30th October, 2022
Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory Malam Muhammad Bello on Saturday in Abuja jointly charged Muslim clerics across Nigeria to continue to champion national unity, peace, progress and development in the country.
They made the call at the 18th Extraordinary Dawrah (Forum) of 17 imams from South-South, South East and South-West with the theme, Imams’ Unity for National Development, held on Saturday in Abuja.
The forum was organised by the Committee of FCT Imams Initiative (CFII), under the Chairmanship of Sheikh Tajudeen Adigun.
Malam Muhammad Bello, represented by Malam Muhammad Bashir, the Director, Human Resources Management, enjoined imams to pray for the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections in the country.
” The Federal Capital Territory Administration welcome this type of forum and indeed it is going to assist the administration in driving the affairs of the territory and the country at large.
” Particularly as the the theme of forum aptly captured, It has come at a better time as the nation is approaching the 2023 general elections.
” The conference will add value to what the administration is doing to enhance national cohesion in the Federal Capital Territory.”
On his part, Bola Tinubu, represented by his running mate, Sen. Kashim Shettima, admonished that very little could be achieved in a country without unity.
The former two-term governor of Lagos stated that Islam forbids racial or cultural superiority of one group of people over another.
He said the unity of Nigerians irrespective of their religion and ethnicity was important to the development of the country.
According to him, no nation, society or community can ever develop without unity and what binds us together supersedes what divides us.
He commended the CFII for championing the course of promoting unity among Muslims with a view to enhancing national unity and development.
Earlier, Sheikh Adigun explained that the conference was to remind the imams of Islamic brotherhood and unity, which was key to the complete faith of a Muslim.
He said that Allah has mentioned imams in several chapters and verses of the Holy Qur’an, adding that the primary duty of Imams was to guide the people by the commandments of the Almighty Allah.
He explained that Imams must maintain the guidance of people as stipulated in the Qur’an and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad (SAW).
He, therefore, urged Imams to champion the fight against corruption, noting that the best way to fight corruption is to connect man to his creator.