Let us pray that Almighty God, the Omnipotent and Benevolent, that He may rid our great country of incompetent rulers and bad and ill-motivated advisers and that He may imbue these rulers with insight and skill to perceive, even if dimly, the numerous rocks and icebergs that now lie in the path of our ocean voyage so that we may avoid collision with them. In 1983, we pray that He should replace the captain and crew with a new team of patriotic and dedicated and inspired master mariner and men who have the necessary skills to safely steer our ship to a prosperous and happy berthing. Amen– Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo – On his arrival from England in 1982.
The above prayer was a heartfelt sincere cry from one of the great men that passed the sands of Nigeria – Obafemi Awolowo just as he was arriving at the Lagos International Airport after his annual holiday to England in 1982 just ahead of the preparation for the 1983 election which was truncated by the Buhari/Idiagbon Junta.
Today marks 50 years after the independence of Nigeria and one would wonder, how come after about 28years, the above prayer is still very relevant today? It’s very sad to think that in 1982, someone there at that time would ponder that the same prayer needs to be repeated today because it is so evident that we need to as a matter of urgency, rid of dear nation of incompetent rulers (who call themselves leaders) and bad, ill-motivated advisers, senators, house of representative members, members of house of assemblies and individuals.
The future is here – we have to determine and define it and work towards its actualization.
As we celebrate 50th Independent Anniversary today, I pray that the coming 2011 election will usher in a new crop of leaders and great captains with the requisite skills,dedication, sincerity, focus and selfless commitment to steer the ship of our nation to greatness on every sphere of Nigerian Economy right from the ward constituency, to the local governments, our States, Bureaus, Ministries, Departments and Agencies right through to the Federal Level of governance.
