On Nigeria and the Christian sentiment regarding 2023 Elections.

It is written:

“A time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Ecclesiastes 3:7b)

The precondition for our good works to be seen and our Father in heaven be glorified.

Recently, Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria, while attending a military parade, stepped, or marched on Nigeria’s Coat of Arms, considered a desecration of the power and symbolism of the Nigerian Post-Colonial State. This snafu was blamed on those charged with decorating the parade ground.

In Part 5 of this series, it was stated as follows:

It is written: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground” (Isaiah 21:9). For Nigeria, what are these carved images? They are the “the mace, the coat of arms, the official seal and symbol of the power of Nigeria’s Presidency and the flag” representing the Unitarist Structure of the Nigerian Nation-State, forged after the European Nation-State without recognizing Nigeria’s Multi-National, Multi-Lingual, and Multi-Cultural composition, the very reason for the emergence of several European Nation-States from the Holy Roman Empire.”

The significance of stepping on the Coat of Arms by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces cannot be lost on those who can discern the times; therefore, it is “time to speak”.

Moreso when the frenzy towards another cycle of elections is already taking place. It is incumbent on Christians to align with the Word of God and refuse to be subjected to sentiments as this will only prolong the days of agony for the Peoples of Nigeria.

Sentiments will provide the rationale for a Christian President but will not address the fundamental question of the moment, which is “to set at liberty those who are oppressed”, manifested as the various agitations for Self-determination, helplessness in terms of insecurity occasioned by the actions of both security agents of the Post-colonial state as well as those described as “bandits”; sentiments will further reinforce the parameters of State, as it breeds a right of entitlement and not the manifestation of the necessary and fundamental changes; sentiments encourage the false notion of capacity to address the underdevelopment of the peoples, through the narrative of  the desirability of a Christian President because there had been a series of Muslim Presidents, without considering the fact that Christians abound in several categories of the previous and current administrations of the Nigerian Post-Colonial state without being able to make an impact on the society they govern.

The sentiment underlying the preference for a Christian president is a manifestation of plastering the wall of the Nigerian Post-Colonial State with untempered mortar.

It is written:

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God: “Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned lies, therefore I am indeed against you,” says the Lord God. “My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God. “Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace—and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar— say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?” Therefore, thus says the Lord God: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. So, I will break down the wall you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. “Thus will I accomplish My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it with untempered mortar; and I will say to you, ‘The wall is no more, nor those who plastered it, that is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace,’” says the Lord God. Ezekiel 13:8-16

The wall—the Nigerian Post-Colonial State.

The untempered mortar—the notion centered around the capacity to build on current achievements by the successor administration, preferably under the leadership of a Christian.

The history of “the wall” since Independence, is a history of continuous underdevelopment, which has manifested in various ways, primary of which is the brain drain, continuing till date. 

This wall of underdevelopment plastered with the untempered mortar of continuous underdevelopment, which do not represent good works, (otherwise it will not be underdevelopment) and do not glorify our Father in heaven.

That Nigeria has been governed with two Christians as President since 1999 with their administrations merely plastering the wall with untempered mortar instead of rebuilding it only shows the futility of expecting another Christian making a difference outside the context of rebuilding the wall, at the end of which our Father in heaven will not be glorified, just as happened with the previous examples, regardless of their ascription of fidelity to the Christian faith.

Nehemiah provided the template for addressing the issues presented by the sentiment, as it is written: 

“It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.  And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:1-4

And God answered his prayer just as HE has answered the prayer as to what is to be done in Nigeria and the role Christians are to play, to wit: to remove the wall plastered with untempered mortar.

© Wale Odeku, January 22, 2022 

Website: https://solomonoluwabiyi.com  

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