By Prof. Nathan Protus Uzorma
Few days ago I received a call from one of my fans who questioned my position as he read most of my interviews on print media and listened to some of my comments in both some local and national electronic media that made headlines. He noticed that I was calling for peace and calm in Imo concerning the Supreme Court verdict that favoured Distinguish Senator Hope Uzodinma as against Chief Emeka Ihedioha. He asked me why I was against the protest being a chieftain of PDP?
The call motivated me to write this article because many people may wonder why a renowned social critic of my standing could ignore the call for protest. Well my response is very simple. Protest has not changed any constitutional issue in this country. Again, I expected the protest during the electoral or political manipulation cum topsy-turvy that took place in Osun state on September 22, 2018. The whole world saw it and heavens did not fall and no PDP leadership organized any protest. Secondly, I expected Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar to have organized a major protest in Nigeria starting from Adawama State his home land when the Supreme Court awarded victory to President Buhari after the 2019 election.
They all became docile only to use Imo as a testing ground for such protest when it was already late. They are not serious and do not have the moral justification for such protest. I detest injustice and it should be confronted frontally. My party the PDP has missed the target which informed why the Imo State chairman Barr. Charles Ezekwem just resigned his appointment as the party state chairman. We must speak the truth no matter who is involved, we need to do things right and shun vindictive cum spiteful political ideology and philosophy because there is karmic reaction in all that we do. We pay for it whether or not we are aware of it. The payment may come in different ways because injustice could be a reward for vendetta and administrative deception.
There are things we cannot explain because they are within the realm of the esotericism. Within such realms also are the explainable events that humans can access via intuitive perception or revelation. Are there things that God knows and probably allows them to happen without interference?
The trajectory philosophy in line with objective reality is that life looks very disappointing without a purpose. There is a cycle which makes us and sometime too brakes us if we are not careful. Life is not what we think it is. The outer life is a camouflage of something higher than the ordinary.
God by nature is ABSOLUTE and anything that is attached or is associated with Him, assumes the same absolute nature. This philosophical fact is attested to by both orthodox and conventional theologians. We start having purpose in life as a child, as youngster pursuing higher education, a high paying job, as working professional, as a politician etc .Whatever be your purpose in life, you need to understand that you are highly privileged to be born as a human being with body, soul and spirit. Yes animals do not have spiritual awakening so to drop your purpose in life is to fail in all compass of the truth.
Few people know why they were born into the physical system of reality, others do not know and they pass through life being punished. In accordance with the teachings of International Society for Krishna Consciousness which is an offshoot of Hinduism in the Oriental cosmology, Krishna is quoted in the Bhagavad Gita as he summarized the purpose of life thus, “Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear” Bhagavad Gita 16:18.
Following the above, the purpose of life is for one to surrender to the lord in total devotion, in this kind of total devotion, the destiny of someone who has understood the true purpose of life could be found. When the person surrenders to the divine in this connection, any assignment given to him becomes his destiny. The great question which we may attempt to answer is whether such destiny could be stolen by anyone.
Though divine destiny is associated with God and is all about a person on a mission designed by the Supreme God for a purpose. The trajectory of this mission is absolutely divine and the history of divine destiny is traced to an old political idea from Ancient China and it implies that God or celestial being appoints the ruler of a land or country. The “chosen one” would be the embodiment of God’s will.
In the Quran 65:2-3 Allah says, “And He provides for him from (sources) he never could imagine. And if anyone puts his trust in Allah, sufficient is (Allah) for him. For Allah will surely accomplish his purpose; verily, for all things has Allah appointed a due proportion.” Here Allah is saying that anyone who puts his trust in Allah shall sufficiently find the purpose of his destiny in life accomplished.
In the Spentamainyush Gatha of the Zend Avesta 50:3, says, “…So this reward shall come to him through the right, O Mazda, this reward which by the dominion and good thought he promised, whomsoever by the power of his destiny prospers the neighboring possession that now the liar holds..” Furthermore, the Tripitaka (Pali Canto), Mahayana Sutras and the Tibetan Book of the Dead are three major non-canonical Buddhist texts and they in one way or the other are intertwined with one another. In one of the Pali Cantos, Buddha of Enlightenment states, “Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without…Three things cannot hide for long; the Moon, the Sun and the Truth. Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of life…”
Yes, nothing could be more embarrassing than to see what you are too sure of and what you regard as the truth which is hitherto associated with God being messed up by someone who does not understand the meeting and parting point of same in the name of politics. The joy of seeing that justice is done comes from within and not without. In as much as the Moon and the Sun together with the truth cannot hide for too long, divine destiny must speak hence the state of Imo now. If God has destined Sen. Hope to be governor of Imo state, no amount of protest can reverse it. If God has also destined Emeka Ihedioha no amount of influence from any source could have removed him. Again, we must learn how to trust God and thank him no matter what happens to us.
In the words of the great sage, “Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Just as millions of candles lit from a single one will not shorten the lifespan of the candle, so also no amount of legal battle and undue manipulation subtly induced can reduce the mission of a man who God has destined to naught.
As a politician, Senator Hope knows too well that what God has ordained is a miracle; no one is big enough to constitute himself an obstacle when God is willing to perform a miracle. I have come to the realization of the common fact that one moment can change a day, one day can change a life time and one changed life can change things around the world. God can punish a nation by the leader he gives them and can bless a nation in the same way by the kind of leader he gives. Let us receive Sen. Hope as a miracle and watch him closely to see if he will deliver the benefits of democracy to Imolites.