Little Prayer
for President
Yar\u2019Adua

My religious faith as a priest in the Catholic Church teaches me to
pray for my leaders both temporal and spiritual. My principal
certainty is that prayer is the key that opens the doors of heaven and
showers blessings. Besides, leadership positions such as those of
president, prime minister, chancellor, emperor, king or queen, shah or
whatever designation are no ordinary positions for the chicken-
hearted, cool-headed or cowards. Those who occupy such a position must
rise above board and assuage the yearnings and aspirations of their
people or else their nations will head to perdition.

petitions, prayers, requests, and thanksgiving be offered to God for
all people; for kings and all others who are in authority, that we may
live a quiet and peaceful life with all reverence toward God and with
proper conduct.\u201d Those who attain any of these positions by whatever

means must realize that they are accountable to God and to a lesser
degree to man. Such a position requires a strong willed person
determined to succeed with the help of God. Hence praying for any
leader is a duty and a divine call to action. I know that God is the
ultimate judge of every human being but as the Holy Bible says, \u201cto
whom much is given, much is expected\u201d This makes leadership a
difficult aspect of human life. When a leader takes a flight while his
citizens are languishing in danger then it leaves much to be desired
about the qualities and priorities of such a leader.

President Umar Musa Yar\u2019Adua, the President of Nigeria, needs my
prayers and your prayers. He needs our collective prayers for him to
succeed in this arduous task of leading Nigeria out of our woes. I
thank God that the nameYa r\u2019 Ad ua is the hometown and birthplace of Mr.

President, which can be loosely translated from Hausa language to mean
\u2018a little prayer.\u2019 Praying for Mr. President is not too much for
Nigerians to do because everyday prayers ooze out from different
directions in our towns; motor parks, buses, offices, markets,
churches, mosques, homes turned into prayer houses, healing centres,
beaches and everywhere. Nigerians love to pray. I love to pray myself.

I must add with whole-hearted conviction, Nigerians devote time to
praying for their president. I must continue to pray like everybody
does: \u201cPray without ceasing\u201d. Nigerians pray for their president to
succeed. Only in beer parlours and pepper soup joints do we find
people who criticize their president negatively. But they too have the
right to criticize what goes on in government. A combination of pepper
soup and alcohol brings out the best arguments concerning what
leadership should be and where present leadership is heading. The
actions or inactions of leaders are often criticized, synthesized and
condemned. Yet, they have no time to offer prayers for their leaders.
But this only shows us that we still have freedom of speech as
compared to conditions under military regimes. Our president must
succeed though. I want to make the difference by devoting time to
offer a little prayer for Mr. President to turn things around for the
better with the power of God whom we seek every minute in Nigeria.
This can only be possible when he accepts wise counsel and plans
selflessly for the future of the Nigerian state under the power of the
omnipotent God.

Our collective success lies on his shoulders and the burdens of our
daily lives are linked to his decisions in private and in public. His
public rating depends largely on his presidential or un-presidential
moves since he has left the domain of a private citizen to that of a
public servant-leader as president.

Such a position to the ordinary eyes may seem attractive, royal,
luxurious and cozy but underneath it lies heavy burdens of devastating
consequences. The position itself is prestigious, princely and posh