A former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has asked Nigerians who survived COVID-19 and witnessed the new year to thank God for His mercies.
Obasanjo said he knew the reason God spared his life to witness the New Year despite the turbulence and challenges posed to humanity in 2020 by the COVID – 19 pandemic.
Speaking on Saturday at the Thanksgiving service organised by the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria which held at the Olusegun Obasanjo presidential library in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the ex-President said God spared his life purposely to “serve Him and humanity more and more.”
Obasanjo said having survived the immediate past year not because he was more righteous or cleverer than any of those that were swept away by the pandemic in Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world; it dawned on him clearer that God purposely kept him alive to serve Him and humanity more and more.
While noting that thanking God for outliving the year 2020 should not be his affairs only, he asked others to also consider it a duty to be grateful to God for His mercy and compassion.
To the ex-President, “one would be termed an ungrateful lot if one fails to perform the duty of thanksgiving.”
He said: “It is our duty to give thanks to God. You will be the most ungrateful person if you do not perform the duty of giving thanks to God.
“In all circumstances, give thanks. Therefore, if you fail to give thanks, you are failing a very significant duty of yours as a Christian.
“Last year 2020, it’s a very challenging year not only for us in Nigeria, not only for us in Africa but for the whole world.”
