A persistent but entirely illogical and factually inaccurate response to my column on former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello revolves around the notion that his terrible, thuggish, thieving record as a governor somehow delegitimizes youth participation in government and undermines the “Not Too Young to Run” bill.  

First of all, Yahaya Bello became a governor at 41 in 2016. There's no country in the world where 41 is regarded as "youth." He is a full-grown adult. 

The UN defines youth as people between the ages of 15 and 24. In the United States, it’s between 15 and 24 years. In the European Union and the United Kingdom, it encompasses individuals aged 15 to 25.

 The Commonwealth limits it to the ages of 15 through 29. But the African Youth Charter, which has perhaps the most elastic definitional compass of youth in the world, defines it as “any individual between 15-35 years of age.” 

The Nigerian National Youth Policy obviously derives inspirational strength for its conception of youth from the African Youth Charter because it also officially refers to people between the ages of 18 and 35 as belonging to the “youth.”

This is all a giant irony, of course. Nigeria, which has an average life expectancy of 55 years, regards 35 years as “youth” (which means, on average, Nigerians spend only 20 years as “adults”) while industrialized societies with higher average life expectancies (it’s 77 for the United States and 81 for the European Union) have a lower age threshold for youth.

It’s even worse in the general Nigerian population, which regards a 48-year-old man (who has already lived more than half of his life) as a “youth” and uses his indiscretions, ineptitude, infantilism, and larceny as justifications to shut out young people from governance.

Yahaha Bello didn’t need the “Not Too Young to Run” legislation to be a governor. The minimum age required to be a governor in the 1999 constitution—before the "Not Too Young to Run" bill was signed into law on May 31, 2018—was and still is 35. The bill did not change the age requirement for governorship positions.

That was why we had many people who were elected governors in their 30s in 1999. For example, Ibrahim Saminu Turaki was elected governor of Jigawa State at the age of 36. Donald Duke was 38 years old when he was elected governor of Cross River State in 1999. Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia was 39. Ahmad Sani Yerima of Zamfara was 39. Enugu State’s Chimaroke Nnamani was 39. 

With a few exceptions, the rest of the governors in 1999 were in their 40s (Delta State’s James Ibori was exactly 40), which is consistent with Yahaya Bello’s age. Why didn’t critics of youth participation in government invoke the failures of much younger governors than Bello at the incipience of the Fourth Republic to delegitimize “youth” participation in government?

The obsession with the youth of people in government in Nigeria is particularly strange because we have had Yakubu Gowon, a then 31-year-old unmarried man, as Head of State. Olusegun Obasanjo was 38 when he first became the head of state. Muhammadu Buhari and Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi were 41. IBB was 44.

In fact, most of the early leaders we venerate today were elected/appointed into their positions when they were in the same age group as Yahaya Bello. For example, Sir Ahmadu Bello assumed office as the Premier of the Northern Region on October 1, 1954, at the age of 44.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo became the Premier of the Western Region in 1952 at the age of 44. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was 47/48 when he became the Prime Minister of Nigeria in 1960.  Murtala Muhammed was only 36 when he became the Head of State of Nigeria on July 29, 1975. 

The examples are legion, but the point is that there is nothing unusual about someone of Yahaya Bello’s age being a governor. That’s why I find the focus on his age both ignorant and ahistorical.

Of course, more than anything, all that this points to is that people who got into government in their 30s and 40s two or three decades ago are still in power or hanging around the corridors of power, which leaves only a little space for new entrants from that age bracket. 

So, the few people in their 30s and 40s who make it to the circles of political power in contemporary Nigeria come across as novel, as marvels of young people in government, and as generational curiosities whose missteps are exteriorized to all people within their age range who are outside the orbit of power and who might want to get into it.

That’s unfair. Just like the incompetence, callousness, and venality of older politicians shouldn’t be used against all older people, Yahaya Bello’s villainy and corruption should not be used against people in his age bracket— or younger. 

