Determined to win the war against the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East and other security challenges facing the country, the leadership of the Nigerian Army has sent 450 officers on a spiritual mission to the 2016 hajj to pray for the success of the Army and the country.
Speaking to a group of Nigerian journalists in Makkah, yesterday, the leader of the delegation, Col. Shehu Garba Mustapha, urged all Nigerian pilgrims presently in the holy land of Saudi Arabia for the 2016 hajj, to pray for Nigeria and for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
“We don’t have any other country to call our own, other than Nigeria. The present government needs our prayers to succeed and we must pray for Mr President and his team. I use this opportunity to call on all Nigerian pilgrims to pray for our country, Mr President and the leaders and those who lost their lives, may Allah forgive them.
“Both the security and other challenges that we are facing in our nation, we should make requests to Allah to remove and uproot them from Nigeria. Anytime we go to pray, we should pray for Nigeria and Mr President,” he said.
Col Mustapha lauded the new measures adopted by the Saudi government for the 2016 hajj stoning ritual and gave the assurance that the Nigerian soldiers on pilgrimage will abide by the new rules.
He said a member of the Army Force Hajj Team will collaborate with the NAHCON to impart the dos and don’ts of the new rules to all Nigerian pilgrims and will assist the pilgrims during the exercise.
“Anything that we are asked to do, as a law-abiding and disciplined agency, we will comply. We will also collaborate with NAHCON officials to impart the same to other Nigerian pilgrims. We are not here for only Nigerian Army Force’s pilgrims. We also need to assist our Nigerian brothers and sisters who are here on hajj in performing their hajj exercise.
“The new arrangement is a welcome development because it doesn’t allow violence. It is in accordance with Islamic injunction that whenever there are difficulties, you are allowed to do things that you were not allowed to do under normal circumstances,” he said.