By mumini Abdulkareem
Muslims across the country have been called upon to make the best use of the forthcoming month of Ramadan by shunning corruption in all its variants.
The Kwara State Wali (Coordinator) of The Muslims Congress (TMC), Engr Ariyo Basheer Olalekan gave the charge at its annual pre-Ramadan seminar organised to prepare Muslims for the holy month.
The programme held at FOMWAN hall, Fate, Ilorin on Sunday, was organised in conjunction with Organisation of Tadhamunul-Muslimeen (OTM), Standard Bearers Islamic Organisation and Al-Mumina’at (The Believing Women) with the topic “How to Relate with My Lord in a Corrupt Society: Lessons from Ramadan.
According to Olalekan, who is also a Principal Technologist, University of Ilorin, the essence of the event is to sensitise Muslims on welcoming of Ramadan especially in such a corrupt society we found ourselves to meet the month with the required spirit, maintain the (spirit) during Ramadan and exercise its lessons derived from the month after.
“The key is the implementation of the lesson gained by the participants which is to jettison corruption that has enveloped our society during Ramadan.
“Using Nigeria as a case study, we all know that what is retarding our growth and progress is the issue of corruption and that is why the federal government is working towards minimising the effect of corruption
“We believe if we are able to curb the menace to a minimal level, it will assist and grow our economy, assist individual interrelationship and make every Nigerian see himself as a right citizen of the country that does not need any benefit from others before rendering assistance”, he added.
In his presentation, the Guest Lecturer, Dr Yahaya Toyin Murtala from the Kwara State University, Malete, said the goal of the seminar is to establish how to develop moral qualities and good character before, during and after Ramadan to avoid anything that can lead to corruption or its likes.
“We should make sure we develop a unique character that is at variance with the corruption around glaringly displayed around us. We must establish sincerity with Allah (SWT) and consider the Qur’an as guide when we are talking about corruption and its causes.
“Now that Ramadan around the corner, we should prepare ourselves in four ways which include spiritually, physically in obedience to Allah (SWT), intellectually by reading the message of Allah in the Quran, hadith of the Prophet (SAW) and financially by spending in the way of Allah from our and wealth”.
About 300 participants attended the programme including media practitioners, academia, teachers, scholars and members of traditional institution.
