By Gbemiga Olakunle
The well-respected man of God and General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (Worldwide), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye once shared a story while ministering during a Bible study session at the National Headquarters of the Church in Ebute Meta, Lagos in the early 1990s. By the way, Pastor E.A Adeboye is a good story teller while using true-life stories and testimonies to convey his messages to his congregation/listeners.
The Pastor said his late biological father once told him that opportunity is an old man who is bald-headed at the back of his head and not in front. With the hairs in the frontal part of his head, once he appears to any man or woman, the fellow should grab him by his unique feature. According to him, once opportunity turns his back, there may be nothing to grab again since he is bald-headed at the back of his head.
In the same vein, we deem it fit to let Acting President Yemi Osinbajo know that he should make use of the opportunity given to him by his Principal-President Muhammadu Buhari to continue to pilot the affairs of this nation while the President is on an extended medical leave in the United Kingdom. For now, no one knows how long or short the extended medical leave may last.
But as a good steward, the Acting President should continue to work assiduously so as to give a good account of himself to his principal whenever he comes back to the country, by God’s grace.
As a Senior Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, he himself has recently quoted from the Holy Writ in one of his video recordings while ministering to a congregation. He said”….. that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet the bread to the wise, nor yet the riches to men of understanding, not yet favour to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to them all “Ecclesiastes 9: 11, KJV.
Another word for opportunity is chance as the Holy Bible in the above quoted Scripture puts it. And so the Acting President knows quite well that it was chance and time that worked in his favour for him to have been selected to run on the same ticket with President Muhammadu Buhari in the first instance before God eventually crowned their efforts with good success to win the 2015 presidential elections on a platter of gold.
Already, the good reports about him show that the hand of God is obviously with him for good. A national newspaper- Daily Trust on Sunday has even reportedly scored him 25 marks within 38 days (Daily Trust on Sunday, February 26, 2017, front page).
I am sure the paper must have reckoned with how the local currency has appreciated significantly against the dollar and other major foreign currencies.
This perception is further reinforced in the relative calmness in the Niger Delta area that has been the hotbed of confusion and destruction of the economic base of the nation as a result of the violent activities of the Niger-Delta militants with possible hijacking by some criminal elements. While the President is still being attended to by his doctors in London, we wish to present a 3-point agenda before the Acting President. Namely:-
(1)The reduction/ alleviation of the prevailing acute hunger/abject poverty in the land; (2)Improved National Security with a view to checkmate the activities of the Fulani herdsmen and pipeline vandalization, especially in the Northern and the Southern parts of the country respectively and (3) Strengthening of the Naira so that less than N100 can exchange for $1, by God’s grace.
These aforementioned 3-point agenda may seem like a tall-order to some people but with God nothing shall be impossible. Once there is a will, there will surely be a way in Jesus name. First and foremost, the Acting President should do everything within his powers to reduce hunger-related deaths and diseases in the country. The money or the funds that have been recovered from the alleged treasury looters should be ploughed back into fighting hunger in the land. Recently, the United Nations projected that it will need $4.4bn by the end of March 2017 to prevent catastrophic hunger and famine in South-Sudan, Nigeria, Somali and Yemen, according to the Blueprint newspaper report February 24, 2017, page 23. We want the Acting President to remove Nigeria from this UN list.
In case he is not yet aware, Nigerians have been dying of hunger-and hunger related diseases. The government may, therefore, need to quickly rise up to arrest this ugly trend by using the proceeds of her War Against Corruption to fight the War Against Acute Hunger/Abject Poverty. Henceforth, proceeds from forfeitures should not be paid into the Federation Account to be shared with the State-Governors who allegedly have track records of misappropriation of some of these funds. Instead, the money should be invested to fund some of the social safety nets/policies of the government that have direct bearing on poverty reduction or alleviation.
Secondly, the Acting President should continue with his dialogue with the people of Niger-Delta and rekindle hope in them as partners in progress with a view to put a final halt to all forms of hostilities in the area and thus allow a very conducive economic atmosphere to prevail to the mutual benefits of the Niger-Delta indigenes and the Federal Government.
Also kidnapping should be a forgotten crime in Nigeria while the Fulani herdsmen menace should be tackled headlong so that farmers can return to their farmlands without any fear of further molestation.
And lastly, the Naira should be strengthened. As a matter of fact, the ultimate goal is for the naira to be at par with the dollar, if not stronger. Yes, we know that we are addressing a spiritual man and a Pastor in person of His Excellency Professor Yemi Osinbajo who is conversant with God’s ways/deeds as recorded in the Scriptures with particular reference to how God brought an abrupt end to famine in the land of Samaria within 24 hours- II Kings 6 & 7, KJV. ‘’….Thus saith the Lord, “Tomorrow about this time, shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria” II Kings 7:1, KJV “And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, two measures of barley for a shekel and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria “II Kings 7:18, KJV.
And since God is not a man that He should lie, this same miracle that God performed in the land of Samaria can still be repeated in Nigeria. He is the God of all flesh, is there anything too difficult for Him? ‘’Behold I am the LORD, the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?- Jeremiah 32:27, KJV. I make bold to say nothing is too difficult for our God to do in our land provided we believe in the LORD our God and believe His prophets. “…. Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established, believe His prophets so shall ye prosper “-II Chronicles 20:20 KJV.
And so Mr. Acting President, with these Scriptures, I rest my case on a spiritual note and pray that the Lord will strengthen your hands to perform and be in a better position to give a good account of your stewardship not only to Mr. President when he comes back, by God’s grace but to the whole nation in general when the due time comes.
Olakunle is the General Secretary, National Prayer Movement, Abuja.