bustle.
Starting with the physical repositioning as mentioned earlier;
“health is wealth” is a famous quote; the state of the body of all members
of the family matters for the proper functioning of the family unit. The
head of the family every Saturday, should lead weekly exercise for all the
family members either indoors or outdoors.
Indoor exercise involves; press-ups, push-ups, sit ups etc and
jogging a particular distance with the family, or games, (out door) lawn
tennis, Badminton or soccer (football) etc.
The physical preparation also includes intensive
environmental sanitation in and around their homes; all the dirty
residue carried over from the previous year must be dusted, mopped out
and dumped in the bin or incinerrated with fire.
Finally physical repositioning must include acquiring skills
which can get one employment to help sustain or contribute for the
upkeep of the family, whether head of family or the wife teenage children
etc.
The skills include: Computer engineering and literacy, Sewing
dress/Fashion Designing , Hair cutting/Hair dressing, Beads making/
arts and craft, Trading (Buying and selling), Generator repairing etc.
Now the spiritual repositioning is emphasized by this saying that “a
family that prays together stays together”.
A family can start the new year by thankgiving, and presenting
a single petition prayer point; then fast and pray about it for a number of
days and God will not only grant the petition but shower enough
anointing throughtout the whole year that people will call that family
'favoured' from January to December.
The evil ones and his agents are constantly warring against
families in order to weaken the faith they have in God. If faith is lost in
the family the devil wins. Thus, the faith possessed by the members of the
family is the barbed wire fence which keeps the devil away from their
territories.
Spiritual repositioning can be the key to breakthrough this
year. Because a family that aspires for the best that life has to offer,
depends on the level of faith they have; and furthermore there can
never be any victory or blessing bigger than the faith they profess.
Spiritual repositioning in the family must include:
i). Preserving and revitalizing the faith amongst members of the
family. Because without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6)
for whosoever comes to God must believe that He exists and rewards
those who seek him.
ii).Appreciating the things you have, that is being grateful for humble
beginnings; God raises the lowly but puts down the proud.
When God wants to do great things in your life He makes you
start small.
The family must embrace whatever condition they find
themselves and continue to praise God.
He honours me who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving and to
him who follows my way I shall show the salvation of God. Psalm
50:23.
Though your beginnings were humble your future; will be
great (Job 8:7).
iii) Finally, being positive in your thoughts and speech.
Speech is spiritual, so death and life is in the power of the tongue.
Negative talk draws away the blessings of God from you or members of
your family.
No matter the provocation both within and outside the
family, count to ten before you use the tongue especially when you are
angry or someone, neighbour, friend, wife or children tempts you to
say something negative.
Swallow the negative comment. Let it be a New Year resolution not to
use hurtful or offensive words in all situations you find your self and
caution each member of your family to do the same.
The peace and prosperity of Jesus Chirst our Lord be with
you and your family this year.
Happly New Year! God bless you all
Ifeanyi Michael Ngene
Ifyeuphoria @yahoo.com 07081124308
We accept articles, short stories on Family Affairs. If you submit
any of them, we shall include your name and email address or phone
number. Send your works to outlook [email protected] or our office
at the media House Okwuana, Nnewi. Remain blessed and keep
reading the Christian Outlook Newspaper
A Modern Scourge Called Abortion
I
th
was listening to radio broadcast of one of the radio stations on 11
January, 2016 when a story was told of the daughter of Chief Jerry,
Ann (real name withheld). Because of the strong bond and
trustworthy relationship existing between Chief Jerry and his bosom
friend Boniface, he handed over his daughter Ann and wife, to his friend
to take care of them till he comes back from abroad. It happened before
he could come back, his family has been shattered by his bosom friend
and the life of his daughter ruined. What happened? Boniface started
from picking and dropping Ann after the day's events. Then, to visiting
an eatery with her, then begging her to pass a night in his house and then
to using her. In order to hide the whole shame, Ann took it to herself to
terminate the pregnancy but ended up destroying her womb and kidney.
I was moved because this is one of the millions of abortions
that takes place every day. It is estimated that about 1.2 millions
abortions takes place daily. What actually causes this scourge and how
can it be eradicated will occupy our write-up for the next few weeks. But
before then, we look at when actually does human life begin, this will
help us to know when somebody has actually committed murder in the
name of abortions.
When Does Human Life Begin?
It is the contention of some people that the foetus in the womb of a
woman has no human life and therefore can be done away with. This has
raised questions with regard to the status of the foetus in the womb.
Therefore, very crucial to the ongoing debate on abortions, is the
question of when actually human life begins. There is no complete
agreement among scholars and experts as to when the human soul is
fused in the fertilized ovum to make a human being. Some suggest that
there must be some development of the material body. These people
believe that the fertilized ovum becomes a human being only when it has
attained a degree of development. Before then, it has only a vegetative or
animal nature. Thus, some of those who hold this view claim that the
being killed by abortion is by no means a human being. There are many
variants to his view, with some holding that human being is in existence
early in the process. for instance, at implantation, while others claim, it
does not become a human species until some later stage, say, the
formation of the neocortex of the brain, the presence of all organs,
viability. e.t.c. this view, which has side rhetoric appeal, regards early
abortions as morally permissible, while abortions done later are
questionable, and the later an abortions, the closer it is to being wrong or
more seriously wrong.
Some scholars and experts on the other hand, are inclined to
the opinion that the very moment of conception, the fertilised ovum is
animated by a human souls and therefore, it is a human being. They are
inclined to believe that from the moment of conception a new life which
is neither that of the father nor of the mother comes into existence. It is a
life of anew human being with its growth. It would never be human, if it
were not human from the beginning. Thus, at its elementary stages of
development, the foetus has all the essential qualities and features of
adult, though in potency.
Physicians, biologists and scientists agree that
conception (fertilization)
marks the beginning of
human life. A being that is
alive and a member of the
human species. The life span
of the egg is 12-24hours.
Within 12-24hours, it must
be fertilized. Human life
starts with the union of the
sperm and ovum. At this
moment a new life is given,
with a unique never-to -be
repeated genetic codes. A
being with a genetic code is a man. After fertilization, the
journey of a new baby to the womb (implantation) takes
about 12days. Hence, the '' result of human procreation
from the first moment of existence must be guaranteed that
unconditional respect which is morally due to human
being in his or her totality and unity of body and spirit.
To respect and protect human life from the moment of
conception is the most coherent and safer course of action. This is
because it envisages a continuous development with no qualitative
leap. Form the first moment of his existence, a human being should be
recognised as a human being and thus be granted the inviolable right
of every innocent being to life. This view is by no means in discordance
with scientific evidence. There is no doubt about the moral law or the
moral obligation not to do harm to another person.
Human life is sacred. It involves the creative
action of God and it remains forever in a special
relationship with the creator, who is its sole end. No one
can under any circumstance claim for himself the right
directly to destroy an innocent human being. Why?
Because Life is the highest temporal good in man's
existence. This good gives origin to the corresponding
rights of man.
Cf Genesis chapters 1: 26 &2:7, Jeremiah 1:5
Many people are very, very concerned with the
children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a
few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also
concerned about all the violence in this great country of the
United States. These concerns are very good. But often
these same people are not concerned with the millions who
are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own
mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace
today — abortion which brings people to such blindness.
(Mother Theresa of Calcutta)
For confessions or suggestions or comments on the
above topic or story, text to 08039363227. Rev. Fr. JohnPaul
Ofordum (St Martin's de Porres, Inyaba Nnewi).
Meditation
of the Week
Offer To God All You Can
On Every Occasion
By St. Gregory Nazianzen (330-389)
Let each one of us, no matter what his walk of life or
circumstances, offer to God all that he can on every
occasion according to the measure of his capacity, according to the gift bestowed upon him, in order that
by displaying virtue in all its forms we may secure all
the heavenly abodes, reaping all that we have sown,
or rather, storing up in God's silos all that we have
garnered.
Let one contribute his riches, another his
abject poverty; one his zeal, another his appreciation
of the zeal of another; one a commendable deed,
another a perceptive thought; one a timely remark,
another eloquent silence; one unimpeachable
instruction and a way of life to match; another an
open and receptive ear; one virginity that is pure and
severs all contact with the world; anothera marriage
that is devout and in no way divorced from God; one
fasting that is not tainted with pride; another feast
tempered by restraint; one unbroken prayers and
spiritual hymns, another the care of the poor; all of us
our tears, all of us our purification, all of us our
upliftment and a straining forward to what lies
ahead.
–St. Gregory Nazianzen (330-389)
was a monk, and bishop of Constantinople.
He is known as “Gregory the Theologian” in
honour of his learning and eloquence.
Going After The Lost Sheep
By Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)
“I was distancing myself more and more from you, my
Lord and my life. My life, too, was beginning to
become a death, or rather it was already death in your
sight. And yet, within that state of death, you upheld
me... All faith had gone but my respect and esteem
remained intact. You showed me further graces, O my
God: you preserved the attraction for study in me, for
serious reading, beautiful things, a revulsion for vice
and ugliness. I did evil yet I neither approved nor
loved it... You granted me that vague uneasiness of a
bad conscience, which though it may be asleep is not
altogether dead.
I have never felt that same sadness, lassitude,
unease except then. Oh my God, was it then your gift?
How far I was from doubting it! How good you are!
And while, by this invention of your love, you
prevented my soul from drowning altogether, you
kept my body safe: for if I had died then I should have
been in hell... Those dangers of the journey, great and
various as they were, from which you enabled me to
come out as if by a miracle! That unchanging health in
the most unhealthy of places, in spite of such great
fatigue! Oh my God, how your hand was upon me and
how little I was aware of it! How you protected me!
