The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission on Thursday opened its case against a former Petroleum
Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, Jide Omokore, and others whom it
charged with nine counts of criminal diversion of about $1.6bn alleged
to be part of proceeds of sales of petroleum products belonging to the
Federal Government.
A former Group Managing Director of the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mr. Andrew Yakubu, appeared
before the Federal High Court in Abuja where the trial is ongoing, as
the first prosecution witness.
Led by the lead prosecuting counsel, Mr.
Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), the witness who was the GMD of the NNPC, when the
controversial transactions took place, narrated in his testimony the
roles played in the alleged scam by Omokore, his companies and other
accused persons.
The other co-accused persons included a
former Managing Director of the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company,
Victor Briggs; a former Group Executive Director, Exploration and
Production of the NNPC, Abiye Membere; and a former Manager, Planning
and Commercial of the NNPC, David Mbanefo.
The other co-defendants are Omokore’s
companies – Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic
Energy Drilling Concepts Limited.
Fielding questions from the prosecuting
counsel, the witness said one of the two sets of the Oil Mining Leases
(permit for oil exploration) leading to the controversial transactions
was named Focardo Series.
He said the other set of OMLs numbered 60, 61, 62 and 63 in which ConocoPhillips Limited was a partner.
Yakubu, a chemical engineer, who retired
as the NNPC boss on August 1, 2014, said Shell was operating Focardo
Series on behalf of the NNPC which had 55 per cent of the interest in
the Forcados Series OMLs.
He said Shell, Total and Agip had the remaining 45 per cent of the interest.
Yakubu also testified that, on the other
hand, ConocoPhilips was a joint venture partner with the NNPC and Agip
in the OMLs 60, 61, 62 and 63.
According to him, ConcoPhilips had 20
per cent equity in the assets of OML 60, 61, 62 and 63, while the NNPC
had 60 per cent and Agip had 20 per cent.
He explained that Shell, Total and Agip
divested their 55 per cent interest in the joint ventures in the
Forcardo Series, while Conocophilips sometime in 2012 divested its 20
per cent in the joint venture in the OML 60, 61 and 62 to Oando.
He said after the divestments of Shell’s
interest in Forcardo Series, the NNPC along with the NPDC went into
Strategic Alliance Agreement with Atlantic Energy Drilling.
NPDC also took over the role of operator from Shell in the new relationship.
He said the terms of the SAA provided that Atlantic Energy Drilling would provide the “technical services support” and funding.
He said similar step was taken when
Conocophilips divested its 20 per cent in the joint venture in the OML
60, 61 and 62 to Oando.
He said, “NNPC/NPDC saw an opportunity
to further grow their capacity and now requested the petroleum minister
to assign the 60 per cent equity interest of the NNPC to the NPDC.
“The request was approved by the
minister, and also the request for Atlantic Energy to continue to
support the NPDC with funding and technical services in respect of this
asset as well as a result of the assessment of their performance in the
previous assets. That was approved by the minister. The approval came
back to me and I conveyed it to the Executive Director Exploration and
Production in the person of Engr. Membere (the fifth defendant who then
conveyed the approval to NPDC.
“The Company Secretary and the Legal Department were also copied.
“After the approval and the execution of
the deed of assignment between the minister of petroleum, NNPC and
NPDC, NPDC then entered into negotiations with the strategic partner and
entered into the SAA with the partners. Atlantic Energy by the SAA
were supposed to provide funding and technical services to the NPDC over
this asset as happened with the other assets.”
But he said sometimes in 2013 and 2014 he received complaints that Atlantic Energy was unable to meet its payment obligations.
Regarding the complicity of NAPIMS in
meeting the funding requirements of the assets, Yakubu said, “We got to
know later that NAPIMS made a cash call but I also issued instructions
for them to stop. I also made sure that whatever fund that NAPIMS had
paid was refunded to the federation account by the NNPC.”
At this point, the defence counsel, Rafiu Lawal-Rabana, applied for an adjournment for cross-examination and he was obliged.
Justice Dimgba adjourned till January 20, 2017 for cross-examination of the first prosecution witness by the defence lawyers.
Holy Ghost
Congress—WHILE the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, the Federal
Road Safety Corps, FRSC, the construction giant, Julius Berger and other
stakeholders in the transportation sector assured commuters on the
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway of free flow of traffic, motorists on that axis
yesterday expressed concern over what would happen today when an
unprecedented crowd of worshippers are expected to converge on the
Redemption Camp for the Holy Ghost service of the Holy Ghost Congress.
Commercial drivers plying that road daily either to Ibadan and other
parts of the country who volunteered comments yesterday expressed
concern with many seeking alternative routes to their destinations
between this morning and tomorrow morning as a result of the ongoing
Holy Ghost Congress.
Of the eight commercial bus drivers spoken to yesterday while dropping
off passengers at the different entrances to the Redemption Camp, all on
the condition of anonymity, said they will take today off because of
expected heavy traffic on the road as a result of the church Programme.
But all indications point to the fact that the church has actually put
up a watertight traffic management arrangement to forestall any major
gridlock on the busy expressway.
Heavy traffic
Adeboye
Adeboye
FRSC commander in charge of the Mowe Unit of the Corps, Mr. Oludare
Ogunjobi had assured commuters that his outfit is fully mobilized with
150 regular road marshals, 80 special marshals, 10 patrol vehicles, one
heavy duty towing truck, two ambulances and two power bikes for
effective operations to ensure free-flow of traffic on the busy highway.
The coordinator of RCCG’s volunteer force, Team Nehemiah, Pastor Adeniji
Adejumo, who spoke on behalf of the church’s General Overseer, had also
assured motorists that the construction firm, Julius Berger had created
a corridor for participants at the Holy Ghost Congress to lessen
pressure on the expressway.
“We thank God for the cooporation of Julius Berger and the pace at which
they are working now. One, it graciously opened a bye pass on the long
bridge so that even if there is traffic, motorists can still do a detour
by OPIC and take that bye road to come out at Wawa and continue their
journey to the Redemption Camp. That is good news for us, in addition to
all the good job the Lagos State government is doing at Berger Bus
Stop, via Oworonsoki, Alapere and all those adjoining areas,” Pastor
Adejumo stated.
Asked what to expect today traffic wise, he said definitely there will
be a lot of people moving from different parts of the country towards
the Redemption Camp for what he described as the “grand finale of the
2016 Holy Ghost Congress which is the Holy Ghost service,” maintaining
that as at yesterday the number of people within the camp ground had
risen to an unprecedented height.
FRSC corridor commanders
“We have people arriving from diverse places to the camp and we have put
structures in place to ensure that there is free movement of people for
that purpose. We had a joint meeting with FRSC’s corridor commanders
between Lagos and Ibadan, Road transport workers, truck drivers and
other stakeholders in the sector on Tuesday to fine tune strategies for
the purpose of a hitch-free movement of people on the expressway. We
have collaboration with them to ensure that there is no breakdowns,
accidents as much as possible on the road.
“So everything possible is being done to prepare for the heavy influx of
people to the camp, which had already started. We are also encouraging
our people especially, members of the church to come light. By that I
mean that anybody who has two or three friends, should convey such
friends in one car instead of coming with two or three cars to the camp.
“We also have arranged for people to park their cars at the Old
auditorium and take shuttle buses from there to the new auditorium. For
this purpose, we have secured about 50 LAGBUS which will convey people
to and from the two auditoriums and we believe that we are going to have
a fantastic congress that will not put undue pressure on the road, if
people cooperate with us,” Adejumo emphasised.
According to him, the construction is constraint with time to deliver
the project and may not be able to stop work on sight, noting that “with
the level of work on the project right now the best Julius Berger can
do for us to make sure that whatever they do, the road should be kept
free because they are also arguing that they are constrained for time to
deliver on schedule. So, where they have narrowed down, we have a
towing vehicle that will evacuate any breakdown vehicle or a road crash
so that it would not take long and cause a build up of vehicles.”
Continuing, Adejumo maintained that the construction firm is doing
everything possible to ensure that the road is kept free, stating that
there’s no arrangement for stoppage of work by Julius Berger and
assured: “by the special grace of God, we are going to have a free-flow
of traffic tomorrow (today). So far so good, the programme started on
Monday and I am yet to be told of any negative report on the traffic
management with the plans we have put in place.”
Asked if the church have enough parking lots for all those who will be
converging at the new auditorium for today’s service, Adejumo said: “we
have more than enough. As you know, at the old auditorium, we have about
six parks, not to talk of the unofficial parking opportunities we have
created. At the new Arena, we have another five car parks which can
accommodate 7,500 cars. We are deploying ‘no parking’ signs along all
perimeter roads to prevent indiscriminate parking of vehicles which
often cause obstructions on the roads,”
Soul-winning, deliverance
Adejumo also affirmed that the Lagos State government which has the
equipment has obliged the church with about 30 LASTMA personnel to
maintain traffic on the road.
