5 Reasons Why a Preacher Should Tweet

BY MIKE CAMPAGNA

You pretty much have had to be away on an island in the South Pacific (maybe you wish you were?) to have not heard about the latest social media tool and craze: Twitter.

And just to help you see the forest for the trees in case you’re interested in how Twitter might be helpful to you personally as a minister of Jesus, I’ve got a real quick and simple list of 5 reasons why a preacher should tweet. (Just in case you didn’t know, “tweeting” is the term used for communicating on Twitter.)

And so here are the five reasons…

Reason #1: You can gain/access useful real-time (right now) information on any subject including God, Christianity, the Bible and the contemporary Church. (Google isn’t necessarily “real-time.”)

Reason #2: You can network with like-minded believers both in and out of the area. People of faith you might never have had the chance to connect with, now you can simply and easily.

Reason #3: You can find out/listen in on what people are saying about religion and it’s intersection with (and application in) life and more. You can then engage them in conversation, answering their questions, offering insight and finding out where they’re coming from, etc.

Reason #4: You can offer useful information yourself (not just Biblical information) on a variety of subjects. Write blog posts (both sacred and secular) and then “tweet” them for others to read and respond to.

Reason #5: You are able to go where the people are from the convenience of your computer. Many of the old school approaches to ministry are important and good. But there’s a new generation of non-churched men and women that you don’t want to forget. They’re on Twitter (as well as other social media sites). You need to be there, too.

Sign up for your own free account today: www.twitter.com And don’t forget to follow @MichaelOrodare

After giving him all, + my virginity, he still jilted me - the story of Shade

Shade is an exceptionally beautiful lady in her early 30s. A graduate of Economics from one of the leading public universities in Nigeria.

She’s had failed relationships in the past, so her decision to stay off relationship during her first and second year in the university was quite understandable, and she patiently waited for the Mr Right.

When she was in 300level, there came this dark and tall Youngman, Tunde, who was also in 300level. Tunde was a very caring guy, and Shade made no mistake then in taking him for the Mr Right. They became friends, their friendship took no time to metamorphose into a serious relationship.

Since they met, Shade’s love for Tunde was so strong that she gave all into the relationship, including the funding of Tunde’s major needs while in school. Food, clothing and money were not problems for lucky Tunde, Shade was into the business of buying and selling of clothes and foodstuffs. 

Shade finally graduated from the University ahead of Tunde, as a result of the latter’s carry over which held him back in school for an extra year.

Despite pressure from family and friends on her to get married, Shade decided to wait for Tunde to graduate, in the process of waiting, she turned down so many advances from men. After Tunde’s NYSC, Shade was able to influence her friend who got Tunde a job through her father. Shade waited patiently again for Tunde to become established before formalising their relationship.

Along the line, Shade became pregnant for Tunde and she didn’t notice it until it was too late for abortion. They had the baby out of wedlock and it’s a boy. As Shade’s expectation became higher on the formalisation of their relationship, Tunde dropped the bombshell and told Shade that he has fallen in love with another lady, hence he’s no longer interested in Shade.

Pleas from family members and friends were not enough to make Tunde rescind his decision to dump Shade for his new found love.

Tuned hinged his decision to dump Shade on the fact that Shade is too old and she’s not a wife material.

Since then, Shade has been demoralized, committing suicide seems to be the next option for the poor lady, she can’t endure the shame of giving all her life and all what makes her a woman to Tunde, and got nothing in return.

After giving all her life and virginity to Tunde for 6years, Tunde has decided to walk away and make her walk alone.

Where will she start from after a baby?

Shade needs your advice as she’s presently considering suicide as the best and only option...

'Go and Die' Gov Oshiomole tells crying widow

The Comrade Governor of Edo State and one of the progressive Governors of the new APC, Adams Oshiomole told a crying widow to 'Go and Die'

Reason; the woman was caught selling her wares on the road side, which is against the law, but should the Governor have asked her to 'go and die'? that's for you to decide.

Watch video here >>>>>>>> 'You're a widow go and die' Gov Oshiomole tells widow

When the blindness of love wears off

Amaka loves tall, strongly built men in jeans and tight-fitting T-shirt. She met one such beau at the Bar Beach in Lagos early this year.

