Pastor pleads for international support to combat deadly persecution

Editorial introduction: Jesus said that in the times of the end, Christians “will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me” (Matt 24:9). This prophecy seems to be coming to pass around the world today. This report sheds fresh light on the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, for your information and prayers.

In the latest of seemingly never-ending reports of deadly violence in Nigeria comes news that suspected Boko Haram terrorists killed at least 65 people at a funeral in a village in the north-east of the country.¹

In the past decade, tens of thousands of people — mainly Christians — in the north and middle-belt regions of Nigeria have been killed by Islamist Boko Haram terrorists and armed Fulani herdsmen, while millions more have been displaced.

The facts about exactly what or who is driving the violence are hard to nail down in an environment where different interest groups advance vastly divergent narratives, and in which rumours and allegations abound.

But some of the hard facts are that the death and destruction is continuing, the tragedy which some human rights groups are calling ‘genocidal’ is not getting the global media attention it deserves, and there has been no constructive international engagement with the crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.

Fears of Government Complicity

I spoke to a Nigerian pastor who contacted Gateway News in the hopes of reaching the international community with the concerns of “many Christians” who feel that their government is not only failing to protect them but is complicit in their suffering.

Pastor Emmanuel² in Nigeria’s middle-belt Plateau state, who has spent years reaching out to Nigerian Fulani people with the love of Christ, said that many Christians now believe that most of the Fulani herdsmen currently involved in terror were brought into the country from other African countries by President Muhammudu Buhari to destabilise the government, in the event of him losing the presidential election which took place earlier this year.

Pastor Emmanuel said many Christians are also starting to believe allegations made in public in 2014 by a former national anti-corruption chief, Nuhu Ribadu, that Buhari brought in thousands of Fulani herdsmen for the same reason before the 2015 election, but abandoned them when he won at the polls, resulting in them turning to “banditry”.

Pastor Emmanuel believes that if Ribadu’s 2014 allegations against Buhari were false, he would have been arrested, but nothing happened to him and the President never denied his claims. Emmanuel believes Buhari may have found a way to co-opt Ribadu.³ Both Buhari and Ribadu are Fulanis.

Many Nigerian Christians believe that the Fulani herdsmen currently involved in terror were brought into the country by their President for political reasons.

Islamising Nigeria

Pastor Emmanuel continued that the belief that both Boko Haram and the Fulani attackers were ‘created’ by President Buhari is gaining ground in Christian circles. Likewise, many Christians are convinced that the President is pursuing an agenda to Islamise Nigeria, whose population is roughly half Christian and half Muslim (with a small percentage of traditional religionists and people of no faith). The Muslim population is mainly in the north.

Emmanuel said that Christians in Nigeria were also baffled recently by the President’s proposed ‘Ruga’ programme to resettle Fulanis on land in every state of the country and to build houses and community infrastructure for them. He said the plan, purportedly to stop clashes between farmers and nomadic Fulani herders which Buhari maintains are about grazing land, was suspended after Nigerians (especially Christians) opposed it, asking why one would build houses for foreigners all over the country. According to media reports on the failed Ruga plan,⁴ critics also said it would send out a message that violence pays.

Pastor Emmanuel said the Ruga project is another indication of Buhari’s Islamisation agenda. While it is good that the plan has been suspended, he said Nigerian Christians need to remain alert. For instance, the Government is talking about carrying out a census of Fulanis and disarming people who legally own firearms, which would leave them vulnerable to armed Fulani attackers.

He also highlighted a development in which a High Court branded the country’s main Shia Islamic group a terrorist organisation,⁵ after it staged a protest in the capital, Abuja, in which a policeman and about six members of the group died. He said the group was protesting against the detention of its leader who has been held by the Government since 2015 despite court orders to release him.

“We Nigerians are asking why the Shiites were branded as terrorists when they have done nothing that compares with the killing, kidnapping and ransacking of villages by the Fulani herdsmen, who have never been branded as terrorists,” Pastor Emmanuel said.

