Why We Must Pray For President Buhari

ANY time God wants to bring about changes in a nation, He sends them help through a man or a woman, empowering the person with the necessary tools to function. In the olden days, He set Israel free from its enemies through the use of Prophets like Moses and Elijah, warriors like Joshua and Gideon and even Judges like Samuel. Sometimes too, He used kings like David and Jehoshaphat, amongst others. There have also been periods when He used ordinary, but well respected persons like Nehemiah to help rebuild a nation.

In our own time, God, it seems, has chosen to help bring back sanity into the system through a retired military officer in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari. We all know the antecedents of this retired General of the Nigerian Army. If there is one thing that stands him out, it is his passion to see things done the right way. Hence, he is widely acknowledged as a man of integrity. The first time he came to power, he restored so much sanity into the polity by helping to curb corruption and other excesses of the day. Now, close to twenty years later, when it seems the roof of our country is tearing apart, divine providence has once more brought Buhari to position of leadership after trying four times at the polls.

The challenges before President Buhari are quite enormous. I do not envy him. Only recently, he lamented meeting an empty treasury and so much outstanding debts going into trillions. He is coming in at a time the nation’s resources are comatose. Many states are unable to pay salaries and the country’s financial reserve is in red. Where does he start? If the recent pronouncements coming from him are anything to go by, he has vowed to recover the bulk of the nation’s looted funds and to bring back sanity in all facets of our national life.

This is where you and I come into the picture. We all know that some highly placed individuals tend to smile when the country is in disarray, and as such, would not want genuine change to take place. These individuals would stop at nothing to ensure that corruption thrives unabated and that things should remain the same way. They are averse to change. They wield enormous resources and are well connected, enough to try to destabilise the good efforts of the new President. So, what do we do? Any time God wants to bring about positive changes, the enemies of progress also get to work. The battle to save Nigeria should not be left to Buhari alone. We must support him. Thus, I want to call on all Nigerians to devote more time to pray for, not only our country but Mr. President also. We need to pray to God to keep him hale and healthy and to empower him with enormous will power to resist the lures of the enemies of genuine change. They will make every effort to slow him down and frustrate him. We need to pray because Buhari is only human. If care is not taken, and if left alone, he would soon buckle under the weight of assaults.

In our respective places of worship, let us always pray for our country Nigeria, that God would touch our leaders’ hearts, especially at the House of Assembly, so that they can look beyond selfish interests and serve this country with true sense of patriotism. May the Lord help President Buhari and save our country Nigeria.
Very Rev. Msgr. Osu, Director, Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos.