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Mena

Re: Nigeria, An Open Letter to Religious Leaders

I will like to say a big thank you to the owners of the following blogs; www.stelladimokokorkus.com, www.diarybyemmy.com and www.misspetitenigeria.blogspot.co.uk for publishing my article ‘Nigeria: An Open Letter to Religious Leaders. I have read all the comments carefully, pondered on them and decided to address all the issues raised.

When I wrote the article, I expected a lot more lashing than I got, I am very aware that Nigerians and religion are intertwined and I joked to myself that if I survive this, it is meant to be.

I was pleasantly surprised by some of the comments and it gave me joy to know that several people understand. A comment from Nkem on Stella’s blog made my day , it summarised my analysis of the whole situation. She said ‘All the writer has done is challenge our mentality! The average Nigerian will not help himself but will wait for God even when God has given him the senses and resources to help himself’. My aim is to challenge our thinking and reasoning, we need to view things more physically and stop assuming everything is spiritual and requires prayers.  Let’s stop being ‘intellectually lazy’ and start being realistic. We need to ‘loosen up spiritually’ because MOST situations require us to use our God given intellect to make choices and be responsible for the choices  we make, without laying the blame on spiritual forces.  This is applicable to our personal lives and to Nigeria as a nation. Let’s not go off topic.

Please be aware that I am not asking for religion to be taken away from our country, that is infact impossible as religion is deeply embedded in Nigeria. The point is how can we use it as a positive tool to turn the situation of the country around for good?

Firstly, what can religious leaders do?

Nigeria: An Open Letter to Religious Leaders

Since the recent bombings in Abuja Nigeria, emotions have been running high with so many citizens expressing their anger online and offline. In the midst of it all, I have watched carefully and searched for any statement from religious leaders.

 For two days, I saw nothing except from a certain Pastor that claims to have prophesied the incident. That was not going to help in anyway so I ignored that and kept on searching. Finally, after two days the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Orisetjafor released a statement; how happy was I? but after reading it, I must confess I have been left deflated and disappointed. He didn't suggest any solutions to the Boko Haram issue but simply condemned the act and placed a curse on the perpetrators. Whether that will solve our immediate problems is left for you to decide depending on your belief.