Questions

She reached out to me that she needed 
two million Naira for her business 
She has a very wonderful business idea 
that I knew would take her and her family 
out of poverty 
I didn't have the cash but i had an investor 
who had whispered in my ears that she 
had some loose change and wouldn't mind 
investing in some businesses. 
Her only criteria were integrity and 
professionalism. 
She said she is sure her money will never be 
squandered as long as the person knows 
what he or she is doing and is trustworthy. 
This lady matched the criteria 
The business was in her area of specialization 
and she is very trustworthy and disciplined. 
I linked the two of them together 
A few hours later, the lady who needed the 
money sent me a message 
Brother Gbenga, how old is this investor? 
I asked her why she was asking about 
the age 
She said "She sounds so young, like 
someone in her twenties I cannot believe 
you will link me up with someone that 
is so young, I don't like "insult", I cannot 
stand being talked to by a child. 
What does she know? 
The moment I heard her voice, I kept 
wondering how i will be able to relate 
with her in business 
Will I call her madam or ma'am? 
How will the flow of communication go? 
I cannot do business with her 
Wow! 
I asked her if the lady insulted her in any 
way in the course of their discussion 
about the business 
She said no 
She said she just didn't feel comfortable 
with the age difference 
She was in her early forties 
The lady is younger than her mother's 
last child 
It didn't sit well with her 
I apologized and told her i will be on 
the lookout for an older investor 
She said okay 
She went on to say "Brother Gbenga, 
not everyone is like you 
Please, I cannot pay obeisance to a 
cow because I want to eat meat. 
I know what my age mates are 
achieving all over the world. 
I cannot eat the bread of sorrow, there 
is no way I am not at least fifteen years 
older than that girl 
Money is not everything 
I have my pride and i am not a fool.
I apologized again 
Personally, i do not see a big deal in 
someone calling me by my name or 
being younger than me and relating 
with me as a human being should 
As long as we have mutual respect for 
each other, age shouldn't be a barrier 
That is how I am and I understand 
that others may not be like that 
I have witnessed people fighting and 
beating each other silly over 
"How dare you call me by my name 
without adding a "brother" or "Sister" 
tag to it 
It is a big deal for some people 
Some have told me the people i 
surround myself with are not too 
respectful because some of them 
call me by my name 
My response to them has always been 
"I am no longer a Yoruba man" 
When I was a Yoruba man, the Yoruba 
culture applied to me but I am now a 
citizen of Zion and an ambassador of 
the Most High 
Whosoever the Holy Spirit call my 
brother or sister is free to relate with 
me in any way that such feels comfortable 
The Bible says we should esteem others 
more than ourselves and everyone 
around me does this 
We are full of the Holy Spirit and we respect 
God in one another 
The spirit of error and offense has no place 
in us, we are just as Christ is! 
It is so easy to bring tribal sentiment into a 
good thing and destroy it 
I always keep people with such a mindset at 
arm's length 
Didn't Apostle Paul admonish us not to know 
any man after the flesh? 
Any culture or tradition that promotes the 
flesh is not of God
This morning, a young man reached out to me 
He was in the same line of business with 
the first lady 
He also had some fantastic ideas and he 
needed cash 
He was a Yoruba man like the first sister 
I read through his proposal and linked her up 
with the same young lady I linked the
first lady with 
Within an hour the young lady had credited 
my account and I had transferred the fund 
to the young man 
(She said she wanted me to be carried along 
since I introduced him to her) 
The young man was also in his forties and 
he is married with children 
He didn't see the age difference as a big deal 
He didn't see the tribal difference as a big deal 
He closed the deal professionally and got 
the full amount he needed to push his 
business forward 
The investor called me to say Thank you 
The young man called me to say Thank you 
I felt useful and happy
At 5 pm, this evening, the initial lady craving 
respect called back asking me if I had found 
her another investor 
I told her I have not 
Then she said "What about the young lady?" 
I said she had invested with "brother so 
and so" 
She got upset 
What? 
How can you do that? 
You know I needed the fund and you 
gave it to someone else 
I said I didn't do anything like that 
The investor and this entrepreneur had an 
agreement and decided to do business 
together 
You had the first bite of the apple and 
you spit it out 
She hung up 
She was very upset 
I wonder why?