The Holy Ghost Service, HGS, the flagship of all RCCG spiritual
meetings, has been consistently held for decades now and today, the
crowd in attendance run in the millions every month as a result of
unprecedented spectacular occurrences at such period of high praise,
worship, prayer, soul-winning, deliverance, preaching of undiluted God’s
word with occasional prophetic utterances and revelations, giving rise
to great testimonies of divine hearings and deliverances from various
satanic influences.
No doubt, today’s attendance at the ongoing Holy Ghost Congress will be
unprecedented because the weak, blind, lame and other people with
diverse health conditions as well as women with all manner of
matrimonial challenges are expected to besiege the new 3 kilometre by 3
kilometre auditorium of the church which is still undergoing
construction at the Shimawa area of Ogun State for the icing of the
congress. Many desiring miraculous occurrences to overcome current
economic challenges have started arriving for today’s service.
Andrew Rice, writing in The New York Times, has described the Redeemed
Christian Church of God, RCCG which is hosting the 2016 Holy Ghost
Congress at the Redemption Camp, as “one of (Africa’s) most vigorously
expansionary religious movements, a homegrown Pentecostal denomination
that is crusading to become a global faith”. This year’s theme is:
“Complete Restoration”.
You can resist the Devil if…, —Adeboye
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG,
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye Wednesday night at a special deliverance
service of the ongoing Holy Ghost Congress, led participants in a holy
war against all forms of evil forces and rulers of darkness and charged
all those who are called by the name of Jesus Christ to stay away from
every appearance of evil and embrace righteousness for them to
experience wholesome restoration.
Drawing inspiration from the book of James 4:7, Pastor Adeboye, in a
topic titled; “Resist the devil”, explained that most Christians still
experience various demonic challenges because they have refused to
totally submit their lives to God, saying that any child of God who has
genuinely submitted him/herself to God and consistently does His will,
will not be afraid of the activities of witches and wizards but will
easily keep the devil at bay.
According to him, Christians ought to deal with all the activities of
the evil ones in their life and that one of the reasons most Christians
are afraid of witchcraft is because such people were not 100 per cent
committed to God and that those who are still wallowing in all forms of
evil practices have devil as their master.
In his words: “We have to deal with the devil because he is the original
trouble maker, everything God created was okay before he came to
distort God’s plan for mankind. God will not ask you to do what He knows
you cannot do.
“Devil must be resisted and not worshiped; do not glorify devil, he is
not to be tolerated but dealt with; not to be accommodated, served, nor
loved. The only person you must love is God. Devil must not be
advertised but Jesus Christ—witness more of Christ. Do not associate
with the devil. You cannot be a Christian in the day and a member of a
secret society in the night and you still want to command the devil.
Devil knows those who truly belong to God.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Head of the Executive
Council of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in the UK and
Special Assistant to the General Overseer, Pastor Agu Irukwu speaking on
“The Destiny Changer”, lament that Nigeria, a nation with so much
potentials in its early days, is today running at the very rung of its
developmental index.
According to him, Nigeria which has been prophesied time and time again
to be destined to excel in the continent is today struggling, saying
that that’s not the destiny of the nation. He prophesied that God of
complete restoration would soon turn the table around and restore the
destiny of the nation.
Irukwu who mesmerized the entire congregation by his charismatic
presentation, outlined ways out of current recession, which he said was
as a result of mediocrity handling of the nation’s economy. He said:
“Today, mediocrity sits at the centre stage of the nation. Time was when
our hospitals, schools and all public institutions in the country were
the pride of the continent, but today, it’s a different ball game.”
His nuggets for total transformation of the nation’s prostrate economic
must involve a radical approach to our educational system, stressing
that education must be seen to be cardinal in the needed process, which
must be followed by a steady and progressive effort by the Nigerian
youths to be the real catalysts that will drive the change that Nigeria
desires.
The third nugget recommended by Pastor Irukwu involve a deliberate
revolutional effort by every Nigerian to salvage the dwindling fortunes
of the nation, stressing that “we must all rise to bail out the nation
now for the betterment of our younger generations.”
12 kids delivered
Earlier, Pastor Adeboye announced that the total numbers of children
born during the annual spiritual fiesta as at 5pm on Wednesday was
12—six boys and six girls.
Testimonies
Brother Samson Adelusi, a member of the Church Pastors’ Seed Family
testified to how God delivered him from two fatal accidents back to
back, without sustaining any form of injury or hurt.
Mrs Idowu Abiodun thanked the Almighty God for putting an end to 21
years bareness.
TODAY’S EVENTS
MORNING SESSION
9.00am-10.00am Prayer & Intercession
10.00am-10.30am Praise & Worship
10.30am-11.30am Talk & Prayers: Signs And Wonders
11.30am-12.00 noon Offering
12.00 noon- 1.00pm Ministration
EVENING SESSION
6.00pm-7.00pm Prayer & Intercession
7.00pm – 8.00pm Praise, Worship & Choir
8.00pm- 8.10pm Opening Prayer
8.10pm- 8.30pm Special Prayer One
8.30pm – 9.00pm Talk One & Prayers: The All-sufficient God
9.00pm – 9.40pm First Greetings
9.40pm – 10.10pm Special Prayer Two: The Nation
10.10pm – 10.40pm Offering
10.40pm – 11.20pm Second Greetings
11.20pm – 11.50pm Choir
11.50pm – 1.50am Talk Two & Prayers: Complete Restoration
1.50am – 2.20am Thanksgiving & Testimonies
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-again-rccg-reassures-motorists-of-free-flow-of-traffic/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-again-rccg-reassures-motorists-of-free-flow-of-traffic/
Holy Ghost
Congress—WHILE the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, the Federal
Road Safety Corps, FRSC, the construction giant, Julius Berger and other
stakeholders in the transportation sector assured commuters on the
Lagos-Ibadan Expressway of free flow of traffic, motorists on that axis
yesterday expressed concern over what would happen today when an
unprecedented crowd of worshippers are expected to converge on the
Redemption Camp for the Holy Ghost service of the Holy Ghost Congress.
Commercial drivers plying that road daily either to Ibadan and other
parts of the country who volunteered comments yesterday expressed
concern with many seeking alternative routes to their destinations
between this morning and tomorrow morning as a result of the ongoing
Holy Ghost Congress.
Of the eight commercial bus drivers spoken to yesterday while dropping
off passengers at the different entrances to the Redemption Camp, all on
the condition of anonymity, said they will take today off because of
expected heavy traffic on the road as a result of the church Programme.
But all indications point to the fact that the church has actually put
up a watertight traffic management arrangement to forestall any major
gridlock on the busy expressway.
Heavy traffic
Adeboye
Adeboye
FRSC commander in charge of the Mowe Unit of the Corps, Mr. Oludare
Ogunjobi had assured commuters that his outfit is fully mobilized with
150 regular road marshals, 80 special marshals, 10 patrol vehicles, one
heavy duty towing truck, two ambulances and two power bikes for
effective operations to ensure free-flow of traffic on the busy highway.
The coordinator of RCCG’s volunteer force, Team Nehemiah, Pastor Adeniji
Adejumo, who spoke on behalf of the church’s General Overseer, had also
assured motorists that the construction firm, Julius Berger had created
a corridor for participants at the Holy Ghost Congress to lessen
pressure on the expressway.
“We thank God for the cooporation of Julius Berger and the pace at which
they are working now. One, it graciously opened a bye pass on the long
bridge so that even if there is traffic, motorists can still do a detour
by OPIC and take that bye road to come out at Wawa and continue their
journey to the Redemption Camp. That is good news for us, in addition to
all the good job the Lagos State government is doing at Berger Bus
Stop, via Oworonsoki, Alapere and all those adjoining areas,” Pastor
Adejumo stated.
Asked what to expect today traffic wise, he said definitely there will
be a lot of people moving from different parts of the country towards
the Redemption Camp for what he described as the “grand finale of the
2016 Holy Ghost Congress which is the Holy Ghost service,” maintaining
that as at yesterday the number of people within the camp ground had
risen to an unprecedented height.
FRSC corridor commanders
“We have people arriving from diverse places to the camp and we have put
structures in place to ensure that there is free movement of people for
that purpose. We had a joint meeting with FRSC’s corridor commanders
between Lagos and Ibadan, Road transport workers, truck drivers and
other stakeholders in the sector on Tuesday to fine tune strategies for
the purpose of a hitch-free movement of people on the expressway. We
have collaboration with them to ensure that there is no breakdowns,
accidents as much as possible on the road.