Many Christians are convinced that the President is pursuing an agenda to Islamise Nigeria, whose population is roughly half Christian and half Muslim.

Calling on Christians

According to the pastor, Christians feel helpless about the security situation that threatens to destroy the country and it is vital that the international community take note of the situation, including the Government’s Islamisation campaign and complicity in the security crisis. He said they are looking to Christians around the world for prayer support and to help mobilise appropriate action.

He also said that Nigerian Christians lack a strong national voice, as the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which used to be that voice, has been politicised and some of its members have been bribed.⁶

A Christian political observer in Nigeria told Gateway News that while there are Christians in the country who share Pastor Emmanuel’s views, there is no formal Christian position on the security situation or allegations that Buhari has birthed terror groups.

She agreed that the Fulanis responsible for “kidnapping, raping and maiming” are mainly foreigners, but said there are many complex underlying issues around the ongoing and escalating violence in the country.

“The challenge is, talk is cheap and so you have rumours and allegations flying in all directions but no-one is coming forth with concrete evidence to support their claims.

“Having said that, in order to understand why some things defy logic in Nigeria, you need to understand that the president is Fulani. They are a minority with a super-race mentality who believe they are born to rule. So the president is first and foremost Fulani and then he is a [Sunni] Muslim and finally he is Nigerian. His loyalty is in that order. He makes no apologies about that, neither does he hide it.”

Hope for Action

Amid fresh concerns that Boko Haram terrorists may have killed kidnapped Christian schoolgirl Leah Sharibu,⁷ Open Doors USA chief David Curry accused the Nigerian Government of lacking the resources to protect terror victims and not having the will to fight the terrorist agenda of ISIS-affiliated groups in the country.

Indications that the United States and Britain are committing themselves to prioritise combating Christian persecution and religious freedom issues around the world⁸ will hopefully translate into meaningful action as far as the suffering Christian community in affected parts of Nigeria is concerned.

When one part of the Body suffers, “every part suffers with it” (1 Cor 12:26). If you would like to do more to stand with the persecuted Church in Nigeria, we recommend Open Doors UK and the Barnabas Fund. If you know of other reliable ministries working in this area, do post them below.

Notes

1 See Fox News, 30 July 2019

2 Not his real name.

3 At the time Ribadu made his explosive allegations, he was on the team of Buhari’s election opponent Goodluck Jonathan. But ironically, Ribadu was a key member of Buhari’s 2019 election campaign and described his win at the polls as a victory for Nigerians.

4 E.g. see Ruga: High-level settlement for herdsmen shot down by suspicion. Punch NG, 7 July 2019.

5 Nigeria bans local Shi'ite group after protests. Reuters, 28 July 2019

6 Having said this, CAN has accused Buhari of pursuing an Islamisation agenda. Read more here.

7 See Nigerian government admonished amidst fresh concerns about Leah Sharibu. Gateway News, 26 July 2019.

8 E.g. U.S. and Britain putting a new emphasis on religious freedom abroad. Crux, 12 July 2019.

The resignation of Jacob Zuma in its bigger picture.

The resignation of Jacob Zuma as President of South Africa is the latest event in a great shaking of the nations of that Continent. Many South Africans hope that Cyril Ramaphosa who replaces Zuma will deal with the corruption that has spread through Zuma’s nine years in power and quell the widespread social unrest that has destabilised the country.

South Africa’s woes are repeated in many other parts of Africa. It is only three months since Mugabe was ousted from power in Zimbabwe after many years of corruption and cruel oppression. The man who did most to expose Mugabe’s disastrous policies, Morgan Tsvangirai, sadly died this week after bravely fighting Mugabe’s violent oppression of democracy.

Nigeria has the largest economy in Africa and the greatest amount of natural resources but is riven asunder by political corruption and social unrest. The inept leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has allowed racial divisions in Nigeria to thrive to a dangerous degree. The threat of civil war has never been far away in Nigeria since the disastrous Biafran war of 1967-1970.

