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WHERE IS OUR COMMUNITY SPIRIT? Thinking back to when I was a child, growing up in Nigeria, it’s heart-wrenching to see how things have deteriorated in my beloved nation of Nigeria. As children we looked forward to the monthly times of the night when the moon was in full bloom; we went out to play, boys and girls together. Sometimes we had ‘grandma’ Theresa Onwenafa Nkemchor my great uncle’s wife and a prolific folk story teller entertain us with moonlight tales. It was a time when my grandmother did not have to worry that we were out late playing with our female and male cousins and friends. She did not have to worry that we could be raped. It was an era when rape was a taboo and gang-raping not heard of. When young mothers wanted to go to the farm or stream to fetch some water, they made loose sand dunes and sat their babies there and merely informed their neighbours that the babies were outside. These neighbours did not use the babies for rituals; they played with them, washed th
OF POISONED BEANS AND DEATH NUMBERS... Nigeria is in a dire situation. Our leaders, both political and religious have brainwashed us to the point that we can no more differentiate between pranks and reality. Our politicians tell us that our problems are Northerners and Moslems; we swallow it wholesale even though it’s clear for all to see that the average Northerner is worse off than the average Southerner. (This is largely because southern women are freer to access education and participate in trading and industry thereby contributing immensely to the education of their children, an opportunity the average Northern woman lacks). So they tell us what the solution would be. A southern Christian President! We all swallowed it whole forgetting that each time a northerner had been in power, he had had the active participation and collaboration of, wait a minute, yes, Southern Christians! The only difference between North and south, in my humble and myopic opinion is that while northern
THE CABAL OR NIGERIANS. Some years ago, if a church leader was importing an American Evangelist, other Pastors in his neighbourhood would quickly organise a retreat for their members to prevent them from being stolen at the crusade ground. Retreat was only for the church. At that time, I used to wonder aloud why Christians needed to retreat rather than progress or revive.  I was therefore, taken aback and to say the least, very disturbed when President Jonathan started off this phase of his leadership of Nigeria, with a retreat. It would have blown past for me if the retreat did not include Olusegun Obasanjo. I sat at my PC wondering what Obasanjo, one of the architects of the many woes of Nigeria was doing with a leader who promised a new beginning for Nigerians. My heart sank and I knew we have been had. It’s true that Jonathan was not my choice to win the 2011 election for the simple fact that he had been part of Nigeria’s inglorious past. I knew he was tainted,
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GOODWILL MESSAGE FROM LAURETTA ONOCHIE TO THE LAGOS CHAPTER, UMU ANIOMA FOUNDATION AT THEIR MEET AND GREET ON JULY 2ND, 2011 AND DELIVERED BY JENNIFER ONOCHIE. Great Umu Anioma, I want to apologise for my inability to be with you at this Meet and Greet, organised by the Lagos chapter of Umu Anioma Foundation. It is due to work and family commitments and I hope you do understand. I do not wish to bore you with what some of you already know but I will not fail to remind us that we, as Umu Anioma Foundation, have taken on a huge task that has seen many casualties since 1956. Some of our fore-runners have left indelible marks and we cannot forget the late Chief Denis Osadebe, who coined the name, ‘ANIOMA’, and we have had some Anioma groups that probably started out well but have now ended up in bed with corrupt politicians. These groups only represent themselves as all they do is hold Anioma parties, paid for by our corrupt Anioma politicians while our people are left in abject povert

Is the Devil we know better than the Angel we don’t know?

It is an open secret that most Nigerians are religious. Those who are, subscribe to either the religion of their parents and some, as they grow older and independent of their parents, go further to search out for themselves and chose a different way of having a relationship with their God. The history of how Pentecostal form of Christianity came to push the traditional form of Christianity to the background cannot be written in Nigeria without mentioning the likes of Benson Idahosa, William Kumuyi and later on, the catholic charismatic movement’s Emmanuel Ede. Before this time Nigerians were content with making simple sacrifices prescribed by the Native doctors in order to ward off Evil spirits. The advent of the Pentecostal form of assembly took most of that role from the Native doctors and placed it squarely on ‘Men Of God’, some of who, I must add, were not and are still not in talking terms with God. Warding off Evil spirits has become a lucrative venture and our ‘Men of God’

Umu Anioma, Is the Devil we know better than the Angel we don’t know?

It is an open secret that most Nigerians are religious. Those who are, subscribe to either the religion of their parents and some, as they grow older and independent of their parents, go further to search out for themselves and chose a different way of having a relationship with their God. The history of how Pentecostal form of Christianity came to push the traditional form of Christianity to the background cannot be written in Nigeria without mentioning the likes of Benson Idahosa, William Kumuyi and later on, the catholic charismatic movement’s Emmanuel Ede. Before this time Nigerians were content with making simple sacrifices prescribed by the Native doctors in order to ward off Evil spirits. The advent of the Pentecostal form of assembly took most of that role from the Native doctors and placed it squarely on ‘Men Of God’, some of who, I must add, were not and are still not in talking terms with God. Warding off Evil sprits has become a lucrative venture and our ‘Men of God’

THE PROBLEM WITH THE NIGERIAN WOMAN.

When I first joined Umu Anioma, I was not confident that I, as a woman would be able to make much meaningful contribution to the work being done Anioma people. I was born of Anioma parents, grew up in the Anioma area and know first hand how many of our men view women. However, my fears soon disappeared as I was welcomed to the forum and many members, mostly men wrote or called me privately to welcome and encourage me. I cannot forget Alister Chuka Smith, Jonathan Ojei, Tom Mbukanma and  Clemmie Nicholas,  Queenesther Nwaise just to mention a few. It was peaceful and quiet for a while after I joined and I thought it was fantastic that we all got along and echoed each others contributions. That was not to last. What followed next was totally unexpected, not by Umu Anioma or Sunny Ofili. I do not intend to bore you with the details but suffice it to say that Sunny Ofili experienced the full weight of the unity amongst Umu Anioma. This oneness of mind and purpose has made us a form