Bauchi Governor Sets Agenda For Christian Pilgrims

Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed of Bauchi State has observed that pilgrimage, as a spiritual exercise, allows pilgrims to draw closer to their Creator and pray for forgiveness for their shortcomings and salvation.

The governor explained that it was in consideration of the importance of this religious ritual that the state government decided to sponsor all the 356 intending Christian pilgrims for the 2025 pilgrimage.

The governor, while bidding farewell to the intending pilgrims to Jerusalem and Israel yesterday, urged them to observe the tenets of the exercise for a seamless and rewarding pilgrimage, and prayed to God to guide them accordingly.

Represented by his deputy, Rt. Hon. Muhammad Auwal Jatau, the governor explained that the state government was concerned about the welfare of its people within and outside the country, hence its resolve to make adequate provisions for the pilgrims’ security, transportation, feeding, accommodation and medical services while in the holy land.

Governor Bala said that in return, the intending pilgrims are expected to be focused and not to reduce the exercise to a shopping spree, jamboree or pleasure trip, emphasising that the spiritual contents of the pilgrimage should not be deluded with worldly pleasure and overindulgence by pilgrims.

The state Commissioner of Religious Affairs and Societal Reorientation, Eng. Muhammad Binni Abdulkadir tasked the intending Christian Pilgrims to carry the image of Bauchi state with pride and dignity, and be worthy ambassadors of Nigeria in Jerusalem.

Eng. Binni Abdulkadir also asked the Christian Pilgrims to let discipline, humility, and good character guide their actions at all times, while praying that their journey would be safe, peaceful, and richly rewarding, and that it would strengthen their faith to contribute to the moral society and developmental progress of Bauchi State.

Speaking earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Bauchi State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Hon. Ibrahim Muhammed Gwallang, expressed gratitude to Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed for his practical demonstration of fairness, justice, and equity in the discharge of his onerous duties.

Hon Gwallang told the Governor, “You have never once shown any discriminatory tendency in the way you relate with adherents of the two major faiths in the State. You have, through your policy of inclusion, been carrying every segment of the State along in implementing the policies and programmes of your Government”.

“This gesture of fairness and justice is amply demonstrated in the way you have been sponsoring Christians in the State to go for the holy pilgrimage. In this particular instance, it is an understatement to say that you have been fair to Christian in Bauchi State because every year the State Government pays for all Christians who perform the pilgrimage”.

Gwallang assured that while in the Holy land, the State Christian pilgrims will fervently pray for the continued peace and development of the state and the country in general, and especially pray for the Almighty God to guide, protect and give the governor more wisdom and good health to continue to run the affairs of the state.