RiverNaija

Nigerian-born Pastor Sunday Adelaja is the founder of Embassy of God Church, Kiev, Ukraine, the largest Pentecostal church in Europe. He spoke with Sunday Oguntola on the wrong concepts that churches in Nigeria are promoting. Excerpts: During your last visit to Nigeria, you were emphatic that the church was the major problem with the nation’s stunted growth. Do you still maintain that stance? I wish to state categorically that I am not talking about any particular ministry. There is nothing personal at all. I am not against any man of God or any denomination. I’m just pointing out what I believe is the truth about the situation in our country. I wish to appreciate all the men of God that have labored in our country. I think they did their best. I believe they taught us what they know. But we still have to admit that things were wrong and these things have to be corrected. What are some of these things? In my opinion, the leadership and the structure of the church in Nigeria are...

“My boss drove a luxury car everyday and it was my duty to greet him and to open the gates for him, as I worked as a watchman in his villa. But he never responded back to my greetings. One day he saw me opening the garbage bags outside the villa in search for any leftover food. But, as usual he never even looked at me, it was like as if he never saw anything! The very next day I saw a paper bag at the same place, but it was clean and the food inside was covered well. It was fresh and good food like someone had just brought it from the supermarket. I didn't bother as to where it came from, I just took the paper bag and I was so happy about it. Every day I found this paper bag at the same place with fresh vegetables and all that we needed for home. This became my daily routine. I was eating and sharing this food with my wife and kids. I was wondering who this fool could be?! To forget his paper bag full of fresh food everyday. One day there was a big problem in the villa and I wa...

If anyone doubts that they should consider the plight of the Bosnians of Bosnia-Herzogovina during the Yugoslavian civil war that took place in the European Balkans in the late 1980’s right up until 1992. They were the only ethnic group in Yugoslavia that was not prepared for it when the war started. They had no arms, no plan, no allies and no fall back position. When the fighting started, they were caught unawares and, for two years, they suffered immeasurably for their stupidity and naivety whilst their people were killed like flies and their women and children were raped and enslaved. God forbid this should happen to any ethnic group or ANY of our people in Nigeria. The reason that they suffered for two years was because there was an international arms embargo placed on all the ethnic groups and warring militias and armies in Yugoslavia when the war started. And, sadly, the Bosnians were the only ones that did not buy and stockpile arms in preparation for war, months and years be...

Here’s a quote from Donald Trump, a front-line US presidential contender: “Look at African countries like Nigeria or Kenya for instance, those people are stealing from their own government and go to invest the money in foreign countries. From the government to the opposition, they only qualify to be used as a case study whenever bad examples are required. How do you trust even those who have run away to hide here in the United States, hiding behind education? I hear they abuse me in their blogs but I don’t care because even the internet they are using is ours and we can decide to switch it off from this side. These are people who import everything including matchsticks. In my opinion, most of these African countries [like Nigeria] ought to be recolonized again for another 100 years because they know nothing about leadership and self-governance.”

Democracy is about conversation, not winner takes all

LIKE most young Nigerians, I had a picture of being young and strong while white people were white and weak. I am sure that young white people also thought black people to be weak. No one had ever tested this but we believed this so strongly that we thought nothing of the holiday jobs we all did as students. Ben and I worked in the freezing works where sheep was slaughtered, cleaned up and dressed ready for export. After cleaning, the wool and the innards, the hoofs, heads etc were stored separately – the bones were used to make buttons. Nothing was wasted – every part of the sheep had its uses. I worked in the paint house and Ben on the wool. This freezing works was a very large factory, slaughtering over 20,000-25,000 lambs per day. As each lamb is slaughtered, the feet are hung on a moving convoy. At regular intervals, there are other workers who remove the pelts and other parts not meant for export. The pelts are thrown into a giant washing machine which spits pelts on a conveyor...