A Pastor, Prince Adewale Fagbire, who was alleged to have been struck dumb and motionless when he invaded his community shrine at Ketu – Ayetoro in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun state while pulling it down, has told The Nation that though the town’s traditionalists assaulted him with “charms and other fetish objects,” but was not “harmed” at all.

Fagbire, who is a Pastor at the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) in Ayetoro area, said he actually entered the shrine, evacuated all the fetish items that were kept there and also took a position beside the entrance to it in quietness as instructed by God.

Prince Fagbire, son of the past Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Taiwo Fagbire, who joined his ancestors in 1981 after his 20year reign in the agrarian community, said his late father and monarch, used to take him to the said shrine occasionally when he was alive.

Narrating his experience to The Nation and a handful of reporters, at the Office of the Chairman, Ogun State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Bishop Tunde Akin – Akinsanya, Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Fagbire said he elected to “remain calm and mute” during the assault and interrogation at the shrine by the traditionalists and some villagers.

Speaking in the presence of over a dozen of Christian leaders from CAN and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Ogun State, said God instructed him to stay calm and not utter a word at the shrine.

The father of two noted that his not talking or not uttering a word on the site of the shrine had nothing to with his being beaten with “charms and fetish objects” by the traditionalists as what they did had no physical or spiritual effects on him.

According to him, it was also not true as reported in some section of the media that the priests and custodians of the shrine upon the intervention of the Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Abdulaziz Adelakun, treated or healed him before he could regain his consciousness.

“I was conscious, physically and mentally sound, during and after the incident because God was already with me. I followed the instruction of the LORD to enter the shrine and packed all the items there away. I followed God’s instruction to be quiet aa instructed by God.

“God told me to go there (the shrine), create a scene, step aside and watch the film (the unfolding events). They struck me with charms and nothing happened to me. They know the truth, nobody treated me and I spoke when I got to the Palace of the Oba,” he said.

Our Correspondence gathered that although the traditionalists demanded N300,000 from a church in the community where Fagbire had once preached and also N200,000 from the pastor’s family to perform sacrifices to appease the gods for his alleged sacrilege but nothing was given to them eventually.

The church in the community incurred the wrath of the traditionalists and was attacked following the allegation that it instigated Prince Fagbire to carry out the alleged sacrilege on the shrine.

SaharaReporters has learned that a group of heavily armed kidnappers yesterday abducted Margaret Emefiele, the wife of Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

A source close to Mr. Emefiele told our correspondent that Mrs. Emefiele was kidnapped along the Benin-Agbor Road. Our source disclosed that the kidnappers have made contact with their victim’s husband, adding that they were demanding a huge sum in ransom.

Mrs. Emefiele’s kidnap represents one of the most high-profile kidnap cases in 2016.

Our effort to reach the CBN governor were unsuccessful

Dollar Falls to ₦490 per $1…While Pounds is ₦600 to £1…Euro is ₦520 to €1

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Naira drops to 490/$1, 600/£1 owing to ‘bombardment’ from Chad, Benin

Aminu Gwadabe, president of the Association of bureau de change operators of Nigeria (ABCON), says the free fall of the naira is due to activities of Nigeria’s immediate neighbours.

Over the week, the naira has been on a free fall at the parallel market, moving from 439 per dollar on Monday to 490 to the greenback on Friday morning.

The British pound and euro are also currently trading at N600 and N520 respectively.

According to Gwadabe, foreigners are mounting pressure on the naira by bringing in their dollar demand to Nigeria, hence, mopping up the dollars in the system.

“For the past few days, what we have been witnessing in the market is a kind of spike, a lot of volatility in exchange rate, and this has to do with fear,” Gwadabe told CNBC Africa.

“A lot of people are developing fear, and as a result of that, no naira is being kept. People are moving from naira to dollar.

“A very worrisome factor that we have been witnessing in the market is that the market has recently been bombarded by people from neighbouring countries to meet their demands.

“What I mean by neighbouring countries is that a lot of demand is coming from Benin Republic, from Chad. International demand is also accumulating; we see a lot of Chinese traders coming into the economy, mopping up any available dollar.”

Gwadabe said ABCON and Travelex are now into a partnership, which would take off soon, thereby easing the stress on the local currency.

The bureau de change boss expressed support for the proposed sale of some national assets to beef up foreign reserves and support the naira.

President Buhari says he will not stop blaming PDP for the current state of the nation.

Speaking at the launch of a pictorial book entitled ‘Buhari a new beginning’ by his personal photographer, Bayo Omoboriowo in the state house Abuja, President Buhari said;

“I’m going to bore you with what we met. I know I’m being accused in the papers of passing the buck, but passing the buck is sometimes absolutely necessary, to remind people who take things for granted.

The youth must watch our elite, the condition we found ourselves. It is unpatriotic for anybody to pretend that economically we don’t have a problem. We have gone into the farms.

I congratulate some of the governors and by the grace of God by the end of this government we will be exporting rice and grains. So all the money alleged to have been used to import will be available to sustain development.

I have bored you with this long explanation because there are things that could be hidden from you by those that have mismanaged the country in the last 16, 17 years.

I assure you that we will set the ball rolling in terms of security, industrialisation, manufacturing and food security. I said it years ago and I still mean it, we have no other country than Nigeria, we will stay here and salvage it together”he said

A clergyman who was reported to have been paralysed after destroying a shrine in Ketu, Ayetoro area of Ogun State, on Sept. 20th, said traditionalists beat him with charms and other fetish objects but he was not affected spiritually or physically.

Pastor Adewale Fagbire of the Christ Apostolic Church(CAC) said this on Thursday, in Abeokuta during a press conference organised by the Ogun State branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Fagbere, while debunking claims that he was stricken by angry gods of the shrine and only regained consciousness after priests of the shrine carried out some rites on him, upon intervention of the Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Abdulaziz Adelakun, said that his action was an instruction from God, that he evacuated all the fetish items in the shrine, and that while he was assaulted by the traditionalists, he decided to remain quiet.

He told those in attendance at the conference that his late father, who reigned as the traditional ruler of the town, Oba Taiwo Fagbire, used to take him to the shrine while alive.

“About what happened at Ayetoro, it was from God and direction from the Holy Spirit for the deliverance of Ayetoro from darkness. When I started what God told me, He told me to do three things in the shrine. He said that when I get there, I should evacuate; I should step aside and remain silent when people come out to see me. So, I did exactly as instructed by God on that Sept. 20. I got there around 5.a.m. and after I took out those things ,God told me to wait and stay and I did so. It was not their gods that held me transfixed or struck me; it was the idol worshipers that struck me with their charms. When I was taken to the palace, I told them that all my actions were directed by God and not human beings or the church of God. Although, they tried many charms on me, none was effective on me. I only followed the instruction of God that I should be quiet and they too know the truth.” the cleric narrated.

Meanwhile, the Regional Coordinator of Yewa/Awori Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Apostle Lola Dada, claims that the custodians of the shrine demanded for money from the family and CAN to appease the gods.

“They demanded for things they claimed they wanted to use for sacrifice. They asked the family of the pastor to pay N300,000 while CAN should bring N200,000, making it N500,000 for the sacrifice to appease their gods. However, no money was given to them and peace has returned to the town,” he said.

A move by the Police to charge Fagbere for malicious damage and act capable of breaching public peace, may have been stopped.

Spokesman of the Ogun State Police Command, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi, told newsmen that the case might not continue because the traditionalists “were dragging their feet on the case.”

Source: Premium Times