The Quintessential Cliff Eluem

Pastor and Mrs Uche Akwukwuma

Olorogun 1Gate and MD 1Gate

No Basket for Rotin Maingo written in 2009 but, Has anything really changed since December 2009. Substitute the characters, and we have same rotin maingo..........

As a young school boy in Ughelli, I listened to the music of the Urhobo disco maestro Omokomoko. The single he released in the late 70’s titled No Basket for Rotin Maingo became one of my underlying principles in life – Store nothing that has expired – ideas, food, clothes and friends. In the course of the last 40 odd years, I have kept to this principle and it has enriched my life.
Today I and 180 million citizens of my beloved country are confronted with a dilemma. Rotin Leadership - as Omokomoko would call it. Since the day Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was selected as the Presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party and his subsequent (s)election as Nigeria’s president we have been subjected to providing basket for rotin maingo. During the presidential know-the-annointed tour before the (s)election, the man was rushed to Germany for undisclosed illness later declared as exhaustion. In fact he was to berate all who questioned the status of his health by challenging them to a game of Squash! At the time I almost took up the challenge but for the fact that I once defeated a former military governor and ex-Works minister during a friendly squash tournament and almost paid with my life. Luckily his attempt to send me to my early retirement was prevented by the unseen hand of the man in heaven.
The latest trip to hone his squash skills has now created a vacuous space in the government of our country and none of the principal actors in government can confidently say to us what the real situation is. The National assembly has chosen this time to go on recess which implies that this is not of national importance. The Vice President does not seem to have the necessary powers to run the ship of state in the absence of Mr Yar’Adua. Nigerians are left with a compromised national press and now have to resort to online news media and listservs/bloggs to get any information. The attendant result is that rumours are flying around everywhere.
A group of Nigerians have now come out openly to request that the president resign. They have made a compelling argument in this regard but as is known all over Nigeria, we have a very big basket for rotin maingo. People have already questioned the integrity of those seeking the resignation of the President as if that invalidates the argument that has been put forward. I align myself to those asking the President to resign. This is not because I want to be in government or that those seeking his resignation are any better than him. I do not think anybody doubts that Yar’Adua is an honourable man. His pedigree suggests he ought to be a man of character and integrity. It is simply because his state of health in the last two odd years has made it impossible for him to impose his personality on governance. This has allowed felons, fugitives, thieves and fraudsters in his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, take advantage and we are left with an albatross of rotin maingo. As a man who loves Nigeria, he now needs to take the honourable path and resign according to the constitution. The only people urging him to stay on are those who know that the new Nigeria Yar’Adua’s resignation will usher in will reward them justly for their past deeds.
Those who have called on him to resign need to take this further. If the group of rotin maingo surrounding him continue to urge him to hang unto power, the Nigerian Labour Congress, the Civil Society Groups and all lovers of Nigeria should stand up to be counted. We did it to Babangida, Abacha and Abdulsalam. This current gang of rotin maingo cannot continue to hold us hostage.
While we await the response from our squash-playing President we must resolve and declare that we have No Basket for Rotin Maingo.

Searching for a Tradesperson? A Pin in a Haystack in the Dark?
Welcome to RatedArtisan.org

Ever tried looking for a qualified tradesperson? How do you know that the electrician, mechanic, plumber or welder you get is qualified and/or can be let into your home, office or equipment? How about your tailor, make-up artist and hair dresser? It is like the proverbial search for a pin in a haystack; worse still in the dark!
How about when you need services outside your location? Your make-up artist cannot travel with you or car breaks down or you suffer a wardrobe malfunction just before leaving your hotel for a function……..
You sure have been let down by one or tradesmen with empty promises. One or two had walked on you midway on a job that had a definite deadline – wedding, birthday celebration or even funeral plans. Worse still you had parted with money in the past for poor or non execution of jobs!
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning
"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." Psalm 138:8

Most manifestly the confidence which the Psalmist here expressed was a divine confidence. He did not say, "I have grace enough to perfect that which concerneth me--my faith is so steady that it will not stagger--my love is so warm that it will never grow cold--my resolution is so firm that nothing can move it"; no, his dependence was on the Lord alone. If we indulge in any confidence which is not grounded on the Rock of Ages, our confidence is worse than a dream, it will fall upon us, and cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. All that Nature spins time will unravel, to the eternal confusion of all who are clothed therein. The Psalmist was wise, he rested upon nothing short of the Lord's work. It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it is he who has carried it on; and if he does not finish it, it never will be complete. If there be one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness which we are to insert ourselves, then we are lost; but this is our confidence, the Lord who began will perfect. He has done it all, must do it all, and will do it all. Our confidence must not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but entirely in what the Lord will do. Unbelief insinuates--"You will never be able to stand. Look at the evil of your heart, you can never conquer sin; remember the sinful pleasures and temptations of the world that beset you, you will be certainly allured by them and led astray." Ah! yes, we should indeed perish if left to our own strength. If we had alone to navigate our frail vessels over so rough a sea, we might well give up the voyage in despair; but, thanks be to God, he will perfect that which concerneth us, and bring us to the desired haven. We can never be too confident when we confide in him alone, and never too much concerned to have such a trust.

Evening
"Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money." Isaiah 43:24

Worshippers at the temple were wont to bring presents of sweet perfumes to be burned upon the altar of God: but Israel, in the time of her backsliding, became ungenerous, and made but few votive offerings to her Lord: this was an evidence of coldness of heart towards God and his house. Reader, does this never occur with you? Might not the complaint of the text be occasionally, if not frequently, brought against you? Those who are poor in pocket, if rich in faith, will be accepted none the less because their gifts are small; but, poor reader, do you give in fair proportion to the Lord, or is the widow's mite kept back from the sacred treasury? The rich believer should be thankful for the talent entrusted to him, but should not forget his large responsibility, for where much is given much will be required; but, rich reader, are you mindful of your obligations, and rendering to the Lord according to the benefit received? Jesus gave his blood for us, what shall we give to him? We are his, and all that we have, for he has purchased us unto himself--can we act as if we were our own? O for more consecration! and to this end, O for more love! Blessed Jesus, how good it is of thee to accept our sweet cane bought with money! nothing is too costly as a tribute to thine unrivalled love, and yet thou dost receive with favour the smallest sincere token of affection! Thou dost receive our poor forget-me-nots and love-tokens as though they were intrinsically precious, though indeed they are but as the bunch of wild flowers which the child brings to its mother. Never may we grow niggardly towards thee, and from this hour never may we hear thee complain of us again for withholding the gifts of our love. We will give thee the first fruits of our increase, and pay thee tithes of all, and then we will confess "of thine own have we given thee."

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”
- Mark Twain