News
Opinion: Man, Nature & His Maker!
By Tolulope A. Adegoke
“The ‘His-story’ of Greed, Grief, Grains & Gains”.
The word MAN is a title, only for those who are worthy to be called Managers over All Natural things; because he was Made Above Nature by his Maker. If he fails to discharge the duties that comes with the title, he would be pronounced unfit by all creations and The Maker would then have no choice than to replace him with a more serious vessel who would cater for them. Therefore, the creations are waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God (as seen in Romans 8:19 KJV).– Tolulope A. Adegoke
The Deep cut!
Bleeding profusely.
The beautifully fading off,
Till the rotten fruits and withered leaves dropped off…
Alas! The fair-weathered-friends had left. She used to be their favourite,
The rhythm changed, just within the twinkle of an eye!
They thought the tree had died,
They thought it was over,
Though, it was obviously so …
But that isn’t the end.
A young lad had to drop the last drop of water he had in his cup on her – the tree!
Voila! The dew came in the early hours of the morning… Drenched it, and caused life to come.
The life lighted the flowers,
The leaves revived…they sprouted finely…
The Bees came, sucked its pollen grains,
And in return, they sweetened the tree and its fruits.
Again, everyone gathered under the tree…
Praising it again, yeah, and again.
The tree that was once mocked, abandoned; hmm, it was left to die.
It was almost turning into firewood,
The sun had scorched it.
The villagers had axed its branches, waiting for the next day to fell it down, totally.
But, life came before the dark intentions of Man’s short-sightedness and greed arrived,
To strip another of their (grains) lives, for selfish gains.
They sheltered under the tree, yet again. They feasted on its fruits yet, again.
Its herb was food to them.
It became an appealing sight to behold.
Human nature arose again,
Axing its bark for medicine…
She asked, are my fruits and leaves not food and cure enough to thee?
Why the shock of a lifetime, with marks of pains on my body. My cures had cured and cared for thee. Is this how to repay my good deeds? The tree asked voicelessly! Tears ran through her dying eyes,
Its bleeding body grieved the heart of the maker…
The man’s heart was blocked with unseen stones, he had no compassion.
Only the young lad kept coming, wiping off the tears of the voiceless tree.
Guess what? As the lad wipes the tears, the rays of the sun caught his attention…it’s a message of hope.
The tears became useful ingredients for solving other human errors. It is a gum- an extract from the carelessly beaten and grievously axed tree.
Oh, what a careless approach for solutions…all in the bid for medicine, is it for Covid-19? That, I can’t tell.
If you want my bark, speak to me in kind and soft manners, then I shall release the cure to you by surrendering willfully.
Just that, will not make the cure you seek to turn into a curse that would hunt down your generations, even in your ‘gene-nations’!
The man fell on his knees. He wailed tearfully.
He heard just what the voiceless tree had said. But how could he have heard a voiceless tree speak? Or has the Almighty replaced his stony heart with that of flesh?
The Creator streamed it live as nature screamed…
Ahhh! Yeee! I have sinned.
Please forgive me.
He cried to his Maker. Reflecting his years of carelessness and selfish havoc inflicted on the natural things in his care. Ah! He abused power and he was stripped of this sceptre of Grace.
He repented!
Wailed again; this time, it was genuine.
Mercy came to play its role of absolute intervention and deliverances; nothing could reproof it. It Lord overall judgement.
The Creator yielded. Penetrated his bleeding heart to authenticate his sincerity.
The Creator spoke, and the clouds obeyed and gathered.
The sun was humbled…
There was rainfall, it was ‘cat and dog’.
The trees danced in the storm that came with it.
The thunder drummed, the lightening was also a great effect. It was fearful!
The Creator spoke again, peace be-still.
The creations heard Him, and they all submitted to the authority of His voice and intentions.
Surely, the Creator is the Maker, He makes all things well and beautiful in its time.
He is the Giver to all givers; and Giver to all that receives.
He smiled…the sweet breeze took over the entire creations.
The ray of the sun was fine, tender and warm. The butterflies came out again from their hiding places.
