Where are prayer warriors?

Corruption in Nigeria today has ubiquitously penetrated every aspect of our living; taking the centre-stage of our national life. No system is evidently working. Every Nigerian has been forced to become a “government” with its institutions; providing basic necessities of life in his home. Bore-holes have replaced the water board; as generators also took over […]

Corruption in Nigeria today has ubiquitously penetrated every aspect of our living; taking the centre-stage of our national life. No system is evidently working. Every Nigerian has been forced to become a “government” with its institutions; providing basic necessities of life in his home. Bore-holes have replaced the water board; as generators also took over the services of the PHCN in many households. You equally recruit vigilantes to provide security for members of your family especially at night. This is how Nigerians have become “water-boards”, “PHCN” and “Commissioners of Police” in their own homes. I hope it will not degenerate to a point where individuals would have to build schools and clinics in their homes.
Things have actually been bad but it is worst today. The declaration of corruption as a “state policy” by President Jonathan’s administration indeed worsened the already stinking state of the Nigerian nation. A president that prioritizes the protection of looters of public funds as well as the granting of very contestable pardons to criminals especially from among his kinsmen makes him, to say the least, a man without moral conscience.
What seems to compound our existing challenges is the total cluelessness of President Jonathan who claims, at least by his words and actions, to have exceptional wisdom in the best way to address the insurgency that is daily devastating northern parts of the country. If this is not true of Oga Jonathan, why has he refused to try the dialogue option with members of the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunnah Lidda’awati Wal Jihad (aka Boko Haram)? Prominent Nigerians including the Sultan of Sokoto, the Shehu of Borno, the Governor of Borno State, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other senior citizens have advised Mr. President to dialogue with the group. There are insinuations that he does not really want an end the crisis because instability in the North shall provide him with the needed setting to actualize his 2015 ambition.
Tackling the challenges bedeviling us today needs beyond the conferences, seminars, workshops and meetings, which for sometime have kept the North busy in the search for the most effective solution. This is no more than prayers; a graceful clue and cheapest of all.
Allah, the Omniscient, whose knowledge exceeds the bounds of time and space, commands us to call on Him whole heartedly that He might answer our call and thus remove our afflictions. He states in Qur’an 2:186 “When my servants ask thee concerning me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calleth on me; let them also, with a will, listen to my call, and believe in me; that they may walk in the right way”. Allah (SWT) has decreed that He answers all calls though in different ways. No believer asks Allah for a thing but gets it.
There is no problem without a solution. Supplication is the spiritual solution to all problems. It consoles our minds and gives us satisfaction. It asserts our faith in Allah’s omnipotence. With the power of supplications, all things are possible except what Allah does not will. Our present predicament may be traced to our utter negligence of supplications. And unless we re-track, we may not get out of the mess.
According to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), there is no supplication that is fast answered like that of the unjustly wronged. No barrier exists between the supplications of a wronged person and the divine answer to that call. Nigeria being a land of injustice, we have no cause to live with any problem except we refuse to utilize the spiritual sword of believers (prayers) to call upon Allah. As we supplicate, let us cover ourselves with the fear and love of Allah (SWT). Let us speak to Allah (SWT) in a low voice. We must not shout as if the Almighty were deaf. Supplicating believers must put their trust in Allah and His divine attributes of power, wisdom and knowledge. Supplications must be accompanied with concentration and purified mind.
Sometime in 1998, Allah (SWT)) demonstrated to Nigerians that He answers the prayer of His servants if they call on Him faithfully. When things became tumultuous and Nigeria looked like a nation sitting on  a time-bomb, the then Head of State Late General Sani Abacha called on Imams and pastors to organize special prayers in all parts of the country; asking for God’s intervention in the challenges confronting the nation. The religious leaders did as requested and because the client (the Head of State) as well as the “service providers” (Imams and pastors) were all sincere in their intentions; their collective request was instantly granted. And soon, two personalities who were both presumed to be at the root of the challenges left the “stage”.
The same God is still there to answer the collective prayer of Nigerians. So where are the prayer warriors?  If President Jonathan and VP Namadi Sambo truly and sincerely love Nigeria, I challenge them to publicly call on Nigerians to once again ask for God’s intervention in our present predicament. May Allah (SWT) overlook our individual as well as collective shortcomings and take us out of the sticky situation, amin.