I heard that people are calling on Nigerians to pray for our leaders to succeed and that the leaders or rulers need prayers. I believe in prayers. But, the failure of governance in Nigeria does not require prayers.
No, it does not. It requires repentance and change of attitude by those at the helm of affairs.The prayers of sinners are abomination to God. Many of those in power are too far from the fear of God.
God does not answer prayers made on behalf of the wicked. God has done Nigerians’ great things. What has God not done for us in Nigeria. God favoured Nigeria and has given Nigeria plenty of natural and human resources. There is nothing God has not done for Nigerians to make Nigeria to be a great country.
God has said in all his holy books, which Nigerian politicians and judicial institutions use in taking their oaths of offices and oaths of allegiance that we all must do what is right. The injunctions of God in these holy books are clear. Thou shall not steal.Thou shall not do evils. Thou shall not pervert the cause of justice. Thou shall not oppress the poor and the needy.These are all clearly and expressly written in the Holy books.
Nigerian rulers in all the three arms of government go to the churches or the mosques and some even thank God and organized thanksgiving when they rigged themselves on us or when the institution that should inflicts punishments on the election riggers gives stamp of legitimacy to otherwise illegitimate electoral processes. These rulers know what God hates. Yet they knowingly do those things God said they should not do.
So, for me, it is a total waste of time to organize prayers for good governance. Good governance is not attained by prayers and fasting. It is attained by applying resources equitably and justly without stealing it or siphoning the resources to private pockets. It is a waste of time to pray for good hospitals or social amenities. It is built and maintained by prudent managers of resources and not by those who turned resources to be used into their personal estates.
What prayers do you need for people who know what to do but decide to turn the law upside down and on its heads. Do we need prayers for our president to sack those who are responsible for the calamities we face in Nigeria. See how Nigeria is being embarrassed by the national show of shame of the arraignment of children in adult court and the oppressive bail conditions imposed by the judex the other day. It was a national embarrassment.
It is now realized that those arraigned are children.The president has ordered their release, I heard. For me, it is not enough to order their release. The president must sack the IGP, the CPs involved, the lawyers that filed the charges and was on national and international press to say that those kids we all saw on TV and internets were graduates and adults and are masters degree holders.
The judex that granted them those impossible, excessive bail conditions and did not order their immediate release and dismissing the charge needs to be dealt with by NJC. Heads should roll.That is when I will clamp for the president. As one of my learned friends put it: “Imagine the audacity of the Police prosecutor when he echoed that the defendants are Masters degree holders…maybe the Prosecutor turned persecutor supervised their thesis during their post-graduate programmes. I wonder how he handles his matters, especially when poor people are the defendant(s)”
Those who sang the songs that these children are adults and arrested them were not ignorant of the law.They knew what they were doing was wrong, but they still went ahead to do it. We do not need prayers to do what is right. We just need to do it, and what we need is exemplary leadership and not hypothetical prayers being branded around. God is not the one to do our work. We should do it ourselves. God has given us authority to arrest and prosecute all those with unexplained wealth. But we worship and defend them.