By Iliya Kure
A Kaduna based Church in northern Nigeria, Christ Evangelical and Life Intervention Church, has distributed new clothes, food items and Cash to Muslim orphans for the Sallah festivities.
General Overseer of the Church, Pastor Yohanna Buru, said the gesture was to support the orphans celebrate the occasion with joy like other Muslims kids.
Pastor Buru said it has been the tradition of the church to annually distribute new clothes and foodstuff to Muslim orphans and widows, in an effort to promote interreligious tolerance and foster peaceful coexistence among people of different faiths in the country.
“The aim is to strengthen Christian and Muslims relationship in the country, and to promote peace, unity, forgiveness among the adherence of the two religions [Christianity and Islam],” he said.
The Christian cleric felicitated with Muslims all over the world for the successful completion of the 30 days fasting and prayers.
He also congratulates the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa ‘ad, and other Islamic Clerics, among them, Sheikh Zazzaky Yakub El-zazzaky, Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi, Sheikh Hamza lawal, and Sheikh Ahmed Mahmud Gumi, as well as other top Islamic scholars for the completion of the 2022 Ramadan fasting.
Buru recalled the annual contribution of a Muslim woman, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani, who also extends similar gesture to widows and orphans in his church through distribution of foodstuff during Christmas.
He tasked Muslim and Christian clerics to intensify prayers for peace and stability in the country.
Responding, one of the orphans that received the donations, expressed appreciation to the Church for remembering them.
He recalled that the same Church visited last year and gave him new clothes, foodstuff and sum amount of money for Sallah celebrations.
The boy called on government to always remember the orphans, windows and children at internally displaced places during such occasions.
The 2022 Sallah celebrations comes amidst increased prices of foodstuff in the markets, as well as insecurity challenges in Nigeria.
