In your mercy and love, remember us, Almighty King. Lead us, guide us, protect us and bless us. Save us from the guiles and ploys of those that have a stranglehold on this nation. Do not let them continue to impose their will on us. Give us the wisdom and the courage to resist the oppressors while we pray for your perfect will to be done. Lord, we thank you and beseech you to grant our supplication, to your honor and glory, we pray through Christ our Lord! Amen!
Our God and our Father in Heaven we thank you most gratefully for the gift of live and for the opportunity to call upon you. We thank you for who you are; you are the creator and the sovereign Lord of the universe. All creations bear witness to your divine majesty! We thank you for your mighty works, for your boundless mercy and for tolerating us despite our unworthiness.
Our merciful Lord, we come to you in humility knowing that we have erred in so many ways by omission and commission. Forgive the sins we have committed individually and collectively especially the sin of hardness of heart that has brought us to where are today as a nation. Do not look on our failings; ignore our weaknesses and inadequacies but hear the prayers of the faithful who cry unto you. You said those who come to you, you will not cast away. Do not cast us away especially at this period of national emergency and political logjam.
Our sovereign Lord and merciful father, your people are groaning and moaning in the throes of failed leadership. Our Omniscient Lord, you know our deplorable situation at present for nothing is hidden before you. The country is in a Hobbesian state as it is hijacked by unconscionable individuals that have subjected us to a reign of terror. Everything is in disarray. The economy is in the doldrums. The majority lives in misery, squalor and untold hardship while the corrupt few ravish the wealth of the nation. The future of the next general is uncertain as the educational system is in a state of topsy-turvy. There is disunity, anger and mutual recrimination. There is insecurity in the land. The hapless citizens have been attacked, killed, maimed, raped and dehumanized at will while those who are supposed to protect them look the other way. The poor, the widows, the orphans, the weak, the sick, the strangers are being oppressed even the pregnant women have had their bellies ripped open and their unborn children dashed against the stone. The people can no longer exercise their inalienable right to life and the right to exercise their civic franchise. Your people are helpless, dispirited and disillusioned.
But, Lord God Almighty, we are not unaware of the provenance of our current problems. We acknowledge that we brought this on ourselves because of our folly and the choice we made in the past. Forgive us the blunder we made in 2015. It was because we listened to charlatans, renegades and self-seeking politicians instead of listening to you. We earnestly regret our action and therefore implore you most gracious father to remove from us the reproach of 2015. You promised us in the Scriptures that affliction shall not rise a second time. We believe your word and we stand on it, therefore, Oh Lord, bring an end to this reign of terror in our country and comfort your people. Heal our land, comfort the bereaved and make us an instrument of peace.
Eternal King, the Lord of Hosts, we beseech you, hear our prayers. All our desire is before you. We cannot do it on our own hence we have turn to you like the prodigal son. Hear the prayers of your people. Hear our cries; clean our tears. Fight our battles and rescue us from the hands of political vampires and hawks that are riding rough shod on us. Save us from the reign of terror and anarchy foisted on us by political demigods and godfathers.
In particular, we pray that you intervene at this period of electoral dispute. They have turned our electoral system and processes into an instrument of oppression and subversion. Oh Lord, frustrate the evil plans of those that have conspired to subvert the will of the people. Spare not those who are willing accomplices to corruption and electoral fraud but bless and strengthen those who earnestly stand for justice, equity and fairness.
Oh Lord of infinite goodness, we are at a cross road as anarchists and renegades are on the prowl riding rough shod on us. We can no longer be under the thrall of the worst citizens, ochlocrats, kleptocrats, recidivists and tribesmen. Merciful Father, intervene to save us from do-or-die politicians who feel that it is their entitlement to lord it over us. We say no to anarchy and kakistocracy! We need statesmen and patriotic leaders. Give us, we entreat you Oh Lord, that leader that will rescue and rebuild the country that you gave to inhabit. Your word says that: “When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, people groan.” Lord we are tired of groaning; come to our rescue. Collectively, we pray you Oh Lord to liberate us from the political hawks and vampires that have bestridden the corridors of power. Shield us under your protective cocoon.
All-powerful King, you are the Lord of all fresh; you fix the times and seasons by your own authority. It is not by accident that the Christians’ observance of Lent and the Muslims’ Ramadan season have to coincide at this time. Benevolent Lord, hear our prayers for peace, unity and progress in the land. We pray for your will to be done. Do not allow the unscrupulous politicians to continue to pillage this nation. Put confusion in the camp of the enemies. Let the enemies be exposed and disgraced. Do not allow the desperate politicians to subvert the will of the electorates at this time.
Oh God of Justice, do not turn your back on us for without you we are helpless and hopeless. We pray for your decisive intervention. Frustrate the evil plans of those who want to impose themselves on us against our will. Oh Lord, save us from the ethnic jingoist that are sowing the seed of discord, bitterness and rancor, promoting ethnic prejudice and xenophobia in the country. Expose and disgrace all divisive elements and agents of destabilization, conflict instigators, rabble rouser, pretenders, charlatans, impostors, political pettifoggers and ethnic chauvinists and bigots masquerading as patriots. And let your wrath be on those who have made themselves willing tools to subvert the will of the people. Rebuke the pretenders and the self-seeking individuals who pay lip-service to our problems but are in league with our oppressors. But forgive our youths who have taken to crime out of frustration and disorientation. Open their eyes and sense of understanding not to allow themselves to be used by unconscionable politicians to foment trouble in the land.
Benevolent Fathers, our God of infinite goodness, bless us from your plenitude of abundance. Bless our country, our families and our children. Shield us from the darts of the enemies, from evil influence and negative enlightenment. Oh Lord, remember the poor, the needy, the vulnerable, the weak, the oppressed and the downtrodden. Let your eye of mercy and your hand of protection be on all, that your name be glorified.
In your mercy and love, remember us, Almighty King. Lead us, guide us, protect us and bless us. Save us from the guiles and ploys of those that have a stranglehold on this nation. Do not let them continue to impose their will on us. Give us the wisdom and the courage to resist the oppressors while we pray for your perfect will to be done. Lord, we thank you and beseech you to grant our supplication, to your honor and glory, we pray through Christ our Lord! Amen!
Gozie Irogboli,
An economist, a novelist and a public policy analyst
([email protected])