Wednesday, August 31, 2005

PRAYING FOR PEOPLE -

We have been following the news of rescues along
the Gulf Coast of the USA, where a hurricane has been negatively impacting millions of people. Our hearts break for the victims, especially the internally displaced families who are learning, painfully, what millions of African refugees are currently facing as victims of natural disasters and conflicts that have forced them to vacate their. We know that many of you feel the same way, and may feel impotent, not knowing how you can help. Well, here's good news for everybody...

There is something that you can do right now, not only for victims of the hurricane, but for everybody you care about and worry about...and for Africa's refugees (even as we join the AFRICAN REFUGEES FOUNDATION...AREF in celebrating its Founder's Day on Thursday September 1, 2005...tomorrow!)...Yes, there IS something YOU CAN DO NOW!...

You can pray.

If you have been following this BLOG, you know how much WE believe in the power of prayer...That is the key that will unlock all that anyone is having to endure right now.

You will find your answers, not in people, nor through a process, but by prayer.

Today's, in fact, the third and last day of a bout of 3-Days of FASTING & PRAYERS that one's been into for Nigeria's peace, unity and prosperity, as we all stand in the breach for Nigeria's upward mobility...

And the Lord's already said "AMEN" to all the prayers, so we now know that it is well with our great nation Nigeria, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Shalom!!!

Saturday, August 27, 2005

IDEAS-STEALERS!

LIFE never really changes, you know?

Especially when one has noble ideas or plans!

There'll always be people who want to jump on-board your wagon to steal your thunder (if God allows them!), and this has been proved to me again by a bunch of Angelina Jolie fans who want to hijack a great concept (one that aims at supporting the global work of the UNHCR) and turn it into a relatively-small seemingly-selfless activity which will most likely only stroke one or two people's egos...but they've reckoned without the verve that fires a people led by God-driven ambitions and vision.

Aluta Continua!

Friday, August 26, 2005

DO SOMETHING TO HELP THE NEEDY TODAY!

It is so easy to postpone giving a hand of grace to the needy, except when we believe we'll be getting something out of the whole process; so we find that we often ask ourselves to hold on to our planned good where it concerns others, without guaranteeing returns to us.

Let us challenge one another to get beyond the norm today and take a positive step that will let us prove to ourselves that we truly care (that we truly have compassion!) for the less-priviledged...and you do not have to be Bill Gates-wealthy to qualify as a helper-of-the-needy!

Every little helps!

The important thing is to give out of the little that you have, and to give cheerfully and confidently, knowing that our God is an awesome God who will truly supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!

BELIEVE!

Reach out and help somebody today, and let us truly be our brothers' keepers.

God bless you, as you ACT TODAY!

Shalom!!!

OBJ IS NO MU...MU...MU!

Now that more and more PDP leaders, including Vice President Atiku Abubakar, have joined the "OBJ's-GOING-in-2007" Bandwagon, it is time to reiterate our belief that our President is too savvy to try to stay a second beyond his May 29 2007 date with destiny; but we (once again!) call on Baba Iyabo to take a vital step further into reality by ordering his aides, friends, associates, and enemies to stop calling for ANY extension of his mandate (in any guise!); and let him stop hiding behind the "they're exercising their democratic rights" cow-turd!

He tells 2007 aspirants not to commence campaigns, but cannot tell his own cronies to stop painting the nation (and himself!) in unsightly FDI-deterring light?! Abeg, spare us the melodrama of Koko Close, sir, and ask these "paddy-paddy democrats" to find better things to cogitate upon!

One knows OBJ is no mumu like MUseveni. MUbarak, MUammar, or MUgabe, so we know he'll go in 2007, but do foreign investors and Nigeria's many enemies know that?

This is NOT a time to keep silence....but the time to SPEAK AGAINST THE UNBIDDEN CANVASSERS FOR BABA TO BECOME MUMU!

Shalom!!!

SAVE QUEENSTOWN-OPOBO!

My hometown, Queenstown-Opobo, an island in the Niger Delta of Nigeria, is threatened with drastic coastal erosion that could make the whole island dissapear in the next ten years(!), thus creating hundreds of thousands of internally-displaced persons in this already-tense and marginalised region of Nigeria's oil-rich (yet highly-impoverished) peoples.

We are about to embark on agitative processes to force the Federal and State governments to actively impact this environment for the better, by starting with a shoreline-protection programme that will guarantee the survival of this very-historic island that has been marginalised and forgotten by countless administrations in Nigeria!

This agitation will include petitions; TV Documentaries, Press features, interviews, and news-reports; and peaceful (by God's grace!) demonstrations, rallies, and marches on the streets of Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, and Opobo!

The people are determined to pay all costs to ensure their island's future, without prejudice to the simultaneous struggles to gain their dues as vitims of the environmental and human disaster that confronts every Niger Delta locale and people in Nigeria's current lopsided federalism which has bastardised the very hen that lays the golden eggs that make Nigeria, as a whole, survive!

We are confident in the victory of good over evil!

Shalom!!!

