The significance of Easter

As Nigerian Christians join their counterparts in Christendom worldwide to observe Easter, Sunday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ after His passion and crucifixion, it is important for them to be mindful of the significance of the occasion which includes his triumph over death, ascension to heaven and his reunion with God  Almighty interceding ceaselessly for the faithful.

 

And Apostle Paul in amplifying the significance of the season in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 14 of the Bible says, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”, explaining that if the messiah has died and did not resurrect, the Christian faith would have been in vain, even as his death, resurrection and miraculous ascension to heaven represents the collective victory of true believers and life into eternity with the Father.

 

We recall vividly that the journey to Easter commenced earnestly with the observance of the Lenten season by orthodox churches which started with Ash Wednesday some forty days before now and culminated at the beginning of the Holy Week with the Palm Sunday marking the triumphant entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem over 2000 years.

 

Similarly, ahead of the all-important occasion, Christians have also gone through a spiritual journey of prayers, fasting, abstinence and almsgiving to the less privileged members of society in order to get more intimately with their Creator and seek forgiveness for their sins.

 

It is worthy of note too, that the high points of the Holy Week included the Last Super celebrated by Jesus Christ with his disciples one of whom betrayed him (Judas Iscariot) on Holy Thursday, his passion and death on the cross on Good Friday and eventual resurrection Easter Sunday morning thus inspiring hope of life eternal for true believers with heart and spirit towards Jesus Christ.

 

Significantly also, the Priesthood was instituted during the Last Super when the messiah told the disciples to do it in memory of him thereby giving the priests the authority to offer sacrifice (Holy Communion) just as Jesus was identified with the breaking of bread, which he made a memorial after him while each time the communion is received, Christians reenact the sacrifice.

 

Therefore, we charge Nigerians irrespective of creed and religion

to emulate Jesus Christ and imbibe the true virtues of Easter through the manifestation of the spirit of love expressed in forgiveness, hope, sincerity and sacrifice considering that the messiah laid down his life for the salvation of mankind while his mortal exit saw the birth of Christianity.

 

Nigerians should have every reason to celebrate this year’s Easter without losing its true essence and coming weeks after the successful conduct of the 2023 general elections despite the malpractices and glitches encountered by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, but without bloodshed.

 

Even though it is on record that most of the losers have since launched legal battles to get justice at the various election petition tribunals, Christians should continue to pray fervently for a peaceful transfer of power to the President-elect, Governors-elect and smooth inauguration of the national and state assemblies from May 29.

 

Similarly, since one of the messages of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in our view, is renewed hope, it should be noted that with the right policies and committed leadership in place from next month, citizens may heave a sigh of relief as the various challenges facing Nigeria, especially our economic crisis, insecurity, the poor state of infrastructures and several others, would be resolved and hope of a better tomorrow through the power of the resurrected messiah rekindled.

 

More importantly, we strongly encourage the incoming leaders among them the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, re-elected and newly elected governors, federal and state legislators to, in this spirit of Easter live a life of sacrifice and love for others, be God-fearing, staunchly committed to good governance, shun bribery and corruption, as well as implement policies and programmes that will alleviate the suffering of most citizens.

 

And since the federal government has declared Friday and Monday public holidays in commemoration of Easter,  we implore transporters, especially those operating in inter-state routes conveying Nigerians to and from various destinations, to exercise utmost caution and obey all traffic regulations in order to safeguard the lives of passengers and other road users

 

Therefore, we,  totally welcome the setting up of more than 200 mobile courts by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC to prosecute traffic offenders on -the –spot during the Easter special patrol operations across the country as part of measures to ensure a safe and smooth 2023 celebrations.

 

The objectives of the special operations according to the commission, include reducing road traffic crashes, road traffic fatalities and road traffic injuries, prompt response to road traffic crash victims, unhindered engagement in purposeful public education and enlightenment and speedy removal of obstructions from the highways, among others.

 

“The corps would carry out aggressive enforcement including conducting over 200 mobile court operations, with the aim of checking various offences, speeding and dangerous driving/overtaking, lane indiscipline/route violation, road obstructions, use of phone while driving, overloading would be thoroughly checked, seatbelt /child restraint use violations, passenger’s manifest violation, operation of mechanical deficient and rickety vehicles, latched and twist-locks violation, while illegal use of the Spy number plates would also be looked into,” the FRSC warned.

 

The relevant security agencies are challenged not to leave any stone unturned in protecting lives and property especially given the reported fresh kidnapping by bandits in the North West and killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Benue state even as we wish all Christians peaceful and happy celebrations.

 

For a better society

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