How you sheltered me under your wings when I did
not even believe in your existence! And while you were
thus protecting me time passed by, you judged that
the time was approaching to draw me back into the
fold.
In spite of me you undid all the wrong
attachments that would have kept me away from you;
you even undid all the healthy bonds that would have
prevented me from becoming all yours one day... Your
hand alone carried out the beginning, middle and end
in all this. How good you are! It was needed in order to
prepare my soul for truth; the devil is too much master
of an unchaste soul to let it enter into truth; you would
not be able, my God, to enter a soul in which the
demon of squalid passions reigned as lord. But you
wanted to enter mine, Oh good Shepherd, and so you
cast out your enemy yourself.”
–Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916)
was a hermit and missionary in the Sahara.
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
NEWS
PA G E 1 4
NDLEA Anambra Arrests 289 In 2015 IHIALA: Stranded Couple
– Sule Momodu
By Emma Ihemeje
he war against all forms of
crime and criminality
embarked upon by the
Chief Willie Obiano
administration has continued to
resonate across the State and
beyond as the State Command of
the Nigeria Drug Law
Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
noted that the support of the State
administration contributed
towards its success in the
reduction in the number of illicit
drugs traffickers and suspects
arrested in Anambra State.
Speaking after parading
the suspects on Tuesday, January
12, 2016, during the review of
2015 activities of the Agency and
expectations for 2016, the State
Commandant, Sule Momodu
pointed out that the support of the
governor has impacted on the
effective functionality of the
Command and called on all to join
hands in the fight against drug,
which he said is propelling
ingredient for crime and
criminality.
Momodu appealed to
Governor Obiano to redeem the
promise of two vehicles and
motorcycles promised the
Command in addition to
construction of modern
rehabilitation centre in Awka
which he said would help keep
custody of the inmates rather than
release them due to congestion in
20-man capacity centre at
T
Onitsha.
Giving account of
performance of his command
for the out-gone year when
compared with the preceding
year, the Commandant said his
command achieved reduction of
illicit drug traffickers from 395
in 2014 to 289 in 2015. Of this
number, 354 persons were
males and 41 females in 2014,
and 268 males and 21 females in
2015.
Momodu stated that in
2014, the Command seized
704.378 kg of cannabis, 117.3
grams of cocaine, 16.6 grams of
heroin, and 117.2 grams of
psychotropic substance totaling
704.689 kg in 2014 while in
2015, it seized 455.144 kg of
cannabis, 196.6 grams, 156.9
grams and 3.125 kg totaling
458.622 kg.
The Commandant
pointed out that 261 persons
aged from 21 – 35 years old were
involved in trafficking in 2014
while 191 persons of same age
bracket were arrested in 2015,
followed by 63 persons aged
from 36 – 50 arrested in 2014
and 57 persons of same age
bracket recorded for last year,
with 33 persons aged from 11 –
20 years caught in 2014 as
against 25 persons of same age
bracket arrested in 2015.
He noted that more
arrests were made regarding
cannabis otherwise called Igbo
because it is locally-produced
Sells Own Baby Boy
C
hildren are heritage of
the Lord, says the holy
writ. But for Okechukwu
Ibekwe, who narrated how he
in connivance with his wife,
Oluchi, used their five- month
old son, Chidera as collateral
for a N400 thousand loan,
reverse is the case.
and mainly supplied from axis of
Delta and Edo States.
According to him, 39
males are in rehabilitation centre
at Onitsha in 2014 as against 54
males and one female in 2015
adding that the State Command
convicted 29 suspects in 2014 as
against 30 in 2015.
He listed the challenges
facing the Command to include
lack of personnel, poor
rehabilitation facility at Onitsha,
unavailability of motorcycles and
vehicles, mounting pending drug
cases being handled by only two
judges of the Federal High Court,
and absent of modern
rehabilitation centre in Anambra
Suspected Fulani Herdsmen Set Rice
hand.
Farm on Fire At Ugbene gets out ofWhen
contacted, the
U
GBENE: For rice
farmers in Ugbene, a
sleepy community in
Awka North local government
area, Anambra state, the New
Year was accompanied by a great
havoc, as they woke up, on
January 2, to see their expansive
communal rice farm up in flames.
The rice fields, owned
by farmers in Umualor and
Umuagunwoke villages, occupy
about 75 hectares of land.
The dastardly and
disheartening act, suspected to
have been perpetrated by Fulani
herdsmen, consequently brought
great sadness to the farmers, as
they wailed uncontrollably while
counting their huge losses
The farmers claimed
that three Fulani herdsmen were
seen in the early hours of that
fateful day around the vicinity,
who were suspected to have set
their farm ablaze with rice worth
over N20 million yet to be
harvested.
According to them, the
dastardly act was carried out as a
result of their lingering feud with
the herdsmen, which started last
year when the cattle rearers
allegedly trespassed into their
farms; an incident, they disclosed,
resulted in an open confrontation
as each other freely used firearms.
Conducting newsmen round
the smouldering scene, the
farmers, some of who had tears
cascading down their cheeks,
lamented that they took loans to
embark on the agribusiness in the
hope of paying back after harvest
and sales.
A community leader,
Mr Emmanuel Ifesinachi Okoye,
narrating what happened said: “It
happened on the 2nd of January,
2016. During the village meeting,
a message came to us that our
farm known as Area 1 was set
ablaze by the Fulani herdsmen.
We abruptly stopped the meeting
and went to the farm.
“On getting to the farm, we
saw that our massive rice farm
was on fire. People were
lamenting and crying. Most of us
took loans to embark on the
farming and that's why there is
sadness and wailing all over the
community.
“Governor Willie Obiano, last
year, gave us free fertilizers with
which we used for farming last
season and the yield was visibly
enormous. But because of this
ugly incident, the marriage
ceremonies that were going on
in the town somewhat turned
into funeral as people were
wailing.
“There was sadness all over
the community because farming
is our major occupation. This is
a community where more than
80 per cent of the population are
farmers. We saw them running
into the distance with their
cows, and as such, we couldn't
chase after them.
Giving further insight on the
cause of the act, Okoye disclosed
that “last year, they (herdsmen)
trooped into our rice farm with
their cattle and started grazing
on the rice seedlings. We asked
them to leave but they refused.
The next thing was that they
started shooting at us. So, we
had to retreat. After that
misunderstanding, we thought
that was the end, but you can see
what they did to our farm; they
eventually came and set our rice
farm ablaze.”
Another farmer, Mr.
Joseph Urebe, regretted that the
herdsmen have been fomenting
trouble against the farmers,
noting that all entreaties to
desist from grazing their herds
in the rice farms have yielded no
result.
Other farmers who
spoke with the press
corroborated, even as they
pleaded with the governor to
wade into the matter before it
Zonal Chairman (South East),
Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders
Association of Nigeria
(MACBAN), Alhaji Gidado
Siddiki, said: “It is not true.
Fulani herdsmen cannot do
something like that. It's those
people that burnt their rice farm.
We have a committee that looks
into such matter in Anambra.
They should go and report the
matter there.”
Also, the Police Public
Relations Officer, Ali
Okechukwu, a deputy
superintendent of police, said the
matter had not been reported to
him, but said he would contact
the Achalla Police Division for
details and necessarily actions.
The merchant cum
father, who is currently singing
in police net for allegedly
selling his son for N500
thousand to one Chinelo based
in Ihiala, Anambra State, said
he needed money to restart life
after he was evicted from his
shop at Ladipo, Lagos, hence
he decided to sell his son.
Sule Momodu
State capital.
For the 2016 year, the
State Commandant assured
that his Command was poised
to reinvigorate in the areas of
arrest and prosecution
believing that rehabilitation
and treatment as well as
advocacy visits and awareness
campaigns at homes, schools
and churches would help to
fulfill the mandate of the
Agency.
Meanwhile, the
Command paraded three
suspects, Mr. Chukwuma Ibis
from Onitsha, who disguised as
recharge card seller, Uche
Ujoma from Ndokwa West in
Delta State who carried
cannabis (Igbo) weighing 124.3
kg and Monday Eze, a driver
who was caught transporting
the illegal drug from Ekpoma
Delta state to a buyer in Owerri,
Imo state in a metallic cream
coloured vehicle Avalon BEN
988 AE.
The three suspects
have all confessed to the crime,
with Mr. Ibis saying he has
been on the business for about
five years at Bridge Head
Onitsha, while both Mr. Ujoma
and Eze said they had just
joined the illicit business world
this year in order to make quick
money. He said that, of 124
approved surveillance in 2014,
73 were executed while 148
approved surveillance, only 82
were executed.
“False Prophesy”:
Orizu Slams N5b Suit
Against “Fr.” Chilaka
Contd from front page
immensely towards the growth
of the society, such falsehood as
“Fr.” Chilaka's, would be
peddled against him to tarnish
his hard-earned reputation.
Challenging “Fr.”
Chilaka to provide evidence of
his claims, Prince Orji NwaforOrizu, insisted that, “What I
have done in the family of my
uncle, what I have spent in the
wife and children, is such that
they will show me gratitude;
that is to say that “Fr.” Chilaka is
not seeing well.
“One funny thing
about “Fr.” Chilaka is that he
calls people out in his crusades,
tells them about person or
persons holding their destinies,
yet, he would not proffer any
solution. From what that
irresponsible young man
called Chilaka is doing, he has
been causing confusion
among families and doing
things that are inimical to the
peaceful co-existence of
Nnewi community. His
objective is to cause discord
among families.
