Nigerians Should be Committed to Righteousness – Yemi Osinbajo

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo , said on
Friday in Abuja that although Nigeria had people who
could pray, they lacked commitment to righteousness.
He made the remark at a Special Banquet to mark the
20th anniversary of Nigeria Prays, the pet project of
former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon.
Osinbajo said that if the citizens truly believed in and
walked in the ways of Jesus Christ whom they profess
to adore and stood up for the truth, righteousness and
justice, the country would clearly witness a turn-around.
According to him, there is the need to pray to God
always but it is more important that Christians turn away
from evil in order to make the country great.
“If we want to be a nation that can feed its people, we
must turn from evil ways and work for
righteousness. When our pulpits preach righteousness,
our people will rise up and become salts of the earth;
Christians will stand up and be honest if we preach
righteousness in the pulpit,’’ he said.
Osinbajo said that preachers had failed to tell the people
that it was wrong to take bribe or accept money from
government officials, adding that nations that followed
the principles of scripture had emerged great.
He said prayer and fasting were good, but that they were
not enough to lift the country except the citizens turned
away from evil.
“The principles of hard work, integrity and innovation
are things that made other countries great and they are
all in the gospel and if we follow the principles, we can
be great,’’ he stressed.
The vice president extolled the virtues of honesty,
integrity and hard work of Gowon and urged Nigerians,
especially leaders to emulate him.
Earlier, Gowon said that the group had spent the past 20
years praying for the healing of the country.
He said that passage of time had not diluted the vision
of Nigeria Prays group.
“It has been an eventful journey to prepare a
highway for God in our nation.
By His grace, we have succeeded in laying a
solid spiritual foundation for national
reflections and intercessions.
Through prayers, rallies, seminars, Nigeria
Prays has created an opportunity for
Nigerians and friends of Nigeria, irrespective
of denominational affiliation and religious
background,’’ he said.
According to the former head of state, we have to
continue to promote the virtues of patriotism and
transparency in the citizenry and good governance and
incorruptibility in leadership.
He said that in spite of how much Nigerians had prayed
to exit difficulties, a lot needed to be done and
expressed optimism that the Holy Spirit would lead the
way for the nation to be healed.
A cleric, Pastor Paul Adefarasin , in a sermon said that
Gowon was an exemplary leader and urged others to be
patriotic and avoid partisanship so as to help in building
bridges for development and unity of the country.
He prayed that God would lift Nigeria and its leaders up
and heal the country from the harm of corruption.
The event was used to present a book on Gowon titled
“God’s Praying General’’ and launch of a N2 billion fund
for the building of Nigeria Prays Centre.