Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Let me start by thanking God almighty for sparing my/our lives through 2014 and ushering us into a new dawn, 2015. To him all glory and honour go.
The Great Council of Executives of our Community, I could not thank you enough. Through all the thick and the thicker, you pulled together and echoed the trumping of THE TRAIN. Through the bleakest of days, weeks, months and even years, when it seemed The Train had run out of steam and the bedrock of our Community in the face of falling, you pushed an extra mile, made one more call, contributed one more lira, dollar to see that victory for the Nigerian people in Turkey was snatched from the jaws of defeat. It is no secret ‘they’ tried to bury us, little did ‘they’ know we were seeds.Today, I salute you, and indeed I am humbled to be counted amongst your ranks.
To all Nigerians and by extension,
Africans living in Turkey, this message of goodwill and hope for a New Year could not have come at a better time. You will agree we have just come out of a turbulent year when we, as a people , were touched in very telling ways, either through one act of violence or another, to the actual taking of lives. In this era we live in, no one is immuned to the trappings of the devil, may our gracious Lord help our consciences to act in love towards & away from one another as one people in every way shape or form. Amen!
Allow me a moment to remember all those we lost in 2014,
may your souls find rest beyond the troubles of this world. As we make inroad towards a New Year, may we not have reasons to grieve early deaths anymore. Looking inward the Council also lost a member close to her heart, one who was a friend at all times and a brother when it mattered. He walked amongst us with the heart of a patriot and when he was there, it was easy to know as he was full of life, laughter, heart, and really with it… Shola LAWAL!
The way ahead, records are not kept
simply to assist the weakness of memory but to act as guides as we move through times. For all the contributions you made (money, time, service etc..) to see our loved ones were sent home dead or alive when they needed to, and to assist their families left behind, may God favour you in your quest to succeed. I pray God almighty direct your steps to where your blessings wait. Be fruitful and multiply, Sow & Reap this same year in the strong & loving arm of the Lord.
On a final thought this 2015, may your problems be few and well spaced out like the teeth of my Grandmother.
