The general elections have come and gone. Along with the expectation of a new president in May, Nigerians have continued to speak on their expectations from the in-coming government. Women’s Editor, TEMITOPE OJO, brings expectations from clerics.
The 2015 general elections are over and a new president will take over the affairs of Nigeria from May 29. As expected, Nigerians have continued to speak on their expectations for the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, and the new administration.
For many Nigerians, paramount on his list should be the issue of power, security and tackling corruption, which has been adjudged the bane of growth of the country.
Religious leaders are not left out in the setting of agenda for the in-coming president. However, topmost on their list is unity. They want the president-elect to use his powers to bring together the grossly polarised and divided nation, especially in areas of religious and ethnic differences.
This is coming on the heels of the obvious disaffection of many Nigerians with one another, owing to the fact that the major contenders in the recent presidential elections used religion and ethnicity as a major weapon during their electioneering; a situation which pitted many men of God against their colleagues in the Lord’s vineyard.
Speaking on the elections, Senior Pastor of Soul Winning Ministries and member of the National Advisory Board, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Rev. Moses Iloh, admitted that religion is such a highly emotive issue, which, unfortunately, politicians use as “weapon to cover up their misdeeds”.
Iloh opined that though the elections have come and gone, “the rumbling effect and the wound it has inflicted on the church, in the face of numerous scandals, accusations and counter-accusations, will take a long time to heal because pastors no longer trust one another”.
He has this word of advice for Buhari: “Although Nigerians have earmarked some states as having assiduously worked against your election to the position of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I suggest that your urgent developmental actions should start from those states, no matter how minimal they may be, to show your broadmindedness and determination to be a blessing to Nigeria and Nigerians by way of giving equal attention to all and sundry.”
Bishop Wale Oke, president and Founder of Sword of The Sword of The Spirit Ministries, urged the president-elect to concentrate more on being the father of Nigeria as a nation, rather than a select few, to bring everybody together to build a nation that has a glorious tomorrow.
“Let us build a nation that has a glorious tomorrow. Reach out more than you reached out during the electioneering, so that we will bring the whole nation together to be one united nation. Your Excellency, you are not elected the president of the South, West, North or East – I don’t need to remind you of that; you are elected the president of Nigeria.
“We want to counsel that you should deal decisively with the Boko Haram insurgents and get them out of that place and secure Nigeria. Let us deal decisively with corruption. Righteousness exalts a nation; sin is a reproach to any people. It shouldn’t be business-as-usual.
“Let’s deal decisively in the matters of the economy, particularly the fall of the naira. Let us deal with infrastructure, particularly the provision of power. We would be praying, the church of Christ will be praying,” Oke said.
One important area the Senior Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly (LRA) and erstwhile vice presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Tunde Bakare, would want the in-coming administration to pay utmost attention to is the area of appointing officers that will run the government with him.
Bakare warns Buhari not to appoint people with questionable character into his government; else they will constitute a hindrance to his resolve to fight corruption.
“The vultures are now going round and round. If Buhari does not have quality people around him, then they will put round pegs in square holes and within two years, we are back to square one. I congratulate Nigerians; we have chosen a man of integrity as our president. But integrity is not enough to run a government.
“May the good Lord surround the president-elect with men and women of goodwill, great intellectual capacity, competence and character to help restore our wasted years.
“I pray sincerely that not all those who facilitated his winning the election will be among those who run the government. I did say before the election that I trust the person of General Buhari, but not all those around him. I mean every word of it because many of them are nothing but Ali Baba and 40 thieves. And if these are the same who would go into government, you can’t fight evil with evil. You can as well kiss the anti-corruption stance of Mr. President-elect goodbye.”
Toeing the same line, Senior Pastor, Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi, said though the elections divided us along ethnic and religious fault lines, now is the time to forgive, heal and build the country, adding that it’s time to restructure the economy.
While praising the citizens of Nigeria on their conduct during the general elections, he opined that the outcome will deepen democracy in the country.
He called on the in-coming president to define the direction the nation is heading, so the people can dream and achieve their dreams.
“The destination must remain clear: to build a developed Nigeria where all citizens can dream and achieve their dreams.
“We must restructure the economy to create opportunities for citizens to prosper,” said Adeyemi.
On his part, the General Overseer of Maranatha Ministries International, Ibadan, Oyo State, Bishop Samuel Alawode, wants the president-elect to tackle corruption at levels, as well as reduce the cost of governance by taking a look at the remunerations of political office holders, a package which many have queried as being the highest when compared to other democracies across the world.
Co-pastor at The Baptising Church, Lekki, Mrs. Omorinola Osunmakinde, is not expecting an overnight miracle from the in-coming president. However, she expects to see evidence of change, which was the popular slogan used by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the electioneering.
“I do not expect things to change overnight. I am not expecting that we begin to have electric supply 24 hours a day; what I expect is evidence of the change which they shouted during the campaign,” Osunmakinde stated.
As more and more clerics continue to bare their minds on their expectations, there is no denying the fact that hopes are high that the in-coming administration will not just be all-talks, but will also walk the talk as it sets out to deliver on its electioneering promises of good governance, justice, equity and prosperity for all.
Now, the ball is in the court of Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to justify the overwhelming support from Nigerians by ensuring that true democratic process and its dividends at both state and national levels are served in proper doses when they take the reins from May.
