Should Nigeria Happen To You, Emulate This Elderly Lady, Not That Lass
Some Christians may have embarked on a guilt trip after emergency humanists castigated the sharing or celebration of testimonies bordering on the survival of fatal accidents that killed others. Debates around the issue got so heated online that this essayist was prompted to pen the piece titled 'Tying and Trying to Terminate Testimonies with Emotional Intelligence’. Part of my postulation was that empathy and gratitude are not mutually exclusive.
Fortuitously, Nigerians just got treated to a poetic illustration of my point. This was while Madam Olufunmilayo Adelabu, mother of the immediate past minister of power, Chief Bayo Adelabu, was reacting to the safe return of her daughter, Busayo John-Paul, and grandsons from the kidnappers' den. The matriarch wasn’t carried away by excitement or exhilaration to make it all about her family but played up the plight of the abducted Oyo schoolchildren in the process.
Recall that scores of bandits on Friday, May 15, 2026, invaded Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School as well as Community High School, Ahoro-Esinele in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State. In a swift operation that claimed the life of a teacher, the terrorists rounded up 39 pupils and students, including toddlers and seven of their teachers, herding them into the forest. They would later behead an abducted male teacher, with one pupil said to have died.
“A day before my children’s incident, I wept bitterly when I saw those (abducted Oriire school) children on the phone, without knowing it would happen to me too the following day,” Madam Adelabu said at their Ibadan residence while interacting with reporters following the release (or rescue?) of her children. She even went beyond the Oriire tragedy to pray for the rescue of all kidnap victims nationwide. Suffice to say that vulnerability to violence and economic deprivations is what it means for Nigeria to happen to someone. The expression has become a euphemism for maladministration, state absence, and the broken system Nigeria runs on.
According to the ex-minister’s mother, “My joy will be complete when every victim still in captivity regains freedom and returns home safely.” How graceful! Now that’s on the periphery; there’s a deeper lesson every believer must pick from this faith-filled grandmother. That’s not to give up on God regardless of what the enemy throws at you. The devastating economic hardship in the country can indeed make people misdirect their frustrations towards God, who has absolutely nothing to do with their suffering. We’ve seen Nigerians who, upon relocating to better-run societies, come online to confess that they no longer see the need to spend hours or the entire night praying to God because their prayer points back home are now taken for granted in their new countries of residence.
This answers the viral video of that distraught Nigerian, who was whimpering about being abandoned by the Almighty and vowing to sever her relationship with Him. Here is her lamenting, “I'm not praying to God for anything in this world again. Anything that has to happen, let it happen. The prayers I’ve been making where has it led me to. God is in heaven looking at me and I am suffering. He did not do anything about it. He just keeps quiet and allows me to suffer like this. And they said we should believe in God. God that will allow His children to be suffering. I don’t understand.”
The unnamed young woman made a video of herself saying the above words and posted it on social media. And as a commenter rightfully responded, she should consider herself lucky to have a smartphone and data to make the video. Some poverty-stricken persons have since sold their phones to feed themselves or solve pressing needs. The question begging for answers is: can the biting hardship in Nigeria, including the intractable insecurity, be detached from the poor choices of the government and citizens who elect them (or are apathetic) into office? It is said that God won’t do for you what He has empowered you to do for yourself. Selah.
Meanwhile, believing in God is absolutely not for the faint-hearted. That’s the testimony of Madam Adelabu. Imagine sticking with God after the burden of others borne in the place of prayer became your lot. Yet, she continued “praying for them too, just as I prayed for my children over the past five days,” declaring that “The God who freed my children from bondage will free others too. None of them will die there. They will all come home safely." What great faith!
Not many Christians will continue to trust God when what they are praying against hits home. As the challenge cinches in, they lose sight of this assertion by Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Rather than begrudge or pick a quarrel with God, the saint who is overwhelmed or subsumed should press God to reveal or open up the promised way of escape. Holding Him by His word always works because both are inseparable.
As I was saying, the elderly woman mentioned “weeping bitterly” while praying for the abducted pupils, only for the enemy to serve her the same poisoned chalice a day after. Yet, her faith in God remained unwavering. Proverbs 24:10 is not for believers like Ma Adelabu because her strength didn’t prove small when it mattered most. This is someone who may have had “good reason” not to trust God any longer. Her son, Bayo, who was gunning for the governorship of Oyo State, failed to secure his party’s (APC) ticket not too long ago. While there is no breed as optimistic as the typical Nigerian politician, we can conjecture that man’s assurance (to the extent of resigning from the highly coveted minister of power position) must also have been assured by the mother’s prayers for his political ambition to materialise. Alas, the gubernatorial aspiration in this election cycle went up in smoke, yet the disappointment didn’t deter the matriarch’s faith in God. We could now see Him showing up for her in a big way.
Freethinkers and sceptics may be quick to remove God from the equation, purporting that ransom payment must have brought about the trio’s freedom. But haven’t there been cases where ransom was paid only for relatives to retrieve corpses for their troubles? The swift rescue of Busayo and her twin boys can also not be tied to their privileged status. There have been more prominent personalities who got abducted but didn’t live to tell the story.
Only yesterday, the DHQ announced the death of a former director of defence information in bandits' captivity. This was after the retired major general was reportedly kidnapped alongside his wife as they were travelling through Katsina State last month. If Nigeria can so happen to an ex-spokesman of its military high command, then those who don’t see the finger of God in the rescue of the John-Pauls are apparent agnostics with whom it’s pointless arguing. Yet, the truth remains that “it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”
It is this mercy of the Lord that believers must be mindful of and latch onto even when it seems that everything is working against them. The one who remains strong in faith, giving glory to God amid travails, will soon discover that all things work together for good to them that love God. When in dire straits, it is deleterious to go the route of the young lady rather than the old lady. There are still blessings to be counted even when upon life's billows you are tempest-tossed.
The counsel of the biblical character, who had it most harrowing, rings eternally true: “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” (Job 22:21). Verily, verily I say unto you, the safety net and change in fortune you seek are in reconciling with God. It’s as simple as believing and confessing the resurrected Jesus as Lord over your life!
VIS Ugochukwu is a sage, storyteller and branding strategist who welcomes feedback via [email protected]