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Yahoo! Mail - tonyiurantapp01@yahoo.com

HELP ORU CAMP REFUGEES IN NIGERIA!

I spent the whole of yesterday in a refugee camp, (located in Oru Town, in Ogun State, Nigeria) serving as home to thousands of African refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Central African Republic, Congo, Ethiopia, Cote D'Ivoire, Niger, Sudan, etc., as part of an African Refugees Foundation (AREF) team that took gifts and beddings to help make things a bit better for the thousands of children who have been forced to live their lives as limbo-citizens, because of the grave errors of adult leaders who have chosen war over conflicts-avoidance and dialogue-based resolution-styles. frusty.gif

The children were overjoyed to receive the "Aunties & Uncles" who brought cookies, books, games, and promises of even-better repeat visits in the near future (starting tomorrow!); but we, the "surrogate-family" were downhearted at the realities of hunger and ineffectual (because ill-actualised) education this children have to contend with...the food portions doled out to each child were less than what an average kitten in a middle-class American home would get for example! I shed tears throughout last night, after we got back to Lagos, as I struggled with trying to figure out how I could help expedite action to bring hope to these hyper-malnourished kids who (worst of all!) have come to believe that their life is condemned to remain like that for ever! sick2.gif

I'm trying to put together a Christian Churches-driven programme that will utilise the already-existing systems of the churches to channel regular one-meal-a-day boosts for every child in the camp (for as long as they are in camp as refugees...as we pray that each child will end up spending much shorter periods in these camps, than the devil woul want them to!).

Everybody is implored directly reach out to the UNHCR and offer a donation that's specifically tied to helping these children get better food and education, so they can live lives that are separated from the seemingly unending despondency of our world's gloom! PLEASE HELP! help.gif

Let the rest of us thank God for all His mercies, remembering that nobody makes his birth's choices...whom he will be born...not nationality, not family, and not location or time...

These, and all other, refugee kids are merely "accidents" of nature's random selections, and none of us is totally immune to the disasters of life that can come in many diverse forms including natural disasters (e.g. tsunamis etc.!!) and man-made tragedies (e.g. wars and terrorism!!), which daily and constantly create refugees and internally displaced persons out of innocent human beings like you and I. diablo.gif

Let us always do all we can to help every refugee live a better life...it is bad enough to be traumatically dislocated from one's home...may we all help prevent hunger, disease, and community-hostility from further dehumanising them...especially the women (many of whom are forced to bastardise their bodies to survive!), the aged, and the children (who always bear the main brunt of becoming orphaned, growing under the tutelage of foster or single parents, and being damned to suffer all kinds of indignities, including sexual, physical, and psychological abuses!).

Truly, God-led HEARTS KNOW NO BORDERS! hug.gif

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! thumbup.gif

Shalom!!!

Friday, August 19, 2005

PRONACO COUNCIL MEETS TOMORROW IN LAGOS

POSITIVE PARTNERS (PP)will be represented tomorrow at the PRONACO (Nigeria's alternative Political Reforms Conference) Council Meeting holding in Lagos, Nigeria. The PP team will include PP Council Chairman Ambassador Segun Olusola and PP Executive Secretary, Mr. Tony I. Uranta (they may be joined by PP President, Commodore (Dr.) M. A. Buhari), both coming onboard the PRONACO-train through PP-partnering organisation AREF (African Refugees Foundation), which is also chaired by Ambassador Olusola, Nigeria's eminent statesman and humanitarian.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

FIDAU (40 DAYS) PRAYERS FOR 7/7 VICTIMS!

Today is the 41st day after the 7/7 London bombings that consumed so many lives and spread the terror dragnet into the UK, taking the life (amongst others) of young Anthony Fatay-Williams, and nearly killing our beloved Professor Pat Utomi (who was in the adjacent carriage to one of those bombed underground carriages!)!Using Anthony Fatayi-Williams as a point of contact, we pray (Fidau) for the repose of the dead, and the strengthening, by God, of all the lovd ones of the deceased and traumatised, as muslims would on the 41st day after their fellow-believers' death...(Anthony was the only son of a cross-religious union...Anthony's father, Dr. Tunde Fatayi=Williams, who is a son of Nigeria's first indigenous Chief Justice of the Federation, is a muslim, whisl his mother, Marie, is a Christian)...using the words of the Koran's Al-Fatiha (Opening Chapter)..."In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful...Master of the Day of Judgement...Show us the straight way; The way of those on whom Thou has bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath. AND THOSE WHO GO NOT ASTRAY"...May God be with Anthony's family, and with all other bereaved and grieving families who are bearing the burden of lost and maimed members of their families who are victims of the terrorism-dread that's holding mannkind hostage today all over the world; may He forgive all the terrorists who feel compelled to resort to this extreme and murderous style of protest against what they perceive (rightly in some cases...but never right enough to justify mass-anihilation of innocents...NEVER!) as an unabating oppression by political powers that act with seemng impunity; whilst we pray that God places His fear in the hearts of all leaders and peoples of the world's nations, so that truth, justice, equity, fairplay, freedom, and the restoration of human/ecological/economic/politicaland other rights can reign throughout the globe, including in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestinia, Nigeria, the UK, & the USA, amongst all the countries that still are far from the God-destined ideal of a righteous world. We Christians look forward to the second coming of Christ which will herald true utopian idealism and righteousness in life, and on earth! Meanwhile, may we all fear God enough to respect and dignify human life which none of us can create. May we learn to love humanity enough to stop suicide and murder, whether politically or economically driven. May we lay our prayers before God, and truly practise our professed putative faith (whether Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Confucian, or other...) in the Supreme Lord's omniscience, omnipotence, and all-encompassing love for what is best for us. Let us pray more and prey less!! Amen. SHALOM!!!

