By Abdullahi Muhammad
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has charged this year’s FCT Intending Christian Pilgrims to shun any act that “will draw negative attention to the country or make life more difficult for other Nigerians that may want to embark on pilgrimage in the future.”
The Minister, who gave the charge recently, advised them to be good ambassadors of the country and to also abide by all the rules and regulations that had been put in place to ensure a successful exercise.
Bello, who lamented the absconding of eight out of 300 members of the 2016 contingent, said such acts had the potential to worsen the experiences of the country’s pilgrims as stiffer procedures could be introduced to limit their freedom while in the Holy Land.
He appealed to this year’s intending pilgrims against detracting from the intended purpose, adding they were expected to go to the Holy Land to pray “and come back as better citizens.”
He said: “Each time a pilgrim goes and refuses to come back either by deciding to abscond or to stay there, as long as it is done illegally, it robs on us as a nation and as a people because it makes the process difficult for those that are coming subsequently.”
Bello, however, disclosed that necessary steps had been taken by the FCTA and the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) to ensure the success of the exercise, stressing it is now left for the pilgrims to abide by the teachings and trainings that they have received during their preparation.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on FCT Area Councils and the member representing AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the National Assembly, Hon. Zephaniah Jisalo, commended the minister for ensuring that the 2017 FCT intending Christian pilgrims were genuinely drawn from the FCT population, unlike in the past where residents of other states participated in the exercise as FCT Pilgrims.
“I am happy that I am seeing faces that I know. What I am seeing here today, I have not seen it before and that is why I am happy. Irrespective of where you come from, these are persons that live here in Abuja and they are going to witness this pilgrimage, unlike before that we see people from other places.”
Earlier, in his address, the Director, FCT Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Mr. Dabara Dudu Zingo, disclosed that no fewer than 150 pilgrims were present for departure and represent the first of the three batches of FCT pilgrims bound for Israel, this year, adding that the exercise “will continue till December 25, this year.”
He assured the officials that the contingents had been adequately prepared and thoroughly screened by the NCPC, CAN, the DSS, Civil Defence and the Police to make the exercise hitch-free.
Chairman, FCT CAN, Rev. Dr. Jonah Samson, urged the intending pilgrims to focus on the purpose for pilgrimage and pray for the country’s leaders.
