President
Goodluck Jonathan had a good dose of the epileptic state of the
nation’s power supply as his Easter message during a service at Our
Saviour’s Church (Anglican Communion), Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, was
punctuated by an outage on Sunday.
Power supply to the church auditorium
went off about six minutes into the President’s speech and lasted till
he ended the message.
The President used battery-powered microphone to continue his speech which lasted for nine minutes, 40 seconds.
The service which ex-Head of State, Gen.
Yakubu Gowon, also attended had earlier been interrupted by an outage
for few minutes before the President mounted the podium to deliver his
message.
Jonathan, however, made a joke of the
situation, saying the power was deliberately put out in order to remind
him of the urgent need to tackle the problem in the country.
“They know that I’m here; that’s why
they took light, at least to remind me that I must not sleep until we
stabilise power. God willing, next year they will not take light,”
Jonathan said.
The President assured Nigerians that the country would survive the incessant terrorists’ attacks and other challenges facing it.
He thanked Christians for their prayers which he said had helped to keep Nigeria united as a nation.
Jonathan said, “I sincerely thank all of
you and all the Christians in Nigeria for your prayers. It would have
been worse if you have not been praying. This country has passed through
a lot. I know all those last days of military transition to the regime
that handed over power to Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo at the time the country
was drifting, it didn’t know where it was going.
“We had political environments that we
didn’t even know where we were transiting to. But with the persistent
prayers by you, Christians, God stabilised the country. God will
continue to stabilise this country. God will continue to keep us
together. I promise you as a mortal, I will do my best.”
He urged Nigerians to “live within peace
and love,” while reiterating Gowon’s famous civil war quote, saying “to
keep Nigeria as one is a task that must be done.”
He said the deluge of terrorists’
attacks facing the country would not divide it, adding that his
government was working tirelessly to overcome the challenges.
Jonathan said, “We have our challenges
as a nation in these days of terrorism. It’s quite sad. I can assure you
that we are working very hard and we will continue to work very hard
and God willing terror attacks will not divide this country.
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