“Fr.” Chilaka has
come to the end of the roads. I
will bring him to book, and,
after dealing with him,
Chilaka will never like to
come to Nnewi in his life.”
When contacted for
his comment over the alleged
false prophesy, “Fr.” Chilaka
said simply, “I said what was
revealed to me and I believed
the vision.”
Sounding off and full
of himself, he told stunned
onlookers how his wife
suggested that they used the
baby to secure a loan, on
grounds that he would collect
N250, 000 while N150, 000
would be hers.
Ibekwe said: “I was a
mechanic until the building
that houses my shop was sold
and I was evicted. I was idle for
some time, then, someone
gave a bus which I used for
transport but the bus was
consumed by fire.
“Things were very
hard and I could not fend for
my family. It was at the point of
difficulty that my wife suggested
that we should go and borrow
money from one Chinelo. She is
the one who knows Chinelo and
she brought her contact.
“She suggested that we
should give the baby to Chinelo
and collect money from her. We
agreed that I will collect N25,000
so that I can travel, while N150,
000 will be paid to her account.
“That was how I took
our son and travelled and I
collected my own money. But
because her share was not paid
early, we started quarreling. I
was surprised that, while I was
still in the village at Ihiala, a
lawyer called me and I came to
Lagos and was arrested.
“I do not know what
Chinelo does. I don't know if she
sells children. I did not sell my
son to her. We used him to
borrow money and it was my
wife's idea. I do not know where
my wife is, Chinelo's husband has
been arrested also and he told me
that my wife's N150,000 was
paid,” said Ibekwe.
However, Ibekwe's
wife statement contradicted the
husband's account. She was
reported to have told the police
that he sent her on errand and by
the time she got back, he had fled
with their son.
Suspected Cultists
Murder Youth at Nkpor
By Eche Obasi
A
ccusations and counter
accusations have
allegedly trailed the
purported murder of one
Somtochukwu Enekebe
Joseph at Mgbachu village
Nkpor, Idemili North Local
Government Area, Anambra
State, as police intensify
manhunt for suspects.
According to the owner of the
house set ablaze, Hon.
Innocent Ilechukwu, “some of
the suspects that perpetrated
the act are cultists, and have
been arrested by the Anti Cult
Squad in the State while some
are still at large.
He pointed accusing
finger at a former member of
House of Representative, Hon
Christian Okeke, his younger
brother, Chibuzo Okeke and
Ikenna Anikpe as those
behind the setting ablaze of
the house.
He said that
property worth N25 million
was destroyed and that the
suspected cultists warned
earlier that they would raze
the house, and did as they
promised.
But in a swift reaction, Hon
(Dr.) Okeke, who is the elder
brother to Chibuzo Okeke,
revealed that Ilechukwu burnt
his house by himself and
urged the Police and the AntiCult Squad to investigate him
and avoid arresting innocent
people over the burnt house.
Hon. Ilechukwu
denied the allegation leveled
against him by Hon Okeke,
that he (Ilechukwu) set his
house ablaze by himself
pointing out that the trio were
behind the arson and called
for their immediate arrest and
prosecution.
He added further that
he was not facing any charge
against the murder of
Somtochukwu Enekebe Joseph
rather it was the trio that were
facing the murder charge,
stating that he (Ilechukwu) and
others were merely being
accused by the suspected
arsonists because they stood as
principal witnesses against the
three and that was why they set
his house ablaze. In a swift
reaction, Hon Okeke reiterated
that Ilechukwu personally burnt
his house.
He said, “His anger is
that he is facing a murder charge
in the court and he resolved to
tarnish our image as the
principal witnesses to the charge
against him”.
Also reacting, Ikenna
Anikpe said “Ilechukwu set his
house ablaze by himself and
accused us of perpetuating the
act because he feels that we will
implicate him in the court as
principal witnesses to a case of
murder he is facing currently.”
“They wanted to kill
me, but I had always escaped.
They set ablaze two of my cars. I
cannot set anybody's house on
fire, and as the chairman of
Mgbachu village, I sympathize
for the family of Ilechukwu that
their son set his house ablaze.”
Meanwhile, the State
Police Command, through its
Police Public Relations Officer,
(PPRO), Okechukwu Ali, said
eight persons have been arrested
in connection with the arson
that occurred in the wee hours of
January 1, this year as it
continues the manhunt for
suspected arsonists.
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
HEALTH
PA G E 1 5
Diabetes: Symptoms, Causes and Research
Diabetes: Symptoms, Causes and Research
Diabetes, often referred to by doctors as diabetes mellitus,
describes a group of metabolic diseases in which the person has
high blood glucose (blood sugar), either because insulin
production is inadequate, or because the body's cells do not
respond properly to insulin, or both. Patients with high blood
sugar will typically experience polyuria (frequent urination), they
will become increasingly thirsty (polydipsia) and hungry
(polyphagia).
1) Type 1 diabetes
The body does not produce insulin. Some people may refer to this
type as insulin-dependent diabetes, juvenile diabetes, or
early-onset diabetes. People usually develop type 1 diabetes
before their 40th year, often in early adulthood or teenage years.
Type 1 diabetes is nowhere near as common as type 2
diabetes. Approximately 10% of all diabetes cases are type 1.
Patients with type 1 diabetes will need to take insulin
injections for the rest of their life. They must also ensure proper
blood-glucose levels by carrying out regular blood tests and
following a special diet.
Between 2001 and 2009, the prevalence of type 1
diabetes among the under 20s in the USA rose 23%, according to
SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth data issued by the CDC.
2) Type 2 diabetes
The body does not produce enough insulin for proper function, or
the cells in the body do not react to insulin (insulin resistance).
cells in the body are becoming resistant to insulin.
Studies have indicated that even at the prediabetes
stage, some damage to the circulatory system and the heart may
already have occurred.
Diabetes is a metabolism disorder
Diabetes (diabetes mellitus) is classed as a metabolism
disorder. Metabolism refers to the way our bodies use digested
food for energy and growth. Most of what we eat is broken
down into glucose. Glucose is a form of sugar in the blood - it is
the principal source of fuel for our bodies.
When our food is digested, the glucose makes its way
into our bloodstream. Our cells use the glucose for energy and
growth. However, glucose cannot enter our cells without insulin
being present - insulin makes it possible for our cells to take in
the glucose.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic Arizona in
Scottsdale showed that gastric bypass surgery can reverse type 2
diabetes in a high proportion of patients. They added that
within three to five years the disease recurs in approximately
21% of them. Yessica Ramos, MD., said "The recurrence rate
was mainly influenced by a longstanding history of Type 2
diabetes before the surgery. This suggests that early surgical
intervention in the obese, diabetic population will improve the
durability of remission of Type 2 diabetes."
Patients with type 1 are treated with regular insulin
injections, as well as a special diet and exercise.
Patients with Type 2 diabetes are usually treated with
tablets, exercise and a special diet, but sometimes insulin
injections are also required.
If diabetes is not adequately controlled the patient has
a significantly higher risk of developing complications.
Complications linked to badly controlled diabetes:
Being overweight, physically inactive and eating the
wrong foods all contribute to our risk of developing type 2
diabetes. Drinking just one can of (non-diet) soda per day can
raise our risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 22%, researchers
from Imperial College London reported in the journal
Diabetologia. The scientists believe that the impact of sugary soft
drinks on diabetes risk may be a direct one, rather than simply an
influence on body weight.
The risk of developing type 2 diabetes is also greater as
we get older. Experts are not completely sure why, but say that as
we age we tend to put on weight and become less physically
active. Those with a close relative who had/had type 2 diabetes,
people of Middle Eastern, African, or South Asian descent also
have a higher risk of developing the disease.
Men whose testosterone levels are low have been found
to have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Researchers
from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, say that low
testosterone levels are linked to insulin resistance.
eventually passes out of the body in urine. So, even though the
blood has plenty of glucose, the cells are not getting it for their
essential energy and growth requirements.
3) Gestational diabetes
How to determine whether you have diabetes,
prediabetes or neither
What is prediabetes?
The vast majority of patients with type 2 diabetes initially had
prediabetes. Their blood glucose levels where higher than
normal, but not high enough to merit a diabetes diagnosis. The
Controlling diabetes - treatment is effective and
important
A person with diabetes has a condition in which the
quantity of glucose in the blood is too elevated (hyperglycemia).
This is because the body does not produce enough insulin,
produces no insulin, or has cells that do not respond properly to
the insulin the pancreas produces. This results in too much
glucose building up in the blood. This excess blood glucose
Overweight and obese people have a much higher risk of
developing type 2 diabetes compared to those with a healthy body
weight. People with a lot of visceral fat, also known as central
obesity, belly fat, or abdominal obesity, are especially at risk.
Being overweight/obese causes the body to release chemicals that
can destabilize the body's cardiovascular and metabolic systems.
Scientists from the National Institutes of Health and
Harvard University found that women whose diets before
becoming pregnant were high in animal fat and cholesterol had a
higher risk for gestational diabetes, compared to their
counterparts whose diets were low in cholesterol and animal fats.
In ancient China people observed that ants would be attracted
to some people's urine, because it was sweet. The term "Sweet
Urine Disease" was coined.
All types of diabetes are treatable. Diabetes type 1 lasts a
lifetime, there is no known cure. Type 2 usually lasts a lifetime,
however, some people have managed to get rid of their
symptoms without medication, through a combination of
exercise, diet and body weight control.
