President Goodluck has said it is evident that in the midst of all the challenges facing the country, Nigeria is experiencing something good and overcoming its problems.
He was speaking at this years Eid-Kabir Sallah homage, when Vice President Namadi Sambo alongside the Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory, Olajumoke Akindele, led the Muslim community to pay the customary homage to the President.
According to the President this year is quite significant in terms of celebrating the Sallah, “as the day of the Arafat coincided on a?Friday?and from what I was told it takes a long time to have that coincidence and remembering the fact that 2014 is our centenary year, that shows that something good is happening to this country”.
The day of Arafat is the day before the Sallah, when?an important observance which falls during the Islamic month of?Hajj, the Islamic pilgrim to?Makkah is?performed.
He further stated that though “We may have our challenges as other nations but when things begin to happen in a particular way, I begin to see light at the end of the tunnel”?
He said Nigerians should be encouraged by the number of things that has to do with our belief system to see their neighbours as themselves. “What is happening globally now has no religious basis. Only yesterday, a British Aid worker was slaughtered by ISIS and that is not Islamic.?
” Boko Haram killing innocent children and women in market places, in mosques, schools definitely has nothing to do with religion”.
He further used the opportunity to call on Nigerians to?continue to pray for the forgiveness of those who are doing things that are not religious and for Allah to see us through.
“I believe in this country, I believe that Nigeria has a lot to offer not only to Nigerians but to the world and that surely we will get to where we want to go.
“Whatever obstacles we see are very ephemeral and part of history of nation building, if you read the history of all nations, there is no nation that does not pass through some challenges but they got over it and move ahead, I think we are getting over our problems
“Thank all of you, thank all Nigerian Muslims and Muslims all over the world, congratulate them for this special occasion”.
Describing the scene showed on National Television, the President further urged Nigerians to be humble and kind ?to one another.?
“The hajj is quite unique, We just watched the people who are performing on television, you see that everybody wear the same thing, it showed that the kind of ranks we give to ourselves here are for the earthly journey. There, no president, no messenger. That should teach us that we should be humble and be kind to ourselves in the spirit of the moment, giving gifts and that reminds us about the significance of the moment when Abraham was to sacrifice his son, the only one he had, of course, the angel replaced it with a ram. That is the essence of this period” he said.
The Vice President in his remarks prayed for peace in the country. He also prayed that Allah will give the President the strength and good health to continue to surmount the challenges facing the country.
Others at the homage include the National Security Adviser, the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, Former PDP Chairman, Bello Haliru, the Primate of Anglican Communion, Nicholas Okoh, former speaker of the House of Representatives?Ghali Umar Na’Abba, the Deputy Chief Imam of the FCT, Sheik Ahmed Onilewuran, the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Abuja Chapter, Isreal Akanji.
