Police Summon Tunde Bakare Over Sermon On Jonathan

Men of the State Intelligence Bureau of the Nigeria Police have extended invitation to fiery Lagos preacher, Pastor Tunde Bakare, over what police sources see as a controversial sermon against President Goodluck Jonathan. 

The invitation signed by one Usman Ayuba (a chief superintendent of police) is sequel to a sermon which he (Pastor Bakare) delivered in his church wherein he accused President Jonathan of deliberately trying to bankrupt the country.

Publicity secretary of the Save Nigeria Group, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, who confirmed the development in a chat with LEADERSHIP on telephone, however, said Bakare, the leader of the group, was aware of the summon.

Bakare, the running mate to the presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in the last general election was billed to honour the invitation but had left the country on Wednesday.

“We saw an invitation by the police asking Pastor Bakare to honour an invitation regarding a sermon that he delivered sometime ago, but, as I am talking to you now, he is out of the country,” Odumakin said.

Though, it was speculated that security agents might prevent him from making the journey, which many believe was to the United States of America, he made without it hindrance.

Excerpt Of Pastor Bakare’s Sermon

“We have vampires whose assignment is to kill Nigeria and to make sure that Nigeria does not exist thereafter. Suddenly Nigeria that was that cheered now has clueless, shoeless people take over the administration of Nigeria.

“And the one word I have for Nigerians is, don’t despair. Jonathan is dancing to the drumbeat of destiny. His destiny is to bankrupt Nigeria. All men of goodwill must rise up to stop him. And stop him we will do. And I said stop him we will do. Don’t make mistake about what you are hearing from me today, it is clear in my heart beyond any iota of doubt that Jonathan’s destiny is to bankrupt Nigeria, balkanize Nigeria.

And there are forces behind him totally committed and determined to do so. Oil vultures with petrol dollars and all kinds of political “tinkers” not thinkers are tinkering with the destiny of our nation with their palace prophets telling them peace when there is no peace.

I want to tell you that it does not matter what it takes, we will stop you. We will stop you dead in your tracks. You will not accomplish your assignment. You will not finish your assignment. Nigeria will vomit you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Turn your Bible with me to the Book of Chronicles. Tell it on the mountain top that this man is dancing the drumbeat of destiny.

His destiny is to bankrupt this nation and balkanize it and he has the full support of his corporate cowboys and oil vultures as well as their palace prophets who are telling them peace when there is no peace because I don’t understand how a nation will be going through calamity upon calamity and those who should be concerned will only be prancing around. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand how you can serve your nation and serve bomb blast inside a church in Jos for breakfast.

And before they could recover from that anguish you serve them air crash for lunch. And before they could gain their moment of sanity, you serve them with petro dollar bribe and now you vaunt about it telling us nothing can happen because you are in charge, the land will vomit you as the Lord lives in the name of Jesus Christ and every collaborator will not go unpunished.

Your year of punishment has come. Tell it on the mountain top that there are still men of goodwill who will stop you dead in your tracks.

I am not talking about deluded ambitious politicians who now think of 2015 when the nation is in a mess in 2012. We can do all the tinkering, if we don’t rise up now there will not be 2015.”

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Today's Snapshot: Governor Adams Oshiomhole Shakes Hands With Chief Tony Anenih

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the Action Congress of Nigeria was at the Benin Airport to receive the PDP bigwigs, along with Tony Anenih, the Mr. Fix who was among the party bigwigs that campaigned for the PDP governorship candidate, Maj-Gen. Charles Arhiavbere in the 14 July election.

I particularly like the smiles on their faces....very suggestive...

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Professor Julius Ihonvbere Dumps PDP, Joins ACN

Professor Julius Ihonvbere, a stalwart of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and two-time gubernatorial candidate in Edo State, has defected to the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN.

In an address to his teaming supporters who gathered in his country home at Uzebba, Owan West Local Government Area, the professor of political economy and special adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo on Projects Monitoring and Implementation, chided the PDP for lacking the democratic ethos and vision needed to pilot an emerging democracy like Nigeria.

