News
Opinion: The Gift of Pain: Maximizing ADVERSITY as a Builder!
By Tolulope A. Adegoke
“Adversity is an adventure that develops a ‘venture’ at the junctures of ‘what’ would have destroyed the structures of your purpose on this plane called Earth, but eventually turns out to be a weapon and a builder towards fulfilling your destiny and lifting the weights of glory! How you see situations or challenges and confront them matters, and they are functions of your mindset as a being called MAN. You determine what (must) come out of it! Adversities are surmountable! You are the actor in the picture. Your posture influences the picture. I charge you to BE THE HERO! Thereby, maximizing the scenarios in your favour! It is, therefore,
Acutely advertising!
Destructible!
Vulnerable!
Episodic!
Revival!
Surmountable!
Impactful!
Terrifying! But, it is all about
YOU!” – Tolulope A. Adegoke
John 16:33[NKJV]: ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’
Romans 8: 37: ‘Nay, in all these things we are more than conqueror.’ [NKJV]
ADVERSITY is a builder. It is to a man; what fire is to gold! Fire purges, melts, heats the gold, yet makes it SHINE!
It is the way that a man sees adversity that he would get from it. If you take it to be a builder or ladder, it would build and lift you [ vis- à- vis].
It is the challenge that comes to one’s way that brings out either the best or worst character in a man.
Winners today were once failures, but they were determined enough through the order of divine grace and strong-will to face it all and breakthrough, which eventually culminated to them being globally celebrated in their areas of callings!
It is the same adversity that breaks one person, that builds another! It all depends on the way we manage and wire our mental and spiritual focuses. You either rise up or succumb to the pressures that come with adversity! It is left for you to pick yourself up, bounce- back like the palm tree and encourage yourself to surmount the mountain(s) before you! Once the mountain is surmounted, you enter into glory.
Adversity is what builds our spiritual and physical muscles, so as for us to be fit enough to bear or carry the weight of glory.
Adversity is like an examination to a student; that gives him promotion or demotion, which is determined by his level of preparation and his level of mindset towards becoming a victor or victim, hero or zero!
It is based on our individual levels of reactions to the ‘adversity’ that gives us edge to surmounting it. It can make or mar you. It can make you in the sense that, if you embrace it with rugged faith, then, you would come out strong; but, if you submit to it, it would crush you. Kindly permit me to say that Dr Yomi Garnett, Yinka Oba, Fela Durotoye, Strive Masiyiwa among others are living proofs [you could ask to interview them in person on how true this is.]. Even, the testimonies of Job, Joseph, Paul the Apostle among others in the Holy Bible lingers on and on.
You must not see ADVERSITY as a problem, but a challenge that must be confronted with hope, faith, love and hard & smart works to conquer; which are the courageous weapons for successes that leads to greatness in the face of tribulations, no matter the number of times it comes.
You must always see yourself on the other side of it. What you see attracts what you get!
A wise man once asked his children: can you say a professor is a failure? They replied NO! The father responded: Wole Soyinka failed the West African Senior Secondary Certification Examination nine [9] times… The children screamed! But can you still call him a failure, today? No, the children replied… The father then asked why? Then, the children responded ‘because he confronted his fears and was determined enough to surmount it by hard work and with the influence of divine grace…and eventually succeeded.’
The moral of this illustration is that: you are not a failure until you give up! Today, you call him Prof. Wole Soyinka, but as at the time he was failing WAEC, most people called him a dullard.
Adversity is a ladder to greater levels of glory!
You cannot get your reward until you finish your course!
You cannot get your crown until you are done with the cross!
No guts, no glory! You cannot overcome the wilderness until you grow wild!
You cannot get through to the promised land until you are completely processed (refined)!
No gold ever shines without passing through the furnace!
You cannot become more until you have been mocked!
You cannot have your prizes until you have fully paid your prices! what we regard as adversity is a setup for us to overcome and step up! It is a junction or curve on our lives journey to fulfilling destiny! Don’t interrupt the processes of growths and sustainable developments.
Adversity is examination in disguise to building our muscles so as to be fit enough to carry or bear the weight of GLORY!
Therefore, adversity is:
Acutely advertising!
Destructible!
Vulnerable!
Episodic!
Revival!
Surmountable!
Impactful!
Terrifying! But, it is all about
YOU! You determine what must come out of it! Adversities are surmountable! You are the actor in the picture. I charge you to BE THE HERO!
You are not a failure until you give up! Adversity unveils us to realms of glory! It compels us to aim higher, while it charges us to take the stairs!
Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. Reveals that: ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy!’
Truly, it is not easy to be EASY, we must be determined, we must work and do our best to escape genuinely, but only God delivers from all uneasiness… only God gives the grace to overcoming all odds…!
