Today is the 29th of May, 2023. It’s a big day in Nigeria. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been sworn in as the 16th President since the return of democracy in 1999.

A democratic government where we have a President sworn in against the will of the people? The tyrannical irony!

For most people, or maybe most Nigerian Youths, Peter Obi is still our President.

He is the real "Idan" (a Yoruba word which means magic, or a wonder, which Nigerians recently fished out of the archives and now use to mean "boss, the real MVP, Baddest in the game, The man of the year/for the show" type of thing.

He is the man of the people! The one most Nigerians, young and old alike, wholeheartedly went out amidst all odds and harassment, to vote for.

So if we’re going by the books and deciding to uphold a free and fair election and sticking with what was recorded at polling units nationwide, He is the actual President elect. Not the man that was sworn in today.

I must say that it would have actually been too good to be true if He was declared winner just like that, without a fight; seeing that Nigeria actually has a reputation for rigged elections, and a government that Lords it over its people.

For us here in Nigeria, a government of the people, by the people and for the people is one of those things we read and hear about, but seems so impassable.

But with the rise of the Obidient movement(Youths who are ardent Peter Obi supporters), and the fact that youths came out in their numbers to vote and exercise their civic rights nationwide, mixed with the gift of the internet age which presents us the opportunity to use social media to relay all that is going on(show proof, defend our votes and fight for our rights amicably), I and so many other Nigerians, had really high hopes for justice to be served.

Our hopes were first shattered when inec declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu as winner of the Presidential elections.

Then we had a high on the 1st of April, 2023, when Peter Obi filed a petition against the All Progressives Congress (APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), challenging the election of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.

But with today’s swearing in, it literally looks like all hope has finally been shattered and is completely lost. And i’m sure like me, a lot of people are, or were downcast, that’s why I decided to write this.

Since I woke up this morning sad myself, I decided to be the ray of sunshine on a rainy day for everyone of you, bringing you the very same comfort with which I have been comforted.

Being a believer in the Christian faith, I was studying Matthew 28 today, and it hit me that after Jesus' resurrection, the guards who were put there to protect Jesus' body from being stolen by His disciples, went into the city to report to the chief priests that Jesus had actually risen from the dead.

The chief priests assembled with elders, consulted together and gave a large sum of money to the guards, and told them to tell the people that "His disciples came at night, and stole His body while they slept."

They also said that if it comes to the governor’s ears, "they will appease him and make them secure".

The bible records that they took the money and did as instructed, and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.

Which means that even though we have infallible proof that Jesus actually rose again, the news that actually went round was that Jesus' disciples stole His body. And that is still the gist amongst the Jews today.

This just goes to show the lengths that evil people can go, and the amount of havoc they can actually cause and get away with.

Isn’t this the modern day, typical Nigerian story? Isn’t this how youths were killed at the toll gate in 2020 with their bodies cleared and buried, with our government claiming that nothing like that happened?

The gravity of what is really at stake when wicked and unreasonable men who do not care about the people come into power, hit me a lot more after the study, and I became even more heartbroken.

I felt a heavy burden as if the entire weight of Nigeria was resting on my shoulders. With tears in my eyes and a mouth that could barely speak, I said a few words:

"So you mean this people are really going to rule us? Please fight for us, Lord. Arise on our behalf. Let our enemies be scattered. Don’t let us be like orphans who have no Father. Do not let us be like sheep without a shepherd. Hear the cry of your children, arise on our behalf oh God and prove that there is still a God that rules amongst the affairs of men".

I know that your typical picture of God fighting our battles would have been Peter obi being declared winner of the elections after we voted, or Peter Obi going to court and the mandate being restored, and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s swearing in not happening at all, but I want you to know that there is a God seated on the throne, and His ways are just not our ways.

The Bible is replete with so many stories that looked like God was late, and all hope was completely lost. Yet, when He eventually showed up, He did even exceedingly, abundantly, above all they could ever ask, think or imagine.

Like Psalm 126:130 says, "When the lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing." 🥳💃🎉

We serve a just God who wishes that all men be saved. He loves the righteous and the evil man just as much, and wishes that no man perish. 🫶

Apart from the Bible, a movie that drives this point home, succinctly, is "The Shack”. ✨

It helped me see the world through God’s eyes. It helped me see His loving kindness towards all men.

So for those of you who ask, "If there is a God, why is there evil in the world?", It should answer your question. If it doesn’t, please reach out to me for more answers.

The point is that whether the hearing which takes place tomorrow, the 30th of May, 2023, at the appeal Court in Abuja, favours us or not, God is for us. So do not lose hope. Do not lose heart.

Our trust is in a God who has a track record of coming through for His children and fighting their battles. A God who never fails. A God that can be trusted.

Though He may tarry, and though He may not show up how you want Him to, but He will show up, and He will show out, when He eventually does.

We walk by faith and not by sight. Nigeria is in God’s hands, and a new Nigeria is here, I promise you. So, cheer up! A new dawn has come.❤️