THE Alasalatu Society of Nigeria and West Africa (ASONWA) has commended the Federal Government’s decision to reopen worship centres, including mosques and churches, which were closed down in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
It described the move as such a welcome development that would encourage “non-pharmaceutical initiative” at ridding the country of the scourge.
Alasalatu group, through its Grand Khalifah, Sheikh Abdul-Fatah Ajani Akorede, in Abeokuta, Ogun State, said there was the need for current efforts at curtailing the pandemic to be complemented by people of faith through seeking of divine intervention.
Stating that with God, all things are possible, the group charged Christian and Muslim clerics, scholars and leaders to support the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) with prayers to enable them achieve success of their assignment.
According to a statement by the secretary-general of ASONWA, Alhaji Kamaldeen Akintunde, Sheikh Akorede described Nigerians as a largely religiously minded people who are unflinching in their belief in God to have solutions to all problems.
ASONWA enjoined the various faith-based organisations to rise up to the occasion through persistent prayers and supplication to God to end the COVID-19 crisis which, it said, had put the affairs of the world in disarray.
Meanwhile, the Islamic prayer group reminded custodians of places of worship and congregants of the “utmost need” to observe COVID-19 protocols that go with the relaxation of the ban on religious gatherings.
It urged clerics of both faiths to incorporate safety guidelines and other precautionary measures in their sermons to check community transmission of the virus.
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