This attitude implies that had Yahaya Bello been a geriatric fuddy-duddy, and not a 48-year-old man, he would not have been the debauched, profligate thug that he is, which is absolute flapdoodle. 

After all, Abdullahi “Gandollar” Ganduje was 69 years old in 2018 when he was secretly filmed stuffing wads of dollars into the morally stained pockets of his babban riga while grinning sheepishly from ear to ear like a clown. His advanced age didn’t insulate him from moral putrefaction. 

Age has no effect on integrity and probity. It is defeatist and evinces low self-worth for young people to beat themselves up because a 48-year-old man who became a governor at 41 turned out to be a rotten, incurable crook who pillaged his state without the slightest tinge of compunction and then installed a slavish, empty-headed puppet as his successor.  

It’s mostly young people—in the peculiar way Nigerians understand young people—who are saying Yahaya Bello’s spectacular incompetence and depravity symbolize the failure of “youth” in governance and that the older generation is justified in its reluctance to share power with young people.

In other words, if a few “youths” in government mess up, all youth should take the blame for it, accept that the failure of one of them is the failure of all of them, and then step back for the older order to continue to misrule exclusively. 

Notice that no one, certainly no older person I know of, says older people shouldn’t be allowed to govern because they’ve been messing up all these years. Only the “youth” are delegitimized on account of their age when they mess up. That is reverse ageism, that is, the idea that only old age, not youth or knowledge, should confer authority or respect on people. 

We are more than our ages. We embody a totality of multiple influences. The fact that Yahaya Bello was a grasping, primitive bandit in government doesn’t mean every 41-year-old who becomes a governor will be like him. That’s ridiculously reductionist. 

In any case, youth or old age are not permanent states. They are in perpetual flux. It is yesterday’s youth that become today’s older people. 

Nigeria is one of the world’s youngest countries with a median age of 16. Yet, when we look at the corridors of power, the vibrancy of youth is conspicuously absent. This gap between our young population and their representation in governance is not just a gap in numbers, but a gap in fresh ideas, innovation, and the spirit of our nation.

Yahaya Bello did not fail because he was young. He failed because he never prepared to succeed, and that wasn’t a function of his “youth.” Donald Duke was the second youngest governor in 1999, and he is credited with making tremendous marks in governing Cross River State.

Yes, age and experience have their place. But so does youth. An Igbo proverb, after all, says “If a child washes his hands, he could eat with Kings.”

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says 34 suspected currency speculators have been arrested for foreign exchange (FX) fraud.

The EFCC, in a statement on Friday, said the arrest was carried out by its operatives attached to its task force on currency mutilation, dollarisation of the economy, and FX malpractice.

The anti-graft agency said the suspects were arrested in Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, on April 26, in a sting operation following credible intelligence about illegal sales of dollars.

“Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, attached to the Taskforce on Currency mutilation, Dollarization of the Economy and Forex Malpractice, have arrested 34 suspected currency speculators for alleged foreign exchange fraud,” the EFCC said.

“The suspects are: Usman Mohammed, Abdullahi Nasir, Abubakar Saleh, Mohammed Kabir Ibrahim, Abubakar Ghadafi, Muktar Usman, Umar Abubakar Abba, Yakubu Sani, Aminu Abubakar, Muhammed Suleman Abara, Yusuf Tahir, Usman Lawal, Usman Lawal.”

The agency also arrested Usman Umar, Amina Garba Rola, Muhammed Aliyu, Murtala Haruna, Sani Mohammed, Umar Farouk, Muhammed Sagiuru, Aminu Salisu, Lawal Bello, and Munzali Hashim.

Other include: Jamilu Suleiman, Mustapha Umar, Mubarak Tanimu, Adamu Garba, Mohammed Usman, Bello Musa, Saleh Mohammed Naseer, Zaharadeen Yau, Musa Umaru Adamu, Usman Machido, and Abdulaziz Abubakar Abba.

