By Sumaila Ogbaje
#TrackNigeria: Concerned Nigerian Christian Forum (CNCF), a religious-focused civil society leaders.
The National Coordinator of CNCF, Mr Isaac Balami, said the prayer was designed as the major focus of the CNCF’s 2019 Nigeria Christian Summit.
The suit has its theme as ‘’National Healing, Reconciliation and Unity’’.
Balami said that it was time to pray for Nigeria to help the country overcome all its many challenges, adding that youths were worried about their future, hence the need to pray for peace of God to reign.
According to him, “CNCF is doing this 2019 national prayer because you will agree with me that there is so much tension in the land with a lot of hate speeches, kidnapping, Boko Haram amd so on.
“The book of 1 Timothy 1:1-2 instructs Christians to pray for the leadership of their country. It is a call to duty, it is not a luxury, it is not a privilege for the leadership because they deserve and need our prayers.
“This is a country where we have people that always say things that will hurt each other and we have gathered here today to see how we can correct that.
“There is so much hurt on the inside, there is so much disunity, there is so much anger but we believe that if we hand over everything to God, things will change for good.
“This prayer meeting is not political but to pray for the leadership of this country and as you can see, we have people here who have come from Europe, America and Caribbean,’’ he said.
Retired Col. Paul Zakka, Kpop Gwong of Jema’a Local Government Area, Kaduna State, said the prayer was a welcome development.
He added that God was the only one that men should run to for whatever problem being confronted.
Zaka said that the peace and unity of Nigeria was very important to its development, adding that God did not make a mistake in allowing different ethnic groups to live together in one country.
He commended the forum for their desire for a peaceful and indivisible nation where everybody would have equal opportunity.
According to him, the meeting is very important to our national life at this point in time that we are at a major junction with the general elections coming in less than a month.
“We need to pray for our nation against its enemies that are sponsoring bloodshed as it is only God that gives blood because no human being has been able to manufacture blood.
“And so, we should not destroy what we cannot produce and I urge all traditional rulers to ensure that there is peace in their domain.’’
On his part, the Chaplain, Aso Villa Chapel, Pastor Joseph Malomo, expressed belief that heaven had recognised the gathering in spite of hitches earlier recorded.
He thanked God for making the day possible and giving the people the spirit of resilience to withstand the situation.
Also, Bishop Michael Amamieye, said it was the duty of all Christians to always pray for the survival and unity of their country, adding that there was need for healing, reconciliation and unity in the country.
Amamieye added that the event was very significant at the time because of the current situation in the country and prayed that God’s will would prevail.
He urged Nigerians to think well of the country and always speak good about instead of saying thins that caused division and disharmony among the citizens.
“I believe that our being here today is good thing for our nation so that we can achieve peace even as elections are around the corner,’’ he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that prayers, which took place at the Presidential Villa on Friday night, had a large number of Church leaders and traditional rulers from different parts of the country in attendance.
Other clerics from Europe, America, Ghana and the Carribean as well as some federal and state governments functionaries were also present.
Prayers were offered for the country in the areas of forgiveness, reconciliation, national healing, unity, peace, thanksgiving and prayers for the youth. (NAN)
