Buratai, Marafa, Others Advocate Peace At Family Level

Former Chief of Army Staff, Lt-Gen. Tukur Buratai (Rtd), national coordinator of the National Centre for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Maj.-gen Abba Dikko (rtd) and Sen. Kabiru Marafa have called on husbands and wives across the country to ensure peace reign at their respective family levels.

They said peace within the family is fundamental, adding that such a situation would translate to peace in the country.

They stated this in Abuja weekend when they graced the wedding ceremony of Hajiya Mohammed Sani Aliyu, the only daughter of a former General Officer Commanding 3 Armoured Division in the Theatre of “Operation LAFIYA DOLE”, Maj.-Gen. MSA Aliyu (Retired) who was wounded in action.

Advising the couple while speaking to journalists during the Wedding Fatiha, which was held at the Mambilla Barracks, Abuja Maj.-Gen. Dikko said, “The whole essence of marriage whether spiritually or otherwise is to seek peace.

“When you see a woman and you say you love her, it is because you found peace in her. If you see a man and you say you have fallen in love with him, it is because you have found peace in him, you have protection in him, you found solace in him, you found consolation in him, so the whole essence of marriage is peace.”

On his part, Buratai, a former Ambassador to Republic of Benin who was the ‘Waliyuh’ during the ‘Nikkah’, described the bride and her husband, Lt. Fahad Bello Tukur, as some of the few Nigerians making the country proud in the area of territorial integrity.

His words: “We give glory to Almighty Allah for seeing this day. She is a daughter whom we saw growing up from childhood to date. This is one of the stages of life that she has passed and we give thanks to Allah. She is highly-educated, she has gotten the requisite education as being provided by her parents.

“She is also hard working, very trustworthy, she is also learned in the Islamic way, she has gotten a vet good foundation, good upbringing by her parents and we see her going into her matrimonial home we’ll prepared as for her to do her duties provided by almighty Allah and for her to take care of her husband and keep the home.

“I’ve no fear, she will do very well and we see her bringing up her own children in the future. We are a family in the army, we have formed that bond even if we are not related biologically but we have that trust, that understanding, that loyalty for each other. So, the parents have entrusted me with this very big responsibility so we discharged it and it’s an honour.”

Also, Sen. Kabiru Marafa who represented Zamfara Central during ninth Assembly, urged Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of tolerance and understanding in order to move the country forward.

Marafa said, “We are here to rejoice with the father, mother and the family. The father is my very good friend and constituent, he is from Gusau in Zamfara State and so also the mother. The girl is our own and we are very happy today to give her out in marriage, this is a happy moment.

“The happiest day and to the father and mother it is a fulfilment, it is a milestone, it is the wish of every parent to see a day like this when they give out a daughter or take a daughter on behalf of their children.

“Today is the turn of General MS Aliyu and I personally rejoiced with them for and on behalf of my family and the wider constituency that I represent at the Senate that is Zamfara Central.

“The cheapest advice I’ll give is that there must be communication in the marriage and they must not allow a third party into their affair, I believe the girl is well-groomed, well-educated and well-disciplined.

“General M.S. Aliyu is a seasoned officer and he gave his children the best of training. So, I believe she is well groomed to handle every situation so my advice to them is to communicate as much as possible within themselves and ensure a third party doesn’t come into their marriage because that is the beginning of the problems in marriages.

“Apart from that tolerance, both of them must imbibe the culture of tolerance because marriage tries to do almost an impossible thing that is trying to unite two souls to become one, it is a very complex situation for anybody but human beings are diverse as they are but marriage tries to bring two people together to the extent that when one is happy, the other is happy, when one is crying the other is supposed to be crying.

“It is not easy but with tolerance, understanding and obedience from her to him there is only one leader in the family, in any organization, system, he is the leader and she is supposed to be his partner in progress and she should be very obedient to him even when she disagrees with some of the decisions, she must always have at the back of her mind that he is the leader of the family and what he says is final.”