Some people may be able to control their type 2 diabetes
symptoms by losing weight, following a healthy diet, doing plenty
of exercise, and monitoring their blood glucose levels. However,
type 2 diabetes is typically a progressive disease - it gradually gets
worse - and the patient will probably end up have to take insulin,
usually in tablet form.
The majority of gestational diabetes patients can control
their diabetes with exercise and diet. Between 10% to 20% of
them will need to take some kind of blood-glucose-controlling
medications. Undiagnosed or uncontrolled gestational diabetes
can raise the risk of complications during childbirth. The baby
may be bigger than he/she should be.
In 1675, Thomas Willis added mellitus to the term, although it
is commonly referred to simply as diabetes. Mel in Latin means
"honey"; the urine and blood of people with diabetes has excess
glucose, and glucose is sweet like honey. Diabetes mellitus could
literally mean "siphoning off sweet water".
Insulin is a hormone that is produced by the pancreas.
After eating, the pancreas automatically releases an adequate
quantity of insulin to move the glucose present in our blood into
the cells, as soon as glucose enters the cells blood-glucose levels
drop.
Approximately 90% of all cases of diabetes worldwide
are type 2.
This type affects females during pregnancy. Some women have
very high levels of glucose in their blood, and their bodies are
unable to produce enough insulin to transport all of the glucose
into their cells, resulting in progressively rising levels of glucose.
Diagnosis of gestational diabetes is made during pregnancy.
Cappadocian, a Greek physician during the second century
A.D., named the condition diabainein. He described patients
who were passing too much water (polyuria) - like a siphon. The
word became "diabetes" from the English adoption of the
Medieval Latin diabetes.
Doctors can determine whether a patient has a normal
metabolism, prediabetes or diabetes in one of three different
ways - there are three possible tests:
The A1C test
- at least 6.5% means diabetes
- between 5.7% and 5.99% means prediabetes
- less than 5.7% means normal
The FPG (fasting plasma glucose) test
- at least 126 mg/dl means diabetes
- between 100 mg/dl and 125.99 mg/dl means prediabetes
- less than 100 mg/dl means normal
An abnormal reading following the FPG means the patient
has impaired fasting glucose (IFG)
The OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test)
- at least 200 mg/dl means diabetes
- between 140 and 199.9 mg/dl means prediabetes
- less than 140 mg/dl means normal
An abnormal reading following the OGTT means the
patient has impaired glucose tolerance (IGT)
Why is it called diabetes mellitus?
Diabetes comes from Greek, and it means a "siphon". Aretus the
Below is a list of possible complications that can be caused by
badly controlled diabetes:
Eye complications - glaucoma, cataracts, diabetic
retinopathy, and some others.
Foot complications - neuropathy, ulcers, and
sometimes gangrene which may require that the foot be
amputated
Skin complications - people with diabetes are more
susceptible to skin infections and skin disorders
Heart problems - such as ischemic heart disease,
when the blood supply to the heart muscle is diminished
Hypertension - common in people with diabetes,
which can raise the risk of kidney disease, eye problems,
heart attack and stroke
Mental health - uncontrolled diabetes raises the risk
of suffering from depression, anxiety and some other mental
disorders.
Hearing loss - diabetes patients have a higher risk of
developing hearing problems
Gum disease - there is a much higher prevalence of
gum disease among diabetes patients
Gastroparesis - the muscles of the stomach stop
working properly
Ketoacidosis - a combination of ketosis and acidosis;
accumulation of ketone bodies and acidity in the blood.
Neuropathy - diabetic neuropathy is a type of nerve
damage which can lead to several different problems.
HHNS (Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic
Nonketotic Syndrome) - blood glucose levels shoot up
too high, and there are no ketones present in the blood or
urine. It is an emergency condition.
Nephropathy - uncontrolled blood pressure can lead
to kidney disease
PAD (peripheral arterial disease) - symptoms
may include pain in the leg, tingling and sometimes
problems walking properly
Stroke - if blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and
blood glucose levels are not controlled, the risk of stroke
increases significantly
Erectile dysfunction - male impotence.
Infections - people with badly controlled diabetes are
much more susceptible to infections
Healing of wounds - cuts and lesions take much
longer to heal.
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 2 3 , 2 0 1 6
COLUMN
OU Can Be a
Y Saint
BY Rev. Fr. Anthony
Nzubechukwu Ibegbunam
[email protected]
“
May I never allow myself even the smallest
compromise with sin, whether in dress, speech,
reading, looks or entertainment." - Blessed Pierina
Morosini
On April 4, 1957, around 3 o'clock in the afternoon,
Pierina Morosini was praying her rosary as she walked
along the forested path on her way home from a long day at
work. Suddenly, a man came out of the shadows and
accosted her. She fought valiantly against her rapist,
however, her attempts to escape were in vain. The man
threw her into a hedge. She reached for a rock to defend
herself, but he grabbed the rock and struck her again and
again and again. Dazed and bloody, the young woman
staggered and fell. The assailant continued his brutal
attack again and again; he rained blows upon her skull
until it was fractured. Shortly after the attack, Pierina was
found by her brother, who was coming from home to meet
her and finish the long walk home with her. Gently, her
brother wrapped her broken head in his scarf and raced for
help. The parish priest was called immediately, he came
and administered Pierina the Last Sacraments. Pierina
was taken to the hospital in Benevento. Two days later,
April 6, 1957, she succumbed to her injuries and died
without recovering consciousness. One doctor said, "Now
we have a new Maria Goretti." The Diocese of "Bergamo
had lost a Christian worker and gained a saint. [Ann Ball,
Faces of Holiness: Modern Saints in Photos and Words,
Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Indiana, 1998, p. 221.]
Pierina Eugenia Morosini, the eldest in the poor
family of eight children was born in Fiobbio, a part of
Albino, Bergamo, Italy, on January 7, 1931, to farmers
Rocco and Sara Morosini. Pierina grew up in a small village
near the mountains in very difficult time in Italy, during
World War II (1939-1945). She was deeply in love with God
and attended daily Mass at 6 am. After Mass, she would
return home and then walk half an hour to school. Pierina
was the best student in her class but her family was poor,
and at the age of 11, she had to leave her studies in order to
go to learn the trade of tailoring. She was trained to be a
seamstress (tailor) and began to work in a textile factory, in
Albino, at 15 years of age. She was respected by
supervisors as well as the other workers. After her death,
one of them recalls: “Pierina was well educated, really
good, and very conscientious. She had a great passion for
work and a calm competency which she maintained while
working. She was one of those who worked almost without
tiring because she used her head as well as her hands and
feet and knew how to produce a lot.” [Ann Ball, Faces of
Holiness: Modern Saints in Photos and Words, Pp. 221222.]
Work and prayer were the hallmarks of Pierina's
life. Pierina's spirituality was Cristo-centric (Centred on
Christ). A priest later said of her that Holy Communion was
the centre of her life. She herself said, "When I receive Him
in the morning, I am no longer afraid. I feel stronger."
Sometimes she would say, "I can't be a day without
receiving Jesus." In one of her notebooks, Pierina wrote,
"My vocation is to let myself be led like a child, one day at a
time." A quote from Saint Teresa of Avila, "Virginity is a
profound silence of everything earthly," was later
discovered written and signed by Pierina. Shortly before
her death, Pierina prophetically told her brother Andrew,
"I would rather be killed than commit a sin." Pierina joined
the Third Order Franciscans, taking vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience. A friend later testified that once on
break, she told Pierina all her problems, even though
Pierina was younger. She didn't say anything, but that
Christmas, Pierina sent the girl a card with beautiful words
of comfort. This friend preserved the card, which was later
entered as part of the beatification process.
An important event in the life of Pierina took place
when she participated in a pilgrimage to Rome for the
beatification of Maria Goretti ,on 27 April, 1947, by Pope
Pius XII, when she was 16 years old. During this
pilgrimage, she said, “It would be a great happiness for me
to die like Maria Goretti.” Her friends responded by saying,
“If you die as she did, we promise to come to your
beatification.” She greatly admired Maria Goretti and tried
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
PA G E 1 6
Blessed Pierina Morosini (7 January 1931 – 6 April 1957)
A Martyr for Purity: The Patron Saint of Rape Victims
to imitate her in many ways. Her life mirrored St. Maria
Goretti's life: They both came from a poor family. They
lived a simple life of work, family and prayer. They both
deplored sin, especially sins of the flesh. Both had a
profound faith and a deep love of the Virgin Mary and the
Eucharist.
Pierina trusted in the teachings of the Church and
zealously worked to support the seminary and work for
evangelization. She served as a catechist, helped the sick
and supported Catholic associations. At seventeen, she
joined the apostolate of reparation, offering in a spirit of
faith the small difficulties she encountered each day. She
was devoted to the Sacred Heart and never missed the
First Friday devotions.
Pierina had made a private vow to God to live a
life of chastity. She taught catechism and considered
religious life, but continued to live at home to help her
mother care for their family, since her father was unable
to work. Pierina's father recalls that once Pierina asked
him, "If I wanted to be a sister, would you let me go,
Papa?" He replied, "Pierina, look at the family, you see
our situation. You earn a living for everyone. Think, think
of Mama. What would she do without you? You can do
good at home, if you want, but if it is your vocation, I can't
forbid you." Pierina replied, "No, no Papa, I will stay at
home." She never mentioned it again. [Ann Ball, Faces of
Blessed Pierina Morosini represents
a special class of martyrs: those who
have died protecting their virginity.
