Alasalatu urges prayers for peace in Nigeria, violence-free 2019 polls

THE Alasalatu Society of Nigeria and West Africa (ASONWA) has called on Nigerians to pray fervently for the nation’s leaders and the unity, peace and progress of the country.

The group made the call in a statement signed by its missionary leader and secretary-general, Khalifah Abdulfatah Ajani Akorede and Alhaji Kamaldeen Akintunde, respectively, after its 41-day annual supplication/prayer held in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

It urged the adherents of Islam and Christianity in the country, especially the clerics, to beseech God for violence-free elections in 2019.

ASONWA tasked governments to encourage and support initiatives to seek divine intervention in solving Nigeria’s multiple challenges.

It emphasised the need for social rebirth and attitudinal change by citizens in the task of nation building.

The group commiserated with the academic community, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and parents of the 12 University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) students who died in a road accident while departing their campus for their homes because of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

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ASONWA emphasised the need for a quick and amicable resolution of the standoff between ASUU and the Federal Government, asking the union to be magnanimous as a mark of “respect” to the departed undergraduates.

It charged NANS leadership, as stakeholders in the education sector, to engage both parties and strike a balance between their teachers and the government to end the industrial action.

It noted that student unionism has come of age, the leadership of which must be seen to be responsible, responsive and as a part of solution to resolving matters connected with them.

ASONWA called for a shift from radical or violence-inclined style by students unions to a “more constructive, meaningful, yet result-yielding approaches” to settling grievances with authorities.