Perhaps the most tragic situation in Africa today is to be seen in South Sudan, the newest country in the world that was created in a severance from the northern, Islamic part of Sudan. Instead of South Sudan being a prosperous Christian country enjoying peace and protection from Islamic terrorism, the Christians have descended into tribal warfare that has devastated the economy, created massive refugee camps and brought deadly famine to millions of people.

But Christians in South Africa are already seeing hope, as Charles Gardner reports:-

Rainbow of Hope

Jacob Zuma’s resignation as South Africa’s President coincided with a literal downpour of heaven’s blessings as the drought-stricken land was drenched by an all-night cloudburst in the Northern Cape.

Zuma’s longstanding refusal to resign threatened the stability of an embattled nation already facing serious economic and social problems.

Cyril Ramaphosa is being sworn in as his replacement as I write, and I am hopeful of a brighter future for the ‘Rainbow nation’ that showed such promise following the success of its first-ever multi-racial elections in 1994. But the legacy of peace, prosperity and reconciliation left by Nelson Mandela was thrown to the winds of tribalism and strife that mirrored much of what has been going on in the rest of Africa.

Zuma’s refusal to resign threatened the stability of an embattled nation already facing serious problems.

The dawn of the New South Africa was preceded by a very worrying time when civil war looked a real possibility – and was widely predicted by the media – as the Zulu-led Inkhata Party threatened not to cooperate with the transition talks.

Thankfully, South Africa’s many Christians flooded sports stadiums to pray for a resolution, and Christian leaders like Michael Cassidy were used by God to broker peace. The nation was pulled back from the brink as a result, relatively little blood was spilt, and a wonderful new era dawned.

The Bandwagon of Political Correctness

Tragically, in recent years, lack of righteous leadership, along with non-cooperation with all parties of goodwill, has left a trail of destruction in its wake – violence has become rampant (especially in rural areas), along with corruption, unemployment and disease. And with the ruling African National Congress party strongly influenced by Marxism, South Africa has inevitably climbed onto the bandwagon of political correctness where anything goes except good, honest living according to God’s standards.

Part of the Government’s PC dogma is a thoroughly nonsensical accusation that Israel is now practising the ‘apartheid’ that so blighted South Africa, and they are using this as an excuse to downgrade diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

The irony of the earlier threat to peace posed by Inkhata is that Zuma is a Zulu. But I don’t wish to taint the rest of his people – the country’s largest ethnic group – with his alleged corruption. They are a wonderful tribe; I was virtually brought up by a lovely Zulu woman, Agnes Nzimande. Indeed, they were once great warriors, who even defeated the British at the Battle of Isandhlwana in 1879, and their present King, Goodwill Zwelithini, is reputedly a believing Christian who has bravely challenged the Government over their anti-Semitic stance against Israel, urging them against loosening ties.

In the past, South Africa has been pulled back from the brink of civil war by the prayers of faithful Christians.

Wrong relationships have caused all these problems; politicians have allowed themselves to be influenced by the wrong people, leading to division and corruption. But we worship a God who is, above all, a God of relationships.

He himself is not alone, but acts in harmony with the Son and the Holy Spirit, and he calls us into a relationship with him. And when this happens, we also come into a right relationship with others. The greatest commandment, according to Jesus, is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind; and to love our neighbour as ourselves (Matt 22:37-40).

Putting Things Right

But there is now another rainbow of hope on the horizon. Before I had even heard the news of Zuma’s fall, my wife and I were still in bed having a WhatsApp conversation with friends in South Africa, who were touring the Northern Cape encouraging farmers to keep trusting God through these difficult times, especially the long-running drought that has blighted the country for so long. Not surprisingly, there has been much prayer for rain.

