Yes, it was more than dream, because everything happened as if it were in real life. For the avoidance of doubt, all my faculties were functioning very well at the time and I had no symptoms of any illness – malaria or typhoid. I sat ensconced in the sofa in my bedroom when suddenly something overwhelmed me.
A force, I cannot appropriately describe, seized me and I felt somewhat numb and dizzy. At the same time, I was conscious of all that was unfolding before my eyes. Somebody, a tall and lanky man with white grey hair, led me through a very beautiful forest, which looked green and vivacious, glittering and glimmering, to a mighty palace. Everywhere dazzled and brimmed with opulence and splendor. Indeed words cannot aptly capture the beauty of what I saw. It was simply amazing. I was offered a seat on a dais with men and women wearing strange smiling faces sitting in well-upholstered seats surrounded by little boys and girls singing melodious songs. For some minutes I was lost in the euphoria of what was happening totally benumbed and fazed. A father figure appeared led by a retinue o aides who wore shining apparels depicting excellence and authority. Everybody sitting in the mighty hall rose in reverence as he gracefully took his seat. In his hand was something that looked like a golden tuning-fork and on his head a bishopric mitre. His robe was white with a tinge of golden ornament adorning it.
The Master of Ceremonies (that is what I have chosen to call him) walked majestically to the podium with a piece of folded paper in his hand. Now the shocker: I was called out from the crowd and walked up to the podium. Everybody rose in unison, including the father-figure. As I was wondering why they rose in such gait and majesty a small girl placed a garland round my neck and everybody applauded. I stood transfixed and confused. The MC beckoned on me to sit on an elevated chair placed by the right hand corner of the podium as he read from the text in the folded paper in his hand, which he had already unfurled.
This was what he said from what I could piece together: Gentleman, we brought you here in appreciation of the role you have played in the development of humanity. We have chosen you as the purveyor of the message we have for the leaders and people of your country. Tell your leaders thus: The cries of the people of your nation have reached me. And for this reason, I can no longer be quiet. The time has come for me to sit in judgement over your nation and right all the wrongs done against my people. They should brace up for the challenges that are to come and for the punishment that awaits anyone of them that fails to listen and act in accordance with this instruction. They should undertake a quiet time to search their conscience and see areas where they have failed in their duty to God and man and make amends fast. They should stop chastising my people by their greed and insensitivity and work for the enthronement of social justice, equality and good governance. Never again will I condone the flagrant abuse of authority or any ac capable of endangering the lives of my people. For a long time now they have ruled their people with iron cast hearts and clenched fists and though they were slave –brutalising and tormenting them.
They have taken that which belonged to the poor and needy for their own aggrandisement, leaving their people in pain, poverty and penury. I shall never again sit and do nothing. I have waited for a long time for them to repent, but it seems their hearts are hardened. If they failed to repent I shall visit them with severe retribution never witnessed in recent history. Tell those plot-ting to destroy innocent lives and property to sheathe their swords or be caught up in their own wicked designs. I am going to renew the face of Nigeria and enthrone it as a model for others to emulate, because it has a special place in my heart. Tell the people to cry no more, rather they should intensify their prayer life and show love for one another. They should live in peace with one another and shun evil, which has eaten deep into their souls. They should atone for the atrocities they have commit-ted against themselves and their nation.
Your nation shall witness a rebirth. All the dry bones and patched land shall come back to life. They will exude such vivacity as would astound the world. The dwindling economy shall bounce back, while buoyancy and prosperity, which once signposted the greatness of the nation, will be restored. The cracks in the unity and communal spirits of your nation will be mended. All the wicked in your nation will soon be banished unless they repent. This is my word. Take it to your people and urge them to do as they are told or await the recompense that is to follow. In awful amazement, I stretched out my trembling hand to receive the scroll on which the inimitable and immutable words were written. As the scroll was handed to me, I jerked back to life. I felt greatly relieved. All the same, I was lost in deep thought for the greater part of the day over the incident that had just happened. As I made efforts to crystallise the message and why I should be the person chosen to deliver it to my people a ball of sweat rolled down my cheeks.
I became apprehensive for what I had seen and for the potency of the message. My mind flashed immediately to the encounter b-tween God and the Israelites: How he sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and how the people trivialised their message and the punishments that followed. I also thought about the numerous times they were sent into exile in Babylon and Egypt. The travails they underwent and how God, out of his loving kindness, sent the Judges to liberate them. One particular incident in the holy book came to the fore in this circumstance: Jonah was forced into the belly of a shark and taken to Niniveh to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God. But here I am – a poor and unworthy sinner – selected without any prompting to be the communicator of this delicate message for redemption of our people. Another worry I had was how to disseminate the message in such a way that its import would be widely felt. I had thought about a paid advertisement, but after a very deep reflection I opted for m column.
