Former president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, urged Nigerians not to relent and continue to pray and work for the peace of the country, assuring that God will see the nation through its period of hardship.
The immediate past leader made the call during the dedication of his first grandchild at the Word Illumination Ministry in Gwarimpa, Abuja.
In a statement released by his media team, Jonathan stated that every country has its high and low periods, he pointed out that nations can always overcome their problems with dedication and hardwork.
While advising Nigerians to endeavor they protect and give their best to their country at all times, Jonathan said: “I will just thank God for all he has been doing for our country and I also thank you all for the prayers for the good of our country.
“Whenever I am talking to Christians and other believers depending on their faith, I always urge them to pray for the country. Every nation go through two periods; period of adversity and period of joy.
“For Christians if you read the Old Testament, you sometime think that the whole world was going to end but God has a reason for everything. No matter the circumstances we are going through today, I believe that with the prayers, diligence and hardwork of Nigerians, God will see this nation through all its tribulations.
“I always say that the key and constant thing is Nigeria, and not who is leading the country. It could be Jonathan today, it could be Buhari, Obasanjo, Shagari, Abdulsalami today, and it could be anybody else. We have all played our part and as we progress, others will take over. Maybe some of the people that will take over tomorrow are also here in this church.
”So, the most important thing is the nation that belongs to all of us and we must strive to protect and give our best to what belongs to all of us. And as Christians, we must pray for Nigeria. The world we are seeing today is so different from the world we saw some years back.
“In fact when we were in secondary schools, we used to read about the gladiators in our history books, and they were operating more like in another world. But today we have crisis all over the world, not just Nigeria. We must realize that God loves this country and we have very vibrant Christians and I believe that with your persistent prayers, God will see us through.”