Nigeria elects Christian President in landmark Election. Islamists say No

It became clearer this morning in Africa’s most populous nation that the agenda of some to install Islamist Buhari or no Nigeria - required a different sort of intervention after last Saturday witnessed an unusually peaceful landmark election.  Angry opposition supporters in Nigeria's Muslim north set fire to homes bearing ruling party banners Monday and heavy gunfire rang in several towns as election officials released results showing the Christian incumbent President Jonathan had gained an insurmountable lead. Results were still pending in four states from Saturday's election but tallies released live on national television indicated President Goodluck Jonathan had a commanding lead of more than 11 million votes and only about 6 million were left to be announced. The Muslim north had largely voted for former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari who paired with Bakare (a fiery evangelical Christian preacher) as vice president.

As we pray for calm, many opine that it is perhaps time for Buhari and Bakare to display statesmanship by calling for calm among their supporters noting that several southerners (and Christians) voted for Buhari too. See CNN reports below ...

Many will understand the challenge for Islamists acceptance of rule under a Christian President to mean that tenets of Islam are more than religious (as most understand the term) and require an all embracing code of living which becomes inconvenient under non-muslim leadership.  This reaction also fuels the continued suspicion that under Buhari the nation would have been pushed into an unpredictable quagmire of new tensions as unusually aggressive supporters quickly move to gain influence in the social, economic and political spheres.

Many of the north's elite also (perhaps rightly) wanted the ruling party to honour an unwritten power-sharing agreement calling for a Muslim candidate to run in this election, yet President Goodluck Jonathan  prevailed in the party's primary in spite of rejecting this unwritten agreement.  Jonathan (previously relatively unknown and quiet vice president) came to power through an incredibly unlikely sequence of events when the then Muslim President Yaradua died in power after a protracted illness – that saw for the first time in Nigeria’s history an “unknown” vice president Goodluck emerging in a vicious and highly competitive arena of wealthy and powerful political combatants gunning for high stakes in the oil-rich nation in which vested interests and expensive deals for power was the norm.

It appears to the majority of Nigerians from their choice last Saturday that God has given the relatively “naive” Goodluck  Jonathan.  Perhaps not the genius able to quickly turn the ailing infrastructure and economy around nor possessing required ethnic, military or political pedigree ... but still a far safer choice for a nation needing a break from power and socio-ethnic schemings.  The tensions that have now suddenly arisen prove this perhaps to be a right conclusion.

The script being played out seems to be to stop further elections (governorship elections scheduled) and make some sort of interim governance unavoidable.  This must not be permitted and elections must continue in peaceful states.

As the world watches the most populous oil rich African nation, Christians and other peace loving observers continue to pray for calm in a nation that has historically thrived through daunting odds.

As most Nigerians look to an end to corruption and many vices that have plagued the core of its nationhood for years, Christians all over the nation seek fresh grace to re-examine their ways and rededicate their lives praying for a revival and subsequently the pleasure of God. Indeed, God makes even those who do not want Christian leadership to be at peace.

Proverbs 16[1]  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD. [2]  All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits. [3]  Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. [4]  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. [5]  Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. [6]  By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. [7]  When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Peace and trust facilitates the spread of the gospel and permits the urgently needed restoration and growth of domestic production and realisation of potential in a remarkably endowed nation grappling with crippling levels of poverty and dilapidation.

Psalm 139[23]  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: [24]  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Pray for Nigeria.