“When the Church beatifies or
canonizes a virgin martyr who has
died resisting sexual advances, it
always does so because the woman's
motivation is clear: she is a witness
of faithfulness to God in the face of
extreme provocation.” In these rare
cases, we see a woman so devoted to
God that there can be no question of
choosing submission to evil as a
means of survival; she has
internalised the same principle of
the 15-year-old St. Dominic Savio
(April 2, 1842 – March 9, 1857) –
“Death, but not sin.
Holiness: Modern Saints in Photos and Words, p. 222.]
People knew about Pierina's spiritual life after
her death because she always kept a book in which she
wrote down her resolutions and inspirations. Pierina was
buried on April 9, 1957. Even then, she was already
believed to be a saint and everyone wanted to touch her
coffin. On April 9, 1983, her remains were carried from
the cemetery to the parish church. Her body appeared to
be in a good state of preservation. At the conclusion of her
diocesan process for beatification, Bishop Giulio Oggioni
of Bergamo said, "Pierina was like the tip of an immense
iceberg of the hidden and heroic sanctity in many
families." In a homily in 1983, he said, "Pierina Morosini
became a martyr on the street and of the street. Because of
her intense and holy relationship with the street, Pierina
is a model especially for our time. It's obvious to everyone
today that people, especially the young, spend much more
time than in the past on the street. The means of
communication, needs of work, business,
entertainments, the desire for speed has made our streets
one of the most frequented and dangerous places
physically and spiritually. The street is the emerging place
of our civilization. Therefore, the Christian must learn to
live as a Christian also on the streets."
Just as the mother of Maria Goretti was able to
attend the beatification of her daughter, in 1947, so, too,
the mother of this new martyr of purity attended the
beatification ceremony of her daughter by Pope John
Paul II, on October 4, 1987 in Rome. Speaking on the life
of Blessed Pierina, the Pope said, “The roots of her
spirituality are in your midst. Growing up in an
atmosphere of highly
developed spiritual life
incarnated in the
family, Blessed Pierini
followed the poor and
humble Christ in the
daily care of her many
brothers. Having
discovered that she
could be a saint without
entering a convent, she
was open with love to
parochial life, to
Blessed Pierina Morosini
Catholic Action, the
apostolate of her vocation. Personal prayer, daily
participation in Holy Mass, ... led her to understand the
will of God and the expectations of her brothers to make
the decision to consecrate herself privately, in the world,
to the Lord. For ten years, she lived the difficulties and
joys of a laborer in the textile mill of the area, always
making the trip to work on foot. Her colleagues testify to
her fidelity to the world, her friendliness united to
reserve, the esteem she enjoyed as a woman and as a
believer. On the trip home, thirty years ago, her
martyrdom was accomplished, the extreme consequence
of her Christianity. Her footsteps have not stopped,
however, but continue to signal a shining path for anyone
attracted to the Gospel challenge." Her feast day is April
6.
LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF BLESSED
PIERINA
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Mt
5: 8).
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, you are not your
own (1 Cor. 6:19).
You have been purchased at a price, therefore glorify
God in your body (1 Cor. 6:20).
St. Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor.
6: 13-5, 17-20) that our bodies are not our own – they
belong to the Lord, and that we, as members of His body,
are called to use our sexual freedom in ways which give
Him the greatest honour. “This adds a second motivation
for resisting a sexual assault – not only does it protect
one's own dignity, but it also honours God who calls us to
keep our bodies to be given to one anotheronly in vowed
marriage.”
Blessed Pierina Morosini represents a special
class of martyrs: those who have died protecting their
virginity. “When the Church beatifies or canonizes a
virgin martyr who has died resisting sexual advances, it
always does so because the woman's motivation is clear:
she is a witness of faithfulness to God in the face of
extreme provocation.” In these rare cases, we see a
woman so devoted to God that there can be no question of
choosing submission to evil as a means of survival; she
has internalised the same principle of the 15-year-old St.
Dominic Savio (April 2, 1842 – March 9, 1857) – “Death,
but not sin.” “The virgin martyrs stand as examples to all
who are tempted to compromise on moral duties in the
more mundane matters of daily life; they remind us that
it is always possible to choose Godly principles over
passive compromise, in lesser matters as well as greater
o n e s . ” [ “ I n P r a i s e o f V i r g i n
Martyrs”,https://catholicpreacher.wordpress.com/tag/
pierina-morosini/]
Blessed Pierina is a symbol of purity in our violent,
modern world. It is important for the youth of today to
hearken to the advice of Popes Francis and St. John Paul
II, “Dear young men and women, in Christ you find
fulfilled your every desire for goodness and happiness.
He alone can satisfy your deepest longings, which are so
often clouded by deceptive worldly promises. As Saint
John Paul II said: “He is the beauty to which you are so
attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for
fullness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he
who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who
reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the
choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you
the desire to do something great with your lives” (cf.
Discourse at the Prayer Vigil at Tor Vergata, 19 August
2000: Insegnamenti XXIII/2, [2000], 212). Blessed
Pierina Morosini, pray for us.
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
SUNDAY HOMILY
You Are Very Important And Unique
Third Sunday Of The Year © January 24, 2016
Rev. Fr. Kenneth Ahanonu
READINGS:
First Reading:
Neh 8:2-4a.5-6.8-10
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 19:7.8.9.14 (R. Jn 6:63c)
Second Reading: 1 Cor 12:12-30; or 1 Cor 12:12-14.27
Gospel Acclamation: Lk 4:18
Gospel Reading: Lk 1:1-4; 4:14-21
You are not only precious in the eyes of God, you are also very
important creature of God. Your place cannot be taken by
anybody. The place you occupy in your family, in the church
and in the entire world is mapped out specifically for you
because you are a very important creature of God.
St Paul illustrates this idea of your occupying an
important space in today's second reading. He uses the allegory
of the body. The human body has many parts. Each of these
parts are very important and unique. Together they form one
body. They have tasks that they perform for overall working of
human body. If any of the body parts stops working or functions
abnormally, it affects the whole body. For instance, if the eye is
unable to see, the entire body is in trouble. Imagine what will
happen if you wake up and discover that your eyes are
damaged. Your programme for the day may no longer hold. The
pains you experience will weigh you down. The money you
would have made that day would be lost. The list of sad stories
continues, simply because a single part of the body
malfunctions.
St Paul's illustration of Christians as individual parts
of the body of Christ and the fact that these parts of the body are
very important and unique have so many lessons for us today
both in the church and in the lived life.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and
all the members of the body though many are one body, so it is
with Christ”(1 Cor. 12:12). As long as we are baptised, we are all
one with Christ whether we are white or black, rich or poor,
better placed or disadvantaged. Since this is so, there is no room
for despising others. Christ himself set a very good example by
mixing up with saints and sinners to the extent that the
Pharisees tagged him the friend of tax collectors and sinners
but that is the only way to draw the sinners back to God.
Since the body does not consist of only one part,
no one part could claim that it is sole responsible for the good
working of the human system. In the same way, no body part
should regard itself as less important or less contributory to the
good working of the human system. St Paul uses the foot to
illustrate: If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do
not belong to the body” that would not make it any less a part
of the body. (1 Cor 12:15). A common sense shows that every
body part cannot be hand. There will be hand, there will be
foot etc. The hand has responsibilities and so also the foot.
The hand will not fit in well for the task of the foot and vice
versa. For this reason, the foot should not denigrate its task as
less important.
We sometimes feel less important and less
concerned when we are not at the hem of affairs. The word of
God is telling us today that whatever task we have is unique
You are not only precious in
the eyes of God, you are also
very important creature of
God. Your place cannot be
taken by anybody. The place
you occupy in your family, in
the church and in the entire
world is mapped out
specifically for you because
you are a very important
creature of God.
and equally important for the overall working of the system. A
child in the family has some chores to carry out even though
he is neither the father nor the mother. A school teacher has
some gaps to fill in the business of imparting knowledge in the
students even though he is neither the owner of the school nor
the principal. The nurse working in the hospital has
abundance of tasks specifically for her for the good of the
patient. Each civil servant has some important roles to fulfil
and these are contributory to the overall performance of the
government. The trader in the market is doing a lot in his shop
or stall because he is bridging a gap between the buyer and the
producer thereby making life easier for people. The person in
the entertainment industry is faced with the challenge of
making people ease off from the ever demanding hustling and
bustling nature of our world. Each one of us are therefore
important because we have unique roles to play. Even though
there are many teachers, many nurses, many civil servants,
The Mercy of God
By Pope Francis
T
oday we shall begin the catecheses on mercy according
to the biblical perspective, in order to learn mercy by
listening to what God himself teaches us through his
Word. We shall start with the Old Testament, which prepares
us and leads us to the full revelation of Jesus Christ, in whom
the mercy of the Father is fully revealed.
son for having forsaken him, but on the contrary, he
continues to await him — he begot him — and then he runs to
meet him and embraces him. He does not even let him
explain — as though he had covered his mouth — so great is
his love and joy at having found him again. Then the father
also goes to call the older son who is offended and does not
want to join in the celebration, the son who always stayed
home and who lived more as a servant than as a son. To him
too,
In Sacred Scripture, the Lord is presented as a
“merciful God”. This is his name, through which he unveils, so
to speak, his face and his heart to us. As the Book of Exodus
Faithfulness in mercy is the very
recounts, on revealing himself to Moses he defined himself
in this way: “the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to being of God. For this reason God is
anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”
(34:6). We also find this formula in other texts, with certain totally and always trustworthy. A
variations, but the emphasis is always placed on mercy and solid and steadfast presence. This is
on the love of God who never tires of forgiving (cf. Gen 4:2;
the assurance of our faith. Thus, in
Joel 2:13; Ps 86 [85]: 15, 103 [102]: 8, 145[144]:8; Neh 9:17).