The EFCC said the arrest occurred following its ongoing efforts to clean up and stabilise the FX market, adding that the suspects will soon be arraigned in court upon conclusion of investigations.

On February 24, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the office of the national security adviser (ONSA) sealed a partnership to investigate and penalise those involved in illicit activities within the foreign exchange market.

The decision was on the backdrop of the unending depreciation of the naira and its accompanying negative impact on inflation and economic instability.

Following the partnership, which also involved the EFCC, the commission froze over 300 accounts linked to illicit FX trading.

The EFCC had, on January 24, launched a probe on 52 companies over forex transactions.

[TheCable]

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Chief Marcel Okeke (Chief Economist)

Topic: "The exit of businesses from Nigeria"

Date: 27th April, 2024

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President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Dr. Innocent Bariate Barikor as the Director-General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulation Enforcement Agency (NESREA).

The President has also approved the appointment of Prince Ebitimi Amgbare as the Managing Director/CEO of the Niger Delta River Basin Development Authority (NDRBDA).

Dr. Barikor is an academic and politician. He was a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly from 2011 to 2015, while Prince Amgbare is a retired naval officer and former commissioner in Bayelsa State.

The President expects that the new heads of these important agencies will discharge their duties with utmost fidelity to the nation and unfailing adherence to the highest standards of professionalism, accountability, and excellent service to the people of Nigeria.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

President Bola Tinubu has approved the appointment of Mr. Jim Ovia, CFR, renowned banker and businessman, as the Chairman of the Board of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).

Mr. Ovia is the founder of one of Nigeria's leading banks and a respected business leader, with a surfeit of efforts and benefaction towards nurturing and empowering young Nigerians.

He is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana.

The National Student Loan Programme is a pivotal intervention that seeks to guarantee sustainable higher education and functional skill development for all Nigerian students and youths.

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund, the implementing institution of this innovation, demands excellence and Nigerians of the finest professional ilk to guide and manage.

The President believes Mr. Ovia will bring his immense wealth of experience and professional stature to this role to advance the all-important vision of ensuring that no Nigerian student suffers a capricious end to their pursuit of higher education over a lack of funds and of ensuring that Nigerian youths, irrespective of who they are, have access to higher education and skills that will make them productive members of society and core contributors to the knowledge-based global economy of this century.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

April 26, 2024

It is another World Malaria Day (WMD) today, one year after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended two candidate anti-malaria vaccines for the prevention of the mosquito-borne disease which afflicts more than 247 million people worldwide causing some 619,000 deaths.

Africa bears the highest burden of malaria attacks (more than 90% and loses more than USD$12 billion a year in unearned income), with pregnant women and children under age five as the most vulnerable groups.

Apart from billions of dollars lost to cocktails of treatment drugs, preventive measures and hospital admissions, malaria also costs the World millions of man-hours of labour and missed school attendance.

Unsurprisingly, Nigeria the most populous Black nation, has along with Ghana provisionally approved the use of R21/Matrix-M vaccine, with a 77% efficacy rate shown in initial trials and significantly higher antibody levels than the first vaccine - the RTS,S.

WHO member States instituted the WMD in 2007 to raise awareness, mobilize global action, and celebrate progress in the fight against the mosquito-borne disease.

The theme for 2024 is Accelerating the fight against Malaria for a more equitable World.

Malaria’s human and material devastations may not be as dramatic and headline-catching as the Russia-Ukraine or Israel-Hamas conflicts, but the war against Malaria matters because the disease kills more people annually than many other wars combined.

After avoidable losses due to the delay in the development of anti-malaria vaccines, governments and the international health community, especially the influential pharmaceutical companies owe the World a moral duty to fast-track the mass production and supply of anti-malaria vaccines for seamless accessibility and availability of the vaccines to needy populations worldwide

…Says Ekiti Governor has made immeasurable Impact on Citizens

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has congratulated Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji on the recent transfer of the electricity regulatory oversight by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to the Ekiti State Electricity Regulatory Bureau.

