Prayer for Buhari

Some of the banana peels of ethno-religious distractions are still entrenched within the system and there are personages within the society whose sole claim to relevance is that they blackmail those in power with sanctimonious recriminations under the guise of speaking for the Almighty. As far as the economy goes, this must be one of […]

Some of the banana peels of ethno-religious distractions are still entrenched within the system and there are personages within the society whose sole claim to relevance is that they blackmail those in power with sanctimonious recriminations under the guise of speaking for the Almighty. As far as the economy goes, this must be one of the worst times to mount the saddle of Nigeria’s presidency. We shall lace Buhari’s every step with prayers. It is the least we can do.
My first prayer is that Muhammadu Buhari remains Muhammadu Buhari. We did not vote for a quisling. We voted a he-man who does not shy away from spitting in the face of graft and wrestling it down. We voted a man who was part of our glorious past and is determined to return our nation to its previous winning ways.
If I could adapt the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, that son of a nobleman who committed what Marxists call class suicide by siding with the poorest of the poor (an act which beatified him and was to impress Cardinal Bergoglio that, on being elected pope, he chose to be called Pope Francis): May God make Buhari an instrument of national reconciliation; where there is hatred, let him sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy; and where there is injustice, equity. Let him not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love.
Or if I may borrow the counsel of the holy book of Islam which says no matter how high your station in life is, be humble before your maker and do the things that accord with his injunctions: “Call on your Lord with humility and in private: for Allah loveth not those who trespass beyond bounds. Do not make mischief on the earth, after it hath been set in order, but call on Him with fear. And longing (in your hearts): for the mercy of Allah is (always) near to those who do good”. (Quran 7:55-56)
O God, renew Buhari’s resolve to be a father to all and president of all Nigerians as he has always promised. Throw confusion into the ranks of religious bigots who think they can co-opt him into their narrow schemes and hypocritical observances as if he was supposed to be a president of one religion or one narrow set of village values. Grant him the resolve to shun those who want to appropriate his name for their evil schemes. Touch the hearts of narrow-minded religious fanatics so that they would realise that you, God, Allah, or by whichever other name mortal man tries to describe you – are beyond childish matters of the flesh and that a congratulatory handshake with a friend’s wife is not a visa to hellfire.  
Let Buhari constantly remember the poignant lines of Arnold Bennett: “The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your life. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.” We want to see evidence, within the first 100 days of Buhari’s presidency, a change away from the cluelessness of the last six years and a commitment to old-fashioned honesty and justice.
In praying for Buhari we are praying for ourselves. If Buhari wins, we win. We have had more than our fair share of disappointments and failures. At times you wonder if we had offended God to deserve the kind of leaders we allowed the corrupt system foist on us in the past. We are not looking for miracles although we could do with some. All we want is a government worthy of the name to change our country’s narrative from a den of international criminals and serial looters to a land of peace and plenty.
Unlike many people who have publicly described the terrible state of the Nigerian economy as an unfortunate road block to the attainment of the lofty programmes of the incoming APC government, I am confident that this is an opportunity to prove that governance is not rocket science and that by simply doing the right things our country will rise to the admiration of all those who routinely dismiss us now as ‘big for nothing’.
O Lord, as you have given Buhari forbearance to stoically tolerate all the unkind campaign of calumny and mockery thrown against him before the elections, now strengthen him to frontally demolish all the entrenched forces of evil whether in the political sphere, the bureaucracy or in industry. May he not end up as a hostage under the spell of dollarized clerics with provincial obsessions.
This is the beginning of a new chapter. The days of gastronomic politics are over. Writing the new chapter is our collective task. O Lord, grant Nigerians the patience to appreciate the enormity of the challenges confronting the new government. Let them realise that things could actually get worse before they get better. And grant us – chroniclers and analysts – the courage to speak truth to power.
Remove our lust for filthy lucre and our proclivity to bend all laws to achieve selfish ends. Expose those who have partaken in the evil bazaar that has rendered our country prostrate in the last four years and help us achieve appreciable restitution. Let all the forces in the firmament coalesce in unprecedented cooperation to coral all drug barons, 419 kingpins and looters of our collective patrimony, separating them from their loot and bringing them to justice as proof that crime does not pay.
In the intercessory words of Reinhold Niebuhr, Lord God, from May 29, 2015, grant President Muhammadu Buhari the serenity to accept the things he cannot change, courage to change the things he can, and the wisdom to know the difference.