7th April, 2015
Kazeem Ugbodaga
The General Superintendent, Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi has charged the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to tackle corruption and insurgency as he promised.
Kumuyi, who spoke at the National Easter Retreat of the church held at Km 42, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, said the church would back the new president up with prayers to be able to deliver on his promise to fight corruption and insurgency.
“Nigeria has been plagued by so many difficulties and problems. Like I said, we have been praying. The church has been praying and God has been answering our prayers. We will continue praying for the incoming president so that God will grant him wisdom to handle the affairs of this country from May 29, 2015,” he said.
Kumuyi said President Goodluck Jonathan, no doubt, had an assignment that God wanted him to fulfil, which he had fulfilled, adding that the President-elect, also, has a specific assignment from God.
“So, the prayers of the church is that the President-elect will know what God wants him to do for Nigeria so that he will be able to face the responsibilities and carry them out so that at the end of his tenure, we will be able to say, of a truth, this is God’s handiwork. The church will continue to pray for the President and the President-elect,” said Kumuyi, who was represented at a news conference by the church’s Secretary, Pastor Jerry Asemota.
Kumuyi said as the nation celebrated Easter to signify the death of and resurrection of Christ and the peace he brought to mankind, so also had Jonathan sacrificed his position for peace to reign after losing the election.
According to him, in the recent past, Nigeria had gone through an election that made people apprehensive and troubled, with many people relocating while some were intending to relocate because of what they thought would be the outcome.
“We are grateful to God. The children of God have been praying, even though we did not know what would be the outcome. But the result is what we see today. We have peace. We had wonderful elections and the outcome of the elections did not result in burning of houses and killing of innocent people. The nation is at peace with itself. So, we really thank God for what He has done for us as a nation.
“Even our international counterparts never expected that things would go this way. Our God is an all-knowing God. He knows where He is taking us to and even though each of us has his/her own thought, the Bible says God knows the end from the beginning. All the things that gave us fear and anxiety, He knew how to quell them. So, the election came and the election has gone. We heard the result.
“The pronouncement of President Goodluck Jonathan conceding defeat to Gen. Buhari is significant and gets to be written in the book of records, not just in Nigeria, but in the whole world. As you can see, many people have been sending goodwill messages to Nigeria, appreciating what President Jonathan did. This is the first time a sitting president, who conceded defeat, has acknowledged that defeat and congratulated his opponent,” he stated.
Kumuyi added that if such a thing had happened in other countries, “we just say maybe it is the evolution of democracy. But in a country like ours, we know the background we are coming from. We have a situation where elections were held and people took it like do-or-die affair. So, it is a significant leap for us as a country. Not only that, the transition from one democratic dispensation to another one will be smooth because we do not have acrimony and infighting in the country. So, we really thank God. This peace we are talking about is occasioned by the sacrifice of an individual who decided he would not go another step by saying he would go to tribunal and fight his rights.”
He said any leader, who would lead a nation must be able to sacrifice as sacrifice and love were very important, adding that “somebody can make sacrifice without nothing. But when you have sacrifice and love or sacrifice occasioned by love, it becomes something else. So, we wish him well and the nation expects so much from him. He will also see how to get things done to lead this country.”