Pastor Moses Samuel is the president of African Christian Broadcasting Network, (ACBN). For several years, this popular Christian broadcast television channel has served as a platform for most televangelists to propagate the gospel in Nigeria and across the African continent. However, Pastor Moses has taken on a new task and is now championing the We Pray Nigeria project. In this chat with TONY IWUOMA, he bares his mind on the way forward for Nigeria, among other issues.

How do you see the uncertainty concerning President Muhammadu Buhari’s health status?

If you hide the truth, people will look for a solution for you. If Nigerians had been told the truth about the President’s condition from the beginning, they would have gathered and prayed for him. Now, because they were not told the truth, Nigerians are inventing their own stories. Anybody can be sick but I don’t understand why the President’s minders are making a mystery out of a simple matter. However, we have to pray for his recovery and safe return. His absence has not affected governance in anyway though; he handed over properly to his Vice, and the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is doing well. I don’t see the Yar’Adua scenario playing out here; they are different. Whether the President dies or lives, God can make a change. The President does not need to die for God to effect a change. God does not desire the death of any man to show himself strong. We should keep praying for the president’s speedy recovery.

 Considering what Christians are going through in present-day Nigeria, some would say God has turned His back on them.

God has not turned His back on Christians. God deals with people individually. If you face God sincerely, He will deal with you as an individual. That is why one church is different from another, and the miracles that happen in one church may not happen in another. That is why we are calling for prayer so that we can face God as a nation, as in 2 Chronicles 7:14. If we begin to gather as a nation under We Pray Nigeria, God will meet us there. When we come together for national good and do that successfully, God’s hand will be raised on us as a people and a nation.

For those who feel otherwise, because of what Christians are being put through, the bible enjoins us to pray for even our enemies. By so doing, you are piling coals of fire upon their heads. Let the God of heaven judge. Assist your enemy in any way you can. Whatever a man sows, he reaps. The people being caught today by nemesis were lords yesterday. For every wicked man, there is a termite eating him up. When we pray, we are not praying for the preservation of our enemies but for God to avenge our cause. Whenever the devil comes like a flood, God raises a standard against him. So, we are asking God to raise a standard against the flood, since we don’t have help anymore from the men that should help us. We keep running to God because God is the only person that can help us.

What is the We Pray Nigeria project about?

We Pray Nigeria is a project conceived in the heart of God to bring Nigerians together to pray for the survival of Nigeria. Only Nigerians understand Nigeria and can proffer solutions to its challenges. As long as we pray, God hears us. Prayer is the only altar for God to heal our land. We Pray Nigeria began on the individual level, where we gathered to pray for ourselves and Nigeria, of course. But God asked us to move to the open and we did, organising the first prayer meeting at the National Christian Centre in Abuja. We Pray Nigeria is endorsed by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN)to bring Christians to a place of total consecration to God on behalf of Nigerians, Nigeria and Nigerian leaders.

How has the response been?

It has been tremendous. We appreciate God for the project. CAN and PFN are giving us overwhelming support. CAN president, Rev. Samson Ayokunle, is a wonderful brother and father. PFN president, Rev. Felix Omobude, believes that, through the altar of prayer, Nigeria can survive. A lot of churches and Christians are involved.

Related News

How is it organised?

We Pray Nigeria is packaged in three forms. First is ten minutes on every first Monday of the month. This is designed for people on the road, the sick, pregnant women or those busy at work. There is also the two-hour prayer on the first of every month and transmitted live on ACBN. We have held the one for February, which Bishop David Abioye led. In the March edition, many ministers of the gospel are coming on board. Thirdly, we hold prayers in the 36 states and Abuja every three months. Each state prays for the political and spiritual leaders and peculiar needs of that particular state and the nation. It has been tasking putting this together and hence the need for sponsors. We need sponsors in the areas of transportation, such as buses to and fro the venue, newspaper and electronic adverts and paying for the hall of meeting; we don’t need anybody’s cash but shall appreciate it greatly if we get people willing to meet these needs directly and God will bless them.

How is We Pray Nigeria different from Nigeria Prays?

We Pray Nigeria is definitely different from Nigeria Prays, pioneered by Gen. Yakubu Gowon. We can never have too many prayer groups anyway. Gowon’s Nigeria Prays meets annually but we meet monthly and quarterly. Gowon’s own project has a schedule of prayers with individuals but we are involving churches directly. What we are doing is key to national developmental change and, above all, bringing God into all that we do as a people.

What do you see playing out in 2019?

I see the youths really coming out. Every vehicle moves as far as its fuel content can carry it. Wherever the fuel in its tank finishes, it stops. So it is with the old politicians that have brought this country to its knees. They are exhausted and now the youths are poised to take over. They have always used the youths to achieve their purpose to stay in power. It is the youths they use to snatch ballot boxes, thuggery and all manner of electoral violence. Everything they do, they use the youths but this has been discovered. The youths now want to vote for themselves. There will be a learning process but they will get there. The youths should wake up and take up the leadership of this country in 2019.

Nigeria is wracked by multiple crises; how do you think it can survive?

It is true that Nigeria is troubled on all fronts. However, it needs just one right man to correct the ills of this nation. It is injustice that creates crises and agitations, lack of equity and equal distribution of attention. Unfortunately, government allows this to fester before stepping in to address it and strike a balance. In Nigeria, only crisis draws government’s attention and by the time this is done so much harm may have been done. What Nigeria needs is just one man that has the sense of right and does it with the best of intentions and the fear of God. On this premise, I believe Nigeria will survive; with all the prayers going on, God will soon give us a man to do His will in this country.

Many Nigerians have lost interest in praying for Nigeria…

Of course, things have been bad for this country. We have had a very bad history of leadership. Like I already said, We Pray Nigeria started as personal prayer for ACBN family but God asked us to extend the box. Things have been so bad for us as a nation people are now apathetic to praying for Nigeria. Some doubt the efficacy of prayer, believing Nigeria is irredeemable. However, all hope is not lost, things will change for the better. It is prayer that has kept Nigeria thus far.