Femi Orebe
It is for these reasons it behoves each and every one of us to wish to see Nigeria better, not worse, than we met her
“I, the LORD, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty” – Isaiah Chapter 13 v.11.
The more I study the word of God, the more I believe that Prophet Isaiah was sent to the land of Judah and Jerusalem at a time those lands were comparable to contemporary Nigeria in its selfish and iniquitous ways and that their kings, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah could very well be likened to Nigeria’s last four Heads of State: Obasanjo, Yar Adua, Jonathan with Buhari, the last of them, being urged, in Chapter 1:18, with regards to Nigeria and Nigerians to: “Come now, and let us reason together, and that though our sins be as scarlet, we shall be as white as snow and that though we be red like crimson, we shall be as wool.19 If only we shall be willing and obedient, it will be good with Nigerians as we will eat the good of the land.
A little bit then about the Book of Isaiah, the son of Amoz.
The Book, often divided into two by Bible scholars who, therefore, speak of two Isaiahs, viz: Chapters 1 – 39 and the remaining 27 Chapters which just like the entire Bible’s 66 chapters – 39 in the Old and 27 in the New Testament , makes them describe the Book as the mini Bible.
I digress.
From the United States of America which has experienced covid -19’s highest mobidity with over 100,000 deaths, has come the term: ‘the new normal’, meaning that many things we never thought possible a few months ago, have since become the norm, the world over.
Among these, both in the United States, and here at home in Nigeria, would be such things as the following:
Who could have predicted, even as late as January, that the gains of the stock market, which President Trump had touted, with all bragging rights, as a measure of his financial wizardry and as a ringing testimony to his administration’s success, describing it as the “highest stock market In history, by far!”, would be all but gone without him being able to deploy his awesome powers to stop the Dow Jones average from going lower than when he took office?
Who could have wagered that unemployment in America to whose extremely low rate he had sang panegyrics as the lowest in a century, would see 36.5 million jobs erased in two months, and still counting?
Back here at home who could have figured that social distancing would have so neutralised our bonhomie, devil- may- care social interactions, at all manner of social and religious engagements, with not the faintest idea as to when they will be back, if ever they would, and in what form? That is not to talk of the relations, friends, the parents etc, all over the world, that have succumbed to this unseen enemy; origins of which remain shrouded in a mystery we may never be able to concretely unearth beyond conjectures?
It is for these inscrutable happenings that we all, as Nigerians, high and low, must rethink our positions on the various issues jarring at the unity of our dear country, Nigeria. It is by the grace of the Almighty God that we are all still here on this side of the divide as we are in no way better than those covid -19 has consumed.
May the good Lord grant them eternal rest.
Therefore, whoever we are, or whatever we may be, and no matter our circumstances in life, we must always be reminded of what a writer has described as:”God’s love and sovereignty, He who has the power to allow whatever happens to happen because he is wise, and just, and knows the end from the beginning”.
It is for these reasons it behoves each and every one of us to wish to see Nigeria better, not worse, than we met her.
Let us further interrogate the prophet Isaiah and his message to us, centuries after his earthly sojourn. To let my Muslim readers in on Isaiah, he is known as Ashi»yâ’ in Arabic, and though not directly mentioned in the Quran, he appears “frequently as a prophet in Islamic sources, such as Qisas Al-Anbiya and Tafsir”.
This is the prophet who, uncannily, mirrors the Nigeria of today as we shall see in the following quoted verses of Isaiah, Chapter 1:
2.”Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow;
then,
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool(white).
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land”.
May the Almighty God forgive us all. Amen.
There is a lot we the people, but more importantly, our leaders, in every sphere, but government in particular, can do to heal Nigeria. Restructuring, which many Nigerians now see as too little too late, can still salvage our country. I have never seen a Nigeria this divided and when in the late 60’s the Nigerian civil war happened, Northerners were not killing fellow Northerners as we see in the Northeast nor were Southerners making a killing fest of themselves for all manner of reasons as now happens.
Today, there are various theatres of ‘war’ with lliterally every group wanting out of a Nigeria they say has outlived its usefulness, and passed its sell by date. This is where inequity has landed us.
With an equal opportunity pandemic raging, knowing neither tribe, sex, nor religion, but rather pummeling humanity, we must all fear God and appreciate his awesomeness. Our leaders, in particular, must bend over backwards and work assiduously towards pulling Nigeria back from this gaping precipice. This must be why Prophet Isaiah, says to us all, in Chapter 1: 18 “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (white).Nigeria is a blessed country, let us not further complicate, and ruin it.
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