Are You Among The Prayer Warriors President Tinubu Referenced? -By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi

Receiving a delegation from the Christian Association of Nigeria, led by the CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, on a Christmas homage to his Lagos residence, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu highlighted the reality of the challenges facing his administration in terms of insecurity. He, however, renewed hope on Nigerians being “very religious. We are prayer warriors,” Tinubu said, urging his guests: “We need your focus, vigilance and cooperation.” Wise choice of words, you can say.

But then, it is one thing to be deeply religious and another to be a prayer-holic. For instance, yours truly isn’t religious with Christianity but practices the same as an intimate relationship with God enabled by the resurrected Christ! To the President, whether you are the very religious type or just prayerful, you’ve got a role to play in the fight against insurgency. Analysts can be busy trying to figure out if this patriotic duty should fall under the kinetic or non-kinetic approach to the anti-insurgency campaign.

The President used the right words for the right audience. He should therefore not be misread as abdicating his responsibility to protect the lives, limbs and livelihoods. Such a charge shouldn’t even arise, considering his call for cooperation and vigilance. Citizens cooperate by meeting the government halfway when it comes to tackling an existential threat. They can also cooperate by providing intelligence or being vigilant. After all, Thomas Jefferson averred that “the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance.”

In the main, there must be something about this war on terror that makes the authorities always call for prayers from citizens. We were in this country in 2015 when the Adamawa State government announced that it had “earmarked N200 million for prayers to seek for Allah’s intervention in tackling the Boko Haram menace and other insecurity challenges.” In 2019, the Nigerian Army organised a spiritual warfare seminar with the theme, ‘Countering insurgency and violent extremism in Nigeria through spiritual warfare.’

Then Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, used the symposium to point out that the military alone cannot stamp out terrorism and terrorist groups without religious bodies and organisations in the country coming to the “forefront of the spiritual battle”. As Theatre Commander of Operation Hadin Kai in Nigeria’s north-east, Christopher Musa had in 2021 attributed the surrender of 1,000 Boko Haram fighters to the prayers of Nigerians, saying it “looked like part of divine intervention”.

Ergo, when President Tinubu challenges citizens to war on their knees in support of their warrior compatriots on the battlefield, he absolutely knows what he is talking about. In fact, the President used that meeting with CAN officials to give the greatest indication yet as to why the authorities usually resort to prayers. This was when he disclosed that “our ungoverned spaces are so large.”

Ungoverned spaces are wildernesses where the presence of the state is absent or minimal, allowing non-state actors like bandits, kidnappers, terrorists, and insurgents to operate freely. It is sites like that in Jabo district of Sokoto State, harbouring an ISIS-linked base that was recently hit by the United States’ airstrikes as a “Christmas present” to ISWAP elements. Who knows? Prayers must be responsible for President Donald Trump going gung-ho against bloodlust militias who have been terrorising Nigerians.

Since there are locations outside the orbit and control of the Nigerian state, it makes sense to implore the intervention of the Almighty whose eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9). This is probably why those at the helm often solicit citizens’ supplication.

In writing this article, I wanted to cite the actual portion of Nigeria’s 923,768 sq. km. landmass that constitutes ungoverned spaces. My query on Google returned with this AI Overview: “There is no official, specific percentage or total land size cited for Nigeria’s ‘ungoverned spaces.” Given the absence of this critical data, the helplessness of the authorities can be better imagined. It’s just like the difficulty in effectively policing the country’s 4,477 km land border. Abuja definitely needs divine assistance. The prayer point can be for God to watch over Nigeria’s ungoverned spaces, and possibly turn them into a land that devours its inhabitants.

It is in circumstances like this that the scripture: “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” comes to mind. But this time around, it’s not for prosperity but preservation. From Ezekiel 9:4-6, one can learn that praying for their troubled country or community is a solid way of insuring oneself against the anarchy that reigns supreme and its chilling repercussions. It is therefore in the enlightened self-interest of the civil populace to heed the President’s call to be prayer warriors as regards Nigeria’s fight against terrorism.

BTW, what participation or support should be expected from atheists and Nigerians who don’t believe in prayers… just wondering aloud!

VIS Ugochukwu, a sage, poet and essayist, tweets @sylvesugwuanyi