Ladies and gentlemen, let’s pray. Yahweh, King of kings and master of the universe, I bring before you the voters in Bayelsa and Kogi States, who are currently at a crossroads, concerning the right choices to make in the upcoming elections. I pray you beam your light of divine illumination into their souls so that they can make informed decision as this would be one of the most keenly contested polls in the history of their states respectively.
One false move and they would regret their action for the next couple of years. Help them understand that the choice of a leader shouldn’t be based on emotions only, like some people did recently and are almost regretting it now. In their blind hate or love, some people got representatives and leaders who are now spikes in their flesh. Like people awoken from a bad dream, they can’t believe they actually brought those men and women to power by their own hands. It was a season of emotions and we were all reeling from the Arab Spring-like fever. In some places, sound people were rejected because they were contesting on a “wrong” platform.
Charlatans were elected because they ran on the “right” platforms. Now see where that has brought us, dear Lord. No one was ready to spare some thoughts and, carried away as it were, Yahweh, we didn’t even consult with you. We didn’t heed your admonition that “there is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof is destruction”. And now, those of us who made hasty decisions based on mundane sentiments are too hurt to admit our errors of judgement. Some who feel scammed are too saddened to even voice their frustrations. Jehovah, please show us mercy and forgive us. Turn our mistakes to miracles. But I fervently pray that you open the eyes of the voters in both Bayelsa and Kogi states not to repeat these blunders. In Kogi, dear Lord, help them choose wisely so that they don’t end up with emperors who would enforce worship from them. Deliver them from Pharaohs who would give them garlic and cucumber only to hold them down in crushing servitude. May their decisions not be based on quick delights and the promises of swift enjoyments but on the eternal principles of delayed pleasures. They should be able to see beyond the ordinary and shun the antics of proud politicians who make their boasts in the efficacy of federal might. Help them to carefully assess the motives of those who want to rule them. Aid them, Jehovah, to decipher that a good ruler does not only provide physical structures but also set the foundation of longer lasting development in all spheres, including the moral department. Some of the so-called physical developments, when subjected to serious scrutiny, would reveal their true nature – conduits for siphoning public funds. Not many leaders built roads to uplift the profile of their people. In most cases, they are just white elephant projects designed to launder a regime of theft and profligacy. Some of the projects haven’t even been paid for.
In one state, a new administration picked the bills of projects credited to the out-gone regime. If only we knew the back story of many of the so-called “giant strides” of some of our rulers! So, Lord, help the Kogi people see who truly means well for them. Above all, help them understand that leadership is all about humility and decency. Deliver them too from mediocrity. They don’t need a leader who has no vision or long term plans to change society. Charisma is good but character is better. Being a man of the people is such a great thing, but a man of principles is the one to trust with leadership. Help kogites go beyond the cosmetics and vote a man who has invested in youth development and has laid a solid for foundation for growth in various sectors of the economy. Sometimes, our best leaders are the silent ones. Make us know this, dear Lord. And, while doing this for us, Yahweh, save us too from those who want to intimidate us to make them our leaders or those bribing us to blind us.
In Bayelsa, help them make a sound decision based on practical and concrete development on the ground. Help them to reject the frivolous and enthrone seriousness in governance. Help them support and vote the man who believes in rolling up his sleeve and working and not a player who just wants to have a good time. Give them the common sense to avoid the thug and go for the gentleman.
Help Bayelsans know that the whole country is looking at their state as the laboratory of our democratic experiment. This is an election that would try the temperament of two Goliaths in the land. One wants to finally capture the one he has already conquered; the other would be fighting to keep the remnant of his pride and claim to any form of territory of influence. And while one has all the instruments of coercion at his disposal, the other has only prayers and his people. In all, the ghost of a late Governor-General would be hovering to see if his death was in vain. But help them, Oh Lord, realise that this election is about their very existence; their patriotism and the need to preserve a legacy. Dear Lord, I was there once and I see how many of them are hurt. They have to live with the memory that someone blew their once in a life time opportunity by making a joke of a national assignment. Their own son didn’t understand the substance of power. He was soft (one old chief said “weak”) and was too nice and, at the end, paid dearly for his naiveté. How could their beloved son squander such a chance – a golden opportunity for which many have perished in rivers of oil and blood? And now, they are torn between the pride of a people and the prospect of surrendering to their conquerors. Should they remain in the opposition and bear the consequences or shun the memories of the Governor-General and the pride of their presidential son and do what is practical?
Help them too, o’ Lord, to sift between the thorn and the wheat, the wolves and the sheep and the serpent and the dove. Open their eyes to see the wicked one, who comes like an angel of light with a smooth visage to harm them forever. And I ask all these in the name of all the Divine Spirits, who have been our Guardian Angels since the morning you decreed our fatherland to be. Amen.
