Which way Nigeria!!? Reverend Sister Steers Controversy.
Chigozie Marquis
A country blessed with so much natural resources! Home to some of the most talented men and women of our world!
Country with a rich blend of culture, arts, music, culinary skills, natural gift of joyfulness, spontaneous laughter and powerful Resilience!
Presently, Nigeria has become a shadow of itself. The masses are trampled upon by the reckless quest for power and wealth by a few. The rich become richer (not by hard work) while the poor become poorer (not because they are lazy). And no one could speak up for justice because there is lawlessness in the land. The custodians of tradition, and enforcers of the law have become the offenders. Even the religious leaders have lost their relevance. They have lost their prophetic power and no longer have the courage to teach and correct according to their mandate from the scripture. Many have murdered the faith and sold their conscience on the altar of wealth and power. Unfortunately!
Parents groan in shame and pain because they are unable to provide for their children. The youths suffer so many unprintable challenges while passing through college. The suffering continues after graduation with no jobs, no means of sustaining themselves. Many join evil gangs and “scamming” becomes a welcome profession , unfortunately.
The political leaders shamelessly amass ill-gotten wealth by withholding people’s salaries, embezzling public funds, awarding fake contracts, request and receive loans from foreign governments/banks, in the name of Nigeria, while stashing this same money in private banks abroad, the list of evil is too long….meanwhile their family members travel to live in the western countries, enjoying life benefits denied the majority of Nigerians at home.
But the climax is the “silence”, the pretense of helplessness, the inactivity over the too frequent massacre of people, especially in the south eastern states of Nigeria. Benue State has almost disappeared. The people have suffered excessive kidnapping and killing and destruction of lives and property. The women and even little girls are raped and brutally murdered by fulani herdsmen. Churches have been set ablaze, multitude of priests murdered in cold blood, farmers killed while working hard to make a living in their farms, etc. But the Nigerian leadership has watched in silence, the world continues to move on, like these heart breaking events are normal.
We need the world to hear from us. You may not be able to stop the perpetuation of these evil in Nigeria, but we need everyone to know about it. We thank Pope Leo IV for praying and speaking about this in his address last week. We need more prayers and advocacy with the government leadership of Nigeria.
Nigerians, we must do our little part, to fight for peace and justice in our country. We must begin to pray earnestly for the grace of repentance for the president, ministers, governors and those in all levels of authority in Nigeria.
We must work hard to stop praising what should be condemned. No matter how hungry or economically challenged we may be, we must not compromise our human dignity by praise singing and supporting bad leadership at any level. It is better to keep quiet and silently pray for a change of heart of a bad leader than to open our mouth to praise and support wrong/evil.
While we pray for repentance for the national/state leadership , we must work at being kind and compassionate at the local or family or individual level.
My heart bleeds for my people who are going through very difficult time. Too many children are suffering. Many have been made homeless and orphans. Many adults are silenced into helplessness. We do not know where all these are taking us to.
My heart cries for our world. Too many hardships, emotional/psychological challenges , wars, rumors of wars, intolerance and wickedness leashed out on migrants and refugees, indifference exhibited by human beings towards others.
O God come to our aid!
O Lord, make haste to help us, amen!
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