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

NIGERIA NEEDS TO FAST & PRAY

Positive Partners is calling for 3 Days of National Interfaith Fasting and Prayers for Nigeria, beginning on Monday August 29 and lasting till Wednesday August 31 (inclusive) with emphasis on seeking God's guidance over The Federal, State, & Local Government leaders in the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, Civil Service, & Security Agencies.
The details will be announced in a Press Release that will be circulated extensively, employing all available media...and Positive Partners will enjoin all civil society/non governmental/religious groups to ensure that all their members (within and outside Nigeria) participate passionately and in truth in this process which is needed to help return sanity to fast-derailing Nigeria-system.May God, who reveals His ways for renaissance, enable all stakeholders in a greater Nigeria to unite and begin the process of restoration to Nigeria, by obeying His will that we humble ourselves as a people, repent of our selfish mercenary ways, turn to God in true contrition, seek His forgiveness and loving grace, and present our prayers to Him with trusting faith...He WILL DO IT for us, and Nigeria will not only survive against all odds, but will rise and shine to God's glory, and become the destined leader of Africa that she was created to be in the comity of nations. It is well, in Jesus' name. Amen.Shalom!!!

Monday, August 15, 2005

Nigeria has a curse on it!

Nigeria has a curse on it!
This is the sad, but inevitable, conclusion one has to come to, following the recent increasingly-strident calls by Nigeria's Federal Executive (through its increasingly and obnoxiously insensitive Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency...the PPPRA) for an increase in the price of petroleum products (including gasoline/petrol and kerosene, the two prime energy sources of this long-misgoverned nation of over 150 million disheartened citizens)!
FACTS: 1. This is the same nation that has gained a windfall of over 10 billion dollars due to unanticipated earnings from crude oil and gas sales; 2. a nation where lives were lost the last time there were increases in these products' prices, as the masses protested the apparent government desire to keep them in debilitating poverty, whilst the self-same government's officers and officials wallow in nauseating wealth that they have corruptly, and otherwise, taken from the common coffers of the nation; 3. a country that is on the verge of collapse due to the dissatisfaction of the generality of the people with the style of lopsided governance that is fast-tracking the widening of the rich-poor gap; 4. the nation-state that is being threatened by different calls for autonomy and balkanisation because its putative citizens do not feel that the government represents their interests anymore; and, 5. to twist the knife in the wound, this is the same government that is advocating the hand-over of this windfall (as soon as it hits the 12 billion mark) to a bunch of vampirish "creditors" who have helped suck this nation dry, by conspiring over the decades with her outlandishly corrupt leaders (including the present leaders!) to siphon the wealth of the people into "laundered" offshore-systems that stash these stolen monies in secret (and even open) accounts with absolute impunity, save for occasinal bursts of BIG LIE-style pretexts by government, to appear to be fighting the corruption that's virtually endemic in the system, and that is patronised by the compradore capitalists and rent-collecting politicians who are slowly, but surely, bleeding Nigeria to death...all this after this same government had (O Integrity, why have you deserted all Nigerian leaders?!) reneged on its covenant with the people, through an elaborate sham of a process, to cushion the last increases in fuel prices!!
Can one but conclude, given all these (tip-of-the-iceberg!) pointers, that this nation is cursed?...
How else can one rationalise the seemingly mad rush by government to lead the nation over the precipice of stability into a free-fall into anarchy, anomie, and the beginning of a vortex that will suck not only Nigeria into destruction, but also so negatively impact Africa, Europe and the whole world as it destabilises the resources of the United Nations, that one fears for humanity ultimately...whilst one kneels and tremblingly prays against the horror of revolution that this present government (that loves equating its governing-style with tsunamis!...can you believe the insensitive and foreboding crassness of its choice of imagery?) is so cut-off from the people as to not realise how very little it could take to spark off "the end" even this very year.
SOMEBODY, PLEASE, HELP US SAVE NIGERIA FROM HERSLF!!!
Shalom!!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

This is post one of Day one on this new blog that has been specially created to allow POSITIVE PARTNERS, a Nigeria-based global civil society group, interact more effectually with all stakeholders in the dynamic actualisation of positive change in our world today, by promoting a culture of passionate and active compassion.

There will be more relevant sensitisation IEC beginning tomorrow.

Shalom!!!
TIUranta.