Nigeria needs prayers

Many Nigerians, if not most, had more things to lament in recent years than they had to celebrate. They either go to bed at night with a heart filled with grief or rise from sleep in the morning to be greeted with one misfortune or the other. No one is sure of arriving at his/her […]

Many Nigerians, if not most, had more things to lament in recent years than they had to celebrate. They either go to bed at night with a heart filled with grief or rise from sleep in the morning to be greeted with one misfortune or the other. No one is sure of arriving at his/her intended destination or returning to base in safety. It is as if ours is a jinxed generation. Evil seems to have conveniently dislodged good and decency from the life (public and private) of Nigerians. Aberration is almost a national culture in Nigeria today.
Words, phrases and acronyms which were hitherto remembered only when we read story books or interacted with a dictionary have in the past five years become a part of our everyday speech or life in Nigeria. Discussions between two or more people rarely end these days without the mention of such words as insurgency, rustling, gunmen, ambush, abduction, violence, siege, IEDs; IDPs; etc. While blackmail, injustice and impunity (to the point of tear gassing elected members of the National Assembly) have since become the rule rather than the exception in our national life, insecurity of lives and property has been the greatest challenge faced by Nigerians especially in the northern part of the country in Nigeria’s 100 years as a geo-political entity.
Indeed, this is not the Nigeria our foremost leaders desired for the country. The socio-economic and political tone in the country is truly not friendly. All these unfortunate circumstances combine to justify the concern expressed by Sardauna Nupe who reminded me in our recent conversation of a piece I wrote on this page in 2006 with the title ‘Praying for Nigeria’. The piece under reference opened with the sentence ‘Today in Nigeria, most of the news and even opinions that future in both the electronic and print media are full of stories that give the ordinary Nigerian fear rather that comfort, anger in place of happiness, and depression instead of hope’. The situation today is even far worse than that which we experienced eight years ago.
We have actually passed the state of brainstorming over issues for the sake of identifying or analyzing the country’s national predicaments. The solution, I am convinced, to the calamity that befell us as a nation in the past five years does not appear to lie in workshops, seminars or conferences any longer. We have individually and collectively erred and sinned against Allah’s injunctions; causing the Almighty to pay us partly for our misdeeds. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 30:41 “Mischief has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned; that Allah may give them a taste of some of their deeds in order that they may turn back (from Evil)’.
We need a way out from; and not a way forward in the mess which our refusal to be heedful of Allah’s warning has dragged us into. We need no encyclopedic reference to prove that all is not well with our country. Many things are wrong with us as a nation. Nigeria needs prayers. But before the prayer, we must sincerely repent and thereafter ask Allah for forgiveness and mercy. When doing this, we must show remorse to our Creator, the Omnipotence and Omniscience. Let us be diligent in serving Allah (SWT) in the way prescribed by the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW).
Allah’s ‘doors’ are always open to His servants who seek refuge in Him. Allah (SWT) listens to and answers the prayers of His righteousness servants. I believe Allah (SWT) will answer our prayer if we turn to Him in prayers; even if it were for the sake of His righteous servants among us because the entire congregation of Nigerians cannot be unrighteous. Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 2:186 ‘when My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayers of every supplicant when he calls on Me…’ In times like this, prayer is the best, or at least, or a better recourse.
Let us now pray: Our Lord! If thou dost punish us, we are Thy servants; if thou dost forgive us Thou art the exalted in power, the Wise. O Allah! Condemn us not if we forget or fall in to error. O Allah! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those who went astray before us. O Allah! Have mercy on us and grant us victory over all our challenges.
Our Lord! We commit Nigeria to Thy Hands. As we read through this supplication, Nigeria is on her knees before Thee. Thou knoweth best why the “Giant of Africa” is bedeviled with “Giant sins and crimes”. O Allah! Thou knoweth best the sources of our predicaments and to Thee also belongs the knowledge of the solutions to our problems. O Allah! Cleanse our fatherland of anything (human or material) that is impeding our journey to prosperity. We sincerely and earnestly seek Thou divine intervention in all matters.
O Allah! Take corruption out of Nigeria in the same way Thou made some diseases like small pox extinct from our land. O Allah! Rid Nigeria of all vices including bribery, envy, pride, betrayal, dishonesty, selfishness, discontentment, insincerity, greed, backbiting, poverty, forgery, thuggery, murder, bigotry, intolerance, tyranny, stealing, robbery, drug trafficking and addiction, fraud, injustice, rigging of election results, arrogance, ignorance, money-laundry, disrespect for the rule of law and similar acts of lawlessness.
O Allah! We ask Thee to deny all those who have no place for the welfare of the ordinary Nigerian in tier hearts the privilege to lead this country. O Allah! Put the reins of political power in the hands of Nigerians who will be committed to the cause of ameliorating the common plight of Nigerians. Give Nigerians good leaders who will have listening ears. May Allah (SWT) accept our prayers, ameeeeeeen.