Time to pray for Nigeria

This is really a trying time for Nigeria that all Nigerians should gather under one roof and earnestly pray to God to come to our aid. But before then, and so that we can be heard by God, where have we gone wrong? Many patriotic citizens including those born just as this article is written believe that we have wronged a lot.

It is time for all the prayer warriors to sincerely invoke their individual Lords to turn towards Nigeria for a moment and touch the hearts of those who have the capacities to make things work the way to prosperity. It is time for our children – those of them who are still unstained - to shed tears before the Almighty to free the minds of their parents, uncles, aunts and every Nigerian from the hydra-headed monster – corruption – that has continued to pull the country backward.

It is time to honestly remind the compatriots to rise against the challenges posed on us all as a people and nation by corruption. There is absolute need to fervently pray now that we have the chance to do, so that the Supreme Being Who created Nigeria and Nigerians comes to our rescue and make His uncountable favours and bounties be for all of us.

I want to open this prayers session with the following excerpts from my book titled A Letter To God first published in 2008 by Ahmad Bello University Press Limited, Zaria:

My Lord, hear from the voice that speaks for those who love You and let Thou replace for them:

Faithlessness with faithfulness
Selfishness with selflessness
Wickedness with loveliness
Hopelessness with hopefulness
Nakedness with holiness
Idleness with activeness
Worthlessness with worthiness
Fruitlessness with fruitfulness
Joblessness with creativeness
And lifelessness with life and death.

These are our major problems and I implore all compatriots to say a big amen to this short prayer. Furthermore, let them search the nooks and crannies of their hearts and practically expunge any of these qualities from their daily lives. If one-third of our youths and parents do this, we can be sure that in not more than a decade, Nigeria will change for good.

It is time to vehemently seek that many voices of truth speak for this blessed nation. Many Nigerians love God from their hearts and it is because of them that God Himself still feels for this nation. It is because of them that all the natural calamities – earthquakes, drought, floods, holocaust etc – that ravage parts of the world have not visited their country. Man-made calamities can be controlled but those inflicted by nature is definitely insurmountable.

Strong and blessed are those who do good for Nigeria by word or action. Despite the fact that some believers whose prayers have continued to protect our unity, general peace, progress – even as slow as it has been, and our security have, for fear of man and inclination to worldly fantasies, become orators of businesses, God still loves Nigeria.

But it is better to be late than never. We have waited so long for the desired development; we have waited so long for our wealth to be ours; we have waited so long for everything that aid progress – education, confidence, human and natural resources, the leaderships, and the spirit of Nigerianism; we have waited so long for our cries to be heard by those who are really human and able among us to divest their minds from stains and chart the right course; we have waited and waited. God, touch our hearts and release us from the clutches of iniquity and inhumanity.

Nigeria must be intact. This is the greatest challenge of all times. To achieve this onerous task, we must continue to pray and relentlessly seek divine support for those at the helm of our affairs. In spite of the fact that God's Decision cannot be changed, it is with the collective prayers of Nigerians irrespective of their religious affiliations that our president is recuperating. It is with the prayers of Nigerians that the National Assembly, elder statesmen, opposition parties, and Nigerians have not taken a rash action that may destabilize the national peace and unity.

Let us sincerely pray for our politicians so that rigging elections – which are just by the corners – will be a thing of the past. Let us say amen a million times for this singular request to God. Let us pray for our legislators so that they can pass laws that will liberate us from the dungeons of tribalism, nepotism, greed, inhumanity, graft, extremism, enslavement of the electorate, servitude and general electoral malpractices.

Let pray for our judiciary so that they can stand on their feet and defend democracy and return the rights of the electorates and the deprived. Let us pray for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and all the government agencies as well as human right groups whose true independence and activities – if they act according to the laudable aims and objectives of establishing them – can inculcate accountability, love for the nation and the citizenry as well as good governance in every Nigerian.

Finally, let us pray for Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) so that they can release power and petroleum products to ease our untold hardships. May God hear, accept and grant our prayers. May God grant our collective desire as a blessed people and an independent nation. Amen.

Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity and good governance. He can be reached through [email protected]