As part of my daily devotional prayer, I always ask God to make me an agent of peace, unity, progress, prosperity and enlightenment in our dear country Nigeria and to make me a spokesman for my generation. If you ask me now when precisely I started asking God for this favour and which specific incident or incidents in my life must have made me to request of this from God, I cannot tell but I must confess that I have been praying this prayer for a long time now.
As part of my daily devotional prayer, I always ask God to make me an agent of peace, unity, progress, prosperity and enlightenment in our dear country Nigeria and to make me a spokesman for my generation. If you ask me now when precisely I started asking God for this favour and which specific incident or incidents in my life must have made me to request of this from God, I cannot tell but I must confess that I have been praying this prayer for a long time now.
All I can say is that I am motivated to pray this prayer because God has opened my eyes to see that our nation is terribly sick; it is sharply divided among the righteous many who are terribly weak and powerless and the few unrepentant sinners who are extremely powerful and very influential and who dominate its politics and administration. It is extremely important to mention that most members of Nigeria’s tiny ruling elite get their power and sustenance in power from Satan. As a result of this very sharp division most of Nigeria’s citizens are filled with despair and not many know what is ailing the country and what it needs to do to get healing so that it can prosper.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
As humans, we sometimes do not know what to pray for so the Holy Spirit sometimes ministers to us what to ask for so that we can fulfill our destiny and so that God’s purpose for his people can also be fulfilled. This is my humble explanation of that strange motivation that came to me to begin to pray that kind of prayer. God wants me to play the role of an intercessor for Nigeria. When you ask to be a spokesman for a generation what you are actually asking for is to be a prophet unto the people. I wish to humbly submit that God has already granted me this request because He has given me some insight into the trouble assailing our nation. As I had cause to point out in my Thursday column in the Abuja-based Daily Trust newspaper of August 1 and 7, Nigeria is going down and down and not forward as many of us patriots desire, because our country is under a curse. And how have we brought a curse upon ourselves? We are steeped in three main sins and have now added another one making them four transgressions that God finds utterly detestable.
They are adultery, idolatry and murder. In recent times, we have added kidnapping to the sum of our unrighteousness. It is worthwhile to mention that in the Bible all these four sins are capital offenses and those involved are supposed to be visited with instant death through stoning. Now I realize that when you make this kind of statement there are many mockers out there who will laugh you to great scorn, wondering why, according to you, God should appear to single Nigeria out for punishment when most other nations of the world are also guilty of these sins, in some cases, in a worse degree than Nigeria. I do not know how God arrives at a decision as to who to punish for a particular sin or sins and who to grant reprieve but as I have said, He has made me to understand that Nigeria will not witness progress unless we genuinely repent of the sins of idolatry, adultery and fornication, shedding of innocent blood and now the growing evil of the kidnapping and molestation of fellow citizens.
Before I move on, let me tell all those mockers that in those days in Israel, there were no doubt many men who engaged in adultery and murder but when King David did them, it became ‘something else’ in the eyes of God. God severely punished David and I suspect that were it not for David’s genuine repentance as recorded in Psalm 51, he probably would not have become the great King David that the world knows of today. It is perhaps possible that God wants Nigeria to be a holy nation to serve His purpose for the Black Race and our degeneration into these terrible sins is viewed by the Almighty with exceptional repugnance. Perhaps our cup is now full and the cups of other idolatrous and wicked nations are not yet full. But who knows the ways of God? They are past finding out. There is as yet no little clue as to why River State Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s name has come into this matter. Well, let me come to it now. On Friday the 29th of August, I had gone to see my friend the spokesman to the President, Segun Adeniyi, to formally invite him and his family to honour my humble household with their presence at my nine-year old son’s birthday party which was coming up the following day. There, I ran into Governor Amaechi.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
I had not met him in flesh and blood before but I easily recognized him from the media pictures of him and respectfully greeted him. Our host introduced us and when he got to know I was also a Niger Deltan, he asked me of my take on the Niger Delta trouble and what I thought was the solution to the crisis. I told the Governor that my view was not likely to be fashionable and that I am aware that it will even provoke the jeers of mockers who see things only from the physical realm. I told him that the root of the Niger Delta neglect, the severe and inexplicable suffering of the geese that are laying Nigeria’s golden eggs and the unspeakable atrocities being committed by and against the Niger Deltans, is deeply spiritual. I told him that God is punishing the Niger Deltans for the sins of idolatry, adultery, murder and now kidnapping. That is the explanation for why a people who should be enjoying peace and prosperity are living in extreme poverty and want. Here again, I am certain to hear mockers asking why God should punish the people of the Niger Delta when other Nigerians from the north, the east and the west are also guilty of the same offenses. Here again, my answer is that I do not know because the ways of God are past finding out. The truth of the matter however is that that is what is responsible for the plight of the Niger Delta. How do I know this is the source of the pains and tears of the Niger Delta? Flesh and blood has not revealed this to me. I know it through divine revelation.