Luckily for her, she was also beautiful. Luckier still, the guy made advances to her and it was like one blessed Saturday for her.

After the initial ako (stalling) she gave in. And after food and drinks at a restaurant on the Island, the guy wanted to seal the relationship with love-making. But Amaka never made that mistake of sex-at-first-meeting. Yet again, she had her way.

The guy who was in "love" checked her in her office on Monday, Tuesday. By Wednesday, Amaka had fallen so deeply in love that she would do everything for him. The guy was special, exactly the man of her dreams.

They were together in his place all weekend. Amaka was on the moon.

Three weeks later, the love glasses dropped when the guy slapped her in anger. Amaka was disillusioned! She was devastated when the guy said the only thing about her was her big boobs.

Strangely, it was then she began to wonder why she hadn't noticed his temper and even his foul body odour.

When the blindness of love had worn off, there is pain, disillusionment, regret and relationships are threatened.

Psychologists suggest that as one eventually discovers flaws in his or her "special one", there should be evaluative change to counter the negative information. The negative attributes should be measured against the positives.

Obviously the cost of love blindness is high, and that is one area the saying of Lagosians "shine your eye" has fitting application.


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Culled from Bola Abass' column: "Real Life Forum" in the Sun Newspaper, Sunday 24th November, 2013.

Book Haram: Still killing in the name of God?

Book Haram: Still killing in the name of God?

When the Boko Haram insurgency started growing in leaps and bounds some years ago, many including this writer, thought the Boko Haram 'boys' were fighting for the course of Allah, which we were made to believe with their series of Youtube videos. They claimed to be in opposition to any form of westernization; they claimed western education is a taboo and wanted an Islamic government in the region where they hold sway. This was the height of an unrealistic dream.

The major attacks of the group has been on schools, churches, mosques, governmentbuildings etc, leaving one to wonder if the thousands of people who have been killed in these dozens of attacks are purely Christians and symbol of westernization. They include those killed in the attack on Bayero University Kano (BUK), College of Agriculture, Gujba, Yobe State, and many other schools who we can't say whether they are all Christians or don't even believe in their God?

Many have been massacred by Boko Haram members while worshipping inside Churches and Mosques, yet Boko Haram still claims it is fighting and killing for God. Then it might be appropriate to say that Boko Haram is never a religious group, and if it was as it had claimed, it has expanded beyond its original religious composition to include not only Islamic militants, but also criminal elements used as tools for driving the selfish interest of some disgruntled politicians. Only God knows what they stand to gain after wiping away all those they intend to establish the law.

If the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa'adu Abubakar, who we believe is the spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims, has tagged the sect "anti-Islamic" and "an embarrassment to Islam." One wonders who they are still fighting for and whose interest they still claim to represent.

Also, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State described the group as "a franchise that anyone can buy into." The boys are starving, it is now a game of the highest bidder, they settle for anything from anybody as long as it meets their immediate needs. The level of decadence in our society today is enough reason for anyone to be moved and claim he/she is fighting for God to cleanse the society of those abusing God's name, but I have come to the understanding that no one, absolutely no one, either mighty or small, can fight for God, No; God is big enough to fight for himself, he doesn't need any foot soldier to defend himself, he doesn't need anyone to shed blood of innocent people in His
name.

Boko Haram cannot claim to be killing for God as God is not a blood-sucking monster, and He doesn't need anyone to kill in His name to establish his doctrine. Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka has aptly stated: "Who kills for love of God, kills God. Who kills in the name of God, leaves God without a name."

Daily, the killing and maiming of innocent Nigerians by Boko Haram members keeps escalating in frequency and intensity. No one is safe, Muslims and non-Muslims, which leaves one to the conclusion that there is more than meets the eye in the group's agitations and in what it professes.

They claimed to be in opposition to anything brought by westernization, yet they use the internet; they claimed western education is a taboo, yet many of their leaders and sponsors are University graduates, what an Irony from a confused group of young men. All bucks stop at poverty, there is no gainsaying the fact it is the root of not only Boko Haram insurgency, but also all other insurgencies and anti-social vices, that have sprung up in the country in the last 10-years.

