THE NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 24th – Sunday 30th August 2026
THE IMPERATIVE OF CHRISTIAN POLITICAL CONSENSUS
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
As Nigeria approaches another election cycle, it is expedient to evaluate the preparedness of Christians. Undoubtedly, the Christian community constitutes the highest risk sector in the country in the face of the unbridled aggression of Sharia sponsors manifesting as Islamist terrorists in the country. It would be naïve of Christians to continue to assume that because they bear no ill-will towards other religions in the country, that same goodwill would be reciprocated. The sponsors of Sharia have proven without equivocation that they are determined to “eradicate in all its forms and ramifications” Christianity in Nigeria, according to their communique - “Abuja Declarations 1989”. Sheikh Yahaya Jingir gave voice to this conspiracy when he announced publicly that whoever was not pleased with the Muslim-Muslim ticket should leave the country. The battleline has been drawn. The Islamists are determined to transform Nigeria into an Islamic theocratic state governed by Sharia.
Under the circumstances, it is imperative for Christians to build political consensus to reinforce democracy in Nigeria and restore balance to the polity. At present, the political power in Nigeria is weighted heavily on the side of the Muslims. It was not by accident. They planned and worked assiduously for it. While the Muslim leaders were planning on taking Nigeria, most Christian leaders were planning on how to amass wealth and how to line their pockets with the silver coins of betrayal. Many of the prominent Christian leaders have entangled themselves through covetousness, and they no longer have the voice to resist the Muslims.
The saddest part of this unfolding tragedy is that, even with all that the Islamists have said and done, many Christian leaders have seen nothing wrong going on in Nigeria. Their greed is on autopilot. They still endorse candidates of the Muslim-Muslim ticket and campaign for their reelection, not minding the atrocities that their affiliated Islamist terrorists are committing against the Church.
The clarion call for the Church now should be on building a Christian political consensus aimed at electing a Christian as the next president of Nigeria. This statement is without fear of contradiction because the record of the Islamists in government since 2015 points to a deliberate agenda to Islamize Nigeria. The drive to ensure that a non-Muslim becomes the next president is not primarily against Islam as a religion, but against the Islamists who practice “political Islam”. The Marathon Prayer Call of last week defined the difference between Islam and Islamism.
The problems of Nigeria are simply political problems that require political solutions. With a stroke of the pen, the president can end terrorism in one day. However, a Muslim president would not take such a decision. Islam teaches that every Muslim has an obligation to support those who go on jihad. Even if the president were not a jihadist, he would not take a decision that would hinder jihadists from operating. Therefore, if Christians want Islamist terrorism to end in Nigeria, they should aim for political power.
While campaigning for APC towards the 2023 elections, Buhari said that Tinubu would continue from where he stopped. Since 2023 that Tinubu became the president via a Supreme Court declaration, he has done everything possible to prove himself worthy of the confidence that Buhari reposed in him. Those Christians campaigning for the reelection of Tinubu are either naïve or deliberately mischievous. While Buhari opened the gates for more terrorists to enter Nigeria through his Open Visa Policy, Tinubu has been building the structures that will carry an Islamic theocratic state in Nigeria. The most dangerous of the two approaches is the building of the structures. Those are the pillars that will sustain the transformation of the Nigerian economy and society into an Islamic theocratic state. Some of those structures that Tinubu has built are listed as follows:
1. Tinubu pursued Nigeria’s first-ever sovereign sukuk issuance—a Sharia-compliant Islamic financial instrument—to diversify financing sources. The National Assembly approved a plan including a $500 million debut sovereign sukuk as part of broader external borrowing plans. Of course, this was presented as an economic policy. In 2017, Prof. Ishaq Akintola of MURIC had said, “Jihad is not limited to war. There is intellectual jihad, political jihad and economic jihad. Sukuk is a form of financial or economic jihad.”
2. Expansion of non-interest/Islamic financial instruments - the Tinubu administration has also continued and expanded the infrastructure for non-interest finance, which is essentially the regulatory term Nigeria uses for Islamic finance. (Please note that the term “non-interest” is synonymous with Islamic compliant finance.) In May 2025, the CBN announced three important instruments:
- Nigerian Non-Interest Financial Institutions Master Repurchase Agreement (NNMRA)
- CBN Non-Interest Asset-Backed Securities (CNI-ABS)
- CBN Non-Interest Note (CNIN)
The CBN specifically says these are designed to deepen Nigeria's non-interest financial markets. This is significant because the CBN itself describes non-interest banking as operating according to Islamic principles, including Sharia-compliant financing. The development continued in 2026, when the CBN approved a Non-Interest Banking Window for the Bank of Industry (BOI). The CBN says this will enable BOI to provide non-interest (Islamic) financing to businesses and projects. All these are taking place in total violation of Section 10 of the Constitution.
