It was on the floor of the Old Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia during the Constitutional Convention of 1787. George Washington and many nobles were seated. Then, Benjamin Franklin stood up from among them filled with conviction that prayer to the Creator was necessary before the beginning of any business of the day. He then declared in a speech etched in the cervical spines of history till today:
“Mr. President. —The small progress we have made after four- or five-weeks close attendance and continual reasonings with each other —our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many nays, as ayes— is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed modern states all round Europe, but find none of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances. I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth —that God governs in the affairs of men”.
Franklin’s historical submission nudges me this week to take a scoop into the jarring jostles for political power regarding Nigeria’s presidential election coming up in 2023. We have heard and read about some comical calculations, peregrinating permutations, persistent prognostications; and viral vaticinations concerning who should and shouldn’t run for the highest office in the land.
These aforementioned phenomena are now sweeping about like the rushing nighty wind as the Nigerian political airspace and landscape get drenched and garnitured in noise. You must expect this experience when and where men desperately salivate to edge out each other in a cruel cruise to an attempt at grabbing power.
Many are already betting on a winner. Many others are putting their lives on the line that some candidates will win only over their dead bodies.
As I sat on my ‘siddon-look’ Texas fabricated couch thinking about what may or may not happen in, or to Nigeria 2023, I humbly want to know why too many people are leaving out the God factor? Has our God ceased from ruling in the affairs of men? Does He still not do as He pleases? God’s ways are past finding out; my friends. You may postulate that He’ll come one way, then He shows up in another. Your sight may be set on the North and He blasts out of the South. West may be your best and surest bet, and God who commanded the East wind to blow across the Red Sea for a parting may come out of the East.
Say it to that prophet who speaks and it comes to pass. It’s not about his jabbering. It is only because God has sanctioned it. Say it to star-gazers who think their words will always be final. All finalities come from the mouth of Him who alone has command-and-control over every final word. If men can accurately predict God, then He becomes like man who can lie. But God is not a man!
Former American president Donald Trump did not prepare a victory speech on election night 2016. Winning that election was like a dream that would die before conception. Trump never thought he could win. But as results poured in, the finger of God began to show itself in the affairs of men. Trump became America’s 45th President. Very few ever thought a being like Goodluck Jonathan from littlest Otuoke in Bayelsa would be Nigeria’s president. Competing juggernauts of means had hoped to clinch the ticket. Their ways were paved with gold and war-chests fatter than the bank’s cash-troughs. But heaven sidelined them. A rubbished Goodluck was sworn in as president. This man from a small town reigned over a big Nigeria for five years.
Similar stories abound around the world where men had thought that the crown was the best fit for one head; and a misfit for another. A fool it is who says that never will somebody become something. A dunderhead it is who babbles that a particular person will not become President. The last time I checked, Man is not God who enthrones and dethrones. The God factor. I will not rule it out in 2023! God is the designer of destinies. No one rules without His approval. No one becomes what without His say-so. In 2023, I am beginning to sense this will be Nigeria’s story.
Although it is still illegal for aspirants to declare a run or openly campaign for votes, we have begun to see signs and read body languages as to intentions of a few. What these fellas who hope to rule do are so irritable to many. In America and other developed nations; politicians who aspire to become president talk directly to the people in town hall meetings; curry favours from voters at soccer games. They go door to door selling their ideas and ideologies to the people. They grant interviews telling us what’s broken and needs to be fixed. But what do politicians in Nigeria? They bag rice. They buy over Obas. They pay off Emirs. They grease the palms of chiefs and men in power. They stoop before men and bow before their wives. They prostrate before the frustrated, dance before gods who have no mouths or ears and swear to demonic oaths. They are men who hold Nigeria by the jugular. Nigerians must be resolutely and determinedly tired of these rice-bagging; money-sharing, double-talking, wishy-washy desperate politicians who want to be president by all means necessary.
When it comes to the affairs of nations and of men, I never rule out the God factor. The same God will shock some politicians in 2023.
Regarding our nation, the trumpet will soon be heard from far and near. It will be heard in big cities and teeny-weeny hamlets. Wicked men who want more power to do wicked will become history. And the song will be sung and heard via all megaphones that men do not rule in the affairs of men. The All-Powerful God does.
Credit: Fola Ojo