“So everything possible is being done to prepare for the heavy influx of
people to the camp, which had already started. We are also encouraging
our people especially, members of the church to come light. By that I
mean that anybody who has two or three friends, should convey such
friends in one car instead of coming with two or three cars to the camp.
“We also have arranged for people to park their cars at the Old
auditorium and take shuttle buses from there to the new auditorium. For
this purpose, we have secured about 50 LAGBUS which will convey people
to and from the two auditoriums and we believe that we are going to have
a fantastic congress that will not put undue pressure on the road, if
people cooperate with us,” Adejumo emphasised.
According to him, the construction is constraint with time to deliver
the project and may not be able to stop work on sight, noting that “with
the level of work on the project right now the best Julius Berger can
do for us to make sure that whatever they do, the road should be kept
free because they are also arguing that they are constrained for time to
deliver on schedule. So, where they have narrowed down, we have a
towing vehicle that will evacuate any breakdown vehicle or a road crash
so that it would not take long and cause a build up of vehicles.”
Continuing, Adejumo maintained that the construction firm is doing
everything possible to ensure that the road is kept free, stating that
there’s no arrangement for stoppage of work by Julius Berger and
assured: “by the special grace of God, we are going to have a free-flow
of traffic tomorrow (today). So far so good, the programme started on
Monday and I am yet to be told of any negative report on the traffic
management with the plans we have put in place.”
Asked if the church have enough parking lots for all those who will be
converging at the new auditorium for today’s service, Adejumo said: “we
have more than enough. As you know, at the old auditorium, we have about
six parks, not to talk of the unofficial parking opportunities we have
created. At the new Arena, we have another five car parks which can
accommodate 7,500 cars. We are deploying ‘no parking’ signs along all
perimeter roads to prevent indiscriminate parking of vehicles which
often cause obstructions on the roads,”
Soul-winning, deliverance
Adejumo also affirmed that the Lagos State government which has the
equipment has obliged the church with about 30 LASTMA personnel to
maintain traffic on the road.
The Holy Ghost Service, HGS, the flagship of all RCCG spiritual
meetings, has been consistently held for decades now and today, the
crowd in attendance run in the millions every month as a result of
unprecedented spectacular occurrences at such period of high praise,
worship, prayer, soul-winning, deliverance, preaching of undiluted God’s
word with occasional prophetic utterances and revelations, giving rise
to great testimonies of divine hearings and deliverances from various
satanic influences.
No doubt, today’s attendance at the ongoing Holy Ghost Congress will be
unprecedented because the weak, blind, lame and other people with
diverse health conditions as well as women with all manner of
matrimonial challenges are expected to besiege the new 3 kilometre by 3
kilometre auditorium of the church which is still undergoing
construction at the Shimawa area of Ogun State for the icing of the
congress. Many desiring miraculous occurrences to overcome current
economic challenges have started arriving for today’s service.
Andrew Rice, writing in The New York Times, has described the Redeemed
Christian Church of God, RCCG which is hosting the 2016 Holy Ghost
Congress at the Redemption Camp, as “one of (Africa’s) most vigorously
expansionary religious movements, a homegrown Pentecostal denomination
that is crusading to become a global faith”. This year’s theme is:
“Complete Restoration”.
You can resist the Devil if…, —Adeboye
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG,
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye Wednesday night at a special deliverance
service of the ongoing Holy Ghost Congress, led participants in a holy
war against all forms of evil forces and rulers of darkness and charged
all those who are called by the name of Jesus Christ to stay away from
every appearance of evil and embrace righteousness for them to
experience wholesome restoration.
Drawing inspiration from the book of James 4:7, Pastor Adeboye, in a
topic titled; “Resist the devil”, explained that most Christians still
experience various demonic challenges because they have refused to
totally submit their lives to God, saying that any child of God who has
genuinely submitted him/herself to God and consistently does His will,
will not be afraid of the activities of witches and wizards but will
easily keep the devil at bay.
According to him, Christians ought to deal with all the activities of
the evil ones in their life and that one of the reasons most Christians
are afraid of witchcraft is because such people were not 100 per cent
committed to God and that those who are still wallowing in all forms of
evil practices have devil as their master.
In his words: “We have to deal with the devil because he is the original
trouble maker, everything God created was okay before he came to
distort God’s plan for mankind. God will not ask you to do what He knows
you cannot do.
“Devil must be resisted and not worshiped; do not glorify devil, he is
not to be tolerated but dealt with; not to be accommodated, served, nor
loved. The only person you must love is God. Devil must not be
advertised but Jesus Christ—witness more of Christ. Do not associate
with the devil. You cannot be a Christian in the day and a member of a
secret society in the night and you still want to command the devil.
Devil knows those who truly belong to God.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Head of the Executive
Council of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in the UK and
Special Assistant to the General Overseer, Pastor Agu Irukwu speaking on
“The Destiny Changer”, lament that Nigeria, a nation with so much
potentials in its early days, is today running at the very rung of its
developmental index.
According to him, Nigeria which has been prophesied time and time again
to be destined to excel in the continent is today struggling, saying
that that’s not the destiny of the nation. He prophesied that God of
complete restoration would soon turn the table around and restore the
destiny of the nation.
Irukwu who mesmerized the entire congregation by his charismatic
presentation, outlined ways out of current recession, which he said was
as a result of mediocrity handling of the nation’s economy. He said:
“Today, mediocrity sits at the centre stage of the nation. Time was when
our hospitals, schools and all public institutions in the country were
the pride of the continent, but today, it’s a different ball game.”
His nuggets for total transformation of the nation’s prostrate economic
must involve a radical approach to our educational system, stressing
that education must be seen to be cardinal in the needed process, which
must be followed by a steady and progressive effort by the Nigerian
youths to be the real catalysts that will drive the change that Nigeria
desires.
The third nugget recommended by Pastor Irukwu involve a deliberate
revolutional effort by every Nigerian to salvage the dwindling fortunes
of the nation, stressing that “we must all rise to bail out the nation
now for the betterment of our younger generations.”
12 kids delivered
Earlier, Pastor Adeboye announced that the total numbers of children
born during the annual spiritual fiesta as at 5pm on Wednesday was
12—six boys and six girls.
Testimonies
Brother Samson Adelusi, a member of the Church Pastors’ Seed Family
testified to how God delivered him from two fatal accidents back to
back, without sustaining any form of injury or hurt.
Mrs Idowu Abiodun thanked the Almighty God for putting an end to 21
years bareness.
TODAY’S EVENTS
MORNING SESSION
9.00am-10.00am Prayer & Intercession
10.00am-10.30am Praise & Worship
10.30am-11.30am Talk & Prayers: Signs And Wonders
11.30am-12.00 noon Offering
12.00 noon- 1.00pm Ministration
EVENING SESSION
6.00pm-7.00pm Prayer & Intercession
7.00pm – 8.00pm Praise, Worship & Choir
8.00pm- 8.10pm Opening Prayer
8.10pm- 8.30pm Special Prayer One
8.30pm – 9.00pm Talk One & Prayers: The All-sufficient God
9.00pm – 9.40pm First Greetings
9.40pm – 10.10pm Special Prayer Two: The Nation
10.10pm – 10.40pm Offering
10.40pm – 11.20pm Second Greetings
11.20pm – 11.50pm Choir
11.50pm – 1.50am Talk Two & Prayers: Complete Restoration
1.50am – 2.20am Thanksgiving & Testimonies
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-again-rccg-reassures-motorists-of-free-flow-of-traffic/
By Sam Eyoboka & Olayinka LatonaRead more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-again-rccg-reassures-motorists-of-free-flow-of-traffic/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
INDICATIONS emerged,
yesterday, that security agencies in the United Kingdom may have
commenced investigation on the suspended former chairman of House of
Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Abdulmumin Jibrin, for
allegedly owning and operating multiple accounts in Barclays and other
banks in Europe and America.
This came barely 24 hours after the anti corruption unit of the National
Youth Council of Nigeria ,NYCN, alleged that it had uncovered five
foreign bank accounts operated by Jibrin.
But in a swift reaction, Jibrin denied the allegations against him,
describing them as mere blackmail and tissues of lies by paid agents to
tarnish his reputation.
An unconfirmed report has it that the United Kingdom Financial
Intelligence Unit, UKFIU, and the National Crime Agency had provided
information on various bank accounts maintained in the UK by Jibrin.
But the former House Appropriation Chairman, who issued a statement on
the allegations, admitted that he used one of the accounts to buy a
house in London, located at 1, Cotswold Gardens, London, NW 1PE.
Jibrin said: “My attention has been drawn, for the umpteenth time, to
yet again another bunch of lies and misinformation by the discredited
and so called “anti corruption unit” of the “Nigerian Youth Council
whose only client now is the cabal of the House of Representatives.
