AFRICAN PLUME

“The Manifesto of God’s Kingdom” By Akin Ojumu Launched from the area around the Sea of Galilee, Jesus’s ministry took him around the towns and villages of Galilee. As it was His custom, he went from synagogue to synagogue teaching and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. And he healed every sickness and disease of the people. With neither television advertisements nor radio jingle commercials, his fame spread like wildfire all over Palestine. From all over Israel and even beyond River Jordan, people brought to Him the sick and afflicted, and those possessed of demons. With no made for TV melodrama or Hollywood theatrics, Jesus healed them all. Everywhere he went, multitudes followed him. Among the motley crowds were the afflicted, those hungry for the good news, the brokenhearted hoping and praying for binding, the captives desperate for liberty, and they were the prisoners pleading for freedom. On this occasion, when Jesus saw them, He was moved with compassion. He went up the moun...

Few things excite me more than seeing someone from a humble beginning excel in their field of endeavor. I’m especially thrilled when one of my loved ones achieve great feat. That’s the reason I couldn’t contain my joy when I heard the news that the genius of the Greater Aruntola family was accepted to Yale to pursue her medical career. Guess what? The news that Doyin is going to Yale does not come to me as a surprise. I have always known she is destined for the Ivy Leagues and it was just a matter of time for that to happen. The Greater Aruntola Family congratulate Dr Adedoyinsola Mercy Adewale on her massive accomplishments. We are extremely proud of you for planting the flag of the family in the soil of another Ivy League institution. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors in the medical field. May you continue to soar from heights to even greater heights. Next stop, tenured Professor at Yale Medical School!

“Happiness is found on the Rugged Mountain of the Beatitudes” By Akin Ojumu King Solomon spent the better part of his life in pursuit of happiness. As a hedonist devoted to chasing pleasure, there was nothing he didn’t try to appease the hunger for meaning that burned on his inside. He tried womanizing, winebibbing, and epicurism.  His search took him from being a horticulturist and an environmentalist to a developer, slave trader, and rancher. He acquired great riches and amassed stupendous wealth. At one point in his journey, he tried wisdom and at another point, he turned to foolishness. At the end of it all, the happiness and meaning he sought remained elusive and in none of these things did Solomon find meaning. The more he tried, the further away from him happiness got.  And so, he concluded in Ecclesiastes 2:26: “To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it ove...

  The Greater Aruntola Family would like to thank all those who stood by us during our moments of grief. God bless you all. Please join us for the 1-year Memorial Service: Date: Sunday, April 10, 2022 Time: 2:00pm EST Location: The Kensico Cemetery Grounds, 273 Lakeview Avenue, Valhalla, NY 10595, USA

“Our Futile Pursuit of Happiness” By Akin Ojumu Druk Yul is a tiny nation in Southeast Asia. Also going by the name Bhutan, this Buddhist kingdom on the eastern edge of the Himalayas, sandwiched between India and Tibet, is known for its beautiful monasteries, massive fortresses (or dzongs) and dramatic landscapes that range from subtropical plains to steep mountains and valleys. It's said to be the last remaining Buddhist country in the world. Much has been said about Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index (GNHI). Economists all over the world go gaga about the nine-domain GNHI. Coined in 1972 by the 4th King of Bhutan, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, when he declared, “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product,” GNHI “is not just a measure of how much people smile and laugh. It’s a holistic approach to sustainable development that gives as much weight to human flourishing as it does wealth” (Sandy LaMotte, CNN).  In the words of Bhutan’s Prime Minister, ...

“Righteousness Makes a Nation Great, Sin Brings it to Ruin” By Akin Ojumu Religion is woven into the fabric of every day life of Nigerians and religiosity is like clothing that the people wear to cover their nakedness. Nigerians love to wrap themselves up in regalia of piety as they preen and primp along in a sanctimonious display of Pharisaical pomposity and Pecksniffian humility. Despite the showy religiosity prevalent among Nigerians, the country remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to live. All over Nigeria, violent crimes are the realities of life and rampageous lawlessness is rife. The people live terrified in their own homes and are petrified at every turn whenever they venture out. The barbaric and sadistic nature of some of the criminal acts reported around the country will scare the living daylights out of the bravest of men. Below are just a sample of some of the cases that have made the news in recent months. (1) March 4, 2022 – Eight-year-old abducted and ...