A hungry man is an angry man, but when it has gotten to the extent of killing innocent people and doing so in the name of God, the hungry man can simply be described as a devourer.

May help come before a whole region is wiped off by those who claim to be fighting in the name of ‘God.’

Why Fayemi will surely lose an Ekiti re-election

By Michael Orodare



Fayemi

I am not a prophet of doom. I didn’t write this to proclaim what God has not told me, it's a reflection of what any close observer knows would happen in Ekiti state 2014 governorship election. Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states governorship elections are political battles to watch out for in 2014, those elections will prepare us for the 2015 general elections and to some extent, serve as another litmus test for the Prof Jega-manned INEC. As observers have predicted, the outcome of the 2014 elections would mark the end and the beginning of a new political era, not only in Nigeria.

In Ekiti state, although the incumbent governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi has not officially declared to run for second term, but it is expected of him to try his luck. Unlike in Ondo state where the incumbent, Dr Olusegun Mimiko triumphed after a tough political battle, recent developments from Ekiti have also revealed that the Ekiti governorship election would be a strict contest among the three major political parties in the state, the ACN, Labour Party and the PDP, as it was in Ondo; but Fayemi will not win.

It’s so unfortunate that barely three years of Fayemi in office, the tides have changed. It’s now so clear to all that he could not live up to the hype he received when he was sworn-in as governor of the state some years ago, judging by what is happening in the state now. Looking back at October 2010, when he was sworn-in, it’s quite evident that he has fallen short on the people’s expectations.

Fayemi has betrayed the trust reposed in him by Ekiti state people, and the people are so eager to show him the way out of the government house come 2014. Good for him, he knows how to use the media for propaganda, he can’t afford to fail in that area, with his background in media practice, especially during the Abacha days. Alas, gone are those days when propaganda wins election. If elections were won with propaganda and media onslaught, then the ACN shouldn't be a regional champion, it ought to be controlling all the states in Nigeria; if it is by propaganda, then Mimiko shouldn’t have been re-elected as the Governor of Ondo state, with the media onslaught unleashed on him by the ACN, before, during and after the Ondo governorship election.

We are now in the age where people don’t just consume what they hear or see on the pages of newspapers and Television, we now verify information before consuming them. No amount of propaganda can deter the people from making their choice.

Fayemi has failed the teachers, the entire state workforce, the students and even the artisans, so who else is left in the state to give him the votes he needs for his second term ambition. Is it the local government and primary health workers who recently embarked on a-two-month strike because the governor failed to implement the payment of the N18,000 minimum wage? While a neighbouring state like Ondo is already paying N22,000. Or the teachers he forced to take a competency test for reasons best known to him alone? To mention but few.

The governor was swift to commission projects during his second anniversary, but majority of these projects were projects which have been completed some months before he became governor, some of the road projects featured in the newspapers and other media were already being used months before he came into office.

Lately, Governor Fayemi has been exhibiting some traits of a failed and sinking government; political intolerance, which is inimical to his second term ambition. If he truly believes in his performance as he has claimed, then why the frequent political war with members of opposition parties and even within his own ACN.

Now that the die has been cast, there is no better time for the LP to win Ekiti state election, than in 2014, the song on the lips of the majority of Ekiti residents is; 'go to Ondo and see the wonders their governor is doing,' Mimiko has laid the foundation, it is now left to the leadership of the party both at the state and national levels to build on this solid foundation already laid by Mimiko.

Kudos to President Goodluck Jonathan for restoring hope in our electoral process, now the richest party with a wrong candidate can lose woefully in an election. It’s now about the will and choice of the people. If elections were to be won with money, I mean huge amount of money in billions of naira, then Governor Mimiko wouldn’t have won the last election, considering the billions of naira allotted to the ‘capture Ondo State’ mission of the ACN in the October 2012 governorship election in Ondo State, which ended as a total fiasco.

The LP might not be as financially strong as the ACN, but it has all what it takes to wrest power from the failed ACN government in Ekiti state, if the Mimiko’s already laid foundation is properly utilised.