Something happened a few minutes ago 
A lady called me 
She is a single mother of a ten-year-old boy 
She called to report a crime and seek my 
intervention 
She is located in Ibadan 
She met a pastor I once worked with at Ibadan 
The pastor was located in Warri at that time 
She asked the pastor to help her out with 
some money to buy drugs and feed herself 
and her son 
The pastor didn't have cash but he transferred 
twenty-four thousand Naira to her 
Eleven thousand for her child's school fees, 
four thousand naira for the drugs she said 
she needed and rest for food 
This was ten months ago 
She called this pastor again several times 
The pastor didn't pick her call (I don't 
know why but it is likely the man didn't 
want her to turn him into her ATM) 
 She took offence that the pastor refused 
to pick her call or return her call 
She said his behaviour made her feel 
worthless 
They transferred this pastor to Lagos 
from Warri 
She heard about it 
She went to his office and asked to see 
the most senior pastor 
When she got to the most senior pastor, 
she told him that this pastor slept with 
her, got her pregnant and gave her four 
thousand Naira to commit abortion
(The amount she used to buy drugs
out of the twenty-four thousand
She had the bank transfer done to 
her as evidence 
The senior pastor sent for this pastor 
The pastor was shocked 
He admitted to knowing the woman but 
explained that he only met with her 
once and helped her out financially 
That was all
This lady told the senior pastor that if 
she was not given two million Naira, 
she would escalate the matter to the 
National Headquarters of the church 
The senior Pastor told this pastor to 
go settle the matter or get the sack 
This pastor reasoned with this woman 
The woman said she will collect two 
hundred thousand Naira 
The pastor didn't have two hundred 
thousand Naira 
He begged and went a borrowing 
It was during the lockdown and things 
were tight 
The woman kept calling the senior pastor 
and this pastor 
After a month, the senior pastor escalated the
issue himself 
He said it would be remiss of him not 
to be the one to report it 
If the woman reported it herself and said 
he was in the know, he would be accused 
of being involved in a cover-up 
The National Secretariat of the church 
didn't wait 
They suspended this pastor and sacked 
him after twenty-one days "investigation" 
They didn't call the man or the woman 
for a meeting 
They just wanted to avoid a scandal at all cost
 This man has served in this church as an 
accountant for twenty years 
He had also pastored to the level of a 
Zonal pastor 
Hmmm!
This lady called today saying she was 
desperately in need of money to process 
her visa and other documents in order to 
leave the country and decided to use 
the ploy to get some funds 
She said she didn't intend to escalate the issue 
She said she didn't know he would get sacked
This pastor was sacked three months ago
 He had gone into farming
 He had found himself in trouble because 
he helped someone in need 
He had to leave his rented accommodation 
in Lagos because it was being paid for by 
the church 
He returned to his house in the village 
He is bitter
Someone told this lady that the pastor 
respects me and would forgive her if 
I intervene 
That was why she called 
She said "I am calling to report myself 
and to ask you to plead on my behalf 
for forgiveness" 
I called the pastor's assistant immediately 
after the call 
He confirmed it
He told me everything he knew and it 
corresponded with the woman's story 
He said the pastor's job was terminated 
This is a family man 
This is a man of God 
This is an innocent man 
This is a man who tried to help when 
there was no one else to help 
This is a good man 
This is a man whose wife would never
 look at with assurance again because of 
the shadow of doubt cast by this lady 
This is a man whose relationship with God 
would have been shaken by this accusation 
A man whose work over the years would be 
sullied by this scandal 
This is a man of God! 
Why was the lady asking for forgiveness? 
She said she has been having nightmares 
and all sorts of evil premonitions since 
the pastor was sacked 
She had tried to call him but he had 
blocked her number 
She said she felt she needed to make things 
right with him immediately 
She was crying!
I have not called this pastor 
I don't even know what I would say or 
how I would go about it 
I respect men of God a lot 
I respect everyone who has the name of 
Jesus named upon them 
What to do? 

What to do?