For you the reader, this message should be circulated in every nook and cranny of our dear nation. Nothing should be removed or added to it. All of us should be the disseminators of the message to ensure it reaches the end of the nation. As far as I know there is no accident in the divine mind. There is no way God would appear to me in this way without a purpose. For many years now I have crusaded against the ills plaguing our nation, top of which is corruption. Haters of truth have asked for my head on countless occasions, but my Redeemer has always come to my help. They made futile efforts to destroy all I worked for in life, yet they did not succeed. Instead they burnt out like bush fire. My God and helper di not allow them to gloat over my distress. Today the Lord has given me yet another assignment: To bring the message of life to our people and leaders.
As John the Baptist cried out in the wilderness, asking the people to come to repentance, so do I today say to our people: mend your ways and return to the Lord, for He is full of mercy and compassion! They should not wait for the anger of God to descend upon us before we mend our evil ways. Why is there so much wicked-ness in our land? Things have degenerated to the point that it seems all of us have lost our sanity and decency. People no longer say ‘No’ to evil. Look around the country and all you see is wickedness. There is no more love among brothers and sisters. We all live for ourselves, not others. The consequence is that there is no space for good to prosper over evil. What rather rules our lives is craze for money and power. There is no modicum of conscience on the part of those who superintend over our collective patrimony.
All many of them care about is how to expropriate the goods placed under their close watch. Corruption has strangulated our conscience, we no longer think any good. Like the evil man, all we do is think evil and have no reverence for God. We commit sin with impunity thinking that God will not discover it and punish us. Is there anything hidden under the sun? No matter how discret we may be with our sins, they shall find us out someday. It does not matter the power we wield today or the wealth we have accumulated. They will not stop the anger of God from coming. What probably many of us are oblivious of is that time is short. Yes, time is very short. If you sit and ruminate over the vanity of life you will appreciate my stance. There is no time to waste if we want to change the fortunes of our nation. As the message I was given clearly stated: God will soon sit in judgement over Nigeria. It is only a fool that does not see it coming. Events happening around us are an indication of the perilous times in which we are. The comforting thing about the message is that Nigeria has a special place in God’s heart. That could account for why it has remained united despite the civil war and all other belligerencies that had threatened its sovereignty. Unlike Sodom and Gomorrah, we have hope of the rebirth of our nation. If it were in the judgement of man Nigeria would be sentenced to damnation. This shows how compassion-ate our God is. Everything about Nigeria is premised on the love and magnanimity of God. This is why he has chosen this particular time in our national history to bring this message to us. If I were our leaders I would call for a national day of prayer to internalize this message and seek God’s face in reconciliation for the many sins we have committed against him and our fellow countrymen. Our leaders owe us an obligation to take our nation back to God. This is the foremost requirement for the renewal of the face of Nigeria. There is no better time to do so than this period we are making preparations for the centenary. 100 years as a nation is no mean task. I stated this much in my piece on Nigeria’s Centenary last month.
There can never be an alternative to prayer. Prayer is the force that moves the hand that rules the world. It is only through prayer we can reach the heart of God and turn his hand of mercy. It was prayer that averted the cataclysm that was to befall Nigeria in the aftermath of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election. Even the ongoing onslaughts by the dreaded Boko Haram Sect are all part of the chastisement Nigeria is under going.I have no modicum of doubt that all these unfortunate incidents will pass away some day. What we need do is to renew hope in our nation, love one another, eschew religious fundamentalism and violence, clannishness and ethnicity, and all will be well again. Very soon preparations will begin in earnest to elect new leaders for our nation.
Even some of those serving may seek re-election. In every aspect of this process, let us ensure there are equity, justice and good conscience. It will amount to a tragedy of epic proportion to allow evil men to seize the soul of our nation, using their quest for power to accomplish it. We need no sooth sayer to tell us that the times are perilous and that it is easier now than ever before to lose our common heritage. It is almost 54 years since our nation gained independence, yet there is palpable fear of disintegration. Some die-hard protagonists of the campaign to divide Nigeria have taken their agenda to a more dangerous level in recent times through their vicious comments about the health and future of the nation. They do not care if the country burns to ashes. This is not the proper attitude to national development and cohesion. We must, as a people, set aside our differences and work collectively to reposition Nigeria. No nation makes progress in an atmosphere of rancour and unhealthy criticisms. I think it behoves President Goodluck Jonathan to take over this message and entrench it in the soul of every Nigerian.
It is his responsibility as the leader of this great nation. If I were him, I would take over the message from this point and make it my own. It does not really matter through whom it was delivered. What is paramount is that the message is critical to the continued existence and advancement of our nation. We need to bear in mind always our duties as citizens. As citizens it is our responsibility to support the government by promptly paying our taxes and rates and doing such other things that will promote the peace, unity and progress.
It does not matter to which religious, cultural or political associations you belong. What is at stake here is the survival of Nigeria. As such, we should sacrifice our selfish goal and embrace love, hope and peace, so that in no distant time Nigeria will assume its rightful position in the comity of nations. I thank God Almighty for finding m worthy to be used as the harbinger of this message of life. May your Holy name be glorified and magnified Amen!
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