New Year: Stella Oduah Greets Nigerians – Advocates Love For Self And Others

Senator representing Anambra North Senatorial district, Stella Oduah, on Tuesday, preached the importance of love to Nigerians.

Gatekeepers News reports that the Senator, in a New Year message she personally signed, also advised Nigerians to vote their favourite candidates based on ‘track record’.

The message reads:

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?”
Ecclesiastes 1-12

As the world gradually comes to terms with the reality of a new year, it is important to note that the best gift anyone can give themselves, is that of Love.

Growing up, I always found the above mentioned quote quite intriguing, but it has indeed, taken me a lifetime to realize that no matter how much one accumulates, there is always that deep void which can only be filled by an unadultrated Love for Humanity which invariably equates to Love for Self and to do otherwise, is Vanity!

The good book enjoins us to do unto others as we would like others to do unto us, and I say this because the root cause of the many problems, challenges and ills militating against a just and prosperous society, stems from an unwillingness to adhere strictly to the tenets of this charge.

Indeed, many are left impoverished in the midst of plenty with leaders turning a blind eye to the sufferings of their people because they have not really meditated and appropriated this deep truth and this explains the dearth of basic amenities and the many injustices and chants of marginalization currently pervading the land.

In my formative years, I watched my late father live this truth in all it’s ramifications in the way and manner he not only opened up his gates to every strata of society but saw to it that the needs of widows, the indigent and basically the downtrodden, were addressed and this left a lasting impression that I’ve tried to replicate in my adult years.

It is this strong conviction that many should be touched positively, that led me to jettison a thriving Oil business for the murky waters of politics, for I reckoned that it would avail me a larger platform and more latitude to do the most good.

This year, I enjoin us to open our bowels of Love to the downtrodden in our various spheres of influence and one really doesn’t need to have much to elicit a smile from the face of that widow toiling to eke out a living on your street, that woman who wakes up early in the morning to hoard Okpa, that street cleaner or that child of an indigent family who stays back at home when other children go to school in the morning.

In word and especially in deed, we must strive to rise above the elevation of Self by obeying this universal rule, for the greatest joy one can ever experience is by being ones brother’s keeper!

This 2023, I am particularly excited about it’s prospects because the forthcoming general elections, avails us a unique opportunity to elect leaders and I don’t need to mention the importance of ensuring that we go to the polls, equipped with enough information about the calibre of men and women we want to see superintending over our affairs, for the next four years, for the man or woman you must vote for, must necessarily possess a track record that personifies this golden rule.

To do otherwise, would mean another four years spent grumbling and complaining, which can be mitigated only if your choice takes cognizance of this golden attribute.

The good thing about doing unto others that which you would love to be done unto you, is that it keeps you in check and decisively precludes you from toeing a line that will bring pain, hardship, feelings of abandonment and marginalization, on those around you and this is especially true for leaders that have meditated, owned and appropriated this truth.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, as we journey through the year 2023, I enjoin us to jealously guard and personify this truth in our various interactions and I guarantee that at the end of the year, we shall have more reasons to glorify our Father in heaven. May God bless you all.