Monday 6 March 2017

I didn’t make promise Stephanie Otobo marriage – Apostle Suleman



…says she’s a blackmailer, I’ve no hand in her travails
General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, Apostle Johnson Suleman, on Monday distanced himself from the arrest and detention of Stephanie Otobo by the police last Friday, March 3, 2017 over alleged blackmail.
The allegation against Suleman came about one month after his interrogation by the Department of State Services over alleged incitement in his sermon in which he advised that Fulani herdsmen who came near his church should be killed.
The cleric in a statement by his Communications Manager, Phrank Shaibu, obtained by THE PUNCH in Abuja, said there was no amorous relationship between the said Otobo and himself, including a promise to marry her.
According to Shaibu, the lady was allegedly arrested by operatives acting on a tip off that the she had repeatedly tried to blackmail Suleman, including demanding N500 million from him, failing which she threatened to expose a purported amorous relationship between her and the Pastor.

Our correspondent reported that a legal practitioner, Festus Keyamo, had demanding N500 million on behalf of Otobo and also accused Apostle Suleman of allegedly procuring policemen to intimidate and detain his client unlawfully, having earlier promised to marry her.
Shaibu said Keyamo was misled into believing that there was an amorous relationship between Apostle Suleman and Otobo, addding that the lady was “caught up by her own machinations as she was arrested while trying to withdraw money paid into her account by the Church in a sting operation coordinated by the police.”
He said, “Unknown to Keyamo, the police was alerted following several attempts by the said lady to blackmail Apostle Suleiman. The police also recorded her conversations making the frivolous demand. The highpoint of the drama was her attempt to withdraw money paid into her account at the instance of the police. The lawyer should know that his client was arrested by the police with abundance of evidence confirming that she is indeed a serial blackmailer.”
Shaibu also denied Keyamo’s claim of an amorous relationship and a promise to marry her, wondering how such a transaction could have taken place without any iota of evidence.
He said, “Let me place it on record that, the lady in question is a self-confessed stripper in a nite club in Canada, who like thousands of people that seek help from Apostle Johnson Suleman, called to pretentiously convey her intentions to embrace Christ and also needed financial help to keep body and soul as she no longer had a means of livelihood after quitting as a stripper.
“Does Keyamo or his serial blackmailing client have pictures of the visit by Apostle Suleman or his representatives to her parents? In any case, how could such a relationship have existed when the Apostle and the said lady have never met physically? How could he have made a promise of a house and a lifestyle comparable to what she has in Canada when he has never been to her house or seen her physically as to have an idea of her living standards?”
According to him, Keyamo must have been misled or excited by the prospects of getting a whopping N500 million, both reasons for which two letters were written and sent to Suleman.

Sunday 5 March 2017

THE PRAYING HANDS.



"STORY BEHIND THE PRAYING HANDS"
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a Goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood. Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two the elder children,Albrecht and Albert, had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or,if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.
They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Dürer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works. When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you."All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No ...no...no ...no."Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast,much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother ...for me it is too late." More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors,charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people,are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office. One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed,Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love"The Praying Hands."The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one - no one - - ever makes it alone!
WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER...