Aregbesola, Shettima Preach Fear Of God At Sallah
Aregbesola said: “With the drums of war and violence resonating in all corners of the world, Nigeria must do everything humanly possible to douse the tension in the North-East and other parts before it escalates into full blown war and spread to other parts of the country.
“No nation can isolate itself from the current global crises – social, religious, political, economic and human – daily staring us in the eyes.
“What we need as a matter of necessity is to have a clean break with the systems that have failed us or retarded our growth as a nation; rethink and chat a new course for our greatness.
“This is the fulcrum upon which President Muhammad Buhari based his government. Nigerians in whatever capacity we can function must identify with the new government and support it for the betterment of our ‘self’ and the nation at large.
“The better time to promote love, tolerance, and spread the message of peace is during festive periods like this.
“I call on Muslims in Osun and the entire Nigerian Muslim ummah to seize the opportunity of the Eid to reach out to peoples of different faiths with greetings and messages of love and peace.
“Without peace and love, no nation unites and no nation attains greatness in an atmosphere of disunity singing discordant tunes.”
Shettima’s statement reads: “If we examine the Eid-Il-Fitr, we will notice three key lessons: faith, sacrifice and selflessness, all of which were exhibited by our noble Prophet Ibrahim (Alaihi Salam) whose level of faith was well acknowledged by the Holy Quran and the Bible as well. In obedience to Allah’s command, Prophet Ibrahim (A.S) was ready to slaughter the only son he got at very old age which showed uncommon faith.
“The son, Prophet Ismail (Alaihi Salam) was also willing to be slaughtered in obedience to his father and that showed sacrifice. For Allah’s intervention by ordering Prophet Ibrahim to slaughter a ram instead, Muslims now emulate that by sacrificing ram in the Eid-Il-Kabir and in doing that, Muslims part with their funds to buy rams and make sacrifices to demonstrate faith and a portion meat from sacrifices are meant to be shared to the needy by way of selflessness.
“For me, the whole lessons in this Sallah are perfect for us to remember the manner in which our soldiers in the military, police men and women, men of the DSS, Customs, Immigration, Civil Defence, Civilian JTF and hunters gave their own lives mainly to keep Nigerians safe and to secure Nigerian territories.”
THE NATION