The birds sang with fine rhythms.
All things were revived, healed and sanity to was restored unto mankind.
The man got up, gazed at the fine- blue -sky.
His very bleeding heart had healed.
His eyes were sharp, his mind became clear and at alert.
His heart became receptive to yielding to the daily guides of the Master!
A new Spirit was instilled into him (The Holy Spirit), his soul was rekindled with fresh ‘divinistic’ fire- hot enough to quench the fiery darts of the wicked, and ‘Faith’ played without fail.
The tree bowed in awe to the majestic impacts of the Majesty, The Creator. The scars on the tree became its ‘his-story’, that is, the relationship between it and mankind.
The scary scars became a decoration. And, no one remembered its struggles and grieves of its past.
The tree lived healthier.
It asked the Creator during a dialogue session, ‘why haven’t you cleared my scars?’
The Creator smiled…hmm, that? It’s your- story. It’s the painting of voices on the canvass of what you have called scars. It’s your declaration. It’s your decoration, your protection. It’s the process- the transitioning from your ‘old’ to the ‘new’. You had to shed some weight, you know? It’s your rainbow! It’s your initiation to a new order of freedom and eternal bliss. It wasn’t meant to kill you, but build you into fine-frame of very rare quality.
Yes! It will also, always remind mankind of his ill-treatment towards you,
And that would stop him from repeating such again.
Your scar is a touch of excellence. The seal of your triumph from your trials. It’s your voiceless noise locked up in seals. It is the costs of your course that causes a great effect of rare difference for your needed changes and arrival.
It was the bone I gave you to crack, and you cracked it so very well. That was the code I gave you to break and interpret and you did just fine by decoding the mystery of pain which now results to the gains, from your grains. And this made you irresistible and inevitable in the affairs of mankind and his well-being. This, I made you all go through in order to grow through. Respect him, he is still your Lord, but I have made opened his heart to the understanding of the Truth that comes with compassion- evidence of leadership to Manage All Natural resources as MAN, and as given by Me.
For this, is, a thoughtful lesson to ‘all and things’ that has life in them or that are moved by it.
Thank you!”
Then, the Creator rhythmically and joyfully ascended back to His Most Sacred Haven called HEAVEN.
We are nothing but wonderful tools in the Mighty Hands of the Creator.
Be humble,
Be useful,
Be grateful!
Watch out for the Book titled: “The Power of an Empowered Zero” (From Zero to HERO) by Tolulope A. Adegoke. Foreword by Dr Yomi Garnett (CEO/Chancellor, Royal Biographical Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania U.S.A., U.K., Abuja, Nigeria.) Edited by Ola Aboderin.
Three Nigerian secondary schools are in the ring for the grand prize of N5m in the ongoing Glo Innov8 National STEM competition for girls in Senior Secondary Schools across the country.
The three top finalists were selected for their originality and innovation in the different entries for the competition. A total of 20 secondary schools were picked from over 200 schools which registered for the competition. After a series of considerations, 10 of them made it to the semifinal from which three; Ephraim High School, Isolo Campus, Lagos; Regina Pacis International School, Onitsha, Anambra State; and Peakfield Academy, Jos, Plateau State eventually coasted home to the finals.
Schools from Plateau, Kano, Lagos, Rivers, Edo, Borno, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Ondo, Oyo, Anambra, FCT, Delta, Kaduna and Adamawa states had signified intentions to participate following a call for entries by Glo Foundation, Globacom’s corporate social responsibility arm as part of its celebration of the 2025 International Day of the Girl Child.
Glo Innov8, a STEM-driven challenge, has scheduled prizes worth N5 million to the three schools in the finals. The competition “is geared at inspiring young girls to Compete, Innovate and Win, while also strengthening their confidence and expanding their knowledge in STEM subjects”, Glo Foundation explained.
The eventual overall winning school will go home with a cash prize of N2,000,000 while the 2 students representing the school will each get a laptop. The Teacher/Mentor/STEM Coordinator also gets N200,000.
The schools that come second and third places and their Teachers/Mentors/STEM Coordinators will also receive mouth-watering consolation prizes.
