31st December, 2023
The Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele has welcomed Nigerians into 2024 with optimism, saying the present travails will never truncate God’s plan for Nigeria and its teeming population.
Bamidele, therefore, challenged Nigerians to walk by faith and not by sight, pointing out that 2024 “is not a year to live our lives according to proclamations and prophecies of some religious merchants, who are fond of foretelling evil about Nigeria.”
In a New Year message by his Directorate of Media and Public Affairs, Bamidele asked all Nigerians not to be discouraged by diverse economic, political and social challenges that posed threat to the peace, progress and unity of Nigeria.
The senate leader said 2024 “is not a year to listen to religious leaders, who are fond of proclaiming negative prophecies about Nigeria and her future. No! Most of such clerics are not declaring the mind of God concerning Nigeria as a people.
“God’s plan for Nigeria is neither doom nor evil as evident in the Scripture. His plan for us as a people is peace, prosperity and a great future. And it is divinely ordained that His plans shall definitely come to pass if we hold fast the profession of our faith.
“As a people, we have a part to play in realising God’s plan for Nigeria. Our part is to daily trust in God Almighty for the fulfilment of all His promises; pray without ceasing for those He had ordained to rule over us and support the Government of Renewed Hope.”
Bamidele, specifically, urged Nigerians “not to be deterred by what is going on around us. Rather, we must keep our hope alive in God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. If we are preoccupied with what is happening around us, we may be too scared to go into the New Year in faith for a greater tomorrow.
“We should all know that we have God who created us only for His glory, plan and purpose. We should therefore not walk by sight. We should walk by faith in God the Omniscient and Omnipotent.
“If we are obsessed with the present conditions of our economy, we will not see the glorious and great future that God has already set before us. If we cannot see such a glorious future, then we will find it to walk confidently into it.
“God did not create us to punish us. He did not create us to languish on earth. He did not create us to be at war. Rather, God created us in His own image, for His glory and according to His divine will. As I always say, our past is a story already told. Yet, our future can be written in Gold,” Bamidele wrote.
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