Our friends were travelling to a distant farm to hold a Bible Study on the eve of Valentine’s Day. On arrival, they could see a black cloud heading their way, and during the evening there was an almighty downpour. The heavens opened and the farmers were ecstatic. They rushed outside to measure it, and reported that they hadn’t seen that much rain in ten years

But more was to come! Our friends left the farmhouse at 10:45pm, but due to the downpour and their planned route being rendered impassable, they had to make a 100-mile detour over very rough roads to return to base.

It took them all night. Their truck got stuck in deep mud, and it must have been a frightening experience watching a river of floodwater rushing past as they prayed for help, which eventually came - complete with a tow-bar - to extricate them from the mire.

Their ordeal was matched with much joy, of course, because these God-fearing farmers have been faithfully praying for an end to the drought for a long time. The picture above was taken next morning – a rainbow (promise of God’s faithfulness) of hope now hangs over the land, no longer parched but drenched by the goodness of God.

And it stands as a reminder that South Africa and all the other nations on that great Continent’s long-term hope is to put their trust in the only One who can supply the rain, while at the same time putting their relationships right – first with God, and also with one another.

What are we to make of the Prime Minister's gaffe?

The Prime Minister's gaffe (or was it deliberate?) had some unexpected consequences. He said that Nigeria was a "fantastically corrupt nation" - not the most diplomatic way of preparing for a conference on combating corruption that he himself was to chair!

The Prime Minister of Nigeria was already in London for the conference but he wisely rejected calls for an apology.

Acknowledging that there is widespread corruption in his country, he said that he would prefer the return of assets in London bought through the proceeds of money-laundering.

First, Remove the Plank...

Millions of dollars and pounds have been stolen from government funds in Nigeria by corrupt officials and politicians and squirrelled away into foreign assets, including mega London property deals. This has been going on for decades with the full knowledge of the Nigerian Government and financial authorities in London.

It is surely an embarrassment to David Cameron to be faced with these facts when hosting a conference seeking to combat corruption: especially following the recent revelations in the 'Panama Papers' which showed that his own family had used the services of offshore banking provided in British colonies.

Nigeria's President would surely be justified in quoting the little parable that Jesus used of the man who wanted to remove the speck of dust in someone else's eye when he had a plank in his own eye (Matt 7:3)! Britain's role as the oldest democracy in the Commonwealth should be that of assisting the newly democratised nations struggling to establish stability and righteous government.

London's complicity in Nigeria's corruption is an embarrassment – Buhari would be justified in asking Britain to remove the plank from their own eye before accusing Nigeria.

Cameron and Buhari at this week's anti-corruption conference, London. See Photo CreditsNigeria's History of Corruption

Nigeria has a history of political instability and corruption. In its short life since independence in 1960 there have been 10 military presidents – six of whom were either assassinated or deposed in a military coup. The first democratically elected president was in 1999 when Olusegun Obasanjo came to power. A devout Christian, his stated aim was to alleviate poverty, reduce government corruption and establish a democratic system that would bring stability to the nation.

Sadly, his efforts to stamp out corruption in government were met with fierce opposition from MPs, including members of his own Government who expected to benefit from government contracts and a wide range of backhanders and personal benefits. The politicians even attempted to impeach the President as they did not like his authoritarian style of imposing reforms upon Parliament.

On my first visit to Nigeria back in the 1980s I was shocked to be stopped by police at a roadblock as we were driving out of Lagos only to be told by my driver that if I did not include some money inside my passport when I handed it over for inspection, we could be sitting in the roadblock for hours. I refused to do so and we were eventually allowed to leave. My driver went on to explain that every civil servant and minor official expected a reward for any transaction - such as applying for a passport, which could be delayed for months unless the clerical officer was rewarded.

Nigeria has a history of political instability and corruption that affects the country today at all levels.

Obasanjo also attempted to deal with religious and ethnic strife, which increased considerably during his presidency when the Muslim-dominated Northern states introduced sharia law. During the presidency of his successor, Goodluck Johnson, radicalism increased and led to the atrocities of Boko Haram and the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls who have never been found.

