President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday urged religious leaders in the country to seek the face of God for the successful conduct of this year’s general elections. He also appealed to them to continue to pray for an end to insecurity in parts of the country.
The president made the appeal at the State House in Abuja yesterday shortly after receiving the report of the 2014 Hajj exercise presented by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu.
The President said the insecurity being witnessed in parts of the country was being propelled by what he called “negative forces.” According to him, no true adherent of the major religions would willingly kill human beings.
On the forthcoming general elections, Jonathan said although it seemed the nation would burn, Nigeria would be safe.
“I charge you as religious leaders to continue to pray for the country on criminality. In the North, we have issues of terror; in the South, we have issues of kidnapping. These are issues being pushed by negative forces,” he said.
“No person who is really religious in any of the religions can willingly go and kill. We should continue to pray for the peace of the country, especially as we face the general elections this year."
“Anytime you open the newspapers, it is as if the country wants to burn, but Nigeria will surely be safe. Nigeria will surely be united and we will prosecute the election in the end and this country will surely be a peaceful country.”
“We will all collectively work hard to transform our economy, but you should pray for the peaceful conduct of the general elections and peaceful transition.”
The president assured that his government would look into all the recommendations contained in the report of the Hajj exercise.
Earlier, the Sultan of Sokoto had thanked the President for supporting Hajj operations in our country, saying the operation had witnessed tremendous achievements and progress under him.
The Sultan also said the hajj operations were successful despite the earlier challenges of the Ebola scare, which delayed airlifting of pilgrims by over a week.
“Despite that, due to the multi-sectoral approach the President used, the Ebola scare was contained and visas were issued to our pilgrims. We want to thank you for the dynamic leadership in containing the Ebola problem, which would have been a very big stumbling block in making our pilgrims to perform hajj.”
“The hajj exercise was conducted peacefully without any hitches and it is also noteworthy to inform the President that during the hajj operations there, the leadership of the team, the Oba of Lagos and the Muslim clerics from all over the country came together and organised special prayers for peace, stability and progress of our country and most importantly for the peaceful conduct of the elections."
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