5th June, 2021
By Taiwo Okanlawon
Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, has advised Nigerian youths not to see anger as a strategy because they won’t gain anything from anger.
Hamzat also urged parents to assume responsibilities toward their children to ensure a better society.
Hamzat gave the advice during the special thanksgiving Jumaat and prayers in commemoration of the second anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration at Alausa Central Mosque, Ikeja on Friday.
He said that it was the responsibility of the father and mother to cater for the children so that their attitude would be well built.
“Therefore, it is important that we all take care of our children.
“In Lagos today, there is a study going on, there are over 600,000 women whose husbands are not dead, but they are widowed, but their husbands are alive, they just left.
“So, somebody has three kids with a wife, and he just left, how does society survive that? What are we telling ourselves as parents? If the family is destroyed, everything is finished. You must feed the family.
“So, our Imams, our churches must talk about the family, the importance of father, why we should take care of our children. We must do everything to raise our children well,” he said.
The deputy governor highlighted COVID-19 as one of the encounters of the administration and commended the Imams and the Christian faithful for their understanding and forthrightness in tackling the pandemic.
“The most important thing is for us to thank God, the Almighty Allah for his mercies. When the pandemic started, everybody in the world said that they are afraid for Africa, that they will be picking bodies on the streets.
“But Allah did not allow that to happen. Not because we are good people, so we must thank God for His mercies. And we must thank our Imams and of course our Christian brothers.
“COVID is not yet gone, it is better but it is not yet gone, we must tell ourselves because we can see what is happening in Brazil, you can see what is happening in India.
“The new variant can still come in, so we have to be careful. May Almighty Allah protect all of us,” Hamzat said.
He cited the #EndSARS protest that rocked the state and urged all to eschew anger and bitterness, as such would cause more harm than good.
“The world is a very angry place, everybody is angry. If you go to Argentina they are protesting, in America, they are protesting, everywhere in the world, we are all just angry.
“But like a former governor will always say, anger is never a strategy because you don’t gain anything from anger.
“So. we saw what happened with #EndSARS, legitimate concern, very legitimate, the protest was initially peaceful but we saw the end result. So it is from the same purse that we will go and fix those things, instead of fixing something else,” he advised.
In his welcome address, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, Commissioner for Home Affairs, said that the special Jumaat prayer was to thank Almighty Allah for the efforts of the present administration.
Elegushi said that the programme was also to further pray for Gov. Sanwo-Olu’s administration to succeed in all its endeavours.
Special prayers were said by Islamic clerics for the governor, deputy governor, and their families; the speaker and members of the Lagos House of Assembly; the Chief Judge of Lagos and cabinet members.