The NGF, in a congratulatory letter signed by its Director General, Asishana Okauru, said the transfer was a major achievement and “significant milestone” in the tenure of the Biodun Oyebanji-led administration in Ekiti State.

Hailing Governor Oyebanji for his “dedication, hard work and unwavering commitment to the service of Ekiti State” the NGF said it is proud of the Governor who has undoubtedly made positive and immeasurable impact on the lives of the people of the State.

While commending the cognate Government staff for their untiring commitment to duty, the Forum reiterated its joy that Governor Oyebanji has penchant for appointing the right people into positions; adding that the Governor’s choice of personnel is a testament to his visionary governance.

“On behalf of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum secretariat (NGFS), we congratulate you on the signing of the Order of Transfer of Regulatory Oversight of the Electricity Market in Ekiti State. This is a significant milestone in your term as Governor of Ekiti State. It is also a worthy achievement in the life of the new Electricity Act 2023.”

“Your dedication, hard work and unwavering commitment to the service of the people of Ekiti State undoubtedly led to this momentous achievement. The positive impact you have had on the lives of the citizens of Ekiti State is immeasurable and something to be proud of. Your tireless efforts have brought about positive changes and advancements that will benefit future generations”, Okauru said.

It is recalled that the Biodun Oyebanji Administration has made considerable investment in the power sector in the bid to fix power infrastructure in the state and boost economic activities in line with its shared prosperity agenda.

These include the establishment of the 5-Megawatt Independent Power Project, which is currently providing uninterrupted power supply to Government Offices at the state Secretariat, major institutions including the teaching Hospital complex, as well as the powering of some street lights. The Administration has also rehabilitated and connected the towns of Erijiyan and Ikogosi as well as Ikogosi Resorts back to the National Grid to enhance the State tourism corridor.

Other achievements of the Administration include rehabilitation and connection of Ipole lloro-Ekiti back to the National Grid, rehabilitation and reconnection of ljan, Iluomoba, Aisegba, Agbado, Imesi, Ode, Isinbode, Egbe, Iro-Ayeteju and Omuo up to Ilasa in Ayekire/Gbonyin and Ekiti East/South-East LGAs and LCDAs back to the National Grid as well as the extension of 33KV network from 132KV Omisanjana transmission substation to Baptist High School and the connection of Ilawe Dedicated 33KV feeder line with Erijiyan-Ekiti.

The Administration also installed 500kVA 33/0.415 relief transformer at Ikogosi, and is extending electricity from Aramoko to Ijero, Eruku, Kwara State to the agricultural zone in lyemero, and from Iluomoba to Ikole. Several other initiatives are in the offing, including a federal TCN 132KV connection between Ikere, Ijesa-Isu and Ilupeju.

Yinka Oyebode
Special Adviser, (Media) to the Governor, Ekiti State 
26-04-2024

An impressive collection of dignitaries gathered at the Worship Center, Uyo, on Wednesday for a thanksgiving service to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno. There were songs, prayers and speeches from many, but it was Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, wife of the Senate President, who surprised the crowd the most with her profound philosophical rendition. One after the other, she recognized the dignitaries and had something nice to say about them. Gov. Eno; former Governor Udom Emmanuel; former President Goodluck Jonathan; political leaders, clergies, business leaders and traditional chiefs were all present. Gaily dressed women added a peculiar hue to the colourful event. When she got to the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, Mrs Akpabio went spiritual and philosophical, drawing both laughter and applause from the audience.

‘’I am here to represent our leader, our father, the father of Gabriel Udom Emmanuel’’, she said, referring to her husband, adding, ‘’and by extension, I am the mother of Gabriel Udom Emmanuel’’. There were laughs and applause. In 2015, Gov. Akpabio invited Udom Emmanuel, then an executive director at Zenith Bank, into partisan politics and made him governor of the state in a typical Nigerian succession politics. She continued, ‘’I want to thank you, your excellency, our immediate past governor, Gabriel Udom Emmanuel, for propelling us to go to the center. If you had not propelled us; if you had not moved, Akwa Ibom people would not have been at the position they are today. So, I greet you Sir. God ordered your footsteps’’.

