RIGHT Reverend James Olusola Odedeji was consecrated bishop on February 24, 2013 and was enthroned on April 28 to preside over the Anglican diocese of Lagos West. Our SAM EYOBOKA was there when he addressed addressed religious correspondents recently. Here are excerpts from that parley:

As men, we own the house with its entire property, including our wives. If women shouldn’t be our properties then why are we asked to pay so much to take them from their parents? Beating your wife is not violence, so, the world should stop putting it that way. Women ask for too much and sometimes have to be dealt with to be called to order! My wife is my property and I have every right over her; after all, didn’t I buy her with my money? Sometimes you hear people say husbands rape their wives, but how possible is that? Is the man not supposed to have right over his wife? Anyway, if my wife dares to deny me sex then it means she has given me a clean license to go out and enjoy myself!”

During the week,FIFA released its monthly rankings for November and put Nigeria at the 36th position, a three step drop from 33rd last month. Nigerian football fans yelled and called FIFA all sorts of names, condemning the ranking entirely.

Former Athletics Federation of Nigeria president, Dan Ngerem has picked holes in the appointment of two American coaches by the National Sports Commission. This is just as he reviled that there were other alternatives open for exploitation by the Sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi who gleefully announced the coming of Annie Taylor and Eric Campbell.

National Sports Commission director of youth development, Alhasan Yakmut has dismissed insinuations that the National Schools Sports Festival, and the forth coming National Youth Games were a duplication of efforts.

Some people think strength is power under control, others say power is the ability to control and effect change. I believe power is the ability and even privilege to determine a course of action and then influence the result. The sad truth is that most people feel themselves to be at the mercy of fate, of reality. They feel powerless and emotionally, financially and spiritually impotent. It takes many years to actually become emancipated from this very depressing mindset and step into a realisation that power has been there for the taking and the using all along. I am not preaching a motivational message to give people a feel good burst of adrenaline; I am stating a fact that is becoming truer for me the older I get. Is power spiritual or political manipulation, gross abuse of authority, position and wealth or is it just a simple acceptance of responsibility, possibility and eventuality? I believe the latter to be very true.

There appears to be some measure of unanimity among analysts both within and outside Nigeria that the nation is a highly corrupt society. The country’s successive governments since the return of democracy in 1999 do not quite agree. This can be deduced from certain viewpoints that are usually officially canvassed on behalf of the nation. The first is that there is corruption everywhere, making it obvious that it is not peculiar to Nigeria. Some say, if the British knew nothing about corruption, the term would not have evolved as an English word.

Man’s inability to understand that the physical things before him, including himself are controlled by God gave birth to Wisdom: A Discovery In A Nation With A Broken Heart.

It was indeed an evening of inspiring poetry, beautiful music and alluring fashion, as friends, colleagues, and well wishers gathered to celebrate one of Nigerian’s ace broadcaster, prize winning author and Vlisco Ambassador, Eugenia Abu at a recent poetry reading session held in her honour at the Eko Hotels and Suites.