By Akin Ojumu According to Marjorie Taylor Greene, that ultra-far-right conservative conspiracy theorist and United States Congresswoman representing Georgia's 14th Congressional district, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) never recommended more than one polio vaccine shot for children. So she wonders why Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious disease expert and the piñata of the COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, is recommending a fourth COVID shot for the prevention of contracting and/or dying from COVID-19. Here is Ms. Greene in her own words: “Now, here’s what else is interesting. Just today, Dr Fauci – who happened to be the one to help fund the gain of function research – decided to say…come out and say…that mask mandates should be brought back. And this is at a time where we're finally getting rid of mask mandates. And he's also recommending a fourth COVID vaccine shot. Now, I don't know about you guys, but many of us were vacci...

“Religion is the Opium of the Nigerian Masses” By Akin Ojumu Nigerians pride themselves as deeply religious people and they hold the unshakeable view that the road that leads to heaven passes straight through their houses of worship. And they’d be right, if religiosity were measured by the number of religious establishments, attendance at religious events, lengthy prayer sessions, and fluency in religionese – that special lingo common among the religious. Nigeria has a population of about 203.5 million people. Of that, 90 million (50 percent) are Muslims and 86.7 million (48.1 percent) Christians. Nigeria has the largest Christian population of any country in Africa (Pew Research Center). The Pentecostal denominations in Nigeria have as many as 1 million parishes, and there are as many as 10 parishes for every city block.  The Catholic Church is the largest denomination in Nigeria with a population of 19 million. Anglican Communion comes a close second with current membership at ab...

By Akin Ojumu Opinion bloviators at Fox News are having a hard time convincing the country that their hero, Vladimir Putin, is being unfairly targeted by the governments of NATO nations. Try as they may, these “Useful Idiots” are running into a brick wall in their effort to supplant and twist the images coming out of Ukraine of the grievous atrocities being committed by the Russian military to fit their preferred narratives. Cold hard facts, broadcast by the real news journalists at Fox News, keep on standing in the way of the lies and propaganda spread by these admirers of the Kremlin lunatic. The bubble in which they reside keeps being busted with the truth reported by Fox News reporters who are on the ground in Ukraine and are witnesses of the horror being perpetrated by the rabid dogs Vladmir Putin unleashed on that beautiful country. As Greg Gutfeld himself has correctly attested, these folks are gutless inconsiderate coldhearted wussies.

“The Fallacy of False Moral Equivalence” By Akin Ojumu As stated earlier in this commentary, there are people in western societies who see nothing wrong in the unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation by Russia. To these people, Putin’s acts of aggression are the inevitable response of a harangued leader pushed to take actions in defense of his country. In their view, Putin is a victim of the belligerence of the out-of-control United States and its NATO allies who are hellbent on deploying their missiles to countries that border Russia. It is true that the US and its NATO allies have their own faults and their hands have shed many innocent bloods in the name of national interests. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the US, orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden and carried out by his murderous Al Qaeda followers, the US launched a war in Afghanistan and, together with what was called the “Coalition of the Willing,” invaded Iraq. While the war in Afghanistan can be easily ju...

“A Peep into the Dark Mind of a Polezni Durak ” By Akin Ojumu The last time I took a class remotely close to international relations was decades ago at high school and the subject was Government. So, I’m a novice when it comes to understanding the struggle over the control of geographical entities with an international and global dimension, and the use of such geographical entities for political advantage is not a subject in which I’m familiar. The science of medicine is my profession, political science and geopolitics are not my areas of expertise. The dynamics of the relationship among nations is a subject in which I’m as thick as two short planks. That being said, my lack of a master’s degree in political science does not mean I can’t differentiate between good and evil. While I may not hold a Ph.D. in international relations, I can certainly tell the difference between right and wrong. Injustice sticks in my crawl, and I have a bee in the bonnet about the oppression of the weak by ...

“Russia is a Victim of NATO's Aggression” By Akin Ojumu In the face of the unimaginable human tragedy unfolding in Ukraine as a result of the unprovoked invasion by Russia, there’s the argument emanating from certain quarters that the United States and its NATO allies must be measured in their response so as not to provoke Vladimir Putin and send the world into World War III.  While limbs of babies are being ripped apart and lives of little children prematurely and cruelly snuffed out, there are those who vehemently argue that Putin was goaded into invading Ukraine because of his legitimate concern about the risk that country poses to the security of the Russia state. Even as Russia uses cluster and thermobaric bombs to flatten apartment buildings, destroy schools, and reduce to rubble hospitals, the constant refrain of some observers is that Western nations must be blamed for Putin’s acts of aggression. Tucked away in the safety and security of their homes, thousands of miles away...