General Buhari: When God decides

It is equally worth celebrating that voters, electoral officers, politicians, observers and all other stakeholders were individually and collectively guided in their duties; making the March 28, 2015 election fair and credible. The choice to allow the votes of Nigerians count in the 2015 presidential election is a consequence of God’s intervention. When Allah (SWT) […]

It is equally worth celebrating that voters, electoral officers, politicians, observers and all other stakeholders were individually and collectively guided in their duties; making the March 28, 2015 election fair and credible.
The choice to allow the votes of Nigerians count in the 2015 presidential election is a consequence of God’s intervention. When Allah (SWT) decides in a matter, every human factor becomes insignificant and immaterial as events would unfold to match with divine provisions of destiny. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 36:86; Qur’an 2:117 and Qur’an 6:40 that when He, the Irresistible, wills a thing, He (SWT) says “Be” and it is. God’s ‘Word’ or ‘command’ is in itself the Deed. In their wisdom, the Nupe especially elders would in circumstances of divine intervention say “If God lifts up any burden off your head; you should have no reason to further keep the ‘gammo’ (Hausa word for head-pad). This adage simply implies that when God is on your side, you have no cause to fear as God would have taken control of everything that matters in the actualization of your dream.
March 28, 2015 was a day God intervened not just for General Buhari but indeed for Nigerians; making Nigeria the greatest beneficiary of God’s intervention which made General Buhari victorious in last Saturday’s presidential election. God’s will to intervene in the leadership challenges that have continued to bedevil Nigeria for decades is a divine response to the long years of prayers, complaints and lamentations from Nigerians. A heavy weight politician from the northern part of the country was once quoted to have said that “God does not listen to the prayers of Nigerian masses” which according to him explains why they have continued to languish under various degrees of predicament. Today, this heavy weight politician has been proved wrong by God’s decree. While the same politician’s tall ambition for presidency and his prayer for it have not been actualized or answered; God in His infinite mercy has amazingly and against the wishes of selfish politicians listened to the prayers of Nigerian masses by making it possible for General Buhari to emerge victorious in last week’s presidential election.
When Allah (SWT) intervenes and decides in a matter, citizens would willingly and gladly defy the scorching sun and patiently remain on queues for long hours in order to exercise their franchise. The resolve by Nigerians to shun violence (in spite of provocations) and remain peaceful before, during and after the March 28, 2015 presidential election is a practical illustration of God’s intervention at work. Similarly, it is because Allah (SWT) has decided the fate of the 2015 presidential election in favour of the teeming number of miserable Nigerians whose predicaments in the past one and half decades are unprecedented in Nigeria’s socio-economic history. When God’s decides in a matter, man would (willingly or unwillingly) refuse to be induced by money or intimidated by empty threats.
It is because Allah (SWT) has decided in the case between ordinary Nigerian citizens and the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) that all attempts to scuttle the March 28, 2015 presidential elections failed. The desperate though hopeless attempts by PDP agents and thugs to rig the election by seizing electoral materials from polling officers or snatching of ballot boxes did not succeed as planned. Several of such attempts were met with stiff resistance from voters who were divinely ‘engaged’ by God to protect the votes. Even the crude and supercilious display of lunacy by ‘Elder’ Orubebe, the PDP agent at the National Collation Centre for results of the presidential election was shamed by God’s intervention which exposed his uncouth idiosyncrasy of ‘crying more than the bereaved’.  
Politicians who also claim, probably out of ignorance or arrogance, that those who cannot lie should get out of politics have also come to realize that the road to leadership positions is not coated with falsehood but with decency and integrity. Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State was quoted by the weekly Trust edition of Saturday January 10, 2015 to have said that “If you cannot lie, get out of politics. If you’re talking of honesty or morals, go and become an Imam or pastor”. Islam forbids a Muslim from telling lies not only in politics but virtually in every aspect of life. It seems some people forget the truth that everyone shall give account of his words and deeds on this earth.
Governor Babangida Aliyu who minced words in this particular case while inaugurating PDP gubernatorial campaign committee for Niger State in Minna must have discovered after the March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections in which he lost to Barrister David Umaru of the APC that the distance to which a lie can carry its inventor is too short to be relied upon just as falsehood is a weak foundation for building any political structure.
The chief ‘Servant’ must have also realized after last Saturday’s election that leadership (not power because power ultimately belongs to Allah, the Sovereign) is not about speeches. Rather, it is about an honest sense of responsibility that sprouts from a genuine fear of Allah (SWT). It is about remaining sensitive to the feelings, aspirations and basic needs of the people including quality education and access to primary healthcare.
May Allah (SWT) guide us against becoming stooges to the Satan.  We pray to Allah (SWT) to put the reins of governance and leadership, through the next round of elections in the hands of those who will be committed to the common good of Nigerians; denying wicked candidates the privilege to lead at any level. May Allah (SWT) also guide us, as He did in the March 28, 2015 election, in our duties as voters, electoral officers, observers, and security operatives to make the April 11, 2015 elections free, fair and credible, amin.