Former Lagos state governor and a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has asked Nigerians to pray for President Muhammadu Buhari and his government so as to have “requisite strength and wisdom to protect the nation, defeat the challenges” confronting the country.
Tinubu also urged prayers for the military and other security agents confronting insurgents and bandits.
In his Sallah message he personally signed Wednesday, the APC leader said urged Muslims not to forget all the lessons of Ramadan as it ending.
“The righteous acts and efforts of Ramadan must guide our actions and conduct going forward. Let us put politics aside and continue to pray to Almighty Allah for our country and all its people. Let us remember President Muhammadu Buhari and his government in our prayers that they may be given the requisite strength and wisdom to protect the nation, defeat the challenges that confront us and help establish Nigeria as a more prosperous and just land.
“Let us pray for our brave soldiers and security agents confronting insurgents and bandits. We must keep in close remembrance those whose lives have been lost to or impaired by either the violence of terrorism as well as to those who have been lost to or harmed by the global pandemic that is Covid-19. May we see an end to this disease and its consequences in no distant time.
“Not only must we pray for good things, we must also act in a better way. We must dedicate ourselves to performing the compassionate and benign things that lie within the power of each of us to do in order to give peace and improve the lives of the people around us. This is the true message and meaning of Ramadan and of Islam itself.”
While calling on Nigerians to build a better society free from want, violence and hatred, Tinubu said people must never condone and tolerate the works and words of those who would do evil or who would pit brother against brother, Nigerian against Nigerian.
“I join with Muslims in Nigeria and across the world in marking the faithful completion of this year’s Ramadan fast, one of the most critical pillars of Islam. As Muslims we have fasted and prayed in a special way during this holy month. We have sacrificed. This act of sacrifice in abstaining from food, drink and other worldly things from dawn to dusk, is not simply a ritual to be performed so that we may seem religious or pious to others.
“We abstain from these ordinary things to strengthen our patience, forbearance, perseverance and tolerance. We do so as a sign of complete devotion to and love for Allah and in total appreciation of His mercy toward us. In that an essential lesson that Ramadan teaches is love and compassion, we observe this holy month in order to bring more compassion and love unto this world and in our relations with all we meet, friends as well as strangers, fellow Muslims as well as those of other faiths or beliefs.
“Now that the holy month of Ramadan is ending, we must counsel ourselves not to forget its great lessons. We must be better than we were before. We must treat each other with more compassion and understanding.”
