Managing Director of the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, Bashorun Askia Ogieh, has urged all Muslim faithful to show more love and compassion in this holy month of Ramadan, even as he prayed for God’s mercy to heal the distress and untold pains currently being experienced worldwide, caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a Ramadan message on Friday, in Warri, to mark rhe commencement of the Ramadan fast, Bashorun Ogieh said, “There is no better time than now to show compassion and love towards others, faced with the current Coronavirus pandemic, which has rendered many helpless and in dire need.
“Abstinence from worldly pleasures without giving needed assistance to our suffering people, especially the less privileged, will be contrary and at variance to the teachings of the Holy Prophet Mohammed.”
Bemoaning his inability to break fast with Muslims in Isokoland in his usual practice during this period, because of the lockdown and social distancing directive to curb the spread of the disease, Bashorun Ogieh said, “For the first time in my life, just like us Christians, who observed the Easter in our homes, our Muslim brothers and sisters are about to do the same in this holy month. But it is a silent war we have to wage and win by strictly maintaining all hygienic procedures and obeying the social distancing directives put in place by the government to control the spread of COVID-19.
“Let us enter into this blessed month of Ramadan in the hope and assurance that God in His merciful ways will heal the land as He has always done in times of crisis like the one we face now.
“I pray that as the Fourth Pillar of Islam commences, may God give all the faithful the strength to fulfill the needs of this month and to hear and reward all supplications to Him in faith. Amen.”