Other Nigerians worship other gods other than the Almighty God but why God should feel particularly offended by the idolatry and other offences of the Niger Delta is beyond my understanding. But please note that the relationship of many Niger Delta communities with marine spirit is a fare of much folklore. Idol worship, human sacrifices, loose living and the consumption of enormous quantities of mind-bending substances, the disregard for elders and constituted authorities are some of the sins of the Niger Delta. This view may sound simplistic but I am merely an agent of divine transmission. Those who believe do not have to ask why God should take an exception to the people of the Niger Delta when all Nigerian communities are guilty of these sins. Those who do not believe have a right to dismiss me as a spiritual crank if they like. Interestingly, when I told Governor Amaechi that the primary solution to the Niger Delta problem lies in the spiritual rather than political, he told me that that was exactly what his wife told him. Amaechi is married to a prophetess and he may not have been aware of it! Our meeting in Segun Adeniyi’s house that day was not a mere coincidence or happenstance. God used his wife to reveal to him what needs to be done and brought me to Segun’s house that evening to confirm it.
If we in the Niger Delta want a positive turn-around in our circumstances, we must begin today to engage in genuine repentance, individually and collectively. And I think Amaechi has a crucial role to play in this redemption of the Niger Delta. His state is the spiritual and political capital of the Niger Delta, God therefore wants him to inspire, motivate and mobilize the people to engage in the positive action for the freedom and prosperity of the region. Happily for me, when I mentioned this idea of repentance and prayer, Governor Amaechi told me that he is not unaware of the power of prayer because he is himself a beneficiary of prayer. He said he became governor of Rivers State mainly due to the fervency of prayer. Let me answer mockers who will say that faith without works is dead. Yes I am aware of this. From the physical realm, good governance is what is needed to solve the Niger Delta problem. But the truth of the matter is that the people of that region will not get good leaders who will bring about good governance unless the region takes the right steps to reconcile with God. Surely, the task of convincing a people who are deeply aggrieved and are on a war path to engage in prayer is not an easy one. I however wish to point out to Governor Amaechi that if a major assignment looks easily doable, if it does not appear big or even or gargantuan in the eyes of the man entrusted with the responsibility, then it is doubtful if such a task is from God. This assignment may look Herculean but it can be done first, if there is the faith and second, if there is the willingness to do it. Fortunately for us, God does not rely on a crowd to get things done. He only uses a few willing persons to accomplish His goals.
I feel compelled by the spirit of God to say that at this moment God wants to use Governor Amaechi. Amaechi should consult with some genuine men and women of God on how to go about it. But I am positive about what we need to do. It is that the people of the Niger Delta should hold a solemn national assembly so that the people can have an opportunity to repent of their terrible sins. For three days, men, women, children and even beasts should not eat or engage in pleasures of any kind. This event should be carried live on radio and TV. Representatives of the states and peoples of the Niger Delta should repent on behalf of the region and enter into a covenant of peace with God. During the three-day event, the people should be taught (for those who are ignorant) and be reminded (for those who may have forgotten) that God abhors idolatry, murder, adultery and fornication and kidnapping. That is the only course of action that can bring healing to the ailing Niger Delta region. And Governor Amaechi has an opportunity to provide the leadership needed for this exercise and possibly become a true hero of the Niger Delta. Idang Alibi is an Abuja-based journalist
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });