Christ Evangelical Intercessory and Life Intervention Ministry, Sabon Tasha Kaduna State, has doled out food items to over 300 poor Muslims ahead of the 30-day fasting for the month of Ramadan.
Distributing the items at Rigasa town, Igabi Local Government Area on Wednesday, the general overseer of the church, Yohanna Buru, said the gesture became necessary as the holy month is coming around when there is a total lockdown to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
According to him, this was the fifth time the church shared bags of grains and other foodstuff to a large number of street beggars, internally displaced person, children in orphanages and Muslim prison inmates across the state.
“Last year, we doled out bags of rice, maize and other food items to poor Muslims in over 5 states, to enable them to participate fully in the 30-day fasting and prayers for the month of Ramadan.
“In this year’s distribution, we added mats and plastic kettles so they could stay at home and pray for God to bring an end to the pandemic killing people and destroying nations’ economy, health and educational sector,” Mr Buru stressed.
The clergy noted that the gesture was a tool for strengthening relationships, peaceful co-existence and religious tolerance among the faiths in order to attain peaceful and harmonious coexistence.
While stressing on adhering to the teachings of the holy books; Bible and Qur’an, Mr Buru urged the Muslim faithful to intensify prayers for the curtailment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also appealed to the well-to-do individuals to indulge in humanitarian services in order to ease the hardship of vulnerable persons in society.
Mr Buru also called on marketers to stop taking advantage of the holy month of Ramadan in tripling the prices of goods and services, adding that they were planning the usual yearly visits to markets in order to encourage them to offer Ramadan Bonanza.
Receiving the food items, the chairperson of the women association of person with disability in Rigasa, Jummai Mohammed, expressed happiness over the kind gesture by the Christian faithful.
Mrs Mohammed said: “Ramadan is about to start and there is nothing to eat in our houses.
“We have to take to the streets to beg for food. The Coronavirus pandemic is really disturbing as prices of food stuffs has soar.
“We really appreciate our Christian brothers and sisters because the help they rendered came at a point of need, when no one is bothered about us.
“I’m begging on our wealthy Muslims to help us with food stuff to enabled us stay at home and pray for the nation.”
Similarly, the team also paid a visit to a scholar, Salihu Maibarota over a recent fire incident that destroyed his Islamic schools, mosques and other 5 rooms for teaching and learning the Arabic language at Tudun Wada Kaduna.
Mr Buru, while condoling with the scholar, called on wealthy individuals to help the scholar rebuild the mosques and to assist him with other learning materials that were destroyed as a result of the fire outbreak.
Mr Maibarota thanked the delegation for the courteous visit and prayed for the unity of both faiths.
