Eid-el-Fitr: Muslims Pray Amid Heavy Security

Hundreds of Muslim faithfuls in Onitsha, Anambra State
defied Sunday rain to observe the Eid-el-Fitr prayers and amidst tight and
unprecedented presence of detachments of security personnel.

The detachments of the security personnel, which watched
over the worshipers at Onitsha-South Stadium, Fegge in Onitsha, were drawn from
the Nigerian Army, Police and State Security Service.

Leader of the Hausa Community in Onitsha, Alhaji Iliyasu
Yushau, said that he believed that the current security challenge facing the
country would be a thing of the past if Nigerians were committed to prayers and
good neigbourliness.

“So we have to live together and live in peace and harmony,
so that the state will go forward.

“And all these things that are happening, we have to pray to
God, so that God will take care of everything. I am appealing to all Nigerians
that Nigeria should remain one and we are one destiny all of us are Nigerians
and we must have to live together”, he declared.

“It is a must that Nigerians must live together with one
another so that peace will reign, so that all these things we are going through
will be a thing of the past. One day we will call it a history; that such a
time, this is what happening in the country but now the whole thing is over.
The president and his team God would guide them through all these,’’ he added

Igbo Muslim leader in Onitsha, Alhaji Tijani Akubuo, urged
Nigerians of south-east extraction to regard Muslims as their brothers and
sisters.

Akubuo advised that everybody should exercise caution in
carrying out actions inimical to anyone since the same God that created the
Christian, also created the Muslim.

“We all believe in Allah Almighty in heaven and we are not
worshiping any other thing except the Supreme Almighty that resides in
heaven,’’ he said.

Chief Imam of Onitsha, Alhaji Abdulrahman Hamza, enjoined
Muslim faithful to continue with all the teachings and exemplary good deeds
they had imbibed during Ramadan.

“Muslim faithful should continue to do all they have learnt
during the Ramadan.

“They should not forget to draw closer to Allah by observing
the five daily prayers, paying their zakkat (alms giving), living in peace and
love with their neighbours even if they are Christians,’’ Hamza advised.