Paul Rika, a Taraba-based priest and International Director of the Holiness Revival Movement Worldwide, has firmly responded to former Defense Minister Theophilus Danjuma’s threat of a N1 billion lawsuit for alleged slander.<\/p>\n
The cleric claimed that his writings were divinely inspired messages, urging Danjuma to embrace them as God’s instructions rather than taking legal action.<\/p>\n
On September 27, Danjuma, represented by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Tayo Oyetibo, ordered that Rika remove claimed defamatory claims in his book, “God’s Message to the Kuteb Tribe and Indigenes of Taraba State.”<\/p>\n
Danjuma’s letter stated that portions of the book showed him as “a wicked, mischievous, evil, and anti-democratic person” and wanted N1 billion in damages within seven days.<\/p>\n
In a letter obtained by media on Wednesday, Rika stayed steady, asking the retired general to take what he regarded as a divine warning and use the message for spiritual contemplation.<\/p>\n
“God’s message may appear damaging but if we listen, they will change us into what He desires us to be before our death,” Rika said.<\/p>\n
The cleric provided Danjuma other texts to assist him understand the context, saying that God does not attempt to “massage egos” but rather to communicate truth.<\/p>\n
Rika said, \u201cI want you to know the certainty of the message the Lord has sent to you, the Kuteb people and the Indigenes of Taraba State. You know that God is your Creator as much as He is the Creator of other people. He loves you as much as He loves other people and will not want you to oppress them.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod has no respect for persons; He is the Lord of all. He has the liberty to speak to anybody at any time and in the manner He wants. He is the one who will bring everyone to judgment. Should He speak to you in your lifetime on earth or after your lifetime, when there would be no chance anymore to show you mercy? Judge it yourself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the Lord sent a message to King Ahab concerning the wickedness he did to Naboth and his family, so the Lord has sent you the message contained in the book on the evil you have done to the Kuteb tribe from your youth to this day, which you are planning to continue, even after your lifetime on earth, as revealed by God in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n
He compared his book to a letter written to Theophilus in the Book of Luke, sayin \u201cI have no doubt that this is true of you because the revelation came from God. Your argument against this truth has no meaning, because of your practical \u2026 deeds against the Kuteb tribe and against Taraba State at large, which are still ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe revelation message in the book is true and many people bear witness to it, both in Taraba State and in the world around it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cleric castigated the retired general<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease Sir, acknowledge your iniquity, both as God revealed it in that book and as men testify practically in your hearing. I want you to know your need for genuine repentance through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, your Creator, Saviour and the great Judge over your life both now in your lifetime and after your death.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis involves genuine confession of your sins to Him and confession, apologies, and restitution to the Kuteb tribe \u2026 Be informed that the Kuteb nation is crying to God against you for vengeance against you.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will need to do the same to Taraba State and all that you have offended as much as you can remember. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to believe that your sins have not gone beyond the boundary of being forgiven by God because He is a great God of mercy. Even when men get angry because of what you have done over the years, God will still forgive you and grant you heaven, if you genuinely repent and walk in the newness of life. You need to humble yourself and forget your greatness, riches, honour and popularity among men,and accept Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rika’s letter included more publications he offered to provide for Danjuma’s “spiritual edification,” such as “Escaping Hellfire and Entering Heaven Made Simple” and “The Doctrine of Christian Restitution for Your Holiness and Heaven.”<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cIf truly you are taking this matter to court, having taken a lawyer for it, then, it shall be you and Jesus, your advocates and the Angels that shall be involved in the court proceedings before the judge which I cannot tell now, while I and those with me may be witnesses. Hence, he that rejects the message of the Lord which He sends through His servant also rejects Jesus and the Father.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be sin and rebellion against God to me, to retrieve from the society the Lord\u2019s message meant to save humanity because a mortal man, who today is and tomorrow is not commands me to do so. We need money for evangelism and soul-winning and to prepare the church for Christ\u2019s return. Is it sensible, therefore, that we should give man money because he said we have offended forgiving him God\u2019s message?<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not by this writing stopping you from taking the matter to the court because every man is entitled to his opinion, but I am showing you the implication especially at this age when you should be seeking forgiveness, salvation and grace to escape hell and\u00a0enter\u00a0heaven\u201d<\/p>\n
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Paul Rika, a Taraba-based priest and International Director of the Holiness Revival Movement Worldwide, has firmly responded to former Defense Minister Theophilus Danjuma’s threat of a N1 billion lawsuit for alleged slander. The cleric claimed that his writings were divinely inspired messages, urging Danjuma to embrace them as God’s instructions rather than taking legal action. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":54094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54093"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54113,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54093\/revisions\/54113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}