The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Engineer Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, has said that without a solid moral base, the country’s social, economic and political development will be in shambles.
In his message to celebrate the Id-el Fitri through his Director of Media and Publicity Director, Bode Durojaiye, Alaafin stated that he shuddered to think of a Nigeria of intellectual giants, astute economists and politicians without the relevant moral values as internalized through the socio-cultural orientation and espoused by religion.
“A scientific modern Nigerian society without a sound social and moral base will be her worst enemy in terms of the human misery, fear, insecurity and barbarism that would be self-inflicted in the process of a misguided scientific advancement””.
Oba Owoade noted that the problems which besiege the country are anchored on non-compliance with or total neglect of moral principles and these have led to the doldrums we are experiencing in our private and public lives.
This, he added, shows that national growth and development depend largely on the good sense of justice, moral worth and responsibility, conscientiousness, devotion to duty, selflessness, probity and honesty exhibited by the leaders and the led.
The Titan of Yoruba Kingdom went further, “” Where are values like honesty, integrity, good neighbourliness, religious tolerance etc that once defined our society? Whatever also happened to being our brother’s keeper? Today, we’ve grown so numb and we are no longer shocked when people are slaughtered in a senseless terror campaign by some deranged individuals. As a result, we now have internally displaced people in the country, yet we carry on as if all is well. Everything has been reduced to politics””.
Alaafin, however, advised Muslims to hold firmly to this directive, and in the process reaping Prophet Ibrahim’s permanent blessings.
According to him, “the lessons of this festival are that we must have absolute sustainable belief and total submission to the will of Almighty Allah, give charity and love our neighbours. What we require to overcome our own peculiar trials and earn similar monumental blessings permanently is total and unquestioning surrender to the will of Allah in the conduct of our daily affairs.
The various threats to security, as well as the numerous forms of corruption bedevilling our society and the resultant implications of these for the economy are nothing but results of lack of consciousness of ultimate accountability to God, especially in the life to come. This is also true of the mistrust that hinders cordiality among our various ethnic and religious groups.
What we need, as a nation, are sincere, concerted and sustained efforts towards propagating the kind of God-consciousness demonstrated by Prophet Ibrahim.
This, the Royal Father asserted, will surely guarantee for our nation and for us as individuals a lasting solution to all the challenges confronting us and our life here on earth will be much more peaceful, trouble-free, while the hereafter eternally glorious.
Packaged by Dare Raji
