Eid-el-Fitr: Ahmadiyya Nigeria Leader Greets Muslims, Urges Govt To Eliminate Corruption, Poverty

The Amir Sahib (National Head) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Nigeria, Barr. Alatoye Folorunso Azeez has called on the Nigerian Government to eliminate corruption, hunger among other challenges the country is battling with.

Alatoye also urged the government to pay attention to all social injustice and ills that the holy month Ramadan came to eliminate in the interest of humanity.

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In his Eid-el-Fitr message to Muslims in the country, he charged the citizens to embrace peace.

The Amir’s Eid message below:

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Tashaahuud, Ta’’awuz, Basmallah, Suratul Fatha.

ADORATION TO ALLAH

We give all adorations and greetings to Almighty Allah who has granted us the will and strength to fast the 29 days fasting in the holy month of Ramadan which just ended. Alhamdulillah.

CALLING BLESSINGS ON THE HOLY PROPHET MUHAMMED (SAW)

We call for Allah’s blessings on the Holy Prophet (saw) who is a mercy unto mankind and the seal of all prophets. He has brought us spiritual, moral, and physical ways of behaving in the most peaceful ways which Ramadhan taught all Muslims. If all Muslims are peaceful in Nigeria and worldwide, Nigeria and the world will be a place of peace for all to live.

IMAM OF THE AGE

We call for peace of Allah on the Imam Mahdi (as) who is the Imam of the age, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as) whose advent was foretold by the Holy Prophet Muhammed (saw), the holy founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat worldwide. May Allah be please with him and all the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) who had passed away.

KHALIFA AND THE UMMAH

May Allah be the Helper of Hazrat Masroor Ahmad, the Word-wide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat word-wide in his continuous quest for global peace.

BLESSINGS OF RAMADHAN

Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam and Muslims all over the world. It is an ordinance or a commandment of Allah. It is one of the mandatory instructions of Allah in the Holy Quran. It is not optional for those who fall within the categories of those who should fast. Whoever is matured, healthy and not on journey must fast during this holy month of Ramadhan. This shows fasting is a unique exercise and one that has been enjoined by the creator not only for the Muslims but for all others who have followed one prophet at a time or the other. Fasting offers us an opportunity to deeply reflect over ourselves and the type of relationships we have with other human beings on one hand and with our creator on the other hand.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 verse 184: ‘’O ye who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you that you may attain righteousness’’.

The object of fasting is the attainment of righteousness. Righteousness means nearness to Allah, doing of good and avoidance of all evils. The question to ask ourselves is whether we have attained righteousness or not during this just-concluded month of Ramadhan. And if yes, how do we retain them without going back to any evil deeds whatsoever. This is a month of acceptance of prayers and the night of lailatul Qadri or the night of destiny. For our prayers to be accepted, Allah commanded us to listen to Him and have faith in Him. May Allah accept our prayers.

ADMONITIONS TO THE GENERALITY OF MUSLIMS.

We are expected to be more faithful in ALLAH, fearful of His glory, hold in Him in awe due to His majesty, we are supposed to be graduating from a training school in a metaphorical sense, and be able to itemise what we have achieved.

We should be cognisance of the evil we are dropping. We should be discerning of the new virtue(s) we are assuming or embracing after Ramadan. We should be a new better creation now and forever. We should be magnanimous, kind-hearted, and more tolerant as we were during the month of Ramadan. Our prayers to Allah and religious devotions should be sustained to show that we have perpetually benefited from the month.  Reverting to our evil ways is like losing it all.

ADVICE TO THE GOVERNMENT FOR THE SAKE OF HUMANITY

We call on the government; Federal, State and Local to urgently address the concerns of the citizens of the country. No one needs to be told that there is tension, indeed, great tension in the land over what concerns the people. These concerns are many but few of them are:

• The unrest in the country caused by insecurity, evil perpetrated by the notorious Boko Haram and now the latest addition banditry and herdsmen.
• Cases of kidnapping for ransom and unwarranted killing: Many innocent citizens have been kidnapped for no reason other than that they want ransom paid. Many were killed in the process. This is not expected in a country where there is good governance. A government and her agencies should provide security for the people and also secure their property.
• Hunger: There is hunger in the land as most farmers are not able to access their farm due to the terrorism of the herdsmen as it happened at Ibarapa and many other locations.
• Mass unemployment of the teeming youths in their millions. Jobs are not being created. This poses a grave danger and the easy platform for the recruitment of bandits and Boko Haram sympathisers. This avenue should be urgently blocked.
• Payment of interest at alarming rate. This is to the extent that there is little or no income at all for the government to prosecute any project whatsoever as all the income of the nation is used to pay interest to few individuals plunging the country into spiritual war with Allah and his Prophet. Nigeria Oil Revenue projected for 2021 is ₦2.01trillion. The Non-Oil revenue is ₦1.49trillion both totalling ₦3.50 trillion. Meanwhile, interest is ₦3.32 trillion leaving only ₦180 billion for other expenditure. Statutory transfer alone is ₦500billion meaning that Nigeria has to borrow to fund those statutory transfers. Non-debt expenditure is ₦5.64trillion while Independent & Other source income is ₦4.48trillion leaving N1.16 trillion in deficit. It is zero funding for capital of ₦4.13 trillion. Overall income is ₦7.98 trillion and overall expenditure is ₦13.59tillion.  The deficit is ₦5.61 trillion. Debt is now been raised at interest to fund revenue non-productive expenditures.   This keep forcing Nigerian debt up. Government must avoid land and interest payment at all costs as it amounts to involving in war with Allah and His prophet. 

Excessive loan portfolio that goes into non-productive activities and corruption.  Today we are back at more than double the debt we had earlier paid off. The debt now is standing at US$84.57billion of ₦32.22trillion. The trend should be reversed as it was done in the past when the Nigerian debt of US$32billion was paid off and we were free.

• Agitation for secession due to all these social ills. It is believed that if all the social ills are dealt with, the agitation will automatically go.
• Unabated Corruption. The corruption that destroys the fabrics of the society continues unabated. It is the Jama’at’s view that the value system must be improved to eradicate this monster ill so that the society can be at peace.
• Lack of adequate attention to education sector and justices. This leads to unemployable graduates and injustices in various temples of justice.

The Jama’at encourage the Government to pay attention to all these social injustice and ills that Ramadhan came to eliminate in the interest of humanity. We are all human being before belonging to any group and the sanctity of humanity must be maintained of which JUSTICE AND PEACE are paramount. This is the leading message being related to all world leaders by the worldwide head of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad^{(May Allah be His Holiness Helper)} including the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I pray for a secure country with good standard of living. I pray that Allah help us to be able to change our conditions for better to enable us to continue to benefit from the teachings of Ramadhan. Amin.

Eid Mubarak to you all.

Alhaj (Barr.) Alatoye Folorunso Azeez.

Amir (National Head, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at of Nigeria), 13 May 2021.