“The
victorious fight of our Military against the evil ideology of Boko Haram is
evidence of the ascendancy of good over evil.”
REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY,
PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
NIGERIA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE INTERDENOMINATIONAL CHURCH SERVICE FOR THE
ARMED FORCES REMEMBRANCE DAY CELEBRATION HELD AT THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN CENTRE
ABUJA ON SUNDAY 8 JANUARY 2017
PROTOCOLS
Soldiers
of Christ
Soldiers
occupy a special place in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The military profession
is the only profession to which Saints are compared. The only profession to
which the body of Christ is compared.
The
body of Christ is not compared with doctors, businessmen, bankers, etc. I am a
lawyer and I know what the scripture says about lawyers.
In
2 Timothy 2:3-4 the Scriptures says to Christian's
“You
therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
No
one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he
may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” In Philippians 2:25 Paul praised
Epaphroditus as a fellow soldier.
There
are two reasons why followers of Jesus Christ are described as soldiers.
The
first are the attributes that soldiers have: Unity, Loyalty, Discipline, and
the most important being the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice for country.
Jesus speaking of Himself said In John 15:13:
“Greater
love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.”
The
second reason why Christians are described in the gospel as soldiers is the
recognition that life itself is warfare. That life is a war. It is a battle
between good and evil, light and darkness.
But
it is only a fool that does not know that the physical is determined by the
spiritual.
That
every physical war has an underlying spiritual foundation. So as we fight the
physical battles we recognize that really we “do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places.”
And
so today as we celebrate our fallen heroes we do so with wisdom of the
Scriptures.
First,
that the physical battles they fought for Freedom, Justice and recently against
terrorism and hate are battles fought to ensure that good would prevail over
evil. That they fought to ensure that light would prevail over darkness.
The
victorious fight of our Military against the evil ideology of Boko Haram is
evidence of the ascendancy of good over evil. Our men and women of the Armed
Forces have in the past few years battled an ideology that supports the killing
of children on their beds, and the rape and abduction of women. Many of our men
of the forces died in the North East. At some point, this evil had taken over
14 local governments. But men whose wives are now widows and children
fatherless, gave their lives to take back those territories.
Secondly,
as we remember our departed military heroes, we also celebrate the attribute of
brotherhood and unity that the military has demonstrated in the history of our
country. Against Boko Haram, they stood side-by-side Christians , Muslims and
other faiths. They stood and still stand united from the North East, South East,
North West, South West, North Central, and South South.
They
are today mobilizing in Southern Kaduna, Christians, Muslims, and from every
tribe and tongue in Nigeria to defeat hate, intolerance and terrorism. They are
prepared to lay down their lives to prove that our country belongs to all
regardless of religion or ethnicity. That when any Nigerian is killed, it
is evil that has prevailed. It is darkness that has won.
Mr
President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, said and I
paraphrase him:
“The
military I joined never recognized tribe or religion. We fought side by side.
Muslims, Christians, and from every ethnic group.”
On
another occasion, he said “we must not be deceived by those who kill in the
name of religion. No religion teaches the killing of the innocent or any one
for that matter.”
He
concluded by saying that anyone who kills another and then says "God is
great" is either insane or simply does not understand what he is saying.
Today
we also celebrate the wives, husbands, children that our fallen heroes have
left behind. Your husbands, wives, brothers or sisters are true heroes. Your
loss, your pains and deprivations are ours as well.
We
are committed to ensuring that as Olatayo Lola Emmanuel, who read that moving
poem said, our fallen heroes, especially their dreams for their children will
never be forgotten.
Thank
you, and God bless Nigeria.
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