By Femi Adesina
Let me begin by telling a story. On June 1, 2015, the day I
resumed work as adviser on media to President Muhammadu Buhari, he had
admonished me: “Adesina, always tell me the truth.
That is what I want from
you. In this type of position I have found myself, it is very easy not to be
told the truth. People will just tell you what they think you want to hear. But
from you, I want the truth. As a General, I may argue, but please argue with
me. Tell me the truth always.”
Based on that blank cheque I’d been given, I went to the
residence one evening last year to see the President.
That was the time there
was deafening talk of hunger from different parts of the country. I wanted to
be sure that the talk was not being filtered from the President. Of course, I
know him as somebody who reads newspapers religiously, and wherever we are in
the face of the world, he asks for media highlights from Nigeria. So, he would
not be unaware of what Nigerians were going through. But I still wanted to
raise it with him.
“Mr President, there is hunger in the land, and people are
complaining. I know government is doing its best, but I just want you to be
aware,” I said.
Mr President responded: “I know, I know. I am aware of what
people are going through. I have people in my own constituency back home, and I
know the messages they send to me. But it is a passing phase. Our country was vandalised,
and we found ourselves in this problem. But now that we are here, we will do
our best. We will bring change to this country, and we are already seeing it in
agriculture. This period of hunger will pass.”
It was prophetic. The season of hunger will pass, and is indeed
passing. Anyone that is honest will admit that things are looking up in
Nigeria. The ravening clouds shall no longer be victorious. They shall not long
possess the sky.
I went away with one conviction from that night’s meeting: the poor
matter very much to this President. He is not the type that people would tell
they had no bread to eat, and he would tell them to eat cake instead. This is a
friend of the talakawas, a man who loves ordinary people, and who wants their
station in life to be improved. And those people know it. That is why they
gravitate towards him, and repose so much confidence in him. He is their hero.
Our hero.
President Buhari turns 75 years today. But some six months back,
how many could confidently say this day would come for the ramrod straight man
from Daura? How many believed the President would come out of the severe
medical challenge that had confronted him? It all began as a routine vacation
cum medical check-up in January, and few days after, the rumour mill was on
overdrive. The challenge lasted till August, before the President returned home
finally, and since then, he has been looking better by the day. Each time you
now see him, there is a fresher glow, and you cannot but give glory to God on
his behalf.
But why was President Buhari kept alive,
so much so that he is turning 75 today? Why did he pass through the sea of
infirmity, and he was not swept away? Why did he pass through inferno, and the
fire did not kindle against him? Big question. I don’t have the answer, but I
can hazard some guesses, based on divine principles.
Rigobert Song. Remember him? Song was the Cameroonian defender
who played many years for the Indomitable Lions. He appeared at eight African
Nations Cup tournaments, five as captain, and stood between Nigeria and victory
many times. He became an idol, venerated by his countrymen and women. He
retired to become a coach.
Then late last year, Song was not on song again on the soccer
pitch. He had a near death experience on October 20. He went down with brain
aneurysm, and was in coma for two days. Doctors battled to save his life, and
he was eventually evacuated to France.
While the travails lasted, the social media was abuzz with news
of Song’s passage. As someone who had followed his career over the years, I
felt very sad. But this is the season of fake news. Song was not dead, he
miraculously rallied back. He narrated his experience, which I found
instructive, considering what our President also passed through:
“I did not know what was happening to me…I did not even know I
was fighting between life and death…All these people, they put God in trouble.
Because everyone in this situation, they were praying – this is what I keep in
my mind -God would have been in trouble. Everyone was praying, asking, ‘God,
please don’t do that, don’t take Rigobert’. I say thank you everybody for
making me come back.”
What song was Song singing? One of thanksgiving. Cameroonians
who loved him bombarded God with prayers, ‘Please, don’t take Rigobert now’.
And God heard. He showed mercy.
That is the same reason President Buhari is alive today.
Nigerians bombarded Heaven with prayers. With supplications, intercessions,
pleas for mercy. Muslims prayed in mosques. Christians prayed in churches.
President Alpha Conde of Guinea declared 24 hours prayer for his Nigerian
counterpart. Prayers were going on everywhere, both at home, and in the
Diaspora. I can imagine God telling Himself: ‘I must answer these prayers.
These petitions are too many. I must answer’.
And God had mercy, a fact attested to by President Buhari
himself. He said his return was a miracle, which only God could have done.
Why did God keep our President alive?
The Holy Books answer:
“Blessed is he that considers the poor;
God will deliver him in the day of evil.
God will preserve him, and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed upon the earth;
And deliver him not unto the will of his enemies,
And raise him up from sickness.” (Psalm 41:1-3).
And this one in Surah At-Tawbah 9:128:
“There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among
yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer, for he is concerned over you
and to the believers he is kind and merciful.”
President Buhari is concerned about Nigerians, particularly the
helpless, the ordinary people, and he has dedicated his life to serving them.
And when he was near unto death, those ordinary people besieged Heaven with
prayers. That Christian hymn says “dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.”
And God truly answered.
There is power in goodwill, we have seen it work. It worked for
Rigobert Song, and it has worked for our President. Have a heart for men,
particularly for the poor, the lowly, and the downtrodden. And see God rise on
your behalf.
Consider Tabitha (Dorcas in Greek), who lived at Joppa. She was
full of good works, always doing good, and helping the poor. One day, she took
ill, and died. Peter, one of the apostles of Jesus, was invited. He came,
prayed, and said: “Tabitha, arise!” And the woman came back to life. That is
what is possible, when you have a heart for the poor.
In his New Year message last year, President Buhari told the
country: “Living in the State House has not alienated me from your daily
sufferings. These challenges are only temporary, we are working to make things
better.”
When news came a couple of months ago that Nigeria had exited
from recession, what did the President say? “Until coming out of recession
translates into meaningful improvement in people’s lives, our work cannot be
said to be done.”
In another broadcast, the President had stated: “All my adult
life, I have always earned a salary and I know what it is like when your salary
is simply not enough.”
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