Mrs. Akpabio was essentially recalling the frosty relationship between her husband and Mr. Udom Emmanuel, and how that turned out to a blessing for Akpabio. She was therefore grateful that God used Udom Emmanuel to ‘’propel’’ her husband out of Akwa Ibom politics into national politics. Now, soon after Udom Emmanuel succeeded Akpabio as governor, the relationship between the two broke down, something not uncommon in our politics. Akpabio had contested and won election to the senate in 2015, and so, the two men managed to keep their rancour from public knowledge for the first two or three years. In August 2018, Senator Akpabio decamped from the PDP to the APC, leaving his godson, Gov. Udom Emmanuel in the PDP. A big political turmoil erupted in the state, leading to Akpabio’s failure to win a reelection to the senate in the 2019. He became minister in 2019 and the political gulf between the two widened more and more. In 2023, he contested again for the senate, telling Akwa Ibom people that he would be the Senate President if he won. He won and, to the surprise of many, became Senate President, under APC while Eno became governor, succeeding Udom Emmanuel, under PDP.

Things now began to work differently. Eno discarded politics of war and quarrel, and reached out to Akpabio and others in APC, creating a never-seen-before political harmony in the state. Last year, Eno attended Akpabio’s inaugural ceremonies as senate president and since then, has been very deferential of the senate President. Akpabio has also reciprocated the gestures from the governor and yesterday, his wife represented him at Eno’s birthday celebration. This rearrangement of the contours of politics in the state therefore afforded Akpabio’s wife the opportunity to go spiritual yesterday.

Mrs Akpabio’s assertion that it was Udom Emmanuel who ‘’propelled’’ her husband to return to the senate and eventually become senate president is therefore correct, and reflects the depth of her spirituality. It’s a testament to an adage that says that when one door is closed, another is open. If Akpabio and his successor had not fallen out, maybe he would still have remained in the PDP and would not have become Senate President. The quarrel catapulted Akpabio to seek relevance in national politics. It is a classic case of turning a disappointment into a blessing. An English adage says that. ‘’If life gives you a lemon, turn it into a lemonade’’. My own favourite saying which I have on my WhatsApp profile is, ‘’If you stumble on the dance floor, make it part of the dance’’. The Bible expresses it differently. ‘’And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good…’’ (Romans 8:28).

I was very pleased to hear Mrs. Akpabio, a devout Catholic, express her thoughts in this spiritual context. She had come to understand that her husband’s fight with his successor was his stepping stone to a higher responsibility. That’s why she told Udom Emmanuel yesterday, ‘’God ordered your footsteps’’. Many people have their own experiences of how personal disappointments have turned out to be a blessing. I have mine.

Whatever the disappointment that you face, look carefully, another door is open, or ajar. I will therefore advise Barr. Nyesom Wike and Mallam Nasir el Rufai to turn their quarrels with their successors into opportunity to do nobler deeds. There are other open doors for everyone out there!

The American International School of Abuja (AISA) has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to provide “authentic banking details” for the refund of fees paid for the children of Yahaya Bello, immediate-past governor of Kogi state.

Bello allegedly paid $720,000 in advance as fees for five of his children from the coffers of the Kogi state government.

The children are in grade level 2 to 8 at the school.

On April 17, EFCC operatives laid siege on Bello’s residence in Abuja in an attempt to arrest him over an alleged N80.2 billion fraud.

While the operatives were at the house, Usman Ododo, governor of Kogi, arrived at the property and reportedly whisked Bello away.

In a letter addressed to the Lagos zonal commander of the EFCC, the school said the sum of $845,852 has been paid in tuition “since the 7th of September 2021 to date”.

AISA said the sum to be refunded is $760,910, because it had deducted educational services already rendered.