Ihonvbere who has been repeatedly denied the opportunity to govern the state by the party’s acclaimed godfather, Chief Tony Anenih told the people that his coming into ACN is to show that he has been fired by the courage of his conviction, that a people driven democracy is the only solution to Nigeria’s multi-faceted problems.

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Obasanjo’s Presidency, A Rogue Regime – Says CNPP

The CNPP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, described the former President, Olusegu Obasanjo’s regime as the most rogue ever in the country, where the nation’s whole treasury was blatantly looted while public funds were misappropriated.
He further said that the party challenges Chief Obasanjo to explain why all probes and audit of his regime by the National assembly found him culpable.
Okechukwu explained that CNPP filed a petition to the EFCC against Obasanjo on 24th December, 2007 when his immunity exited and that the party would continue to challenge him until our stolen patrimony is recovered.

President, Olusegu Obasanjo’s regime the most rogue ever in the country? Do you agree with that statement?

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Honourable Partick Obahiagbon Now Has A Grammar Interpreter: Read The Hilarious Interview

Hon. Bar. Partick Obahiagbon is a lawyer and holds two master's  degrees.  A former member of the House of Representatives. In this Exclusive interview with Vanguard Newspapers he made me really laugh so hard and with the help of an interpreter we don't need our dictionary'sssssss anymore.

Excerpts:

Q::::What is the meaning of Igodomigodo?  So many people would want to know?

A:::::Igodomigodo is a political sobriquet I have habilimented or if you like togarise my identity for a period of aeon to emblematize my culturico-spiritual fons et origo. It was an advertent stratagem to cosmopolitanize my genealogical matrix and arcane trajectory since it was not by accident that I originated from the land of Igodomigodo. The interesting thing is that IGODOMIGODO, being the pristine nomenclature of the Bini man, evokes in me the alacritous presence of the invisible "gods" of my progenitors which, by itself, invokes a luxuriation in an ancestral egregore of pristine resurgimento.

INTERPRETER::::(All that he has said here means that he adopted the name Igodomigo to give meaning and pleasure to his belief in his Bini culture. Fons et origo means source or origin)

***************
Q:::::How did you actually come about the bombast with which you speak?

A::::Well, this question can be answered from a bifurcated fons et origo.

One, I had a singular privilege of having a martinet for a father. My father was, and remains a very strict disciplinarian of puritanical and quixotic predilection. What that meant, my brother, in practical terms was that I never saw the streets of Benin outside my father's compound after 7p.m., until I became a practising lawyer. I didn't know how Benin looked like after 7p.m., except of course when I had to go to school.

If you grew up under that type of ambience, you cannot but put your nose to the grindstone. And more germane was the fact that when my father traveled abroad, he brought with him a flyer to the effect that good speakers have ruled the world, and if you want to rule the world, you cannot but be a good speaker.  I was very impressionable when he gave me this flyer which he had bought from London and for me who have always had the primus mobile and gravitating force to want to be part and parcel of the political higgi haggar of my milieu, I said to myself that if being a good speaker was the condition sine qua non for ruling the world, then I was going to do everything possible to be a good speaker and that was how I acclimatized myself very voraciously to the Students' Companion and read all there was to read that came my way. It was indeed a period of mental lucubration and intellectual gymkhana but more fundamentally is the fact that – and I've always said this – for most people, the dictionary is a reference point; but, for me, for over 25years now, the dictionary is a vade mecum – constant companion that is.

INTERPRETER::::(Because his father bought him a flyer which says to rule the world you must be a good speaker, he started reading all there was to read with a view to becoming a good speaker because he wanted to influence the politics of his area – that's all)

*****************
Q::::How?
A:::::I have spent nothing less than an hour on a daily basis on my dictionary for the past twenty five years and this could go from the pedestrian dictionary to the Encyclopedia and even to the Encarta dictionaries.
****************

Q::::What purpose do you want to achieve with that?  Just to speak, or to confuse people by being bombastic and verbose?

A:::::Let me tell you an incident that occurred that I want to bring under focal hiceps and biceps when I had the rare privilege to peregrinate through the green chambers, the House of Representatives, specifically.  I'm talking about when I had the opportunity to describe the intended legislative gambadoism of my colleagues as amounting to legislative rascality. You remember I was to be committed to parliamentary seppuku for that idiolect.

INTERPRETER::::(An incident that occurred when he called his colleagues in the House of Reps legislative rascal).

***************

No more "what say you my honourable", thanks to Vanguard Newspapers Interpreter.

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Governor Adams Oshiomhole Emerges "Man of the Year" For Champion Newspapers

Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, has been named the 2011 Champion Man Of the Year.

The Award is being conferred on him by the Board of Directors and Management of Champion Newspapers Limited (CNL) due to the governor's giant strides in the state since 2009 he was sworn in as the helmsman of the Heart Beat of the Nation.

Governor Oshiomhole, who had already confirmed the acceptance of the Award, is the second Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Governor to be given the Award, the first being the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, was Champion 'Man Of The Year' 2010.

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The Battle Between Reuben Abati And Dele Momodu

The battle between Dr. Reuben Abati, now Special Adviser to the President on

Media and Publicity and Sahara Reporters has drifted a little to Ovation Publisher/ Former Presidential Aspirant, Dele Momodu.

This is how Sahara Reporters stated it:

Remember Reuben - By Dele Momodu
"Not every journalist begins his career with an entrée in the nature of a bang. Journalistic careers tend to take a long, and windy route of much obscurity and misfortune, rejection and despair, and then, slowly, and accidentally, the career takes an upswing and the journalist is made and born…Exceptions to this rule are rare…Dele Momodu whose book you are holding…qualify as one of such exceptions.
"Momodu has proven to be one of those over-subscribed men who appear to be in all places at all times and capable of doing anything to the best of their abilities…"

That was my friend and brother, Dr Reuben Abati, Ph.D, writing an introduction to my unpublished book, DELE MOMODU, PENDULUM: essays, letters and columns, in 1997, while I was in exile in London, one clear year before Dr Goodluck Jonathan joined politics. As I remember the Reuben of those days, I weep for Nigeria. I weep because I never imagined in my wildest dream that a day would come when Reuben, our own Reuben, would be used as an attack dog, by people who are totally disconnected from reality.

Reuben remains for me one of the finest products of journalism, a man I foolishly thought would add some finesse to the lacklustre occupiers of Aso Rock Presidential Villa. But the Reuben I see today is a shadow, a pitiable sight, of the old Reuben, who has confirmed the adage that a goat that keeps the company of dogs would eventually become a dog. How else can I describe Reuben's crass crudity in his response to my last article, In Search of A Radical President? While I grant him the right of reply, it was cruel to have brought my dear and innocent wife, Mobolaji, into the whitewash of his boss.

I was aware he was under fire from everyone. His friends are grumbling aloud that this is not the Reuben they used to know. There are also rumblings from his employers that he was not pulling his weight and I have been one of his sympathisers. His employers are suspecting that he's worried for his battered reputation, and thinking he might dump them if the heat gets too hot. They need not worry because our friend has crossed the Rubicon. He's at a point of no return.

But why would Reuben ever drag my wife (a woman who had fed us all in our poverty-stricken days) in the mud? This is the only reason I'm responding to his diatribe. He knows in his heart that Nigerians are too smart to accept his assessment of Goodluck Jonathan. I expected a journalist and lawyer of his standing to check his facts but he was in a hurry to cast aspersions on my wife by subscribing to the rumour that she did not vote for me on election-day. Channels Television and BISCON Tv accompanied us to the voting centres and can bear witness to what happened that day. 

My wife and I voted in different Wards within the same school. Why won't a wife I married properly vote for me? 

Beyond that, INEC recorded over 26,000 votes for me nationwide despite not having unrestricted access to public funds like Dr Abati's boss. I would want Reuben to tell the world if indeed he and his two wives voted for President Jonathan. I doubt it, unless he was a fake critic. I can't think of Obama's spokesman bringing the wife of a journalist into an argument. Is this what power does to otherwise sensible men? How would posterity remember Reuben? I guess: A man who voluntarily set fire to everything he ever wrote. Shame!

Jonathan: A Radical President By Reuben Abati

I have always regarded Dele Momodu as a man of very passionate convictions, but lately, I have begun to wonder about the motives that drive his recent contributions to the public discussion of the state of our nation.
I started to worry when he suddenly decided he wanted to be President of Nigeria. A day after D-Day, the joke on Twitter, Facebook and online (the essential scourge of our time) was that Dele Momodu got only one vote at the polling booth in his ward, and that even his wife who followed him to the polling booth voted for someone else - Goodluck Jonathan, most probably. But he has trudged on since then like a man of faith, proclaiming his undying faith in Nigeria.
Dele Momodu has made it clear since then that he is very disenchanted with President Goodluck Jonathan. I have also noticed a strange and inexplicable streak of extreme radicalism in his ThisDay column in recent times, and I have had cause to call him to express my amazement. He is ordinarily right of centre, but he is gradually shifting to far left of centre. I confess to not being very certain about what could have caused this sudden shift to extremism by Bob Dee, but frustration, anger, mischief, misinformation, partisanship, and expediency have been suggested.
He fully advertised his "apostasy" in his piece titled "In Search of A Radical President" (Saturday, January 28). What was missing in that fallacy-laden analysis, as in most criticisms of President Jonathan, is a proper contextualization and deconstruction of the current Presidency. Momodu says the "fad in government today in Nigerian government circles is to label every critic as an enemy of government". But there are truths and there are fallacies. What needs be noted is that President Jonathan does not consider any critic of his administration, an enemy.
President Jonathan, it must be remembered, signed the Freedom of Information Bill into law, whereas at least two Presidents before him demurred on the same issue. During the "removal of fuel subsidy" protests, the President repeatedly acknowledged the average Nigerian's right to protest. He publicly declared that he is prepared to take unpopular decisions in the long term interest of Nigerians, at the risk of being abused in the short-term. The President's conviction is that every Nigerian should enjoy the right to know, and the right to differ, and that Nigeria is a collective enterprise. He is a man who truly believes in the rule of law and the sovereignty of Nigeria.
However, when people talk about the disintegration of Nigeria, or regime change, it certainly bothers President Jonathan who rightly insists that he will not preside over a Nigeria that will disintegrate. The problematic in Momodu's analysis is thus to be thrown back at its source. The true enemies of our country are the anarchists who insist that Nigerian must disintegrate. The real enemies of the Nigerian project are those who for opportunistic reasons seem to have resolved that they will not allow the present administration to have a moment of peace. Democracy yes; but anarchism, no. Where exactly does Momodu stand?
I go to the second level of Momodu's very apparent discontent. This goes back to the circumstances of President Jonathan's emergence as President: how he was the underdog without shoes that nobody gave a chance, the man that everyone including Professor Wole Soyinka, Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Save Nigeria Group and our very own Dele Momodu helped all the way to the throne, and now that he is there, he no longer remembers those who made him king! As Momodu puts it: "…we expected to see a President full of gratitude to man and God. We had hoped to have a radical President who would use his exalted position to correct the ills of our nation and heal our wounds…"
The sub-text of Momodu's assertion is that too many people think Dr. Jonathan is President because of their own personal sacrifices, and Momodu makes that clear. And he is not alone. The attendant verbiage is like this: we fought for him to be President, when the Yar'Adua cabal did not want him; and he doesn't seem to be showing us enough gratitude. Or the other face of it: he is using our term; if Yar'Adua had not died, he would not be President now. Or as the royalists put it: where is he coming from? How did we allow a minority to emerge as President?
Of course, the truth is that the essential Jonathan persona has not changed in any negative way since he assumed the mantle of national leadership. The President remains a perfect embodiment of humility who fully appreciates that it is a great privilege to be entrusted with the leadership of our great nation. He has certainly not forgotten the millions of ordinary Nigerians who voted to elect him and he constantly proclaims that God has been very kind to him. Nobody in Nigerian history has been so significantly historic, given the awakening of his emergence and its illustrative dimensions.
But he asks for one favour: the "shoe-givers" should allow him to walk with the shoes and effectively implement his agenda for national transformation. President Jonathan sincerely wants to transform Nigeria. They should allow him to do so. The most ardent critics have spoken about declining goodwill and declining legitimacy. The latter is fictitious because the legitimacy is real and incontrovertible; the former is contrived, and can only be redressed by the learning of appropriate lessons on both sides. President Jonathan has a four-year tenure; those who want his position should wait till the next election to stake their claims, and not seek to sabotage Nigeria for selfish reasons. Those are the enemies Dele Momodu should worry about.
He says "a true radical", according to Abiola, is "a man who was ready to put his personal comfort at risk." That is precisely what President Jonathan is doing. The Presidency of Nigeria is a difficult assignment: it is not easy to lead such elite "shoe-givers" mentioned by Dele Momodu. He has however, offered "a few tips free of charge" to make the task easier, albeit he is mostly preaching to the already converted. He says President Jonathan must cut budget and slash all salaries and allowances of public officers by at least 50 per cent. But that advice is belated and not very original. The President is already doing that and more to redirect national resources away from wasteful and unproductive expenditure to critical areas of national need such as power supply, infrastructure, education, healthcare, agricultural development and employment generation.
I give a personal testimony: before my arrival at this post, the Nigerian President used to travel abroad with a retinue of independent journalists. That has been slashed to just three under Jonathan and two weeks ago, I was asked to go and reduce that figure by 25%. I still can't figure out the calculation: 25% of 3, translated into individual representation!
Dele Momodu adds that the President: "must stop all frivolous contracts and concentrate on revamping our disgraceful infrastructure". Sir, President Jonathan is already doing so too. It may have escaped your notice, but he set up a high-powered committee months ago to review all contracts and on-going projects, and he is diligently implementing the recommendations of that committee. I was there when that committee first presented its report. It was a comment on Nigeria. President Jonathan has inherited projects that were awarded over 50 years ago, and that are still in progress! I have never seen him so incensed. Momodu should ask: Is this President being fought by "enemies" because he resolved publicly to change the order of things?
Momodu also wrote that "…Our ragtag police are begging for serious attention." President Jonathan has said that much and has set up a Special Committee to do just that. Momodu says: "The Presidential Villa need not be a Saudi palace." As anyone who has been to Saudi Arabia knows, it certainly is not. Momodu also says "All foreign travels must be kept to the most essential ones as determined by the Foreign Ministry." Mr. President already said so, two weeks ago in a national broadcast and has since acted accordingly. "The biggest task before our President is how to cut waste and increase revenue at all levels," Momodu adds. That is precisely what Mr. President is doing. In addition, he is fighting corruption, tackling Boko Haram, encouraging investment and the diversification of the economy.
Dele Momodu complains that "we are spending trillions of Naira every year without any visible progress." Progress is being made, and President Jonathan is as much in a hurry as every Nigerian. President Jonathan understands the great historical opportunity that he has to make a difference, and he is not relying on luck but hard-work, diligence and dedication as well as the continued support of all truly patriotic Nigerians.