“On the latest misinformation, the Barclays accounts were opened long
before I joined the House. All the accounts, including the Euro and
dollar, are dormant with no transaction whatsoever as claimed and
balance of 1 euro and 1 dollar respectively until they were closed.
Abdumumin Jibrin
Abdumumin Jibrin
“The mortgage account which I used to buy 81 Cotswold Garden in 2009 is
non-performing and has been in debit.”
“On the piece of land in my village, it is owned by local farmers who
are willing to donate such lands so long as it will be used to bring
massive development to our town.
“The allegations are false and concocted to portray me in bad light in
the eyes of the public. I, therefore, wish to state that the allegations
are an extension of the witch hunt by the corrupt cabal in the House.”
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/uk-crime-agency-beams-searchlight-on-jibrins-alleged-5-foreign-accounts/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/uk-crime-agency-beams-searchlight-on-jibrins-alleged-5-foreign-accounts/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
THE ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is a spiritual
gathering of expectant worshippers desiring divine solutions to their
numerous socio-economic and very often health challenges, including some
out-of-the-ordinary phenomenons like bareness and deadly medical
situations.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
The spiritual fiesta since its inception on December 18, 1998 with a
theme; “Divine Visitation,” at the Lekki area of Lagos has been yearly
underscored by undeniable spectacular miraculous occurrences which
attracts millions of people to the Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
venue.
Spectacular happenings
Despite the spectacular happenings during the various meetings where
several men of God complement the efforts of the General Overseer of the
mission, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye to win souls for Christ through
miraculous happenings and solving purely physical as well as spiritual
challenges with abundant testimonies which are responsible for the huge
attendants each time, the mission has not only developed the Redemption
Camp into a vibrant town, it makes deliberate efforts to daily upgrade
facilities therein for the benefit of residents and participants who may
not immediately receive their miracles instantaneously.
Unlike many Nigerian human habitations where existence is dreary, nasty
and often extremely disorganised, the Redeemed Camp is a town that
works. The air is clean and fresh, the roads are free of potholes, and
the general decay associated with urban living in Nigeria is almost
non-existent. Electricity supply is uninterrupted, clean water runs at
the tap, environment is sanitised and decent transportation system is in
place. Sanity and serenity of the City might not be as a result of
prayers, praise and worship. Rather authorities in the town have made
deliberate efforts to implement rules and regulations to ensure that the
place is not turned to another Nigerian nightmare.
Since moving to the camp ground, the first family of the RCCG had faced
several challenges, including that of a phenomenal growth with attendant
challenge of providing adequate facilities to meet the needs of the
growing population of residents and visiting millions of adherents
seeking God in diverse ways especially Nigerians bogged down by ailing
economy which can no longer sustain their incomes.
Vanguard took time out of the Congress happenings to find out about
other facilities in the Camp.
Reacting to a Vanguard inquiry about the state of security in the large
Camp which is hosting a mammoth crowd of worshippers at this year’s Holy
Ghost Congress, a pastor who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that
he was only able to say that the church had actually put in place
measures that will guarantee safety of lives and property.
Similarly, the church’s head of the Medical Team, Pastor Femi Adeyemi,
who volunteered comments on medical facilities in the camp, assured that
medical facilities in the camp are being consistently upgraded to meet
medical challenges during the congress. According to him, though the
mission believes in divine health, but adequate arrangements must be put
in place to forestall any medical eventualities.
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
THE ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is a spiritual
gathering of expectant worshippers desiring divine solutions to their
numerous socio-economic and very often health challenges, including some
out-of-the-ordinary phenomenons like bareness and deadly medical
situations.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
The spiritual fiesta since its inception on December 18, 1998 with a
theme; “Divine Visitation,” at the Lekki area of Lagos has been yearly
underscored by undeniable spectacular miraculous occurrences which
attracts millions of people to the Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
venue.
Spectacular happenings
Despite the spectacular happenings during the various meetings where
several men of God complement the efforts of the General Overseer of the
mission, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye to win souls for Christ through
miraculous happenings and solving purely physical as well as spiritual
challenges with abundant testimonies which are responsible for the huge
attendants each time, the mission has not only developed the Redemption
Camp into a vibrant town, it makes deliberate efforts to daily upgrade
facilities therein for the benefit of residents and participants who may
not immediately receive their miracles instantaneously.
Unlike many Nigerian human habitations where existence is dreary, nasty
and often extremely disorganised, the Redeemed Camp is a town that
works. The air is clean and fresh, the roads are free of potholes, and
the general decay associated with urban living in Nigeria is almost
non-existent. Electricity supply is uninterrupted, clean water runs at
the tap, environment is sanitised and decent transportation system is in
place. Sanity and serenity of the City might not be as a result of
prayers, praise and worship. Rather authorities in the town have made
deliberate efforts to implement rules and regulations to ensure that the
place is not turned to another Nigerian nightmare.
Since moving to the camp ground, the first family of the RCCG had faced
several challenges, including that of a phenomenal growth with attendant
challenge of providing adequate facilities to meet the needs of the
growing population of residents and visiting millions of adherents
seeking God in diverse ways especially Nigerians bogged down by ailing
economy which can no longer sustain their incomes.
Vanguard took time out of the Congress happenings to find out about
other facilities in the Camp.
Reacting to a Vanguard inquiry about the state of security in the large
Camp which is hosting a mammoth crowd of worshippers at this year’s Holy
Ghost Congress, a pastor who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that
he was only able to say that the church had actually put in place
measures that will guarantee safety of lives and property.
Similarly, the church’s head of the Medical Team, Pastor Femi Adeyemi,
who volunteered comments on medical facilities in the camp, assured that
medical facilities in the camp are being consistently upgraded to meet
medical challenges during the congress. According to him, though the
mission believes in divine health, but adequate arrangements must be put
in place to forestall any medical eventualities.Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
THE ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is a spiritual
gathering of expectant worshippers desiring divine solutions to their
numerous socio-economic and very often health challenges, including some
out-of-the-ordinary phenomenons like bareness and deadly medical
situations.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
The spiritual fiesta since its inception on December 18, 1998 with a
theme; “Divine Visitation,” at the Lekki area of Lagos has been yearly
underscored by undeniable spectacular miraculous occurrences which
attracts millions of people to the Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
venue.
Spectacular happenings
Despite the spectacular happenings during the various meetings where
several men of God complement the efforts of the General Overseer of the
mission, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye to win souls for Christ through
miraculous happenings and solving purely physical as well as spiritual
challenges with abundant testimonies which are responsible for the huge
attendants each time, the mission has not only developed the Redemption
Camp into a vibrant town, it makes deliberate efforts to daily upgrade
facilities therein for the benefit of residents and participants who may
not immediately receive their miracles instantaneously.
Unlike many Nigerian human habitations where existence is dreary, nasty
and often extremely disorganised, the Redeemed Camp is a town that
works. The air is clean and fresh, the roads are free of potholes, and
the general decay associated with urban living in Nigeria is almost
non-existent. Electricity supply is uninterrupted, clean water runs at
the tap, environment is sanitised and decent transportation system is in
place. Sanity and serenity of the City might not be as a result of
prayers, praise and worship. Rather authorities in the town have made
deliberate efforts to implement rules and regulations to ensure that the
place is not turned to another Nigerian nightmare.
Since moving to the camp ground, the first family of the RCCG had faced
several challenges, including that of a phenomenal growth with attendant
challenge of providing adequate facilities to meet the needs of the
growing population of residents and visiting millions of adherents
seeking God in diverse ways especially Nigerians bogged down by ailing
economy which can no longer sustain their incomes.
Vanguard took time out of the Congress happenings to find out about
other facilities in the Camp.
Reacting to a Vanguard inquiry about the state of security in the large
Camp which is hosting a mammoth crowd of worshippers at this year’s Holy
Ghost Congress, a pastor who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that
he was only able to say that the church had actually put in place
measures that will guarantee safety of lives and property.
Similarly, the church’s head of the Medical Team, Pastor Femi Adeyemi,
who volunteered comments on medical facilities in the camp, assured that
medical facilities in the camp are being consistently upgraded to meet
medical challenges during the congress. According to him, though the
mission believes in divine health, but adequate arrangements must be put
in place to forestall any medical eventualities.
State of preparedness
Asked about the state of preparedness, he said: “We are good to go as
usual. There are things that we normally do and all those things are
already in place. Whenever we have programmes like this, we have things
we deliver on. When you look at the way the camp is, we have many
facilities within the camp. We have the maternity and it’s fully ready
as usual.
We have the Arena Clinic which is usually the hub for most of the
activities. If you get there now, you will see that everything is in
place and people have started coming in.
“Red Cross is already there. We cannot fully restrict the direction of
flow of vehicular movements, we also have mobile clinics scattered all
over the place. We have about eight ambulances, fully equipped. We have
the health centre which is like a secondary facility where you can do
all sort things including surgery. We also do surgery in the maternity
now.