The current president Muhammadu Buhari said that David Cameron was right in describing Nigeria as "fantastically corrupt".¹ The scale of corruption is astonishing. Last week Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo said that an estimated $15 billion (£10 billion) of government money had been stolen through corrupt arms contracts under the previous Government - and in March this year, an official audit found that Nigeria's state-owned oil company had failed to pay the Government $25 billion which had fraudulently disappeared.²

Corruption Endemic Globally

Unmasking corruption is becoming a worldwide movement as whistleblowers and justice campaigners seek to promote transparency in business and politics and social relationships.

According to Transparency International, more than 6 billion people live in countries that are seriously affected by corruption – which is most of the world's population!³ They say that 68% of countries worldwide have a serious corruption problem which includes about half of the members of the G20, and not a single nation in the world is entirely free of corruption.⁴

A campaign group Unmask the Corrupt says that corruption is "the abuse of high-level power that benefits the few at the expense of the many and causes serious and widespread harm to individuals and society."⁵

According to Transparency International, more than 6 billion people live in countries that are seriously affected by corruption – that's most of the world's population!

What the Bible Says

The Bible is full of condemnation of those who misuse their power and oppress the poor and the powerless. The Prophet Isaiah slams those who turn the moral law upside down, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness...Woe to those who acquit the guilty for a bribe but deny justice to the innocent" (Isa 5:20-23).

Some of the harshest words Jesus spoke are directed against those who carefully fulfil religious ritual requirements but neglect what he described as "the more important matters" of God's teaching – "justice, mercy and faithfulness". He condemned their actions as those of hypocrites: "You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence" (Matt 23:23-25).

The prophets and Jesus all speak of a time coming when God will deal with the greed and injustice of humanity by shaking everything that we count as important – all the things we have established, such as our democracy, our banks and great finance houses, our pension funds, our National Health Service, our justice system, our armies with their nuclear warheads poised to spread destruction across the earth – all the things in which we put our trust!

Some of the harshest words Jesus spoke were directed against those who act religiously but neglect justice and mercy.

God revealed to the Prophet Isaiah that there would come a day when he would deal with all the pride and arrogance of human beings (Isa 2:12-22) and that this would actually be a demonstration of God's justice. He says "So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled. But the Lord Almighty will be exalted by his justice, and the Holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness" (Isa 5:15-16).

Isaiah's Apocalyptic Vision

In Isaiah 24 the Prophet describes what will happen when God rises to deal with the wickedness of human beings. It does not make pleasant reading. Earlier generations of biblical scholars used to say that this was 'apocalyptic language' – it was 'visionary imagination' which could never become a reality. But today we know that the arsenal of nuclear weapons possessed by the nations could in fact fulfil the description in Isaiah 24:19: "the earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken..."

We do not know whether this prophetic vision is given as a warning to humanity or whether it will actually happen at some time. The one thing we do know is that human beings are capable of violent and irrational behaviour and that the nations are armed with incredible weapons of mass destruction. If the North Koreans join the nuclear club the prospects of world peace become increasingly problematic.

Perhaps the London Conference seeking to find ways of combating corruption has greater significance for the future of humanity on this earth than most of us realise. This is surely food for thought – and prayer!

References

1 Nigerian President Buhari 'not demanding' Cameron apology. BBC News, 12 May 2016.

2 Ibid.

3 Corruption Perceptions Index, 2015. Transparency International.

4 Ibid.

5 UnmasktheCorrupt.org.

A Tribute to Chief Solomon Lar, Governor of Plateau State: Clifford Hill looks back on how God used Prophecy Today to help bring about huge transformation in Nigeria.

A presidential prophecy...

It was the final day of a conference in Port Harcourt Nigeria on 28 December 1987. A small team from Prophecy Today were speaking. There was a sudden stir among the large company present. Into the hall came an imposing-looking man in the traditional dress of a Nigerian Chief. He slowly made his way through the hall accompanied by a small group of attendants, mounting the platform to huge applause from the delegates and warm embraces from the platform party. Our Prophecy Today team had no idea who this man was, but clearly he was well-known and well-loved by the 1,000 Christian pastors in the hall.