The three female judges of the virtual phase of selection of the top 20 schools said they were excited by the quality of presentations by the competing schools. One of them, Tosin Olabode said: “I was particularly impressed by the prototype presentations from some schools. They demonstrated that they had done their homework”.
In the same vein, Amina Gabriel disclosed that she was thrilled by the variety of ideas that the schools came up with. “The schools presented innovative solutions tackling issues in agriculture, security, waste management, and firefighting. The top 10 schools showcased outstanding prototypes, from apps to robots, making the judging process truly competitive. I’m grateful to Glo Foundation for the opportunity to serve and support young girls in STEM”, she said.
According to Sharon Ibejih, the third judge, “This competition has showcased a highly competitive next generation of women leaders in STEM. This was an excellent exercise and a means to encourage more students in STEM to develop problem-solving and innovative thinking skills”.
The overall winning school will emerge at an event set to hold later this year at the Mike Adenuga Centre (Alliance Française), Ikoyi, Lagos.
The leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Nnamdi Kanu, has filed a motion to stop the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in his trial for alleged terrorism.
Justice James Omotosho, on November 7, fixed November 20 for judgment on the case.
The judge fixed the date after Kanu’s defence was foreclosed following his insistence that he would not enter his defence under a repealed law.
However, in the motion on notice marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015, he personally filed, the IPoB leader sought seven reliefs.
In the application dated November 10 and filed same date, Kanu sought an order arresting the delivery of judgment in charge no: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015.
The document was made public on Tuesday.
In it, he alleged that the proceedings were conducted under a repealed and non-existent statute and in disobedience to the Supreme Court’s directive contrary to Section 287(1) CFRN 1999.”
He sought a declaration that by virtue of Section 287(1) CFRN, the trial court was constitutionally bound to give effect to the Supreme Court’s finding that count 15 (now count 7) “does not exist in law,” and its failure rendered all subsequent proceedings null and void.
He also sought a declaration that the court’s failure to take judicial notice of the repeal of the 2013 Terrorism Act, contrary to Section 122 Evidence Act 2011, vitiates all steps taken thereunder.
The IPOB leader equally sought a declaration that by virtue of Section 76(1)(d)(iii) of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to try him in the absence of proof that the alleged conduct constituted an offence under Kenyan law or of any Kenyan judicial validation or extradition order.
Besides, Kanu sought “a declaration that the plea purportedly taken on March 29, under a repealed and non-existent statute and in violation of Section 220 ACJA 2015 is void and incapable of conferring jurisdiction.
President Bola Tinubu has dispatched a strong delegation to London to address the situation of Ike Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President, who has been imprisoned in the UK since March 2023.
The delegation includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi.
The team arrived in London on Monday and held discussions with officials from the UK’s Ministry of Justice.
Alkasim Abdulkadir, spokesperson for Tuggar, said on Tuesday that the presidential delegation was in London to engage with UK authorities to consider the possibility of Ekweremadu serving the remainder of his prison sentence in Nigeria.
The London Metropolitan Police detained the Ekweremadus in June 2022 after a man was deceitfully presented to a private renal unit at Royal Free Hospital in London as a relative of their daughter Sonia, in what turned out to be a failed attempt to convince medical professionals to perform an £80,000 transplant.
The 21-year-old man, who had allegedly been promised employment in the UK, reported the incident to the police in May of that year, saying that he had been brought to the country for an organ transplant.
In March 2023, the former presiding officer of Nigeria’s Senate was convicted of organ trafficking by a UK court. Beatrice, his wife, and Obinna Obeta, a doctor connected to the case, were also found guilty.
This verdict marked the first of its kind under the UK Modern Slavery Act.
On May 5, 2023, Ekweremadu received a nine-year and eight-month prison sentence, while his wife was sentenced to four years and six months, and Obeta was given a ten-year prison sentence.
In his ruling, Judge Jeremy Johnson determined that Beatrice should serve half of her sentence in custody and be supervised for the remainder. However, she was released from prison in January and has since returned to Nigeria.