“Then when you go to the new arena, there are two places, one close to
the G.O’s office and is fully equipped. Right under the altar where you
have the ushers, we also have a big facility there. There are three big
ambulances in specific locations and mobile clinics that will be
scattered around the place.
“The issue now is that should there be need for anything, it’s a matter
of knowing who is in charge. We are all doctors but when the chips are
down, if you need a general surgeon, a gyneacologist, psychiatrist and
whatever, we have specialists. That’s the way the whole thing is
coordinated.”
“The game plan is this, during the convention, we had about three to
four deliveries in the new auditorium. If we hadn’t prepared for that,
we wouldn’t have been able to do that there. We know occasionally
whenever we have big human flow, we normally have issues with traffic,
so what we do is, whatever may be the issue or circumstances we have on
our hands, we should be able to manage from any point at least for the
first 48 to 72 hours after which if we want to say we want to evacuate;
the evacuation we do per se will be within the camp ground.
“If you want to move someone now from the new auditorium, it’s either we
move the person to the clinic at the old arena or we move him to the
health center. So that’s the way we work. God forbid, should we have a
case that is unusual or very heavy, like I told you, whenever we are on
ground like this, the human resource we have is because we have such
kind of human resource that’s why people gather from all over the
country. The moment the program finishes and we can’t continue with this
management, we now evacuate to wherever. We don’t just take people to
wherever, we still evacuate them to places where we are very influential
to ensure a good outcome of whatever happens,” Dr. Adeyemi explained.
He also took time to explain why heavily pregnant women take the risk of
travelling long distances to the camp during similar programmes, saying
“most of the times, when people have issues, they find it difficult to
open their mouth to say it. The bible says the name of the Lord is a
strong tower and the righteous runs in to it and are saved. There are so
many things that happen to people that when they come they cannot open
their mouth to say it but it’s between them and God. And we cannot deny
them that factor. Just like we see heavily pregnant women, we also see
people who discharge themselves from hospitals. If people discharge
themselves from hospitals to come to the camp, it gives you the kind of
idea of what things are.”
As the end of the year approaches with harmattan dusts, what are the
likely health challenges that people have especially when in a crowd
like that?
“One of the very common things is to do with issues with cold, malaria,
diarrhea. And occasionally people get dehydrated and exhausted. You can
imagine walking from the junction to the new auditorium. Even if you are
a sports person, by the time you get there, you will be tired. So what
we do is if the place is dusty, we have lots of face masks. There are
facilities like nebulae in all of the ambulances. We invest so much in
that. We have the ones that just battery operated. For exhaustion, we
give the person some water to drink and glucose and they are good to go.
“Occasionally whenever we have gathering like this, medically, there are
some things we call cold cases and there are things we call emergency.
Most people come with cold cases because they know that on grounds like
this, they are going to get everything free. Some come with old sores or
wounds in the leg, these are not emergencies. But they will still come
knowing fully well that when they come, they will be attended to and
given their medication. We don’t drive them away. They are also welcomed
within the one week and they are done and out. At times when we have
programs like this and every other person is gone, some of us will still
be here running around to make sure that every person that came and
were moved somewhere are doing well. That has reduced dramatically now,”
Dr. Adeyemi volunteered.
Asked what the cost implication of such medicals to the mission, he
hesitated before saying: “There’s a tangible cost and intangible cost.
And many at times, the intangible cost far outweighs the tangible cost.
When it comes to the issue of medication, funds are provided for us to
do some things. But can any fund ever be enough? There’s no parish
that’s ever enough. The reason the auditorium is not fenced is because
it keeps on expanding. But one thing I can tell you is this, should we
exhaust everything we have, which has never happened before, all we need
to do is to cry out for help. You don’t want anybody to die….”
Adeboye lists conditions for healing virtues
Chief host of Holy Ghost Congress, Pastor Enoch Adeboye Tuesday night
outlined ways to attract the healing vistures of God, which include
living a holy life and a life of soul winning, stressing that many
Christians are yet to realise the danger of not winning souls.
Pastor Adeboye began by saying that not all deaths are sudden, some
death creep in to human beings in a very slow manner, warning also of
the danger of taking human lives because, according to him, the life of
the animal is embedded in the blood.
He maintained that the healing virtue of the Creator of the Universe can
only be attracted to a life devoid of sin, “as powerful as the Lord
Presence is, if there is any little sin in any life, there will be no
healing. So, many Christians do not even know what sin is, because if
they do, they would see the urgent need to deal with it.”
Continuing, taking an exhaustive voyage through bible passages, he
maintained that the one desires the healing virtue of Jesus Christ must
be an avid soul winner, drawing attention to the bible book of John
15:1-10 and Mark 2:1-12, both of which carried a warning from Jesus
Christ when, he said: “….every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he
will hue down…. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a
branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire,
and they are burned.”
Adeboye then opined that until sins are dealt with and forsaken totally,
you will not encounter that healing power of Jesus Christ. According to
him, all those living holy lives now, cannot be bothered by the hues
and cries of a prostrate economy because “when they say there is no
money in the country, don’t believe that. Where did the all the money
go? Did the money just evaporate from the land? When the restoration of
God comes, the nation’s money will exchange hands.”
There certainly will be a complete restoration in the land, “because
what God cannot do, cannot be done.”
Recession: Meduoye assures participants of God’s intervention
GENERAL Superintendent of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev.
Felix Meduoye has reassured Nigerians that God has the capacity to turn
the current economic downturn around for the good of the nation and its
citizens.
Delivering one of the two sermons of Day Two of the ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress on Tuesday night, Rev Meduoye said the theme of the Congress,
“Complete Restoration” was very apt and timely as God will cause divine
restoration for the Nigerian people, saying: “When you are restored, you
will eat in plenty, even in time of famine and recession.”
Speaking on the topic: “Fullness of Joy”, Meduoye said that happiness is
good but joy is deeper, absolute and also satisfies the soul and that
joy is an important element in the kingdom of God and also essential in a
man’s life.
Describing God as the only source of true joy, the cleric stressed that
when God is the source of one’s joy, such joy will be continuous and
endures for ever and that such joy can be contacted in God’s presence.
He warned that those who abandon God’s presence are exposed to danger
and cannot experience fullness of Joy.
He emphasised that God is the source of joy and anyone desiring joy,
must take some three very fundamental steps which include accepting
Jesus Christ; abiding in Him always and a consistent lifestyle of
purity.
The Foursquare General Superintendent, warned the congregation that sin
is a killer of Joy hence Christians should always be the carrier of
God’s presence, live a lifestyle of purity, praise, praying and
preaching the gospel and not forsake the gathering of the brethren.
Glory of Nigeria will be restored, said Rev. Rathod
UNITED States-based Indian preacher and senior pastor of Covenant Family
Church, Pastor Stephen Rathod, a spiritual son of the founder of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God, Rev. Josiah Akindayomi yesterday
predicted a restoration for Nigeria economy while ministering at the
ongoing Holy Ghost Congress.
Born in India and graduated from high school at the age of 16 in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat India, Pastor Rathod entered Gujarat University in
1966 and graduated in 1970, with a B.Sc in Chemistry and a Masters
degree in Organic Chemistry from the same university. Speaking on a
topic titled; “Faith to recover all”, the Rathod who was ordained pastor
by the founder of RCCG, late Rev. Akindayomi in Lagos, Nigeria in 1980,
lamented the current state of the Nigerian economy.
“I came to this great nation called Nigeria for the first time in
December 1979 that was 37 years ago. I love Nigeria. Nigeria is God’s
country and it will be made whole again in the name of Jesus. When I
came to this country and landed at the Lagos airport way back in 1979, I
had to give $1.80 to get N1. Today, I am told to give $1 to get N480.
As a prophet of God, I declare that the glory of Nigeria will be
restored,” he streamed loudly and got a corresponding loud response.
Before I came the Lord asked me to declare this: any prophecy that has
not come to pass, I heard God say to me: “I will watch over it to
perform My word. It will come to pass speedily.
It’ll be delayed any more. It’ll not be denied. I will see the glory of
God manifest in Nigeria. I will not only see it, I will enjoy it.”
Earlier, he enjoined his listeners to always be steadfast and be
diligent in their service to God which will be the tonic to attract the
blessings of the Almighty, emphasising that Christians need to activate
their faith like the biblical account of the woman with the issue of
blood, who declared that she would be made whole from her debilitating
condition.
“Do not just be the hearer of the word, but the doers of the word,” he
said, noting that faith moved the woman to her victory.
