Last week, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu travelled out to Mecca for lesser Hajj and we are told that he went specifically to pray for Nigeria.
As would be expected, this trip, coming barely few weeks after his prolonged stay in France on a working visit, has left his critics and political opponents making all sorts of conjecture both real and imaginary. While some insist he has gone to seek medical attention, others just feel that this is one trip too many.
However, the presidency insists that the trip to Saudi Arabia is to seek the face of God over the myriad of challenges confronting Nigeria.
As a Catholic, I no longer pray with conviction and faith, the prayer for Nigeria in Distress, introduced by the church over 20 years ago or so. And so, when at the Mass last Sunday, the congregation began the prayer, I was undecided initially whether or not to join in the prayer or just keep quiet.
That prayer by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) is well composed and easily sums up all that bedevils this nation.
My faith in the efficacy of prayer remains rock-solid but what I also believe is that faith or prayer not backed with good work and sincerity is hypocritical.
How do we continue in our crooked ways as a people and still regularly mouth prayers for the country? How is it that everybody is praying for the country and everyone at the same time is undermining her development?
According to a survey by US-based Pew Research Centre, more than 90% of Nigerians say religion is “very important” in their lives, one of the highest proportions globally.
It’s quite ironic that in spite of all the prayers, truthfulness, sincerity, honesty, trust and transparency have all vanished from our daily lives. Nobody tells you anything and you believe.
Our religious leaders who should have been the moral compass and standard bearers are themselves now more criminally-minded than our politicians and our yahoo yahoo boys and girls.
From where then will our salvation as a nation come, when our clerics are now only at the disposition of our moneybags irrespective of how they came about their wealth? Even armed robbers now get protection prayers for their expeditions.
According to a statement by presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, the journey would offer the president the opportunity for “spiritual reflection, devotion and prayers for Nigeria’s peace, unity, stability and continued progress.”
A few weeks ago, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said at plenary that he has been sending people to Mecca to pray for him and Nigeria for the past 25 years, dismissing suggestions that he would speak ill of Islam.
Akpabio as a Christian has also been going and sponsoring Christians on pilgrimages to pray for Nigeria.
The general elections will be held in Nigeria on 16 January 2027 to elect the president and vice president, members of the Senate and House of Representatives. So, prayers are desirable. Peace is non-negotiable. Our unity as one country is sacrosanct.
But the question remains, with such a very high propensity for prayers and conspicuous religiousity, who then are the ones sponsoring disunity, anarchy, religious crises, electoral malpractice, ballot box snatching, maiming and shooting of political opponents? Who are the ones who are sponsoring religious and ethnic bigotry during elections? Who are those making divisive narratives and rhetoric? Who are the ones arming political thugs and touts during elections? Is it not these same politicians who frequently visit Saudi Arabia, Israel and Rome?
Therefore, the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia, is very welcome, but is he there with the sincere desire to see to the promotion of religious tolerance and a crisis-free 2027 general election? Is he ready to provide a level playing ground for all and promise Allah that any attempt to subvert the will of the people will not be tolerated? Is he promising Allah that there will be no bloodshed over elections in 2027 and perhaps beyond?
On insecurity which has crippled and stunted the growth and development of the country, is President Tinubu promising Allah that he will deal wholistically with those who have conspired to retard the development of the nation through their sympathy and active involvement in banditry, insurgency, kidnapping both in and out of government?
Or how can the peace and crisis-free nation we desire come about when the root causes of these are not addressed?
The president should also pray for the Prof. Joash Amupitan-led INEC to deliver election results that reflect the wishes of the people. Already, the national voter register is marred with controversy of AI-generated entries.
Again, we know that the path to realising this dream is already filled with landmines as our politicians will stop at nothing to subvert the will of the people. However, a less contentious and a transparent outcome will to a very large extent reduce the bellicosity and disruptive tendencies associated with our elections.
You are very free to dismiss this submission as wishful thinking. You are very correct. But isn’t time we started showing the rest of the world that we too can do things decently and orderly?
After seeing the recent elections in Brazil and Israel, would it be out of place to hope for something good for my country? That is only when this proclivity to religiousity can begin to make sense. Anything short of this is hypocritical.
Mr. President knows as much as we do that God cannot be mocked. He knows that only those with a genuine intention and sincerity of purpose can truly seek the face of God. How sincere is the president, and his pilgrimage-seeking fellow political office holders, to walk on the path that is right before God?
Only the president and our politicians can answer for themselves.
