Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called on Nigerians to be steadfast and believe that despite the challenges facing the nation, victory was sure.
Osinbajo made the appeal on Sunday during the 2019 Presidential Inauguration Service at the National Christian Centre, Abuja.
The theme of the service was: “Setting the Nation on Higher Levels of Peace and Development in the Fear of God’’.
He called on them “to rise and take their rightful place as lights of the world, so that those in darkness would see their light’’.
“You and I, as Christians, are called the salt of the earth because our lives enhance and give meaning to this existence we call life.
“We are the salt of the earth because Jesus called us by that name and the implication was that we are to bring joy to people,” he said.
The vice president reassured Nigerians that the future of the nation was bright, “because the scripture says that the path of the righteous is like a shining light that shines bright and bright unto perfect days’’.
He pointed out that though the nation might be clouded with darkness, confusion and different challenges, at the end, it shall be great again.
Osinbajo urged Nigerians to rise above ethnicity and religious sentiment, and see one another as one.
He called on them to be confident in the promise of God upon the nation.
The former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, prayed for a peaceful Nigeria and called on everybody to work towards a more prosperous and united country.
In his sermon, the President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Augustine Akabueze, said socio-economic disparity was to be blamed for the challenges in the country.
Akabueze, who was represented by the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, called on all Nigerians to join hands to find a lasting solution to the nation’s problems.
“For a positive change to take place in the nation, Nigerians must all get ready for a sincere change of heart, from the lowest to the highest, especially at the highest levels.
“Empty boasts and bare face denial of the realities around us cannot build the nation,” he said.
He urged the Federal Government to mobilise Nigerians for the good of the country.
The bishop called on Nigerians to eschew all forms of indiscipline and corruption, and be resolute rather than lose hope in the struggle for a better future and nation.
The Primate of all Nigeria Anglican Communion, Bishop Nicholas Okoh, prayed to God to forgive and heal the land.
He committed President Muhammadu Buhari in God’s hand to give him the ability to rule and lead the nation in the right direction.
Also present at the service were the wife of the Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo; Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, and a number of cabinet members.
Others were Rev. Samson Ayokunle, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN); the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC), Rev. Tor Uja. (NAN)