I
am hoping that those our compatriots who shout down people who always
want to take Nigeria’s challenges to God in prayers will be eating some
humble pie now. I am hoping that by now, they see some sense in the
insistence of people of faith that God is interested and in fact,
influences the affairs of men, when some people boldly stand in the gap.
For
years, the refrain of many Nigerians who see themselves as pragmatic is
that our people pray too much. And that there were more practical
things that we could spend time on other than praying day and night like
our lives depended on it.
While I agree that
there is a measure of demand for self-motivated action on the part of
the person praying from the Supreme Being himself, I never shy away from
the reality that man sometimes grapples with issues that neither his
wisdom nor strength would ever resolve without some divine intervention.
Nigeria has, in my opinion, been in that situation twice within
the last 12 months. And I think that should be enough for us to agree
not to ever alienate God from our affairs. Not after the two incidents
that I will now discuss.
Sometime in July 2014, Nigerians woke
up to the dreadful news that the highly contagious and deadly Ebola
Virus Disease had been imported into Nigeria by a 40-year-old Liberian,
Patrick Sawyer. Fortunately for Nigeria, the late Sawyer was moved from
the airport where he presented ill to First Consultants, a facility,
apparently ingrained in global best practices in the medical field.
And
so, Nigeria was able to contain the disease within three months
although not without the loss of Dr. Stella Adadevoh, the physician who
raised a red flag when attending to the Liberian, and six other persons.
Adadevoh would forever remain the heroine of Nigeria’s successful
battle against the dreaded EVD.
But I have not stopped asking
myself what would have happened if the virus had been imported into
Nigeria by another Liberian who did not have Sawyer’s status. The late
lawyer worked for his country’s finance ministry and was cleared to
attend a conference of the Economic Community of West African States, so
he had access to the frontline hospital.
But what if the EVD
was imported into Nigeria by one of the hundreds of thousands of West
Africans who sneak into the country? What if such a person had stayed in
some densely populated area of Lagos under self-medication? What if he
had been taken to one of our numerous general hospitals where patients
may have to be admitted on the corridors until there was a vacancy in
the ward, where medical personnel, when not on strike, are too angry or
absent minded to observe safety procedures?
What if the outbreak
had been in a rural community where common primary health care is a
dream, where superstitions reign? How would Nigeria’s largely
non-existent health systems have responded to such an outbreak in places
where there may not even be motorable access roads? I think that God
knew our limitations and answered the prayers of millions of Nigerians
who took this issue to him.
Then, how does anyone deny the hand
of God in the peace that we currently enjoy in Nigeria? Despite the
shortness of the human memory, most of us should remember the
apprehension with which we approached the March 28 presidential
election, even the world was scared for us. Everyone waited for the
bubble to burst. Peace initiatives fell on one another, peace accords
followed in an unprecedented manner. Rumours of war followed threats of
civil disobedience and above all, unauthorised arms and ammunition were
in private hands in their millions.
Someone put up a show that
could have derailed the collation of results in Abuja and we would read
later that there were plans to kidnap the Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega.
The 48 hours
between March 29 and March 31 remain the longest in the recent history
of Nigeria. And then at about 6:15 on Tuesday evening, when the whole
world, including Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, head of the National Peace
Committee for the elections, was waiting for the worst, President
Goodluck Jonathan placed a call, almost insignificant in content, but
redeeming in import to concede defeat and congratulate his main
challenger, Muhammadu Buhari. And peace, which passes the understanding
of men, descended on Nigeria like a dove. No man is able to explain this
away.
So, will there be so many things that would confound
Nigeria’s new President when he takes office in about 29 days? For
starters, the challenges are so enormous and contending that it would
take divine wisdom to know where to start from.
Secondly, the
new President would soon find an assortment of people and situations
crowding over him. There would be the good, there would be the bad, and
there would be the ugly, all craving his attention at once. A president
would need the benefit of divine discernment to survive this onslaught.
There
would be a lot of pressure on him to pander to primordial sentiments.
People of northern extraction who fought for his electoral victory will
remind him of all that they invested. They would bring back stories
about those who did not vote for him and how they should not reap where
they did not sow. The South-West will demand patronage; the South-South
and the South-East will shout marginalisation. The cacophony would be
great and tiring and deafening.
Buhari would need a lot of
courage to realise that he should be the President of all. He would need
special grace to see that those who voted for him and those who did
not, those who are his kinsmen and those who are not, those who are of
his faith and those who do not must benefit from the mandate which he
now holds.
Buhari needs divine help to be of the right
temperament, to be compassionate and shun any act tending towards
vindictiveness. He needs a large heart which only heaven is able to
give.
He needs the courage to do what is right, divine direction
and help to put the right people in office and withstand the enormous
pressure that is in the offing. This is the situation when a new sheriff
comes into town anywhere in the world but it is more so in Nigeria
where a lot of people have made politics their means of livelihood and
can do anything to survive in the murky terrain.
And then, there
is the rarely spoken of but real spiritual battles that the President
will fight. Marabouts, pastors and traditional religious practitioners
will be engaged to manipulate him. People will approach him with amulets
dangling on their waists, necks or sleeves. Some would lace their
mouths with powerful “juju” expecting that everything they say to be big
man must go unquestioned; it is a life that he must not go alone!
And
this is why you have to pray for him, we all have to. Once he takes
office on May 29, everything Buhari does or does not do affects your
life, maybe not just yours, possibly even that of your generations. We
must be mindful of the fact that as we have people who want Nigeria to
move forward so we have people who would prefer the status quo to
remain.
It is therefore in the interest of all of us that Buhari
does well for Nigeria, whether you voted for him or not. Four years is a
short time and that is why you must start to pray now, in any way you
know to pray, such that when we look back in four years, we will thank
God that Nigeria is better and that you did your bit by praying for the
man that God chose to lead us.
What's the prayerpoint ?
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