Together let us consider, one by one, these words of Sacred this Jubilee of Mercy, let us entrust
Scripture which speak to us about God.
ourselves to him totally, and
The Lord is “merciful”: this word evokes a tender
approach like that of a mother toward her child. Indeed, the
Hebrew term used in the Bible evokes the viscera or even the
maternal womb. Therefore, the image it suggests is that of a
God who is moved and who softens for us like a mother
when she takes her child in her arms, wanting only to love,
protect, help, ready to give everything, even herself. This is
the image that this term evokes. A love, therefore, which can
be defined in the best sense as “visceral”.
Then it is written that the Lord is “gracious”, in the
sense of having grace, he has compassion and, in his greatness,
he bends down to those who are weak and poor, ever ready to
welcome, to understand, to forgive. He is like the father in the
parable recounted in the Gospel of Luke (cf. Lk 15:11-32): a
father who does not withdraw in resentment at the younger
experience the joy of being loved by
this “God who is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger and
abounding in love and faithfulness”.
the
father bends down, invites him to enter, tries to open his
heart to love, so that no one is excluded from the celebration
of mercy. Mercy is a celebration!
It is also said of this merciful God that he is “slow to
anger”, literally, “of great breadth”, that is, having a broad
capacity of forbearance and patience. God knows how to
PA G E 1 7
many traders etc, you are a particular teacher, a particular
nurse, a particular civil servant or a particular trader etc. You
are very unique.
In the Church, some people are clerics and some are
lay. One would not say “because I am not a priest celebrating
Mass, I am not important in the church or I will no more
contribute my quota in the church of God or I am not a part of
the church”. Priests have functions to do so also every
faithful. God made it so. Thus “God has appointed in the
church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then
deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance,
forms of leadership, and various kinds of tongues” (1 Cor.
12:28). This is a caveat on all of us to be diligent in
discharging our assignments in the church either as a lay
reader, mass server, chorister, church warder etc. We should
wholeheartedly participate in church activities such as the
holy Mass, religious and pious organizations (charismatic
renewal, legion of Mary, Blue Army, St Anthony Society etc.),
statutory organizations (CMO, CWO, CGO, CBO, CYON,
Holy Childhood) and other forms of help in the church like
security, keeping the church compound in order etc.
Those endowed with charismatic gifts of healing,
praying for others, working of miracles etc. are not left out.
Those endowed with leadership skills and other
humanitarian services should use them for the wellbeing of
the church. These are all gifts from God. “God arranged the
members in the body, each one of them as he chooses” (1 Cor.
12:18).
In as much as we recognise our individual charisms,
talents, skills, endowments, and positions, we must not
disregard other people as less important. “The eye cannot say
to the hand, I have no need of you, “nor again the head to the
feet, I have no need of you” (1 Cor. 12:20). A popular adage
has it that a tree does not make a forest no matter how huge
that tree may be. No particular part of the body can perform
the whole function of the body. The other parts must
contribute. In the same way, no particular person has
monopoly of everything. Hence, the need for division of
labour. If I am good at something some other person may be
good in another. Together we create a success story.
As a part of one body it is important to realise that
whatever you do affects the whole body because you are a
unique aspect of God's grand plan. Any responsibility you
neglect has a consequential effect on other people. Any good
act you perform has a beneficial effect as well. This calls for
caution in the way we carry out our daily chores and
assignments. Are we doing it to make the world a better
place? We cannot say that our action or negligence does not
matter. No matter how little this may be, it has its own effect
in the grand plan. The reason is clear, you are unique. Your
uniqueness makes you an important part of God's great plan.
wait, his time is not the impatient one of man; he is like the
wise farmer who knows how to wait, allowing time for the
good seed to grow, in spite of the weeds (cf. Mt 13:24-30).
Lastly, the Lord proclaims himself “abounding in
steadfast love and faithfulness”. How beautiful this
definition of God is! It is all-encompassing. For God is great
and powerful, and this greatness and power are used to love
us, who are so small, so incompetent. The word “love”, used
here, indicates affection, grace, goodness. It is not soap opera
love.... It is love which takes the first step, which does not
depend on human merit but on immense gratuitousness. It is
divine solicitude that nothing can impede, not even sin,
because it is able to go beyond sin, to overcome evil and
forgive it.
Abounding in “faithfulness”: this is the final word of
God's revelation to Moses. God's faithfulness never fails,
because the Lord is the guardian who, as the Psalm says,
never slumbers but keeps constant vigil over us in order to
lead us to life: “May he not suffer your foot to slip; may he
slumber not who guards you: Indeed he neither slumbers nor
sleeps, the guardian of Israel.... The Lord will guard you from
all evil; he will guard your life. The Lord will guard your
coming and your going, both now and forever” (Ps
121[120]:3-4, 7-8).
This merciful God is faithful in his mercy and St Paul
says something beautiful: if you are not faithful to him, he
will remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Faithfulness
in mercy is the very being of God. For this reason God is
totally and always trustworthy. A solid and steadfast
presence. This is the assurance of our faith. Thus, in this
Jubilee of Mercy, let us entrust ourselves to him totally, and
experience the joy of being loved by this “God who is merciful
and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and
faithfulness”.
Pope Francis, Address at the General Audience in
Paul VI Audience Hall, on Wednesday, 13 January
2016
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 3 0 , 2 0 1 6
VATICAN NEWS
Pope Francis Calls On Catholics And
Jews To Work Together For Peace
The Proof Of Faith
Is Praise Of God
–Pope Francis
“
How is my faith in Jesus
Christ?” This was the question
Pope Francis addressed in his
remarks to the faithful following
the readings of the day at Mass on
Friday morning January 15 in the
chapel of the Casa Santa Marta.
The Holy Father focused
particularly on the Gospel
reading, stressing that, in order
to understand Jesus, we should
not have a “closed heart”, but
ought to follow the path of
forgiveness and humiliation.
“Faith,” he said, “is something
that no one can buy,” it is “a gift”
that changes our life.
The Gospel reading on Friday was
drawn from the Gospel according
to St. Mark, and recounts the
miraculous healing of a paralytic
in Capernaum.
The people of
Capernaum were ready to do
anything to get closer to Jesus –
they did not heed even risks that
may be incurred in order to be
able to listen or simply get close
enough to brush Him. So many
were the people in and around the
house where Jesus was, that they
had to open the roof and lower the
[He said,] ?Why are you
thinking these things? Because
you know that the Son of Man
has the power – this is what
makes him special [It. è il passo
avanti] – to forgive sins: 'Arise,
take up your mat and be healed.'
He begins to speak the language
that at some point will
discourage people, some of
disciples who followed him –
for, hard is this language, when
he speaks of eating his body as a
way of salvation.”
Let us ask ourselves if
faith in Jesus really changes our
lives
When Jesus shows up
with a power greater than that
of a man, “To give that
forgiveness, to give life, to
recreate humanity, even His
disciples doubt, and [some of
them] go away.” Jesus asked a
small group, 'Do you also want
to go away?'”:
“Faith in Jesus Christ:
how is my faith in Jesus Christ?
Do I believe that Jesus Christ is
God, the Son of God? And has
this faith been life-changing?
Does my faith make this year of
grace begin in my heart, this
year of pardon, this year of
P
ope Francis on Sunday,
January 17 became the
third pope to visit Rome's
synagogue in a sign of continuing
Catholic-Jewish friendship.
During the visit that
featured welcome speeches by
prominent members of Rome's
Jewish community and a speech
by the Pope Francis greeted a
number of people including
several Holocaust survivors.
growing in nearness to the
Lord? Faith is a gift. No one
'deserves' faith. No one can buy
it. It is a gift. Does 'my' faith in
Jesus Christ, bring me to
humiliation? I do not say
humility: humiliation,
repentance, prayer asking:
'Forgive me, Lord. You are God.
You 'can' forgive my sins.”
The test of our faith is
the ability to praise God
Let the Lord “make us grow in
faith,” was the prayer of Pope
Francis. The people, he noted,
“sought Jesus in order that they
might hear Him, because he
spoke “with authority, not as the
scribes speak.” Also, he added,
they followed Him because He
healed people, because he
performed miracles – but in the
end, “these people, after seeing
this, went away and they were
all amazed, and glorified God”:
“Praise: the proof that
I believe that Jesus Christ is God
in my life, that He was sent to
me to 'forgive me', is praise; if I
have the ability to praise God.
Praise the Lord. This is free praise isgratis. It is a sentiment
that the Holy Spirit gives and
that brings you to say: 'You are
the only God.' May the Lord
make us grow in faith in Jesus
Christ, God, who forgives us,
who gives us a year of grace –
and this faith leads us to praise.”
Pope Francis recalled
the tragedy of the Holocaust
and paid tribute to the over
2000 Jews who were deported
by the Nazis in Rome in
October 1943.
He said the past must serve as a
lesson for the present and for
the future and said that the
Holocaust teaches us that
utmost vigilance is always
needed to be able to take
prompt action in defense of
human dignity and peace.
The visit, which
follows on from that of Pope
Benedict XVI in January 2010
and the historic encounter of
Pope Saint John Paul II with
former Rabbi Elio Toaff there
in 1986.