The conference chairman extended a warm welcome to him, explaining that as a political prisoner he had just been released by the military junta ruling Nigeria. He was invited to speak and did so without making any reference to his personal circumstances or to the political situation. He simply expressed great joy at being in there and his prayers for God to extend the work of the gospel and to bless the preachers and evangelists.

The chairman then asked me to pray for this man whose name I had not even been told. I began to pray asking God's blessing upon the man while at the same time I was desperately seeking divine inspiration. Suddenly I found myself prophesying over him and saying that the day would come when great power would be bestowed upon him and he would be the ruler of the nation. I also prophesied that God would intervene in the affairs of the nation and that before the end of the century Nigeria would have its first Christian President.

"Suddenly I found myself prophesying over him and saying that before the end of the century Nigeria would have its first Christian President!"

The prophecy was received with great joy and acclamation by the conference although I myself was immediately assailed with anxieties and doubts. There have been very few occasions in my life when I have given a prophecy with an actual date for its fulfilment. My anxieties were increased by a conversation I had after the meeting with the man whom I learned was Chief Solomon Lar from Jos in Plateau State. He explained that he had come to the conference because he wanted to meet the Editor of Prophecy Today and he knew that we were speaking there.

We sat and talked a lot about the political situation in Nigeria and he said that he greatly appreciated my prayer for him but unless God specifically worked a miracle the prophecy could not be fulfilled. The military rulers had decreed that none of the politicians who had previously been in government would ever again be allowed to hold power. Solomon stayed for the remainder of the conference and we promised to keep in touch. I was, nevertheless, surprised to receive a letter from him the following year inviting Monica and me to visit him in his hometown of Jos and to speak at an Easter Monday Christian celebration as well as to fulfil other engagements in Lagos.

Chief Solomon Lar, with Clifford and Monica Hill and Dr Mary Lar

Chief Solomon of Jos

The Easter Monday celebration was amazing with the main city street filled with more than a quarter of a million Christians and non-Christians in this ethnically mixed city. There were a number of musical events with local choirs and a time of inspirational worship before the speeches. Both Monica and I spoke through interpreters. The man who interpreted my message was also an evangelist who added to the word that I had given, concluding with a powerful call for salvation to which hundreds responded.

It was when we visited their home that Solomon told us of the circumstances that had led to his imprisonment and the reason why he had made the journey to Port Harcourt to meet us soon after his release, after four years in jail as a political prisoner of the military Government. Solomon was a Member of the first Government of Nigeria elected in 1959 just ahead of independence from Britain the following year. He served faithfully in several different positions and was a popular Governor of Plateau State.

In 1966 the democratically elected Government was overthrown by a military coup. This led directly to the Biafran Civil War which lasted from July 1967 until January 1970. Military government continued in Nigeria until the assassination of the military head of state in 1976. His successor, General Muhammadu Buhari, initiated a process of transition to a democratically elected Government in 1979. Solomon was a Minister in this Government which lasted until 1983 when another military coup brought General Ibrahim Babangida to power. He was overthrown in 1985 by the worst dictator of all Nigeria’s rulers, General Sani Abacha.

Imprisonment

Following the 1983 coup most of the Government Ministers were either executed or imprisoned. Solomon was sentenced to 88 years on 31 December 1983. He shared a prison cell with a British pilot who had been attempting to rescue members of the Government when the military rebels intervened. It took the British Government more than two years to obtain the release of the pilot during which time he complained about the food and succeeded in getting the Red Cross to send him food parcels.

"Following the 1983 coup most of the Government Ministers were either executed or imprisoned. Solomon was sentenced to 88 years in prison."