Stop being frustrated when you are confronted with challenges. Rather, engage audacious faith to confront and conquer your fears! It is a revival, and you are in for a revolution that would propel the required evolution. Adversity, is an advance citadel of learning in disguise! I call it the ‘Advance(univer)sity’, where reality poses a great threat, just as examinations in the four walls of a university.
Thank you all for reading this #EpistleForChampions
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.
A federal judge in the United States, on Thursday, put a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.
The ruling imposes a 14-day halt on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed hours after being sworn into office for a second term.
It comes after lawsuits were filed by a total of 22 states, two cities and numerous civil rights groups.
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” senior US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington State.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed to the bench by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
Birthright citizenship is fundamental to America’s national identity, with the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution decreeing that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.
It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.
AFP
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital has upheld the death sentence of Ramon Adedoyin, a prominent businessman and hotelier, for his involvement in the murder of one Timothy Adegoke, a former postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Delivering the judgment on Thursday, the court affirmed the earlier verdict of the Osun State High Court, which had sentenced Adedoyin to death.
“The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part,” the court declared in part.
The Court of Appeal, however, set aside some aspects of the lower court’s orders, including the forfeiture of the Hilton Hotel and the order for Adedoyin to pay for the education of Adegoke’s children.
Furthermore, the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to impose penalties outside the statutory provisions
Adegoke’s death was reported in November 2021 after his corpse was found at the Hilton Honours Hotel in Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he had lodged.
The hotelier had travelled from Abuja for an examination at a distance learning centre in Moro, Osun State on November 5 of that year.
He had checked into the hotel but was reported missing after two days. However, Adegoke’s body was found days later, leading to a probe that linked his death to Adedoyin and others.
In May 2023, Adedoyin and others were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder.
But dissatisfied with the judgement, Adedoyin approached the Appeal court to dismiss the sentence and conviction.
The court of appeal, on Thursday, however, upheld the conviction and death sentence of the hotelier.
The Nigeria Police have announced that their operatives have rescued Mrs Folasade Odumosu, the wife of a former Assistant Inspector General, Hakeem Odumosu, who was last Thursday, kidnapped at the entrance of her home in Arepo, Ogun State.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, noting that two of the kidnappers were killed while four others escaped without their weapons.
Adejobi said with the support of the Force Headquarters technical intelligence platforms, the Ogun State police operatives engaged Odumosu’s abductors in a gun duel and neutralized the criminals in the swampy area of Ikorodu on Wednesday.
The police spokesman added that Mrs Odumosu is currently undergoing a medical evaluation and has since been reunited with her family.
The statement read, “In a commendable display of teamwork and swift action, police operatives attached to the Ogun State Command have successfully neutralized the kidnappers of Mrs. Odumosu, wife of Retired Assistant-Inspector General, AIG Hakeem Odumosu, and rescued her unharmed.
“On January 16, 2025, at approximately 9:45 PM, four masked gunmen forcibly abducted Mrs. Odumosu from her Lexus Jeep outside her residence in Arepo, Ogun State. The abduction sparked an immediate response from the anti-kidnapping unit of the Ogun State Police Command, who commenced a thorough investigation and targeted pursuit of the kidnappers.
“With the support of the Force Headquarters technical intelligence platforms, the Ogun State police operatives engaged in extensive surveillance of the creeks surrounding Arepo, gathering crucial information to track down the assailants. Their efforts culminated in a raid on January 23, 2025, at around 06:45 AM. The intelligence-led operation took the police to a creek in the swampy area of Ikorodu, where the kidnappers were reportedly planning their next attack.
“Upon arrival, the operatives encountered the kidnappers, who opened fire. In the ensuing confrontation, two of the gunmen were neutralized, while four others fled the scene, abandoning their operational weapons.”
Adejobi said the police operatives recovered N10m initially paid to the kidnappers, four Ak-47 rifles, three locally made single barrel rifles, and ammunition of various calibres.
He added, “The victim, Mrs Odumosu was rescued within the swampy creeks during the operation, unharmed. She is currently undergoing medical evaluation as a precautionary measure and has since been reunited with her family. The police also recovered 4 Ak-47 rifles, 3 locally made single barrel rifles, ammunition of various calibres, and the sum of N10,000,000 ransom previously demanded by the kidnappers, further ensuring that justice is served.”
Adejobi said the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, commended the police operatives and the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Ogunlowo, for the rescue operation.
He asserted that the Police Force is committed to safeguarding the citizens and combat kidnapping and other violent crimes.
“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, Ph.D., NPM., has commended the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Ogunlowo, and his operatives for their displayed gallantry in this successful operation.
“This operation exemplifies the dedication and resilience of our Police officers. The Nigeria Police Force remains steadfast in its mission to combat kidnapping and other violent crimes, providing safety and security to all citizens,” he added.