“Please forward to us an official written request, with the authentic banking details of the EFCC, for the refund of the above-mentioned funds as previously indicated as part of your investigation into the alleged money laundering activities by the Bello family,” the letter reads.

“Since the 7th September 2021 to date, $845,852.84 (Eight Hundred and Forty Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty Two US Dollars and eighty four cents) in tuition and other fees has been deposited into our Bank account.

“We have calculated the net amount to be transferred and refunded to the State, after deducting the educational services rendered as $760,910.84. (Seven Hundred and Sixty Thousand, Nine Hundred and Ten US Dollars and Eighty Four cents).

“No further additional fees are expected in respect of tuition as the students’ fees have now been settled until they graduate from ASIA.”

The school said it will draw the attention of the anti-graft agency if there are any further deposits by the Bello family.

In a statement signed by Greg Hughes, AISA also said “Ali Bello contacted the school on Friday 13 August 2021 requesting to pay the family school fees in advance until the students graduate from High School”.

The EFCC has since declared Bello wanted with the NIS placing the ex-governor on a watchlist.

[TheCable]

Bobrisky has been in public glare for quite a while, but more compellingly following her imprisonment for six months two weeks ago. Her life has been controversial and so, predictably, her imprisonment. A trans-gender, she has been an editor’s good copy and delight for what many consider as her defiance in life, charting her own course as she deems fit. In her own words, on her Instagram page, she posted in October last year and as reported by this newspaper, The Guardian: “Immediately I got mature enough to differentiate between my right and left, I told myself I wanted to be a woman (in caps for emphasis). There is nothing bad about being a man. But I see myself doing better in life as a woman.”

So, in 2019, she jetted out, headed for Dubai to go under the knives to transform from a man into a woman. The risks of the surgeries made her to give herself the name Bobrisky. Again, in her own words: “Ever since I started transitioning into a woman I gave myself this name Bobrisky because I took a lot of risk going under several knives to be a woman today. I’m a successful woman today with so much fame, houses, cars etc.”

Bobrisky is well educated. She was born as a boy on 31 August, 1992, at Ebute Metta, Lagos, and appropriately christened Idris Olanrewaju Okuneye. He grew up there before going to King’s College. He graduated from the University of Lagos with a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) degree in accounting. Before he went to transform into a woman, he had this ardent longing for a sex change and he set out as a transvestite, that is, a person who enjoys being in the attire of the opposite sex. Dark skinned, she went for creams to change her complexion. She then took to establishing a cosmetic firm, marketing skin-lightening products. She has also been more known as an internet influencer, a platform which gives her considerable following of both admirers and as expected, stern critics. The enterprise fetches her a lot of money. She is into some other businesses. She also moves in high social circles where some billionaires find her glamorous and adorable.

To the chagrin of the world, on 12 April, this year, Bobrisky found her sensational world crashing down at the gates of a jail house. There was outrage with commentators arguing that as a first offender, she should have been given an option of fine. She did not also waste the time of the court seeking adjournments. The counter argument has been that a fine option is discretionary on the part of the judge. Bobrisky was charged on April 5 of Naira currency mutilation. The prosecution accused her of spraying N400, 000 at an event in Lekki. Video clips of two other instances she sprayed N20, 000 at Ikorodu and Oniru, Victoria Island were shown, all to which she admitted she was guilty. Justice Abimbola Awogboro of the Federal High Court announcing his verdict said: “The act of mutilating the Naira notes has become a menace which has continued to damage the country’s image. Enough of people mutilating and tampering with our currencies. It has to stop. This will serve as a deterrent to others.” She herself has pleaded within the last few days that she should be let off with a fine of N200, 000 which she is ready to pay immediately.

The interest of this column is not so much in the nauseating age-long cultural practice of money spraying in the land. The matter, distasteful a practice no doubt it was and has been–throwing away N400, 000 mindlessly at a go just like that– it merely scratches the surface considering what unfolded in the saga.