…Kenyan archbishop also predicts restoration for Nigerian economy
A Pentecostal Archbishop from Kenya, Archbishop Gerry Kibarabara, winner
of last year’s GBR Global Business Roundtable Leadership Award for his
outstanding contribution to business in Africa, who is attending the
ongoing Holy Ghost Congress, also commended the wisdom that produced the
theme of this year’s congress, saying it was rife for Africa to
experience a complete restoration.
Bringing greetings from bishops in the East Africa sub region of the
continent, the archbishop expressed delight and appreciation to the
vision of the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye who he described
as a veritable source of inspiration to other religious leaders across
the continent, especially the East African sub-region.
“He is our father and because this year’s theme is very timely because
the time is rife for a complete restoration of all the continent had
lost for one reason or the other. Collectively, we pray that the economy
of Nigeria which is currently under, will be restored during this Holy
Ghost congress. The Naira will be restored in the name of Jesus,” he
prayed
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
THE ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is a spiritual
gathering of expectant worshippers desiring divine solutions to their
numerous socio-economic and very often health challenges, including some
out-of-the-ordinary phenomenons like bareness and deadly medical
situations.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
The spiritual fiesta since its inception on December 18, 1998 with a
theme; “Divine Visitation,” at the Lekki area of Lagos has been yearly
underscored by undeniable spectacular miraculous occurrences which
attracts millions of people to the Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
venue.
Spectacular happenings
Despite the spectacular happenings during the various meetings where
several men of God complement the efforts of the General Overseer of the
mission, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye to win souls for Christ through
miraculous happenings and solving purely physical as well as spiritual
challenges with abundant testimonies which are responsible for the huge
attendants each time, the mission has not only developed the Redemption
Camp into a vibrant town, it makes deliberate efforts to daily upgrade
facilities therein for the benefit of residents and participants who may
not immediately receive their miracles instantaneously.
Unlike many Nigerian human habitations where existence is dreary, nasty
and often extremely disorganised, the Redeemed Camp is a town that
works. The air is clean and fresh, the roads are free of potholes, and
the general decay associated with urban living in Nigeria is almost
non-existent. Electricity supply is uninterrupted, clean water runs at
the tap, environment is sanitised and decent transportation system is in
place. Sanity and serenity of the City might not be as a result of
prayers, praise and worship. Rather authorities in the town have made
deliberate efforts to implement rules and regulations to ensure that the
place is not turned to another Nigerian nightmare.
Since moving to the camp ground, the first family of the RCCG had faced
several challenges, including that of a phenomenal growth with attendant
challenge of providing adequate facilities to meet the needs of the
growing population of residents and visiting millions of adherents
seeking God in diverse ways especially Nigerians bogged down by ailing
economy which can no longer sustain their incomes.
Vanguard took time out of the Congress happenings to find out about
other facilities in the Camp.
Reacting to a Vanguard inquiry about the state of security in the large
Camp which is hosting a mammoth crowd of worshippers at this year’s Holy
Ghost Congress, a pastor who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that
he was only able to say that the church had actually put in place
measures that will guarantee safety of lives and property.
Similarly, the church’s head of the Medical Team, Pastor Femi Adeyemi,
who volunteered comments on medical facilities in the camp, assured that
medical facilities in the camp are being consistently upgraded to meet
medical challenges during the congress. According to him, though the
mission believes in divine health, but adequate arrangements must be put
in place to forestall any medical eventualities.
State of preparedness
Asked about the state of preparedness, he said: “We are good to go as
usual. There are things that we normally do and all those things are
already in place. Whenever we have programmes like this, we have things
we deliver on. When you look at the way the camp is, we have many
facilities within the camp. We have the maternity and it’s fully ready
as usual.
We have the Arena Clinic which is usually the hub for most of the
activities. If you get there now, you will see that everything is in
place and people have started coming in.
“Red Cross is already there. We cannot fully restrict the direction of
flow of vehicular movements, we also have mobile clinics scattered all
over the place. We have about eight ambulances, fully equipped. We have
the health centre which is like a secondary facility where you can do
all sort things including surgery. We also do surgery in the maternity
now.
“Then when you go to the new arena, there are two places, one close to
the G.O’s office and is fully equipped. Right under the altar where you
have the ushers, we also have a big facility there. There are three big
ambulances in specific locations and mobile clinics that will be
scattered around the place.
“The issue now is that should there be need for anything, it’s a matter
of knowing who is in charge. We are all doctors but when the chips are
down, if you need a general surgeon, a gyneacologist, psychiatrist and
whatever, we have specialists. That’s the way the whole thing is
coordinated.”
“The game plan is this, during the convention, we had about three to
four deliveries in the new auditorium. If we hadn’t prepared for that,
we wouldn’t have been able to do that there. We know occasionally
whenever we have big human flow, we normally have issues with traffic,
so what we do is, whatever may be the issue or circumstances we have on
our hands, we should be able to manage from any point at least for the
first 48 to 72 hours after which if we want to say we want to evacuate;
the evacuation we do per se will be within the camp ground.
“If you want to move someone now from the new auditorium, it’s either we
move the person to the clinic at the old arena or we move him to the
health center. So that’s the way we work. God forbid, should we have a
case that is unusual or very heavy, like I told you, whenever we are on
ground like this, the human resource we have is because we have such
kind of human resource that’s why people gather from all over the
country. The moment the program finishes and we can’t continue with this
management, we now evacuate to wherever. We don’t just take people to
wherever, we still evacuate them to places where we are very influential
to ensure a good outcome of whatever happens,” Dr. Adeyemi explained.
He also took time to explain why heavily pregnant women take the risk of
travelling long distances to the camp during similar programmes, saying
“most of the times, when people have issues, they find it difficult to
open their mouth to say it. The bible says the name of the Lord is a
strong tower and the righteous runs in to it and are saved. There are so
many things that happen to people that when they come they cannot open
their mouth to say it but it’s between them and God. And we cannot deny
them that factor. Just like we see heavily pregnant women, we also see
people who discharge themselves from hospitals. If people discharge
themselves from hospitals to come to the camp, it gives you the kind of
idea of what things are.”
As the end of the year approaches with harmattan dusts, what are the
likely health challenges that people have especially when in a crowd
like that?
“One of the very common things is to do with issues with cold, malaria,
diarrhea. And occasionally people get dehydrated and exhausted. You can
imagine walking from the junction to the new auditorium. Even if you are
a sports person, by the time you get there, you will be tired. So what
we do is if the place is dusty, we have lots of face masks. There are
facilities like nebulae in all of the ambulances. We invest so much in
that. We have the ones that just battery operated. For exhaustion, we
give the person some water to drink and glucose and they are good to go.
“Occasionally whenever we have gathering like this, medically, there are
some things we call cold cases and there are things we call emergency.
Most people come with cold cases because they know that on grounds like
this, they are going to get everything free. Some come with old sores or
wounds in the leg, these are not emergencies. But they will still come
knowing fully well that when they come, they will be attended to and
given their medication. We don’t drive them away. They are also welcomed
within the one week and they are done and out. At times when we have
programs like this and every other person is gone, some of us will still
be here running around to make sure that every person that came and
were moved somewhere are doing well. That has reduced dramatically now,”
Dr. Adeyemi volunteered.
Asked what the cost implication of such medicals to the mission, he
hesitated before saying: “There’s a tangible cost and intangible cost.
And many at times, the intangible cost far outweighs the tangible cost.
When it comes to the issue of medication, funds are provided for us to
do some things. But can any fund ever be enough? There’s no parish
that’s ever enough. The reason the auditorium is not fenced is because
it keeps on expanding. But one thing I can tell you is this, should we
exhaust everything we have, which has never happened before, all we need
to do is to cry out for help. You don’t want anybody to die….”
Adeboye lists conditions for healing virtues
Chief host of Holy Ghost Congress, Pastor Enoch Adeboye Tuesday night
outlined ways to attract the healing vistures of God, which include
living a holy life and a life of soul winning, stressing that many
Christians are yet to realise the danger of not winning souls.
Pastor Adeboye began by saying that not all deaths are sudden, some
death creep in to human beings in a very slow manner, warning also of
the danger of taking human lives because, according to him, the life of
the animal is embedded in the blood.
He maintained that the healing virtue of the Creator of the Universe can
only be attracted to a life devoid of sin, “as powerful as the Lord
Presence is, if there is any little sin in any life, there will be no
healing. So, many Christians do not even know what sin is, because if
they do, they would see the urgent need to deal with it.”
Continuing, taking an exhaustive voyage through bible passages, he
maintained that the one desires the healing virtue of Jesus Christ must
be an avid soul winner, drawing attention to the bible book of John
15:1-10 and Mark 2:1-12, both of which carried a warning from Jesus
Christ when, he said: “….every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he
will hue down…. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a
branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire,
and they are burned.”
