Tear the heavens open
And come down Lord
For my people have all run mad
The young and the old alike
There is no one who is sane
They are all crazy
They are killing each other
And roasting the bodies of one another
They are about to each other's flesh
Or can't you see?
Don't you care?
Come down quickly Lord
And don't delay
Intervene once again
In our national affairs
And save us
From chaos, anarchy and doom.
Rent the heavens open Lord
And come down
For these are turbulent times
In our climes
You know Lord
That my generation has to contend
With an aberrant order
Where hell is constantly let loose
In hired assassination, armed robbery,
Street thuggery, religious bigotry
Political banditry and ethnic conflagration
Or can't you see?
Don't you care?
Come down quickly Lord
And don't delay
Intervene once again
In our national affairs
And deliver us
From our corporate insanity.
Tear the heavens open
And come down Lord
For one half of my people
Are drowning
While the rest are swimming
In the wrong direction
From the atrocities in Odi and Oleh
To the massacres in Ajegunle and Ketu
From the carnage in Kaduna and Kachia
To the blood bath in Aba and Owerri
From the genocide in Aguleri and Umuleri
To the fratricide in Ife and Modakeke
My people have tasted blood
And now they are drunk with hate
The stage is now set
For a total bloody showdown
Or can't you see?
Don't you care?
Rent the heavens open
And come down
Intervene once again
In our national affairs
And deliver us
From our collective death wish.
Rent the heavens open
And come down Lord
And intervene in our national affairs
That the Yoruba lions and the Hausa Leopard
May eat straws together
With the Igbo wolf
And that the innocent Igbo child
May play into the hole of the Hausa cobra
With no hurt, no harm.
Yes, that the angry Egbesu youths of Yenoguoa
And the militant OPC youths of Lagos
May shake hands of peace with their neigbours
That the blood thirsty Almajiris of Kaduna
And the crazy Sharia zealots of Sokoto
May embrace the Bakasi boys of Aba
That the ferocious dogs of Ife
May wag their tails at the wild cats of Modakeke
And that the fierce crocodiles of Warri
May swim peacefully
With the dreaded shacks of Port Harcourt
In the oily waters of the Delta.
Tear the heavens open
And come down Lord
Intervene in our national affairs
Enter into our boat
And calm the storm
Rebuke the whirlwind of death
And let there be life once again.
Chase out the demons of violence and crime
And let your peace and security
Reign in our land
Remove the blinders from our eyes
And deliver us from the darkness
That leads to destruction
Rent the heavens open
And come down Lord
Intervene in our national affairs
Teach my people the dynamics of peace
And show us the civilisation of love
Impress upon our hearts
That we cannot harvest a rose flower
Through planting a noxious weed
And that we cannot have peace
While harbouring hate in our hearts
Make us understand
That darkness cannot drive away darkness
Just as hate cannot drive away hate
That returning violence for violence
Only multiplies violence
Adding deeper darkness
To a night already devoid of stars.
Tear the heavens open
And come down Lord
Intervene in our national affairs
Look upon us with favour
As we celebrate the Great Jubilee Year
That we may have the generosity of heart
To offer and to receive forgiveness
For past hurts and wounds
Grant us the generosity of heart
That we may let go of anger and resentment
Over the injustices of succeeding governments
Since independence
That we may let go of the anger and bitterness
Over the atrocities of the civil war
And the gross violation of human rights
During the demonic dispensations
Of Babangida and Abacha.
Rent the heavens open
And come down Lord
Intervene in our national affairs
Teach us to forgive and forget
For a world without forgiveness
Is a cold world of endless strife.
As we look towards Easter
And the rejuvenation it promises
Let us witness a new dawn
In our country
Amen.