A British missionary heard that Solomon was in prison. She had been his teacher at primary school in the northern town of Langtang and had kept in touch with him from boyhood. Somehow she got get letters into the prison and Solomon told her he was sharing a cell with the British pilot. When the next food parcel was being prepared by the Red Cross she took a copy of the first issue of the magazine Prophecy Today which fitted exactly inside a cornflakes box. She included a letter to Solomon urging him to read the magazine. It was to be a life-changing experience for Solomon and he says that the magazine was passed all around the prison and read by many of the thousand men.

That issue of Prophecy Today had two articles that particularly spoke to him. One was about injustice and inequalities whereby the rich Western nations are overfed and millions in the poorer countries die from malnourishment and preventable diseases. This was a cause close to Solomon's heart. The second article was about listening to God and how the great biblical prophets learned to discern what God was saying to them. Solomon had been a Christian all his life but he had never before had time on his hands to study the Bible in depth. Slowly he learned to take things before God, to intercede, and to listen.

God's faithfulness

One of his fellow prisoners, also a Minister in the Government, was condemned to death. Although a Muslim he was a particular friend of Solomon who had worked with him in the Cabinet. Solomon began to intercede on his behalf and he heard God say that his friend would not die at the hands of the military junta. Solomon reported this and the man gladly received it; but no word of reprieve came and the day was set for his execution. Solomon prayed all the more fervently and he was convinced God would save his friend. He continually reassured the man that God is faithful and he never breaks his promises.

The day prior to his execution arrived. He was due to be executed at dawn. Solomon prayed throughout the day and right through the night. Then the most amazing thing happened. During that night another military coup took place. The Military Government was overthrown by another group of power-hungry colonels. The first thing they did was to cancel all political executions. News reached the prison one hour before dawn.

In the morning Solomon's friend came to him and threw himself on the ground in front of him saying, "How did you know?" Solomon said quite simply that Jesus had told him. His friend said he wanted to know Jesus and Solomon had the joy of leading him to the Lord. This man later became a powerful evangelist with a great testimony to the faithfulness of God who answers prayer, even at the 11th hour!

Nation-wide oppression

We visited Nigeria several times in the next few years doing missions in Lagos, Ibadan and other parts of the country. Solomon and Mary also visited us in England and our friendship grew; so too did our love and concern for Nigeria. We went a number of times, always with an armed escort, but it became too dangerous to take a team to Nigeria where social unrest was widespread. Throughout the 1990s the Military Government in Nigeria became increasingly oppressive and corrupt. Foreign aid was siphoned off into the pockets of the military rulers, and bribery and corruption were present at all levels in Government and among petty provincial officials.

General Abacha reportedly siphoned off £5 billion from the national purse into his own offshore accounts, aided by members of his family. Social unrest in the 1990s became more violent with high rates of unemployment and poverty. The British Government put great pressure upon the military rulers to allow the country to return to democratic rule, but they continually broke their promises. Nigeria was suspended from the British Commonwealth and the UN imposed severe economic sanctions, but General Abacha refused to relinquish power.

The whole country was rapidly degenerating into social and economic chaos and there was grave fear that, unless there was a complete change of Government, Nigeria would slide into civil war. From the mid-1990s Solomon had been secretly meeting with former members of the last democratically elected Government. Their communications were always exchanged with great care as they all knew they were risking their lives. If Abacha had heard of their secret liaisons they would undoubtedly have been executed.

"The whole country was rapidly degenerating into social and economic chaos- there was grave fear that Nigeria would slide into civil war."

In 1998, the 'Group of 18', as they called themselves, resolved that the national situation was so serious they could no longer delay. They decided to challenge the President that if he did not resign and give way to an elected Government they would bring the whole country out on strike and force his hand. But how could they get the message to Abacha? They decided to write a letter setting out their demands. One of the 18 had to take the letter and confront him. The group all asked Solomon to do this, and after much prayer and discussion with Mary, Solomon agreed to take the letter.

