Regina Otokpa 
…insists God can still intervene in Nigeria’s self-inflicted calamities
Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja Diocese, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has said the calamities confronting Nigeria were self-inflicted fuelled by bad behavior of Nigerians towards their country and fellow citizens. Onaiyekan who spoke while ministering at the One day prayer summit organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) on Friday in Abuja, noted that although nothing was beyond God’s intervention, it was still important for those making life difficult for Nigerians, to adopt good behaviours especially in public life. This is coming just as he urged Nigerians to pray for such individuals to have a change of heart and mind. According to him, “Many are the calamities that have overrun our nation. Many are natural. But perhaps many more are self-inflicted because of the bad behaviour of Nigerians.
“Among the natural calamities perhaps the most serious is climate change and its negative effects on our environment. “Desert encroachment and droughts have rendered many stretches of farmland in the far North useless for agriculture. With the drying up of much of Lake Chad and of many rivers, fishing is no longer a viable occupation for many who had lived by it for many generations.
He added that “The self-inflicted calamities, the major ones being insecurity, corruption and economic mismanagement. But even these are not beyond God’s intervention. “While we continue to insist that good behaviour should prevail in our public life, we should not give up calling upon God to change the hearts and minds of all those making our lives difficult. “We would also do well to look into our own selves to see to what extent we too are part of the problem and ask for the forgiveness and grace of God.” While noting that the lack of peace and harmony in Nigeria in the last decade had not only brought about harsh living conditions, violence and insecurity as a result of negative consequences on the economy, he lamented that nowhere seems safe in the country anymore.
“From terrorist insurgency to violent attacks and killings by many types of armed groups; armed robbery and kidnapping for ransom; bandits capturing and exploiting human and natural resources in large sections of our national territory. It is as if nowhere is safe anymore in the country. “There is pervasive deep frustration at the apparent inability of the state to restore peace and normalcy, despite frequent assurances. Furthermore, there are painful rumours of some presumed hidden agenda that has infiltrated our security structures with strange elements aiding and abetting the insecurity of the nation.” CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, who urged all political actors and the citizens to be committed to ensuring a free, fair, peaceful and credible elections come 2023, noted that Nigerians have an opportunity to rewrite the country’s history next year.
He said, “INEC officials, the politicians; their agents, the voters, the electorate, everybody must be committed to having a very peaceful election, election that will be seen to be credible not only in the eyes of politicians, not only in the eyes of Nigerians, but in the eyes of the world. “Let our testimony come out that at this time, the points of history of Nigeria that we had a peaceful and credible election that produce people of integrity, people have capacity before with competence to turn around the fortunes of this nation. “We have people in this country who have the passion to drive the economy of this nation back again onto the path of progress.”
On the worsening state of insecurity in the country, Okoh who said Nigeria was passing through difficult times, however expressed confidence that God would hearken to prayers of the people and expose anyone working against the peace and unity of the country. ‘‘It appears that it increases every day, with all kinds of rumors causing all kinds of uncertainty in the minds of people and even fear when you hear rumors that even the election we are preparing for may be truncated by some elements in the society. We do not know where they are but God knows where they are; he is able to disable all the weapons of war, and all the weapons of destruction.”
