Christendom began its annual Lenten Season with Ash Wednesday yesterday, marking the commencement of a spiritual journey of 40 days of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, abstinence and other solemn activities to show collective and personal penance for the forgiveness of sins. The ash administered on worshippers yesterday in some churches symbolise the mortality and ephemerality of man – ultimately, all men (and women) would die and return to dust from which they were made, so they need to be humble and conscious of their short sojourn here on earth, and use it to prepare for life eternal. The ash also recalls the practice in Biblical times when individuals and communities wore sackcloths and sprinkled ash on their bodies as a sign of penitence in seeking to receive God’s pardon for their iniquities.
The Lenten period commemorates the 40 days of fasting that Jesus Christ observed at the beginning of his ministry, as recorded in the Bible, and terminates on Easter Day, the day he resurrected from death. This period encourages Christians to recall the sacrifices that Jesus Christ made in his earthly sojourn: how – though divine – he took on mortal form, suffered death on the cross in order to salvage mankind from sin out of love. During the period, Christians are reminded to emulate His life of humility, sacrifice, charity, prayer, and commitment to the common good. It is also a time for Christians to take stock of their relationships and make amends: with God, by seeking forgivenenss for neglecting His commandments and resolve to shed their wayward ways; and with man, by seeking to amend broken relationships by forgiving and loving one another as Christ had commanded His followers. In short, the Lenten period calls Christians to a life of holiness.
Coming at a time when Nigerians are going through the hardest of times when the harsh economic conditions have been compounded by the scarcities of petrol and of cash emanating from the shoddy implementation of the federal government’s cashless policy and Naira redesign, it is a challenging time to be charitable, yet it is such a time like this that Christians, and Nigerians in general, are called upon to show love to the weakest members of their communities to help them cope better with their situation.
And as Christians proceed on this most important and holiest season, which comes just three days to the commencement of the 2023 general elections, the words of the Catholic Bishop of Ekwulobia, Anambra State, come to mind. In his 2023 Lenten message to his congregation, he said the closeness of the two events is by divine design and there are lessons Nigerians can learn from the period for the general elections.
According to him, the Christian holy season calls on its faithful to make a critical decision about improving their religious life; similarly they are being asked, in this moment, to make a critical decision about the political life of their nation: they must eschew all selfish, sectional and parochial considerations in choosing their next leaders, but to choose those who have the right values, while a wrong choice could be disasterous for the country.
He said: “But having practised self-rule for more than half a century, it has become clear that having a leader with the same colour of skin as oneself, the same language, from the same ethnic group, etc., does not automatically translate into good governance. There is still need for leaders, and followers, who are committed to righteousness and to values represented by the kingdom of God…Nigeria is tottering at the brinks and this election is decisive. There is little or no room for error. A wrong decision spells doom for the citizenry. There is therefore a consciousness across religious, ethnic, geo-political and even party lines, that vision, competence, character, credibility and track record are to count most in this election.”
Quoting the book of proverbs (29:2) he emphasized that the people can only have it good when persons of character are elected and entrusted with their affairs.
As a newspaper, we agree with the cleric that the coming general election presents all Nigerians of voting age with the great privilege to contribute in shaping the history of their country with their votes. And they can make a positive decision by voting for leaders with vision, competence, character, credibility and a track record of commitment to the common good, not just the good of a few, in the coming election.
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