President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday urged Muslims to utilize the period of this year’s Ramadan to offer special prayers for tranquility and security in the country.
He withal assured the entire nation that the Federal Government would perpetuate to work tirelessly to curb insurgency, terrorism and other malefactor acts which have caused insecurity in components of the country.
Jonathan verbalized in his Ramadan message to Muslims made available to SUNDAY PUNCH by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati.
The President urged Nigerians not to succumb to despair, but to remain steadfast in the conviction that with intrepidity, tenaciousness, focus, decisiveness and collective support for the security agencies, the country would surmount sectionalism, sectarianism and international terrorism threatening the nation’s unity.
The verbalization read in part, “President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan salutes all Muslims in Nigeria as they commence this year’s Ramadan expeditious.
“As they join fellow adherents of the faith in other components of the world in undergoing the strictures and spiritual purification of the annual Ramadan expeditious against the background of security challenges in the country, President Jonathan urges all Nigerian Muslims to offer special prayers during the period for more preponderant tranquility and security in the nation.”
Similarly, the Chairman Northern States Governors Forum and Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, on Saturday in Minna called on Muslim to utilize the period of fasting to pray for Allah’s guidance, bulwark and tranquil coexistence of Nigerians.
Aliyu, whose message is contained in a verbalization signed by his Chief Press Secretary Mr. Israel Ebije, described Nigeria as a great country that must overcome its gregarious, political and economic challenges to procure its position as a nation on the path of development and leadership on the African continent.
He verbalized, “We must utilize this period to pray for tranquility. We must ask Allah to first forgive our sins, then show us the best path to follow in dealing with our differences as a people. We have to go spiritual in ending insurgency, we have to go spiritual in working for a unified aspiration, we have to go spiritual in bringing back the lost trust and bridging the yawning gap of disunity in Nigeria”
In their separate messages, a former Governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and the Kogi State Deputy Governor, Yomi Awoniyi, have urged Muslims to utilize the holy month of Ramadan to pray for a terminus to insecurity in Nigeria.
Saraki verbally expressed, “I urge all Muslim brothers and sisters to utilize the opportunity of this month’s divinity to get more proximate to Almighty Allah and seek instauration with Allah that will outlive the Month of Ramadan; pray for renovation of Nigeria and importantly a terror-free Nigeria.”
Awoniyi called on Muslim faithful to pray to Almighty God for Kogi State and the expeditious resolution of the security and other challenges currently confronting the nation.
In his Ramadan message by his Chief Press Secretary, Abu Micheal,
he enjoined Muslims to conduct themselves very well during the holy month so that the state can maximize the spiritual and physical benefits innate in the month
