When Crescent, Cross united to salvage Nigeria

EVENTS of March 28 as well as April 11, 2015 marked another milestone in our country’s march towards good governance. Nigerians trooped out in their multitude to elect those the “law” refers to as President, Governors, Senators and Members of House of Representatives and Members of House of Assembly.

These are men and women who would be in-charge of the affairs of this nation for the next four years. Nigerians stood for hours under the sun and darkness, from dawn to dust and dusk to dawn in order to discharge this civic duty, in order that we might give practical effect to the Quranic injunction which disapproves of neutrality in the face of oppression and injustice.

Participating in the general elections became a religious duty, a command from Allah. I saw my compatriots who wanted to cast their ballots. Most of them were anxious and agitated.

Most Nigerians on that day were apprehensive. The ballot paper and the ballot box became a magic wand. There was tension in the land because no pseudo-prophet could say with certainty whose time it was that had come.

Then I remembered a hadith (saying) of the Prophet. In other words, as far as the Prophet was concerned, humanity in a given socio-political milieu, can be likened to a people “who draw lots for seats in a ship. Some of them got seats in the upper part, and the others in the lower part of the ship.

When the latter needed water, they had to go up to bring water (and that troubled the others), so they said, ‘Let us make a hole in our part of the ship (and get water) and save those who are above us (and ourselves) from the trouble of going up and down”.

If the people in the upper part were to leave them to do what they suggested, all the people of the ship would be destroyed, but if they prevented them, both parties would be safe.”

The passion with which Nigerians participated in the last general elections reminded me of this parable; nobody wanted this nation to fail. Despite its inherent imperfections, Nigerians wanted to make the best out of the process.

They discountenanced Adolf Hitler’s suggestion that “sooner will a camel pass through a needle’s eye than a great man be “discovered” by an election”. Nigerians knew that the alternative to representative democracy is anarchy.

The events of last general elections reminded me of that of 1993 which returned Alhaj M. K. O. Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe as President and Vice-president elect of our country.

It was an election I was opportune to participate as returning Officer in Onitsha North Local Government. As it is today, so it was then.

I was in that bustling city of possibilities as a Youth Corp Member. Thus, the pride we derived in presiding over the fate and the fortune of our country was such that no monetary reward could attenuate.

As I stood amidst the crowd counting the ballots that day, I remembered George Bernard Shaw’s words: “This is the true joy in life – being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

During the last two elections, fate put me in charge of affairs of elections in some part of the country. I was appointed as Collation Officer for two separate local government areas.

I found myself in the field where politics and politicking is transacted. I became a local ‘Jega’ who had to endure the oppression, the petulance and the imprecations of the ‘Orubebes’ of this world.

I witnessed first-hand how politicians usually deploy their machineries and mercenaries to the political field; I witnessed the ease with which hopes are dashed particularly those constructed on Ant-hills; I became a ‘judge’ whose vocation was to announce the ascension of the lowly to the highest pedestals in the land.

I, together with other colleagues from our campus, were prepared not to sell our integrity for the indignities of inducement.  We were decisive in our resolve to midwife a process that would turn this wasteland to the promised-land.

Thus, I thought today’s sermon should be that of appreciation to you for using your vote to wrest power from the usurpers of the commonwealth.

She should be appreciated – that compatriot of mine, who birthed her child while standing on the queue in order to cast her ballot; that elder compatriot should be adulated for casting his ballot even in the knowledge that he is waiting to breathe his last and transit to the great beyond.

I thought you voted for the future of this country. I thought you cast your ballot for those candidates who you think possess the highest qualities to turn this wasteland to a land of plenitude; I thought your choice is for that man whose personality reminds you not of this world but the hereafter; that man who would harvest the “honey” on this land without breaking the hive.

Brethren, by voting en masse to elect General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo, I assumed you wanted to make a point- that it is high time Nigeria had its own “Musa” who would take this country out of the wilderness of underperformance and arrested development; that it is high time we had a “Jesus” as President whose asceticism would serve as a shield against graft and whose piety would impede the ascendancy of sleaze and social putrefaction.

I thought you cast your vote for Buhari who would become our own ‘Muhammad’- a “Muhammad” who knows that “to be a leader one must be trustworthy; to be trustworthy, one must be truthful”. But it appears to me that this country is presently in a ‘laboratory’. For the first time in its modern history, there is a consensus that its destiny should be in the hands of individuals who are God-fearing, at least at the center.

For the first time in Nigerian history, ‘Jesus’ and ‘Muhammad’ are now co-pilots in the ship of our nation. For the first time in our history, there is an uncanny union between the Cross and the Crescent. But we must be ever watchful; we must be at alert. Shaytan does not seek to attack or desecrate its own citadel or cathedral; it is against the cathedral of the faithful not the faithless that it constantly targets its weapon. Therefore, let our President-elect be wary of these individuals who are now busy seeking spaces in this ship; individuals who dined and wined with the powers that be yesterday. I refer to those who should occupy the first ten positions in our hall of shame had it been that one had been instituted years ago. These are personalities who are ready to be the friend of any government in power.  For heavens’ sake, let there be an end to impunity in this land including that of the ‘first ladies’. (08122465111 for texts messages only)