A new dawn awaits Nigeria –Osinbajo

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday at the National Prayer Breakfast declared that a new Nigeria is in the making, despite the current travails besetting it. According to him, the development will eventually give way to a glorious and bright new morn of a new nation.

The event held at the NAF Conference Centre, Kado, Abuja, where he was joined by former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (retd); President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Dr. Samson Ayokunle and other religious dignitaries. In a statement by his spokesman, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo said: “the new nation is birthing already. It is covered by a cloud, but the cloud will pass, and God Almighty will take all of the glory for the birthing of a new nation.”

He noted that the “Birth of a New Nation”, was significant, especially in these times, stressing that the need for collective prayers, faith, hope and action, adding that Nigeria would prevail over the challenges of today.

He said the National Prayer Breakfast comes at a time of great travail and tribulation for the nation: in the throes of a pandemic for well over a year, leading to a severe economic downturn, loss of jobs and livelihoods.

It added: “But we know that every time that a nation where the lives of the children of God is challenged, it is God’s call to His people to take action. It is an opportunity for God to demonstrate that He is God over the nations, that He is the creator of the heavens and the earth, that He knows the beginning from the end. But God also wants us to know that He has ordained us to speak to life.”

Making reference to the Bible,  Osinbajo recalled the work and prophetic actions of men and women of faith who played vital roles in nation-building during biblical times. He thanked the organisers, CAN as well as the former Head of State whom he described as the “father of the Nigerian Prays movement. The Vice President commended Gowon for his commitment and dedication to the nation from his youth, when he was Head of State, when he led the fight to keep Nigeria one, to his later years as an elder statesman “where his well-seasoned words uttered in Godly wisdom have counselled our nation’s leaders for decades.”