It also comes on the
heels of the publication, last
December of an important
new document from the
Pope Tells Migrants And Refugees
Not To Lose Hope And Joy
P
paralyzed man in search of
healing into the house. “They had
faith,” the Pope said, “the same
faith as that lady who, also in a
crowd, arranged to touch the hem
of Jesus' garment, Jesus' robe,
when He was going to the house
of Jairus, that she too might be
healed.” It was the same faith of
the centurion, who desired the
healing of his servant. “Strong
faith, courageous, forward –
looking,” said Pope Francis hearts to faith.”
If we have closed hearts,
we cannot understand Jesus
In the story of the paralytic, he
noted, “Jesus goes a step further.”
In Nazareth, the beginning of His
ministry, “He went into the
Synagogue and said he had been
sent to free the oppressed,
prisoners, to give sight to the
blind ... to inaugurate a year of
grace,” a year “of pardon, of
growing closer to the Lord – to
inaugurate a way to God.” Here,
however, He goes a step further:
not only healing the sick but
forgiving their sins:
“There were those there who had
their hearts closed, but accepted
– up to a point – that Jesus was a
healer – but forgiving sins is
strong! This man is over the top!
He has no right to say this,
because only God can forgive
sins. Only Jesus knew what they
were thinking and said: 'I am
God'? - No, He did not say that.
PA G E 1 8
ope Francis has urged
migrants and refugees not
to allow difficulties deprive
them of hope and of the joy of life.
The Pope was speaking to crowds
gathered in St. Peter's Square for
the Angelus prayer on the World
Day for Migrants and Refugees,
January 17
During his address Pope
Francis also prayed for the victims
of attacks by e xtre mists in
Burkina Faso and Indonesia and
for support for the efforts of the
international community toward
peace-building.
Thousands of migrants
and refugees of different
nationalities were amongst the
faithful in St. Peter's Square to
celebrate their Jubilee, cross the
Holy Door and attend Mass in St.
Peter's Basilica.
To them Pope Francis addressed a
special message of closeness
saying: “Dear migrants and
refugees, each of you carries a
story, a culture, precious values;
and unfortunately often
experiences of poverty,
oppression and fear.”
“Your presence in this
square – he continued - is a sign of
hope in God.”
And he urged them not
to allow difficulties “to deprive
them of this hope and of the joy of
life that derive from experiencing
divine mercy, thanks also to those
who welcome you and help you”.
He then pronounced
words of special thanks to the
inmates of a detention center in
Milan who made the hosts for the
Mass celebrated on Sunday in St.
Peter's Basilica dedicated to
migrants and refugees.
Before concluding his
address, Pope Francis prayed for
the victims of the deadly attacks
this week in the Indonesian
capital, Jakarta, and in
Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
“May the Lord welcome
them into His house, and support
the commitment of the
international community to build
peace” he said.
During his catechesis
before the Angelus prayer, Pope
Francis reflected on the Sunday
Gospel that tells of the miracle
worked by Jesus at the wedding
at Cana.
In that miracle at
Cana – he said – Jesus imparts
an act of kindness toward the
groom, a divine blessing upon
marriage.
“Love between man
and woman is a good way in
which to live the Gospel and
with which to undertake with
joy the path towards holiness”
he said.
However, Pope
Francis said: “the miracle of
Cana is not just about the bride
and groom. Each human
person is called to meet the
Lord in his or her life.”
And he pointed out that faith
undergoes times of joy and of
sorrow, of light and of
darkness, exactly as any other
authentic experience of love.
The Pope reminded
the faithful that Jesus does not
present himself as a judge,
ready to condemn our faults,
nor as a commander who
demands we blindly follow his
orders.
“He manifests
himself as the Savior of
mankind, as an elder brother,
as the Son of the Father who
responds to the expectations
and promises of joy that dwell
in the heart of each of us” he
said.
He invited the
faithful to ask themselves
whether they really know the
Lord in this way, and called on
them to acknowledge the fact
that Jesus is asking us to make
space for Him in our hearts.
Vatican's Commission for
religious relations with Jews,
exploring the theological
developments during the past
half century of dialogue between
Catholics and Jews.
During his speech to
those present Pope Francis
highlighted how Catholic –
Jewish relations are very close to
his heart and he spoke of how a
spiritual bond has been created
between the two communities
favouring the growth of a genuine
friendship and giving life to a
shared commitment.
He said we share a
unique and special bond thanks
to the Jewish roots of Christianity
and that we must therefore feel as
brothers, united by the same God
and by a rich common spiritual
patrimony upon which to build
the future.
Pope Francis referred
to the Second Vatican Council's
Declaration “Nostra Aetate”
which made possible the
systematic dialogue between the
Catholic Church and Judaism
and which set the ground for
Jewish Catholic dialogue, and he
encouraged all those involved in
this dialogue to continue in this
direction, with discernment and
perseverance.
The Pope also said that
along with theological issues, we
must not lose sight of the big
challenges facing the world today
and he said that Christians and
Jews can and must offer
humanity the message of the
Bible regarding the care of
creation as well as always
promote and defend human life.
We must pray with
insistence to help us put into
practice the logic of peace, of
reconciliation, of forgiveness, of
life, in Europe, in the Holy Land,
in the Middle East, in Africa and
elsewhere in the world. And – he
concluded – we have to be
thankful for all that has been
realized in the last fifty years of
Catholic Jewish dialogue because
between us mutual
understanding, mutual trust and
friendship have grown and
deepened.
Pope Makes Surprise Visit To
Homes For Elderly And Disabled
I
n a surprise move on Friday
afternoon, January 15
Pope Francis continued
with his program of putting
mercy into practice during this
Jubilee Year by visiting two
homes for elderly and disabled
people on the outskirts of
Rome.
A statement from the press
office said there was great
surprise and joy among the 33
residents of the Bruno Buozzi
home for the elderly as the
Pope spent talking to each one
of them. He was accompanied
by Archbishop Rino Fisichella,
head of the Vatican's Council
for New Evangelisation and
one of the principle organisers
of activities during this Jubilee
Year of Mercy.
Pope Francis has repeatedly
emphasized the great value of
the elderly and particularly the
important role of grandparents
in the Church and in society.
Before returning to the Vatican,
Pope Francis also visited the
nearby Casa Iride where six
severely disabled patients in a
vegetative state were cared for by
their families and by a team of
medical staff.
Today's visits were part of the
Pope's decision to make some
practical gestures of charity on
one Friday of each month
throughout this Year of Mercy.
T H E CHRISTIANO U T LO O K
S AT U R D A Y J A N U A R Y 2 3 , 2 0 1 6
NEWS
PA G E 1 9
Osumenyi Confers Diamond Award on Five Of Her Sons
By Oliver-Ross Udeafor
O
sumenyi community, in
Nnewi South local
government area, has
conferred Diamond Award on five
of her illustrious sons.
The event which
attracted important personalities
within and outside Osumenyi, was
held at the field of St. Anthony the
Padua Church, Osumenyi, and the
awardees were Prince IG Obidike,
Chiefs Ikechukwu Ifedi and Polly
Obiukwu and Pharm. (Sir)
Nnamdi Obi, who were honoured
for their contribution to the
development of the town.
In his speech, the
President-General of the town,
Bro. Celestine Obiogutu, said,
“Today will forever be
remembered in the lives of all
Osumenyians as we gather to
honour some of our own, who in
their wisdom, answered the
challenge given to United States of
America on January 20, 1961, by
J.F. Kennedy and I quote: “Ask not
what your country can do for you,
ask what you can do for your
country.”
He called on many other
patriots in the town to emulate the
diamond citizens and join hands
in these selfless services.
The President-General
observed that those they were
honouring, had placed the town on
the map amongst best developed
towns in Nigeria, noting that “98%
of good roads in Osumenyi were
constructed by them and many
other things.”
By Franz Ndulue
T
He however, appealed
to the people to use the spirit of
selfless service to assist the town
in providing one patrol van,
valued at N450,000; 10
motorcycles valued at N120,000
each, and salaries of N250,000
needed for the maintenance of
the security outfit in the town.
The P-G also appealed
for money for the renovation of
three classroom buildings at a
cost of N7m each, money for
fencing of Osumenyi Boys' High
School and Girls' Secondary
School at the cost of N25m as
well as the construction of
principal's house and staff
quarters which he estimated to
cost N5.5m and N5m,
respectively. He also called for
help in the area of health, where
he said, they needed the sum of
N3.5m for the fencing of the
government Health Centre in the
town and other needs, especially
for rehabilitation of some roads in
the town.
Responding on behalf
of the five awardees, Sir Nnamdi
Obi thanked the town for
honouring them, noting that the
award placed enormous
responsibilities on them. He
reminded their people that the
town belongs to all of them, not
minding which camp they belong.
Sir Obi appealed to the
affluent people in the community
to come out and develop the town
as, according to him, the five of
them honoured that day were not
the richest in the town. He noted
that needs of the town is more
than what had been done, as such,
all wealthy indigenes should come
out to develop the town.
He called on the people
of the town to support their
people and never think evil
against themselves because
whoever kills a native of
Osumenyi would never see
progress in his family.
The event was
attended by the traditional
ruler of Nnewi HRH Igwe KOn
Orizu III and other traditional
rulers in Nnewi South, the
speaker of Anambra State
House of Assembly Rt. Hon.
Rita Maduagwu, Hon. Chris
A z u b o g u , m e m b e r
representing Nnewi
North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo
federal constituency in the
National Assembly, Hon.
(Chief) Ossy Iyiegbu, chairman
of Nnewi South local
government council, and many
other personalities.
Ohaneze Ndigbo Cautions Fr. Mbaka
By Franz Ndulue
A
WKA: The President of
Ohaneze Ndigbo in
Anambra state, Elder Dr.
Chris Eluemunoh, has expressed
displeasure over the recent New
Year prophecy by the Director of
the Adoration Ministry, Enugu,
Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, that
President Muhammadu Buhari's
life is in danger.
In a swift reaction to the
widely publicized prophecy made
public by Fr. Mbaka, Elder
Eluemunoh described it as an
unnecessary alarm and creation of
distraction to President Buhari,
who, as the Commander-in-Chief
of the Armed Forces of the
Republic of Nigeria, is in safe
hands.
Elder Eluemunoh, who
is also the coordinating chairman
of the Pan-Igbo socio-cultural
organisation in seven Igbospeaking states in the country,
bared his mind to the press, at
Awka, Anambra state capital, on
Thursday, January 14, 2016,
asserting that President Buhari
should ignore the said prophecy as
there was no cause for alarm,
saying that it could create panic in
the polity.
He observed that
President Buhari had been doing
very well in his anti-graft war
without discrimination which
Ohaneze Ndigbo wholeheartedly
endorsed, and vehemently
advised Fr. Mbaka to “shut up and
preach the word of God which he
was ordained to do, than raising
unnecessary alarm and creating
panic in the country.”
T h e O h a n e z e
spokesman argued that “Even if a
revelation was given to him, he
should keep it to himself and pray
over it. Fr. Mbaka's statement is a
distraction to what the President
is doing and he should stop that
kind of alarm he is raising in the
country.”
Advising Nigerians to
realise that it would no longer be
business as usual, Elder
Oyi LG Boss Lauds
Community Leaders
Eluemunoh expressed
optimism that through the way
President Buhari was handling
the affairs of the nation, he
would soon restore sanity,
financial probity and economic
rejuvenation to ensure a better
future for the country.
Commenting on the
agitation by the pro-Biafra
groups, the Independent People
of Biafra (IPOB) and Movement
for the Actualization of the
Sovereign State of Biafra
(BIAFRA), he felt satisfied with
the discontinuation of the
public demonstration and
violent demonstration by the
groups.
Elder Eluemunoh
confirmed that Ohaneze Ndigbo
was dialoguing with the Federal
Government over the detained
IPOB leader and director of
Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu,
who was arrested by the
Department of State Security
(DSS) and in detention since
October 17, 2015.
He urged the FG to
release Kanu to the Igbo elders
while he appealed to the IPOB
and MASSOB to allow peace
reign, so that President Buhari
would carry out his plans for
Ndigbo, stressing that the proBiafran groups should not cause
trouble or scheming for the
disintegration of the country
because the Igbos would not
afford to fight another war,
having made huge investments
Catholic Communications,
Nnewi Holds General Meeting
By Ngozi Asonibe
T
he Catholic Directorate
of Communications,
Catholic Diocese of
Nnewi held her meeting
concerning the general
welfare of their staff on
Saturday, January 16, 2015 at
Our Lady of Assumption
Cathedral, Nnewi.
The Director of
Social Communications,
Catholic Diocese of Nnewi,
Very Rev. Fr. Hygi Aghaulo in
an opening remark
commended the entire staff of
the organization for
recording a credible
performance in 2015 and
advised them to be
committed to improve the
performance of the company
and deliver greater value in
the 2016 financial year.
He maintained on
solidarity and discipline of
the staff. “Be firm, respect and
friendly with the customers.
Have a business spirit and
avoid truancy”
Speaking, Chief Juventus
Chukwunweike Okoli,
Administrative Staff (Admin
Manager) of Catholic
communication, Nnewi
encouraged the staff to be
strongly committed and
maintain a focus on satisfying
her customers with high
quality services.
He proposed on the
establishment of the, “Friends
of the Directorate of
Communications, Nnewi
Diocese” who would be well to
do individuals in the society to
support the organization to
move to a greater height.
The meeting provided
an opportunity for the Heads of
Departments to appoint their
Departmental secretaries who
should be taking minutes of the
meeting for them and on their
general welfare.
all over the country.
The Ohaneze
henchman noted that apart
from the national publicity
secretary of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), Chief
Olisa Metuh, no other Igbo was
arrested for the ongoing arms
deal scam involving the former
National Security Adviser,
Sambo Dasuki, dubbed
“Dasukigate” and admonished
Ndigbo to continue to work for
continued unity, political
stability and socio-economic
development of Nigeria as one
indivisible entity.
Finally, he urged
President Buhari to ensure
that the anti-corruption
crusade by his administration
was given a human face and
assiduously executed without
sparing any sacred cow and
being selective, in order to
sustain the confidence of the
masses.
he synergy and mutual
cooperation between the
Oyi local government
council, in Anambra state, and
the leadership of all the five
communities under its
jurisdiction for rapid
grassroots' development have
been applauded as worthy of
emulation.
Executive Chairman
of the LGA, Hon. Maximus
Uchenna Orefo (JP), made the
commendation during a press
interview in his country home,
at Ifite, Nkwelle-Ezunaka, and
pledged to sustain the cordial
atmosphere needed for the
continued progress of the LGA
and improved welfare of the
people.
H o n . O r e f o
confirmed that the executive
committees of the
communities had judiciously
utilized the funds given to them
by the state government for
palliative works on communal
roads during the Christmas
period, in 2015, as in the
previous years, which
facilitated easy movement of
people who returned home for
the Yuletide celebration.
According to the LG
boss, Anambra state had been
at the forefront of sustainable
grassroots' development due to
the flourishing collaboration
between the state and local
governments with the
leadership of the 177
communities in the state since
the inception of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance
(APGA) administration, in
2006, pointing out that there
were visible and tangible
achievements on the ground to
justify his claims.
He disclosed that
under his stewardship, the
council's headquarters'
secretariat, at Nteje, had
received a tremendous facelift,
in addition to the
establishment of a model
agricultural venture and food
processing facilities there,
which would be extended to
other towns in the LGA in due
course.
The LGC also
completed numerous projects
inherited from his predecessor,
Chief Uchenna Okafor (Wiper),
who had been appointed as the
Special Adviser to the Governor
on internally generated
revenue (IGR), including the
completion of primary school
buildings at Awkuzu and Nteje
and other towns in the area.
He reassured that more
academic and health institutions
would benefit from similar
intervention of his
administration, appealing to the
people to always fulfill their civic
obligations to enable the council
generate revenue for accelerated
improvement of public amenities
in the area for uplifting the
welfare of the masses.
Hon. Orefo further
confirmed that the council had
constructed an ultra-modern
motor park at 3-3 Layout, OyoluOze, Nkwelle-Ezunaka, and
leased it to Onitsha South Mass
Transit as a revenue window to
augment its allocations from the
federation account (FAAC),
stressing that it posed no
difficulty, in view of the boundary
skirmishes in the area.
On the controversy
generated over the tussle for the
ownership of Oyolu-Oze Primary
School which pitched the town
against a religious group, Hon.
Orefo expatiated that the matter
was pending at the court, and
declined to comment on the
issue.
The council chairman
finally reassured that he would
explore greater opportunities to
provide jobs for unemployed
school-leavers and youths in the
LGA for enhanced socioeconomic advancement of the
people in the current 2016 fiscal
year throughout the five
communities under his
jurisdiction, namely, Awkuzu,
Nkwelle-Ezunaka, Nteje,
Umunya and Ogbunike, with a
firm promise to continue
rendering selfless, transparent
and good governance for more
dividends of democracy for the
benefit of the people.
Hon. Maximus Orefo (JP)
Fire Razes Student's Hostel in Obosi
N
o fewer than 80
students have been
displaced from their
b o a r d i n g
h o u s e
accommodation at the Don
Bosco Secondary School and
Youth Centre, Obolo, Obosi,
near Onitsha following a fire
incident.
The Rector of the
school, Charles Uzoeto, who
conducted journalists around
the charred remains of the
hostel on Sunday, January 17,
said the fire broke out while the
students and teachers were in
school.
Mr. Uzoeto said the
students had been sent back to
their parents following an
agreement between the
management of the school and
parents as there was no place
for them to stay.
The Rector said the
property of the students could
have been saved, but the fire
service was unable to reach the
school in good time due to the
bad access road.
“It was a serious fire
incident. Nobody can say
exactly what happened or how
it happened, but everyone was
in school. “We can only
speculate about the real cause,
but we thank God that no life
was lost.
“About 80 students
are housed in the two wings of
the hostel; we cannot quantify
the extent of damage as
virtually everything the
students had in the hostel was
lost,” he said.
According to him, the
bedding, the entire roof of the
building and even the structure
of the building were destroyed
by the fire.
“The fire services
would have reached here much
earlier, but on their way, they
discovered that they could not
access the place because of bad
road leading to this place. After
meandering through the markets
with all the difficulties, before
they came here, we were already
counting our losses. I think if the
roads were good, they would have
reached here much earlier. They
made efforts as human beings but
they could not jump, they could
not fly, and that reduced the
chances of rescue,” he said.
Mr. Uzoeto called on
government, corporate
organisations and kind
individuals to come to the aid of
the school to enable it to
commence its normal academic
activities.
Don Bosco Secondary
School, Obosi, is an educational
institute, managed by the
Salesian Priests of the Catholic
Church, and is one of the three in
Nigeria.