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TUC President, Mr. Peter Esele Is Made A Member Of Petroleum Industry Bill

Following the promise made by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, earlier today, that the passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) will be "given accelerated attention", the Honourable Minister of Petroleum Resources has today set up a bi-partisan Special PIB Task Force to work with the Ministry to further facilitate the quick passage of the PIB.

Members of the Special PIB Task Force are:

Senator Udoma Udo Udoma -- Chairman
Senator Tunde Ogbeha -- Member
Senator Lawan Shuaibu -- Member
Honourable Chubudom Nwuche -- Member
Honourable Abdullahi Gumel -- Member
Honourable Habeeb Fashinro -- Member
Mr. Peter Esele (President, TUC)  --Member
Leagl Adviser, FMPR -- Secretary

The Special PIB Task Force will be inaugurated on Thusday, January 19th at 10am in the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

So Mr. Peter Esele this is the best you can do? Well people do anything for money so i am not surprised at all. We are waiting for your brother at the NLC. Though i heard his own settlement was in cash and not in kind like you.

Thank you Mr. TUC President for truly representing the masses ooh.

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Governor Oshiomhole Pulls Down Ministry Of Works Sign Board And Takes "Score Card" To Local Beer Palour

GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomholeyesterday, pulled down sign boards erected along the Dawson-Ugbowo roads by the Federal Ministry of Works, citing what he described as "mischievous" attempt by the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolemenmen to give the impression that the on going work along the road was a Federal Government project.

The Governor became infuriated when it was observed during an inspection of on going state government projects along Ugbowo road, that the Federal Government sign board was erected on the area where the state government is constructing additional two lanes.

Oshiomhole said: "You can see for yourself the fact that Edo State Government is doing additional two lanes on Dawson road, New Lagos road and Ugbowo road. As you see for your self the Federal Ministry of Works put sign board there to suggest that the job is being done by the Federal Government, whereas that is not true.

Meanwhile, Tigers Club Guest House located in Auchi, Estako West Local Government Area of Edo State played host to an unusual and unexpected guest. Immediately the guest strolled in, youths, women and old men trooped in to catch a glimpse of the guest that chose to patronise a local beer palour.

The guest comrade governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole walked into the guest house after inspecting road projects in the locality.

Shouts of awe rented the air immediately Oshiomhole ordered for a bottle of Gulder after taking a seat with members of the Tigers Club.

In his company were Majority Leader of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon Phillip Shuaibu and Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, Hon Clem Agba.

Oshiomhole, who had, last month, given report of his three-year stewardship, used the opportunity to tell the people his mission to the locality and what his administration has done to uplift the state.

Addressing the crowd that gathered, Oshiomhole said: "Once you are happy, I am happy. I am satisfied with what I do. You can see we are building drains on the roads. We are going to include street lights. This government will continue to work for you. These road networks are to link the communities across Auchi, Jattu, Afashio up to Afawo. I want to take advantage of the dry season to complete many of the roads.

"It is also erosion control measure which is why we are using quality drainage system. The reason why I go round to inspect projects is to remind the contractors that we are watching and monitoring the jobs. I don't just rely on reports I receive. I have to see it myself."

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Why President Jonathan Did Not Announce Fuel Subsidy Withdrawal During Budget Presentation

It has come to our Knowledge that security reports stopped President Goodluck Jonathan from announcing the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy during his budget presentation on Tuesday. 

A top government official, who confided in our correspondent, said there were plans by 69 members of the National Assembly to humiliate the President at the session. 

The source said: "Based on security reports, the President decided to shelve a formal announcement of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy. 

"It was not a question of ambush but the presidency chose to avoid the issue during the presentation to avoid generating heated argument at the session. 

"We have reports that some members were mobilized to start shouting down the President once he announces the withdarawal of fuel subsidy. So, we designed a way out. 

"About 69 of some of these bad elements were mobilized to embarrass the President. And if that happened, the image of the nation will be rubbished before the international community. The boos and jeers will also overshadow the budget presentation. 

"To beat them to their game, the President was silent on it. It was a case of being proactive. 

"Do not forget that some members of the National Assembly had attempted to humiliate the President." 

There were feelers that the House of Representatives may overrule the presidency on the withdrawal of fuel subsidy. 

The House is poised to restore fuel subsidy in the interest of the masses. 

Investigation by our correspondent however revealed that most members of the House were caught unawares by the ambush tactics adopted by the President. 

It was also learnt that many of the Representatives are angry that the President opted for Executive Fiat contrary to the advice given him by the National Assembly. 

Culled fron Nation

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