3. In late 2025 and early 2026, the federal government formally launched the Nigeria National Halal Economy Strategy. President Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, unveiled the strategy as part of efforts to position Nigeria to tap into the global halal market, which is estimated to be worth about US $7.7 trillion. The strategy was developed in collaboration with Saudi Arabia’s Halal Products Development Company (HPDC) under a bilateral cooperation agreement signed in 2025. Could this be described as “food jihad”?
4. There are concerns about the ideology of the new Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) appointed by Tinubu in 2024. This is the body charged with developing educational curriculum for schools. The man is the author of a book entitled THE ISLAMIZATION OF KNOWLEDGE. He is also the National Coordinator of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Nigeria. Islamization of Knowledge is designed to recast the whole idea of human knowledge from the standpoint of Islamic thought (Raji Alfaruqi). It opined that knowledge as we know it should be isolated from western or secular perspectives and be infused with Islamic elements (Naqib Al-Attos). A few years ago, Christians had to resist certain portions in the curriculum tagged “Religion and National Values” where sections in that curriculum denigrated other religions while promoting Islam. This was to have been fed to young minds. Education jihad?
5. To "fight terrorism," Nigeria entered into security agreement with Turkey, a country which, allegedly, supplies weapons to Boko Haram. Turkish defence contractors arrived in 2022. In 2026, Tinubu went to Turkey to strengthen ties to "fight terrorism" after a call by Sheik Gumi for the government to do so.
6. Islamic Development Bank Cooperation - The Tinubu administration has also strengthened Nigeria's relationship with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB). In discussions reported by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Nigeria and IsDB specifically discussed:
- Sukuk financing;
- Sharia-compliant financing;
- Innovative Islamic financial instruments;
- Development financing.
It should be noted that Nigeria's membership of IsDB predates Tinubu. What belongs to the Tinubu period is the administration's continuing and expanded engagement with the institution.
These few examples are cited to show Christians the extent that the Tinubu administration has gone to deepen the Islamization agenda in Nigeria. If he could do all these in his first term, what would he do in his second term, with nothing more at stake for another re-election?
Nigeria Christians must put all their differences aside and build a political consensus. Children of the same father should not be quarreling when their father’s house is on fire. The Church must get a point of convergence and agree on a platform to evaluate all the Christian presidential candidates and agree on the one that would represent democracy. There can only be one president, and individuals have only one vote. That single vote of each Christian must go to a specific individual that will be supported to restore balance and sanity into the polity.
Fortunately for Christians, Church leaders had built that point of convergence in 2000 when they established the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN) as the socio-political arm of the Church. This is the credible platform that the five Church Blocs in Nigeria established for the purpose of mobilizing and harmonizing Christians to engage social issues for the common good of all citizens.
There is one additional problem that must be surmounted: funding. No matter how good the intention of the Christians may be, if they cannot fund their platform, it would not achieve the desired result. This call is not for Christians to forsake funding their local assemblies or denominations. Christians across Nigeria are requested, in solidarity, to collectively carry the burden of building a new Nigeria, a burden which one denomination cannot carry. A trust platform was built by CSMN to manage the funds, and all Christians are requested to contribute a token sum of N500 monthly to the Lay Faithful Trust Foundation. If Christians agree, then push-back efforts can commence. The government is upon the shoulders of Christ, and the Church is that shoulder. God bless Nigeria.
PRAYER POINTS
1) 1 Pet. 5:8-9
Pray for the spirit of soberness to rest upon the Church leaders so that they can calmly evaluate the precarious position of the Nigeria Church.
2) Isaiah 11:1-3
Pray that God shall activate the seven-fold spirit of the Messiah in the Nigeria Church to enable Christians align with the will of God for Nigeria.
3). Matt. 15:13
Pray that every tree not planted by God in the Nigeria Church shall be uprooted.
4). Ez. 11:1-4
Execute the judgment of God on all who are giving wicked counsel in Nigeria. Decree the judgment of Pelatiah on them.
5). Is. 8:10
Cancel all the manipulations and projections of the Islamists against Nigeria.
6). Ez. 21:25-27
Execute God’s judgment upon all corrupt politicians determined to stay in power beyond their time.
7). Ps. 68:1-3
Pray that God will arise and scatter all His enemies in Nigeria. AMEN