God's intervention

Solomon said goodbye to Mary, not knowing if he would ever see her again, and set off for Abuja, the new capital of Nigeria. He was kept waiting for six days before being granted an audience with the President. On the sixth day he went into the closely guarded presidential palace and came face to face with the General. He told him he had come to read a letter to him. As he read the letter Abacha flew into an apoplexy of rage and shouted "Treason! Treason!" He called the guards and ordered them to arrest Solomon and hold him overnight. He said that he would pronounce sentence in the morning.

Solomon was led away and spent the night in prayer in a police cell, expecting this to be his last night on earth. But during that night God intervened. General Abacha often used the presidential jet to fly Asian prostitutes for his use. That night he had two Indian girls flown in from Dubai cavorting in his bed. He suffered a massive heart attack at 4:30am and by 6:30 he was dead.

In the morning the guards came to Solomon with the news of Abacha's death and senior officials from the military junta implored him for the sake of the nation to take control. Solomon immediately went on air and broadcast to the nation announcing the death of the President who was buried that same day according to Muslim tradition. Solomon promised that political parties would once more be legalised and there would be a swift return to democratic government.

Solomon himself led an Interim Government. He ruled the nation for a year; overseeing preparations for a General Election in 1999. He became Chairman of the People's Democratic Party and when elections were held his Party won a clear majority. Solomon did not wish to become President himself. The years of imprisonment had taken their toll on his health and he asked his friend Olushegun Obasanjo to become President. He was installed in July 1999.

The prophecy fulfilled

Six months before the end of the Twentieth Century Nigeria had its first Christian President. The prophecy I had given in Port Harcourt in December 1987 was fulfilled. That prophecy had been widely circulated throughout Nigeria and soon after the new President had settled in Abuja, Solomon (as chairman of the ruling Party and close confidante and adviser to the President) invited Monica and me to come to Abuja to meet the new President. We were impressed that among his first actions he had built a church in the grounds of the Presidential Palace where a former president had built a mosque.

"Six months before the end of the Twentieth Century Nigeria had its first Christian President: the prophecy I had given was fulfilled."

President Olushegun Obasanjo was a devout Christian who had a room in the church set aside for his daily quiet time. It was plainly furnished with just a table, a chair and a Bible. Faced with huge social and economic problems, the legacy of years of political corruption, plus the tensions of a racially divided nation, he knew that it was only divine guidance that would enable him to survive. We spent some time talking and praying with him as well as enjoying a family meal at his table. The next time we visited Nigeria we had a meal with two presidents: the President of Nigeria was hosting the President of the USA, Bill Clinton. So we had dinner with him and his daughter Chelsea.

President Obasanjo strove to root out the corruption endemic in Nigerian society but he was constantly impeded by Parliament who even attempted to impeach him. It is a deeply divided society between Christian and Muslim and although President Goodluck Jonathan is a Christian, he has been powerless to control the army which has always been controlled by Muslims from the Northern states. Today that is the home territory of Boko Haram, the jihadist terrorists who kidnapped 200 girls in 2014, and in January 2015 razed to the ground a whole area of villages around the town of Maiduguri, killing an estimated 2000 men, women and children.

Goodluck Jonathan also failed to deal with the widespread corruption in Nigeria. When the Governor of Nigeria’s central bank reported that $20 billion had been stolen, Jonathan sacked him. It is because of these failures that many voters deserted the PDP and voted for former General Muhammadu Buhari, who briefly ruled Nigeria some 32 years ago. His human rights record at that time was appalling and political opponents were executed, but as a Muslim from the North he may be able to deal firmly with the jihadist terrorists. His election on 1st April 2015 is a triumph of democracy for which Solomon Lar laid the foundation.

Solomon Lar died in October 2013. His moderating influence is greatly missed in Nigeria today, but there are many who still thank God for his great contribution in saving the nation from military dictatorship and establishing the principles of godly democracy. The whole of Nigeria has much to thank God for this courageous man of prayer who learned to listen to God and to be obedient even when it put his own life at risk. We thank God that Prophecy Today was helpful to him in his hour of need. We continue to pray that violence against Christians will cease and that a new era of peace and prosperity will come to Nigeria.