Adeboye then opined that until sins are dealt with and forsaken totally,
you will not encounter that healing power of Jesus Christ. According to
him, all those living holy lives now, cannot be bothered by the hues
and cries of a prostrate economy because “when they say there is no
money in the country, don’t believe that. Where did the all the money
go? Did the money just evaporate from the land? When the restoration of
God comes, the nation’s money will exchange hands.”
There certainly will be a complete restoration in the land, “because
what God cannot do, cannot be done.”
Recession: Meduoye assures participants of God’s intervention
GENERAL Superintendent of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev.
Felix Meduoye has reassured Nigerians that God has the capacity to turn
the current economic downturn around for the good of the nation and its
citizens.
Delivering one of the two sermons of Day Two of the ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress on Tuesday night, Rev Meduoye said the theme of the Congress,
“Complete Restoration” was very apt and timely as God will cause divine
restoration for the Nigerian people, saying: “When you are restored, you
will eat in plenty, even in time of famine and recession.”
Speaking on the topic: “Fullness of Joy”, Meduoye said that happiness is
good but joy is deeper, absolute and also satisfies the soul and that
joy is an important element in the kingdom of God and also essential in a
man’s life.
Describing God as the only source of true joy, the cleric stressed that
when God is the source of one’s joy, such joy will be continuous and
endures for ever and that such joy can be contacted in God’s presence.
He warned that those who abandon God’s presence are exposed to danger
and cannot experience fullness of Joy.
He emphasised that God is the source of joy and anyone desiring joy,
must take some three very fundamental steps which include accepting
Jesus Christ; abiding in Him always and a consistent lifestyle of
purity.
The Foursquare General Superintendent, warned the congregation that sin
is a killer of Joy hence Christians should always be the carrier of
God’s presence, live a lifestyle of purity, praise, praying and
preaching the gospel and not forsake the gathering of the brethren.
Glory of Nigeria will be restored, said Rev. Rathod
UNITED States-based Indian preacher and senior pastor of Covenant Family
Church, Pastor Stephen Rathod, a spiritual son of the founder of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God, Rev. Josiah Akindayomi yesterday
predicted a restoration for Nigeria economy while ministering at the
ongoing Holy Ghost Congress.
Born in India and graduated from high school at the age of 16 in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat India, Pastor Rathod entered Gujarat University in
1966 and graduated in 1970, with a B.Sc in Chemistry and a Masters
degree in Organic Chemistry from the same university. Speaking on a
topic titled; “Faith to recover all”, the Rathod who was ordained pastor
by the founder of RCCG, late Rev. Akindayomi in Lagos, Nigeria in 1980,
lamented the current state of the Nigerian economy.
“I came to this great nation called Nigeria for the first time in
December 1979 that was 37 years ago. I love Nigeria. Nigeria is God’s
country and it will be made whole again in the name of Jesus. When I
came to this country and landed at the Lagos airport way back in 1979, I
had to give $1.80 to get N1. Today, I am told to give $1 to get N480.
As a prophet of God, I declare that the glory of Nigeria will be
restored,” he streamed loudly and got a corresponding loud response.
Before I came the Lord asked me to declare this: any prophecy that has
not come to pass, I heard God say to me: “I will watch over it to
perform My word. It will come to pass speedily.
It’ll be delayed any more. It’ll not be denied. I will see the glory of
God manifest in Nigeria. I will not only see it, I will enjoy it.”
Earlier, he enjoined his listeners to always be steadfast and be
diligent in their service to God which will be the tonic to attract the
blessings of the Almighty, emphasising that Christians need to activate
their faith like the biblical account of the woman with the issue of
blood, who declared that she would be made whole from her debilitating
condition.
“Do not just be the hearer of the word, but the doers of the word,” he
said, noting that faith moved the woman to her victory.
…Kenyan archbishop also predicts restoration for Nigerian economy
A Pentecostal Archbishop from Kenya, Archbishop Gerry Kibarabara, winner
of last year’s GBR Global Business Roundtable Leadership Award for his
outstanding contribution to business in Africa, who is attending the
ongoing Holy Ghost Congress, also commended the wisdom that produced the
theme of this year’s congress, saying it was rife for Africa to
experience a complete restoration.
Bringing greetings from bishops in the East Africa sub region of the
continent, the archbishop expressed delight and appreciation to the
vision of the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye who he described
as a veritable source of inspiration to other religious leaders across
the continent, especially the East African sub-region.
“He is our father and because this year’s theme is very timely because
the time is rife for a complete restoration of all the continent had
lost for one reason or the other. Collectively, we pray that the economy
of Nigeria which is currently under, will be restored during this Holy
Ghost congress. The Naira will be restored in the name of Jesus,” he
prayed
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
THE ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, is a spiritual
gathering of expectant worshippers desiring divine solutions to their
numerous socio-economic and very often health challenges, including some
out-of-the-ordinary phenomenons like bareness and deadly medical
situations.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
Pastor E.A. Adeboye, General Overseer, Redeemed Christian Church of God
and Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye at the RCCG 2016 Holy Ghost Congress.
Photos: Lamidi Bamidele.
The spiritual fiesta since its inception on December 18, 1998 with a
theme; “Divine Visitation,” at the Lekki area of Lagos has been yearly
underscored by undeniable spectacular miraculous occurrences which
attracts millions of people to the Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway
venue.
Spectacular happenings
Despite the spectacular happenings during the various meetings where
several men of God complement the efforts of the General Overseer of the
mission, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye to win souls for Christ through
miraculous happenings and solving purely physical as well as spiritual
challenges with abundant testimonies which are responsible for the huge
attendants each time, the mission has not only developed the Redemption
Camp into a vibrant town, it makes deliberate efforts to daily upgrade
facilities therein for the benefit of residents and participants who may
not immediately receive their miracles instantaneously.
Unlike many Nigerian human habitations where existence is dreary, nasty
and often extremely disorganised, the Redeemed Camp is a town that
works. The air is clean and fresh, the roads are free of potholes, and
the general decay associated with urban living in Nigeria is almost
non-existent. Electricity supply is uninterrupted, clean water runs at
the tap, environment is sanitised and decent transportation system is in
place. Sanity and serenity of the City might not be as a result of
prayers, praise and worship. Rather authorities in the town have made
deliberate efforts to implement rules and regulations to ensure that the
place is not turned to another Nigerian nightmare.
Since moving to the camp ground, the first family of the RCCG had faced
several challenges, including that of a phenomenal growth with attendant
challenge of providing adequate facilities to meet the needs of the
growing population of residents and visiting millions of adherents
seeking God in diverse ways especially Nigerians bogged down by ailing
economy which can no longer sustain their incomes.
Vanguard took time out of the Congress happenings to find out about
other facilities in the Camp.
Reacting to a Vanguard inquiry about the state of security in the large
Camp which is hosting a mammoth crowd of worshippers at this year’s Holy
Ghost Congress, a pastor who pleaded anonymity told our reporter that
he was only able to say that the church had actually put in place
measures that will guarantee safety of lives and property.
Similarly, the church’s head of the Medical Team, Pastor Femi Adeyemi,
who volunteered comments on medical facilities in the camp, assured that
medical facilities in the camp are being consistently upgraded to meet
medical challenges during the congress. According to him, though the
mission believes in divine health, but adequate arrangements must be put
in place to forestall any medical eventualities.
State of preparedness
Asked about the state of preparedness, he said: “We are good to go as
usual. There are things that we normally do and all those things are
already in place. Whenever we have programmes like this, we have things
we deliver on. When you look at the way the camp is, we have many
facilities within the camp. We have the maternity and it’s fully ready
as usual.
We have the Arena Clinic which is usually the hub for most of the
activities. If you get there now, you will see that everything is in
place and people have started coming in.
“Red Cross is already there. We cannot fully restrict the direction of
flow of vehicular movements, we also have mobile clinics scattered all
over the place. We have about eight ambulances, fully equipped. We have
the health centre which is like a secondary facility where you can do
all sort things including surgery. We also do surgery in the maternity
now.
“Then when you go to the new arena, there are two places, one close to
the G.O’s office and is fully equipped. Right under the altar where you
have the ushers, we also have a big facility there. There are three big
ambulances in specific locations and mobile clinics that will be
scattered around the place.
“The issue now is that should there be need for anything, it’s a matter
of knowing who is in charge. We are all doctors but when the chips are
down, if you need a general surgeon, a gyneacologist, psychiatrist and
whatever, we have specialists. That’s the way the whole thing is
coordinated.”
“The game plan is this, during the convention, we had about three to
four deliveries in the new auditorium. If we hadn’t prepared for that,
we wouldn’t have been able to do that there. We know occasionally
whenever we have big human flow, we normally have issues with traffic,
so what we do is, whatever may be the issue or circumstances we have on
our hands, we should be able to manage from any point at least for the
first 48 to 72 hours after which if we want to say we want to evacuate;
the evacuation we do per se will be within the camp ground.
