Why God Is Punishing Nigeria With Bad Leaders

Published on January 15, 2015 by Hon Taiwo

The bad leadership being witnessed in Nigeria at the moment is the direct consequence of the disobedience of Nigerians, both followers and prospective leaders, to God, the Chief Missioner of Ansar-ur-deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abd’Rahman Ahmad, has said.

Sheikh Ahmad, who was the guest lecturer at the Prayer for the Nation 2015 organised by the Fatima Charity Foundation in Lagos, said the country has reached that saturation point where the people would begin to yearn for a change in government.

He said Nigerians should know that they share a major part of the blames for distancing themselves from God.

Speaking on the topic: ‘Committing Nigeria To The Hands Of God: What Are The Roles Of The Leadership And The Citizenry?’ he told the crowd at the Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos venue of the event that, apart from turning away from God, people now believe and trust men like them and have succeeded in turning such men into their gods.

Imam Abdulrahman Ahmad

Stressing that a society gets the kind of leader it deserves, he wondered how a country’s leader would declare before the whole world that stealing is not corruption.

President Goodluck Jonathan had in one of his media chat explained that most of the offences Nigerians call corruption are petty stealing.

Ahmad said because of bad leadership, Nigeria remains one of the poorest despite having the same crude oil with which many other leaders have turned their countries around.

“When we talk about the leadership of a country handing the country over to God, we are essentially talking about good governance.

“And good governance is inclusive, and the electoral system is fair; and we talk about generating employment, having justice and equity for all, we are talking about a technique for peaceful change…you are there, they don’t want you, then go because there is nothing you can do about it,” he said.

He recalled how the late Tafawa Balewa once travelled to the United States of America and received an ovation after addressing the country’s lawmakers, but wondered why we now have a President who is far behind many world leaders.

He asked Nigerians to search their conscience and discover where they have offended God before accusing the leaders who have also offended God.

He noted that nowadays, there is mutual distrust between the leaders and the followers.

“We now see every politician as traders, big business people, they campaign for our votes not to govern us but to loot treasury. But some are only better than others.

“For some, there are things to show for governance. For others, there is absolutely nothing to show. What do we have to show when we were better 20 years ago than the way we are now?

“We don’t trust our governments neither do they care for us. When Allah intends to punish people for their inequity, He appoints for them bad leaders.

“This is the situation today. There is impunity and this has been elevated to state craft.

“Somebody said stealing is not corruption. I don’t know who said it but I think this is the thinking in high places.

“And he said somebody ‘stole money that cannot buy a Peugeot and they put him in prison; how much is the money that they are putting the person in prison?’

“This is what we have become. Today, there are no jobs, people are suffering, they are ready to work, but no food to eat.”

He lamented that the politicians for whom the message and prayers are meant for were not present at the event and reminded the people that they should always remember they have the power to pick their leaders and that their destinies were in their hands.

Hajia Bintu-Fatima Tinubu, President of the foundation, said the state of the nation called for prayers, charity and empowerment.

“We are very much aware of the many problems that have plagued the Nigerian nation which include insecurity, corruption and general fall in the standard of morality.

“And if Nigeria is to fulfil her God-given mandate, we need to find urgent solutions to these innumerable problems confronting our nation,” she said, adding that the foundation was none-partisan, but urged Nigerians to ensure that they participate in this year’s elections.

He said the country, despite its huge human and natural resources, has achieved only little, resulting in growing impatience while the country’s value system has continued to crash and “true federalism has remained an illusion and development at all levels has continued to elude us.”

She said it was important for the country to go closer to God in prayers “to remove unemployment, poverty, disease, hunger, ignorance, misgovernance, kidnapping, insurgency, tribalism, moral decadence, drug abuse, rape, religious intolerance, poor infrastructure, victimisation, election rigging among others.”