During the trial, Justice Awogboro did ask Bobrisky about his gender–whether she was a man or a woman to which she responded that he was a man. Five years ago when he transformed into a woman, he had said he cleared off all the physical features associated with a man. This should suggest to us that despite his vaunted trans-gender status she is going through an internal struggle with himself—outwardly a woman, inwardly a man. It is at this point we should recognise the need for us to overwhelm him with love and prayerful thoughts that he may overcome in the struggle with himself. His condition thus invites us into deep introspection. The condition demands even more from him—unceasing reflection in the closet the Ikoyi Correctional Centre is affording him: Who am I? Man, know thyself! Self-knowledge was demanded in ancient Greece, and so the Temple of Apollo at Delphi carried the inscription: “Know thyself.” Herbert Vollmann says in his book, A Gate Opens: “Man certainly needs the courage to be prepared to make unpleasant discoveries in the contemplation of himself…Self-knowledge is the first step to improvement.

“ If the improvement towards what is good continues, it leads towards dropping of faults and unswervingly to severance of evil threads of fate.”

Idris Okuneye was privileged to attend reputable institutions, King’s College and the University of Lagos, Akoka. He read accountancy. He had a promising future spread out for him. He must consider it strange that despite the beckoning of glitters in his life, the thoughts that kept assailing him were those urging him to change from being a man to transforming into a woman. Why were those thoughts banging on his soul? From where were they coming? Answers he must find to them.

Some years ago, a survey was reportedly carried out in one of the countries of Western Europe. And the question asked was: “If you were to come into the world once more, would you rather be a man or a woman?” The answers were predictably interesting: 61 per cent of the women respondents, acknowledging their sex, said they would want to come back and remain as women; 25 per cent would like to be men in the said reincarnation; while 13 per cent were undecided. Of the men, 88 per cent said they would like to return and live as males and only 8 per cent would elect to come next time as females. What lies behind a desire for a gender change?

In the enlightenment of higher knowledge available on earth today, it is revealed that as we left the Spiritual Realm embarking on our descent to this earth for our development, although we left as unconscious spirit germs, there was an inner, awakening urge which sought to incline towards a more delicate activity or to a coarser, positive working. If the urge increased in inclination towards the delicate, it was determined as female and it kept a part of the higher spiritual essence. (I refer to our descent to this vale of matter for our sojourn in the past tense because there are no new spirits coming to this earth). The female is thus enriched with higher spiritual make-up. If inclination of the urge leads towards coarser, positive tasting and activity, the spirit germ defines itself and it is so determined as male. Being male, it is gradually divested of the delicate and finer part of the higher spiritual part as it will inhibit its working. The female holding to her own is put in a situation that she is a firm link and channel of radiations and influences from higher and purer Light Realm, indeed, Paradise. She is thus blessed with richer intuitive and perceptive faculties to sense the Will of God at all times and in every situation so she can guide man. The urge that triggers the inclination becomes a resolution to be either a female or male. That first resolution of the spirit germ, we learn from higher knowledge, is decisive and fundamental for its whole existence, not just for life on earth but the entire existence. It is once and for all! No matter the changes that may have occurred, the spirit itself always remains what it had originally chosen at the start of its wandering through Creation. It is bound to that one single and decisive free will.

This special spiritual enrichment for women accounts for their charms which impact fully as from puberty upwards. The charms are to arrest the male folks and turn their gaze upwards to the Light. However, out of ignorance and the so palpable decline of woman, the role of the charms p is perverted; they are used today only to seduce.

Standing as she does half a step higher than man even psychically, and by virtue of her make-up, she is able to absorb the rays of power and she thus becomes the store house of power from On High. She mediates the rays to the dense men thus passing strength to them for use in their coarse activities. She pulls them up; she dispenses to them, spreading beauty, ennobling the environment and directing affairs to a glorious end. Nature has endowed woman with a finer essence which her body mirrors so that in the ensuing homogeneity with the finer and purer currents of life, she may easily link up with these forces, and absorbing from them, mediate strength to her menfolk, who being coarse and alien to these forces cannot reach out to them on their own. All women carry these abilities. They are inherent in their essence from the very beginning. Man senses some power emanating from woman, and he the sturdier one feels drawn to protect this inexplicable treasure, for balance in reciprocity.

