The vice president has urged Nigerians not to give up like the children of Israel who gave up hope after leaving Egypt.
In a rousing message seeking to rally Nigerians and people of faith to see beyond the country’s current and perennial problems, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says he knows that Nigeria will become an oasis of peace, security and prosperity in Africa and beyond.
Africa’s most populous nation and biggest economy is daily plagued with banditry, abductions, killings, terrorism and an asphyxiating economy that has been made even worse by the novel coronavirus pandemic and a sharp decline in global oil prices.
However, Osinbajo, who doubles as a pastor in his spare time, says the country will overcome all of these challenges and realise its aspirations, because God will keep his promise.
Osinbajo delivered the message on Sunday, April 25, 2021, at the ongoing 108th annual convention of the Nigerian Baptist Convention themed:”Moving Forward: Finishing the Race with Joy” which is being held at the church’s conference centre along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
According to Osinbajo, “there is a promise of God for this nation, that this nation will prosper, that this nation will be the epicentre of the astounding economic and scientific developments of the 21st century, that we will create here in Nigeria an oasis of peace, security and prosperity such as has never been seen before on this continent and beyond.
This is the promise of God. But today the clouds are overcast, the promise seems impossible, as it was with the children of Israel after leaving Egypt on the way to the promised land…”
The nation’s number two citizen continued by saying: “The journey to the promise of God for Nigeria is going through storms and adversity, but the end will be better than the beginning; weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.
“I am completely convinced that nobody, no group, no ideology, can defeat the promise of God for the greatness of Nigeria. I see it clearly; I know it like my own face.”
Urging Nigerians not to be dissuaded by the current challenges, Osinbajo said, “I urge you men and women of God not to allow the adversities of the moment to shape your utterances or perception.
“We must not sound like the children of Israel fearful before Goliath, petrified and complaining at the Red Sea as Pharaoh and his hostile hosts approached.
We are the light of this world, we are the voice of God in a confused and discouraged world, we must speak the things that God has promised as though they are because they will come to pass.
“The clouds cannot deny the existence of the sun, they may cover it for a while, but they must give way to the glorious brightness of sunshine.”
While commending the outgoing National President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention who is also the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Supo Ayokunle, Osinbajo said, “from his humble days leading the small flock in Ibadan to the headship of the Baptist Convention, superintending over the affairs of 13,654 churches and 8,000,637 members, and then suddenly being propelled to the rocky and difficult intersection between politics and religion as the 6th President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the umbrella body of Nigeria’s millions of Christians, the man we celebrate today has seen it all; adversity, tribulation, enemies from within and without.”
He added: “the days of criticisms, fair and unfair, of battles spiritual and physical, of long nights of travailing in the place of prayer. And the many times when he could have said I have had enough.”
Gunmen shot at worshipers in a church in the northwestern state of Kaduna and the southeast of the country was in the vice grip of a secessionist uprising, on the day the vice president stirred souls from the pulpit in the southwest.