“If you want to move someone now from the new auditorium, it’s either we
move the person to the clinic at the old arena or we move him to the
health center. So that’s the way we work. God forbid, should we have a
case that is unusual or very heavy, like I told you, whenever we are on
ground like this, the human resource we have is because we have such
kind of human resource that’s why people gather from all over the
country. The moment the program finishes and we can’t continue with this
management, we now evacuate to wherever. We don’t just take people to
wherever, we still evacuate them to places where we are very influential
to ensure a good outcome of whatever happens,” Dr. Adeyemi explained.
He also took time to explain why heavily pregnant women take the risk of
travelling long distances to the camp during similar programmes, saying
“most of the times, when people have issues, they find it difficult to
open their mouth to say it. The bible says the name of the Lord is a
strong tower and the righteous runs in to it and are saved. There are so
many things that happen to people that when they come they cannot open
their mouth to say it but it’s between them and God. And we cannot deny
them that factor. Just like we see heavily pregnant women, we also see
people who discharge themselves from hospitals. If people discharge
themselves from hospitals to come to the camp, it gives you the kind of
idea of what things are.”
As the end of the year approaches with harmattan dusts, what are the
likely health challenges that people have especially when in a crowd
like that?
“One of the very common things is to do with issues with cold, malaria,
diarrhea. And occasionally people get dehydrated and exhausted. You can
imagine walking from the junction to the new auditorium. Even if you are
a sports person, by the time you get there, you will be tired. So what
we do is if the place is dusty, we have lots of face masks. There are
facilities like nebulae in all of the ambulances. We invest so much in
that. We have the ones that just battery operated. For exhaustion, we
give the person some water to drink and glucose and they are good to go.
“Occasionally whenever we have gathering like this, medically, there are
some things we call cold cases and there are things we call emergency.
Most people come with cold cases because they know that on grounds like
this, they are going to get everything free. Some come with old sores or
wounds in the leg, these are not emergencies. But they will still come
knowing fully well that when they come, they will be attended to and
given their medication. We don’t drive them away. They are also welcomed
within the one week and they are done and out. At times when we have
programs like this and every other person is gone, some of us will still
be here running around to make sure that every person that came and
were moved somewhere are doing well. That has reduced dramatically now,”
Dr. Adeyemi volunteered.
Asked what the cost implication of such medicals to the mission, he
hesitated before saying: “There’s a tangible cost and intangible cost.
And many at times, the intangible cost far outweighs the tangible cost.
When it comes to the issue of medication, funds are provided for us to
do some things. But can any fund ever be enough? There’s no parish
that’s ever enough. The reason the auditorium is not fenced is because
it keeps on expanding. But one thing I can tell you is this, should we
exhaust everything we have, which has never happened before, all we need
to do is to cry out for help. You don’t want anybody to die….”
Adeboye lists conditions for healing virtues
Chief host of Holy Ghost Congress, Pastor Enoch Adeboye Tuesday night
outlined ways to attract the healing vistures of God, which include
living a holy life and a life of soul winning, stressing that many
Christians are yet to realise the danger of not winning souls.
Pastor Adeboye began by saying that not all deaths are sudden, some
death creep in to human beings in a very slow manner, warning also of
the danger of taking human lives because, according to him, the life of
the animal is embedded in the blood.
He maintained that the healing virtue of the Creator of the Universe can
only be attracted to a life devoid of sin, “as powerful as the Lord
Presence is, if there is any little sin in any life, there will be no
healing. So, many Christians do not even know what sin is, because if
they do, they would see the urgent need to deal with it.”
Continuing, taking an exhaustive voyage through bible passages, he
maintained that the one desires the healing virtue of Jesus Christ must
be an avid soul winner, drawing attention to the bible book of John
15:1-10 and Mark 2:1-12, both of which carried a warning from Jesus
Christ when, he said: “….every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he
will hue down…. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a
branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire,
and they are burned.”
Adeboye then opined that until sins are dealt with and forsaken totally,
you will not encounter that healing power of Jesus Christ. According to
him, all those living holy lives now, cannot be bothered by the hues
and cries of a prostrate economy because “when they say there is no
money in the country, don’t believe that. Where did the all the money
go? Did the money just evaporate from the land? When the restoration of
God comes, the nation’s money will exchange hands.”
There certainly will be a complete restoration in the land, “because
what God cannot do, cannot be done.”
Recession: Meduoye assures participants of God’s intervention
GENERAL Superintendent of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev.
Felix Meduoye has reassured Nigerians that God has the capacity to turn
the current economic downturn around for the good of the nation and its
citizens.
Delivering one of the two sermons of Day Two of the ongoing Holy Ghost
Congress on Tuesday night, Rev Meduoye said the theme of the Congress,
“Complete Restoration” was very apt and timely as God will cause divine
restoration for the Nigerian people, saying: “When you are restored, you
will eat in plenty, even in time of famine and recession.”
Speaking on the topic: “Fullness of Joy”, Meduoye said that happiness is
good but joy is deeper, absolute and also satisfies the soul and that
joy is an important element in the kingdom of God and also essential in a
man’s life.
Describing God as the only source of true joy, the cleric stressed that
when God is the source of one’s joy, such joy will be continuous and
endures for ever and that such joy can be contacted in God’s presence.
He warned that those who abandon God’s presence are exposed to danger
and cannot experience fullness of Joy.
He emphasised that God is the source of joy and anyone desiring joy,
must take some three very fundamental steps which include accepting
Jesus Christ; abiding in Him always and a consistent lifestyle of
purity.
The Foursquare General Superintendent, warned the congregation that sin
is a killer of Joy hence Christians should always be the carrier of
God’s presence, live a lifestyle of purity, praise, praying and
preaching the gospel and not forsake the gathering of the brethren.
Glory of Nigeria will be restored, said Rev. Rathod
UNITED States-based Indian preacher and senior pastor of Covenant Family
Church, Pastor Stephen Rathod, a spiritual son of the founder of the
Redeemed Christian Church of God, Rev. Josiah Akindayomi yesterday
predicted a restoration for Nigeria economy while ministering at the
ongoing Holy Ghost Congress.
Born in India and graduated from high school at the age of 16 in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat India, Pastor Rathod entered Gujarat University in
1966 and graduated in 1970, with a B.Sc in Chemistry and a Masters
degree in Organic Chemistry from the same university. Speaking on a
topic titled; “Faith to recover all”, the Rathod who was ordained pastor
by the founder of RCCG, late Rev. Akindayomi in Lagos, Nigeria in 1980,
lamented the current state of the Nigerian economy.
“I came to this great nation called Nigeria for the first time in
December 1979 that was 37 years ago. I love Nigeria. Nigeria is God’s
country and it will be made whole again in the name of Jesus. When I
came to this country and landed at the Lagos airport way back in 1979, I
had to give $1.80 to get N1. Today, I am told to give $1 to get N480.
As a prophet of God, I declare that the glory of Nigeria will be
restored,” he streamed loudly and got a corresponding loud response.
Before I came the Lord asked me to declare this: any prophecy that has
not come to pass, I heard God say to me: “I will watch over it to
perform My word. It will come to pass speedily.
It’ll be delayed any more. It’ll not be denied. I will see the glory of
God manifest in Nigeria. I will not only see it, I will enjoy it.”
Earlier, he enjoined his listeners to always be steadfast and be
diligent in their service to God which will be the tonic to attract the
blessings of the Almighty, emphasising that Christians need to activate
their faith like the biblical account of the woman with the issue of
blood, who declared that she would be made whole from her debilitating
condition.
“Do not just be the hearer of the word, but the doers of the word,” he
said, noting that faith moved the woman to her victory.
…Kenyan archbishop also predicts restoration for Nigerian economy
A Pentecostal Archbishop from Kenya, Archbishop Gerry Kibarabara, winner
of last year’s GBR Global Business Roundtable Leadership Award for his
outstanding contribution to business in Africa, who is attending the
ongoing Holy Ghost Congress, also commended the wisdom that produced the
theme of this year’s congress, saying it was rife for Africa to
experience a complete restoration.
Bringing greetings from bishops in the East Africa sub region of the
continent, the archbishop expressed delight and appreciation to the
vision of the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Adeboye who he described
as a veritable source of inspiration to other religious leaders across
the continent, especially the East African sub-region.
“He is our father and because this year’s theme is very timely because
the time is rife for a complete restoration of all the continent had
lost for one reason or the other. Collectively, we pray that the economy
of Nigeria which is currently under, will be restored during this Holy
Ghost congress. The Naira will be restored in the name of Jesus,” he
prayed.
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/12/holy-ghost-congress-rccg-turns-forest-city/
