By Clement Udegbe

THE period between Christmas and the new year for most people is a time for sober, deep and wide reflections, which may include their spiritual life in the fading year, and what to do in the new year to repair their relationship with their creator, or improve on it where a relationship existed, and to give more to the community, society, etc. Others use the period to celebrate their successes, eat, make merry, gain a few weight which they will struggle to shed in the New Year.

Some spend so much, and struggle to rebuild their finances later, while many use the period even to commit more sins of adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, cheating etc, hoping that our Merciful God will understand in the New Year. They forget that whatever a man sows he shall reap, in the fullness of time, because God is in Power and Position, over this earth, and only FOOLS say , think or conduct themselves as if there is no God. Many also use the period between Christmas and the New Year to make resolutions. It was during this period two years ago today, that I resolved never to buy exotic imported shoes, as my own way to support made in Nigerian shoes, and never to wear suits except when appearing in court for my legal duties, to remind me of my African-ness.

Yes, Africa has all the unique potentials to rise up as a giant continent, but still remains the destination of most goods made outside Africa. Our Leaders milk us dry, and export their wealth, and as a result there are more illiterates, wars, internal conflicts, poverty, deprivation and suffering in Africa, than in most continents of the world. They once called us the ‘Black, or Dark Continent’, but we must rise and show that we have the light of God, the creator of the universe , our Lord Jesus Christ, also in Africa, through fervent prayers and fear of God, in our leadership style.
As I think about Nigeria, it appears more convincingly that Nigeria, as the most populous nation in Africa, may well be a microcosm of Africa with a good dose of her potentials, ills, problems and draw backs. First, take Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, for instance. It was first found in Central Africa in 1973. At that time it had a four days life span only. It lived in the body of the victim for just four days, and if it did not kill the victim within this period, it dies on its own.

It was believed by some research scientists in America to be a biological weapon of mass destruction which was tested in Africa, by the enemies of the continent, those who see Africa as expendable in God’s world.

Forty years after, a new strain of the EVD surfaced in Liberia, and Sierra Leone with a life span of 21 days, more vicious and deadly, and was exported to Nigeria February last year. Nigeria battled with it and by God’s grace only, seem to have overcome EVD. While the devastations still linger in the lives of the individual, family and institutional victims in Nigeria, our sister nations of Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Ivory Coast, and the Gambia in ECOWAS, are still being ravaged by EVD.The question for 2015 remains, how and where did EVD emerge from initially, and what was their intention for bringing it to Nigeria?

Second, the spirit of military gangsterism,and hatred for human life, which is now referred to within Pentecostal Spiritual Warfare Circles as ‘The Spirit of the Sudan’ hit Somalia in the early 1990s, and within a few years it tore that nation to shreds, and with the rise of Bin Laden and Al-Qaida ten years later, the powers and devastations of that Spirit spread to America and Europe. It was called terrorism, and that same spirit entered Sudan, Kenya, and it arrived the North East of Nigeria, since 2009, as Boko Haram. It was typically handled by our leaders since that time, with kid gloves for political and economic, wicked and selfish reasons. The result is that between this Christmas and the New year, over 430 persons have been killed in Nigeria!

The world mourns bitterly when 150 persons are killed in a plane crash or any disaster, but since 2009, over 5000 persons have been wiped out by Borko Haram, with over 3000 internally displaced persons within our beloved country. Yet, some heartless and shameless persons still want to make political and economic capital out of the blood and suffering of these victims. They have all bluntly, with needless impetuosity, refused to shelve the 2015 elections for just a while, in order to concentrate and wipe away the common enemy, Boko Haram from the land and air space of Nigeria.

The question therefore for the New Year is: What remains of insecurity in Nigeria after 2015 elections since none of the contending political parties can wipe away the Spirit of the Sudan, judging from their antecedents?

As an Igbo son, I ponder over what we are doing to ward off, the incessant attempts by the Spirit of the Sudan to enter Imo Land.
God has been with us delivering us by exposing all bomb attempts, and so what will voting APC in Imo state portend for us all, knowing that Anambrarians rejected that Party only last year, and that decision is paying off handsomely for them?

The concern here is not about the person of the APC governorship flag bearer in Imo state, but about the party, its national and global agenda and Igbo man. It has been established that APC has an agenda that ties with that of Organization of Islamic Conference, OIC in Nigeria. I know the frustrations, and pains of the youth of the North East, because I fought the Biafra war as an 12 years old boy, thus, if our experiences and history from that war should guide us, and if our descendants will 50 years today, continue to read the Bible, we should think beyond an individual before we cast our votes come February 2015.