In Nigeria, evil has triumphed since independence, but more especially during the military regimes, starting from General Gowon through Generals Buhari, Babangida, Abacha to Abdulsalam, but especially the last three military rulers. Babangida ruled for eight years and deceived the nation and the whole world by his costly transition that eventually led to nowhere and, of course, the most costly and most cruel of all, annulment of the freest, fairest and most credible election of June 12, 1993. That was the culmination of triumph of evil in Nigeria. The clergy, particularly Archbishop Adetiloye and some others prayed for divine intervention. None came, as evil must triumph in an evil society. That was why Babangida was replaced by another evil of equal weight in General Abacha who waged war against anybody and everybody who wanted annulment of MKO Abiola’s victory reversed. But Abacha died like a poisoned rat! A case of instant justice, you might say. In one of my public comments at that time, I wrote on IBB and Abacha thus: “Abacha is a cruel initiator of pitiless force; Babangida a shrewd, more eager piece of malice”. Abubakar completed the triumph of evil by technically supervising the sudden death of MKO Abiola in his custody.
It is a matter of bare, brute fact that since the end of military rule in 1999 to this day, evil has had its firm grip on Nigeria where evil triumphs, with little or no opposition from the civilian administration of Obasanjo, Jonathan Goodluck and even to the present administration where evil has continued to triumph, comfortably sitting on the throne of hell (Nigeria). If we go back to 1980 through 1999 to the present time, 2016, we notice that every succeeding year has been worse than the previous year with corruption, impunity, serial killings, kidnapping, criminal insurgencies, extreme poverty and hunger, unnecessary deaths and suicide through nonpayment of salaries, gratuities and pensions to workers on the increase. Yet the nation prays, perhaps more than any other country in the world, usually accompanied by aggressive night vigils in every nook and cranny of the country. It should then occur to us that something is fundamentally wrong. Where and how we have gone wrong, even with the ritual of the famous “Gowon prays”, is that we have put the cart before the horse. In the face of Nigeria’s escalating problems, some clerics, the likes of Pastors Adeboye, Kumuyi, Oyedepo, Olukoya, Areogun, Wale Oke and Prophet Obadare and others ought to have, by inspiration, told the nation: “Let us confess our sins, in pertinence and faith”. The purpose of this order is for the acknowledgement and confession of our sins in penitence, and with humility, for the forgiveness of sins Nigerian leaders – presidents, vice-presidents, national and state assembly members, ministers, governors, commissioners, crooked business men and top political functionaries have committed unabated since independence till the present day. These sins, when added to those of ordinary Nigerian citizens, are probably more serious than those of Sodom and Gomorrah! Now, look at the following passages from the Bible for our consideration:
Acknowledgement and forgiveness of our sins (Proverbs 28:13): He who covers his sin will not prosper. But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Righteousness and reproach (Proverbs 14:34): Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. We cannot live in sin and expect grace of God to abound or multiply (Romans 6:1-2): What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may continue? God forbid. Finally, Confess our sins in order to forgive them (2 Chronicles, 7:14): If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.
It is in the light of the above quotations, and especially, the last one, that I’ll bring up in relation to what the United States of America did, under President Abraham Lincoln, of the need to ask for forgiveness before prayers in order that our subsequent prayers may be heard by the Almighty God. This I have called President Abraham Lincoln’s option, and had recommended it somewhere else, in my write-up “Nigeria’s Sins: Time for atonement, deliverance, restitution and change” (Nation on Sunday, Jan.18, 2015, p66), and even poignantly to Prof Yemi Osinbajo, our Vice-President in an e-mail, for our nation’s consideration. It is Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation of three days of national humiliation, prayer and fasting: Atonement, Forgiveness and Restitution.
In a document contained in a book titled, Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting, Abraham Lincoln, as President of United States, had made the above proclamation. His first proclamation (out of three) was requested by a Joint Committee of both Houses and Congress, and the day set aside was the last Thursday in September, 1861. In this proclamation, Abraham Lincoln said: “It is fit and becoming on all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God; to bow in humble submission to his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past offences, and contrition, for a blessing upon their present and prospective actions”. For this reason, Abraham Lincoln appointed the last Thursday of September, 1861 for the exercise, “earnestly recommending to all people, and specially to all ministers and teachers of religion, of all denominations, and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that day, according to their several creeds and modes of worship, in all humility, and with all religious solemnity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation may ascend to the Throne of God, and bring down plentiful blessings upon the country”.
I hereby submit that the unending and escalating problems of Nigeria as a troubled nation are a result of its many sins – of commissions and omissions – that could not be overturned by “Gowon Prays” and aggressive night vigils, all which were like putting the cart before the horse, forgetting or simply not knowing that “we cannot continue in sins and expect our prayers to be answered” until we first acknowledge these sins, confess them and then ask for forgiveness. Shall we therefore pray that our leaders and the entire people of Nigeria will humble ourselves before God, acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness, turn from our evil, wicked and ungodly ways before we begin to seek the face of God so that He will hear us from heaven, and heal our land called Nigeria? Unless this was done by this or any other administration, as President Abraham Lincoln had done, I cannot see an end to our seemingly intractable problems since independence. If we cannot do this now, perhaps a revolutionary group may spring up to do the needful. We should expect this necessary change by believing that God will always honour his words. For the atheists amongst us, we shall say, in the manner of Voltaire, the French Philosophe, that even if there were no God, we would have to invent one.
- Professor Makinde, FNAL, is DG/CEO,Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State.
