Sophia Michaels
The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, has said that religion cannot cause a rift in Nigeria and the upper legislative chamber, despite lawmakers belonging to different faiths because they all serve one Supreme God.
Akpabio, who spoke on Monday night while hosting his Muslim colleagues and attended by a few others who are Christians for Iftar (breaking of fast) in Abuja, said everyone serves only one God.
He said: “Religion cannot divide us. It was not a mere coincidence that the Christian Lenten and Muslim Ramadan periods came up again at the same time,” stressing that it shows that even though Muslims and Christians have different religions, they both have only one God, the Supreme God.
The Senate President reminded his colleagues that God sent them to the world “for a purpose and that purpose is to live in peace with one another, love one another, pray together, work for one another to ensure progress for humanity.”
“I want to congratulate all of us for breaking fast today and thank Almighty Allah for keeping us alive to see this day and pray that He will continue to protect us and continue to look after our health, look after our families through this Ramadan period and also use this opportunity to congratulate you on the Easter celebration.
“It is not a coincidence that God is merging the fasting of the Muslims and that of Christians. This is about the second or third time it is happening.
“The intention is to show that we may have different religions, but we have only one God and that God is the Supreme God that looks after all of us.
“So to the glory of God, the invitation was for those of us who are still around. Those who have not yet gone to Saudi Arabia particularly for these last 10 days of Ramadan, that we should meet and break the fast together.
“And of course, we also invited the Christian Senators to come. For them, it’s a celebration of the Easter period. Coming together is all that we need. We need to continue to work together as brothers and sisters of the one Almighty God, for the benefit of our dear country. Religion cannot divide us.
“No matter the turmoil, no matter the political disagreement, even families do disagree. But we must bear one thing in mind, that we are serving humanity and we are serving humanity through Almighty God and that one day, we shall leave this world to go and account for our deeds while we are on earth. I think that is the guiding principle,” he further explained.
Responding on behalf of other Senators present, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, thanked Akpabio for inviting them to have Iftar with him, saying it was a demonstration of the care that he has for all lawmakers in the country.
“This invitation has reinforced what we know about you. There is an adage in the Hausa language that says: Inviting you to come is more delicious than the food.
“So when we heard about the invitation, we were very happy that you have us in mind and that you are very caring. So, we thank you very much,” he said.