As I once explained, man, through science has encountered this overwhelming power in nature but has been unable to relate it to the nature of female species in whatever form at all levels of being. In the tiny atom, a storehouse of power, the nucleus holds the active-prone electrons together in orbiting the shells. In the gigantic solar system, the storehouse is the sun. The galaxies and the universes, too, have their own storehouses and so does humanity. And that storehouse is woman! For all species of life are subject to Law, the Will of the Creator which affects every species according to its nature. This is the storehouse which women want to abandon to become men. Men, too, seek to abandon their roles and become women as in the example of Bobrisky.

From trends observable in modern times, there will be more cases of men seeking to become women in the future. They are already filing their applications in the psychic sphere with men plaiting their hair; some wear wigs; some wear ear rings; many in their thoughts or distorted conceptions either adopted voluntarily or received through upbringing. Since becoming a woman is nourished, in the next incarnation the man will have his longing answered according to the law that what a man strongly desires returns to him. Weakening their masculinity, they distort their souls. They are males inhabiting female bodies. In their reincarnation, they may be women; they assume only partially features of women to begin with. They are marked by distinctive characteristics such as narrow hips and aggressive disposition. Contrary to the accustomed naturally quiet posture of genuine women, they express strong opinions. Where the distortion is not yet complete, the person can come back as a bisexual person. She begins to wonder why she is different from other young girls and women.

However, the distortion is more prevalent among women. In modern times, women not fully aware of their roles in Creation and out of ignorance of the consequences, imitate men, seeking to share roles with them or even take over. From the words alone, it can be easily recognised that man is different from woman and each has its roles assigned by Nature. The aping is manifested in positive activities, diversion of energies to wrong and harmful pursuits, such as footballing; weight lifting; crane driving; excessive cultivation of the frontal brain which is the seat of the intellect. This has the effect of blocking the outflowing of their intuition. The craving for political power and kindred executive activities steel them. When genuine womanliness is repressed, the delicacy of perception measured in the sharpness of the sixth sense that it represents, is walled in and distorted by the intellect.

With the forced changes in roles, the distortion of the inner man begins and disequilibrium sets in. The threads of fate are woven in the tapestry of life; the woman concerned must reincarnate as a man. This is because after the suppression of the true womanliness, only the coarser spiritual elements prevail. In most cases the female body harbouring a distorted maie soul will have features that are distinctive such as narrow hips sliding towards the male structure. She could grow muscles.

Whether it is a man or a woman who is involved in the distortion of the soul, there is restlessness as neither feels welcome in the gathering of genuine men or genuine women as the case may be. The male in a female body, for example, finds that a genuine man is unable to feel happy in her vicinity. There can hardly be a harmonious and successful marriage between a genuine man and a distorted woman’s soul, and vice versa. A genuine man finds no understanding for a false woman.

The inexplicable urge from within to do something about the inability to fit joyously into any circle of friends or gathering or have a stable marriage union intensifies. Then, there is recourse to seeking public acknowledgement and renown to fill the gaps through various means and by all means. Some take very desperate and abhorrent steps!

The question remains for all drifting towards such unwholesome experiences: Who am I? Bobrisky upon deep reflection, grappling with seeking to find an answer to the all-important question may find the closet and experience the correctional facility affords him more of a blessing than a curse. The situation is reversible in the long run. It depends; as there is not much time left for all mankind, all of us to straighten our ways.

Having a firm volition for what is good and nursing no ill-will towards anyone is the first step in the quest for freedom from enchainment, inwardly and outwardly, as freedom within is freedom without. We should all lovingly wish Bobrisky well and help from Above, from the Throne of Grace. Above all, we should seek knowledge—knowledge that answers all questions of life and existence!