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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Christians in Nigeria under the umbrella of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), on Friday, organized a national day of prayer to solicit the Face of God and divine intervention as Nigeria prepares for another round of general elections.
It was also an opportunity to seek God’s interventions on the rising insecurity across the country which has led to the displacement of thousands of families from their ancestral homes into Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.
CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, who spoke at the prayer meeting in Abuja, on Friday, said that aside other actions being taken by Christians in response to their challenges, prayer is very important in the affairs of men.
He said: “As Christians, we are people of prayer basically, and now that our country is preparing for the national elections, one of the major things we should do to support our nation to have a peaceful and non-violent election is to come together and pray. We are people of faith, and we believe that anytime we call upon the name of our Lord, He answers us. So, CAN decided that it would be a good thing for us to gather, particularly at this time of electioneering campaigns, so that the Lord would grant us a very peaceful electioneering campaign and very peaceful systems of election.
“So, that is the reason why we gathered to do this prayer. Secondly, this is a very difficult time for our nation, particularly when we talk about insecurity. It appears that cases of insecurity increases every day, with all kinds of rumors causing all kinds of uncertainty in the minds of people and even fear.
“We should be concerned when we hear rumors that going elections maybe truncated by some elements in the society. We have come together to pray and ask the Lord to disable the forces of war and grant us peaceful Nigeria. And restore its people who have been taken away from their land, who have been dislocated from their land, to return to their land and farm their land and enjoy the fruits of their land.”
Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, in his message, indicated that the calamities confronting Nigeria and Nigerians including insecurity, mismanagement of the economy, corruption, communal conflicts and flooding, were self-inflicted as a result of bad behaviour.
He said: “Many are the calamities that have overrun our nation. Many are natural but many more are self-inflicted because of the bad behaviour of Nigerians. Among the natural calamities, perhaps, the most serious is the climate change and its negative effects on our environment. Desert encroachment and droughts have rendered many stretches of farmland in the far north useless for agriculture. With the drying up of much of the Lake Chad and of many rivers, fishing is no longer a viable occupation for many who had lived by it since many generations.
“Then there are the self-inflicted calamities, the major ones being insecurity, corruption
and economic mismanagement. But even these are not beyond God’s intervention. While we continue to insist that good behaviour should prevail in our public life, we should not give up calling upon God to change the hearts and minds of all those making our lives difficult.
“We would also do well to look into our own selves to see to what extent we too are part of the problem and ask for the forgiveness and grace of God.”
The Archbishop Emeritus who noted that the lack of peace and harmony in Nigeria in the last decade had not only brought about harsh living conditions, violence and insecurity as a result of negative consequences on the economy, but lamented that nowhere seems safe in the country anymore.
“From insurgency to violent attacks and killings by many types of armed groups, armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom, bandits capturing and exploiting human and natural resources in large sections of our national territory. It is as if nowhere is safe anymore in the country,” he said.
