President of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria (ADS), Dr Abdulrafiu Sanni, has admonished President Bola Tinubu to toe the path of diplomacy instead of military option to resolve the raging crisis in Niger Republic.
Sanni gave the charge at the headquarters of the society in Lagos yesterday when he spoke on the centenary celebration of the group with the theme: “100 Years of Service: Re-Engineering Ansar-Ud-Deen Society for the next Century.”
He said the summit was being organised to address the unique challenges facing Nigerian youths.
Sanni said Tinubu had so far displayed leadership in the handling of the situation which he described as delicate.
Flanked by other leaders of the society, including the deputy president, Alhaji Adebayo Yusuf; national missioner, Sheikh Abdulrahman Ahmad, the chairman of the national organising committee for the Centenary, AVM Sikiru Smith; national secretary, Alhaji Iskilu Yusuf, Sanni said the line-up of activities for the event included inter-school essay competition, Qur’anic competition, new logo design competition, Summit University convocation; national lecture, award ceremony, founding fathers’ dinner and the global secretariat groundbreaking.
He said, “These events and many others will be held in various locations across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Ghana, Ivory Coast, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Ireland to ensure that the celebration of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society Centenary is truly a global affair.
“Through this momentous occasion, we renew our commitment to upholding the values and principles of Islam and strive to make an even greater impact in the years to come. Together, let us celebrate a century of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society’s unwavering dedication to education, unity and service.”
The president also disclosed plans to empower members during the programmes to reduce the hardship occasioned by the removal of subsidy from petrol.
“We must show that we appreciate our members, we must assist the government. Today we have issues of subsidy removal, we have issues of exchange rate mergers which have resulted in escalating prices and made life much more difficult for average Nigerians. We are also conscious of this and that is why society is coming in heavily to assist the poorest of the poor. One of the programmes is that our Lagos State Council would be giving N100,000 each to 100 people while the other councils are also doing things. We are going to reach the downtrodden,” he stated.
He said the society would always keep a tab on government officials to lead with the fear of God and provide relief for the downtrodden in society, saying the national lecture to be held in Abuja and attended by President Bola Tinubu as part of the programme would be an opportunity to remind the politicians of the purpose of governance.
“I can assure you that we have a programme in Abuja where the president is expected to be there and we are going to talk God into their hearts. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and the purpose of leadership is to ensure that the lead is taken care of within the available resources of the nation. The National Missioner and other erudite scholars are going to say it in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Qur’an,” he added.
Giving further details on the centenary programmes, the chairman of the Planning Committee stated that the programme would cover about four months from September to December.
He stated that there would be a football tournament and table tennis tournament coming up on the 30th of September; while the Executive Committee would visit various states for their programmes. He said the programme for Ekiti and Ondo states would take place simultaneously between 11th and 15th of October; Oyo State, 19th to 22nd of October; Osun State, 2nd to 5th of November while programmes for North America would come up on 9th and 12th of November.
Lagos State would hold its programmes from 16 to 19 of November; Ogun State programmes come up on 22nd to 24th of November while the programme for the United Kingdom and Ireland would be held between 23rd and 26th of November. Also on the 26th of November, there would be a programme for the National Women Council while Benin Republic, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire would have their programmes, among other activities lined up with the centenary lecture taking place in Abuja on December 19 while the grand finale would be on 21st December in Lagos.
On the centenary programmes, the national missioner of the society, Sheikh Ahmad said, “Ansar-Ud-Deen is entering a new era and bringing innovation into education. The Ansar-Ud-Deen, through its Summit University, is bringing a novel approach to university education that is called Academipreneur.
“For instance, Summit University has been contributing to drone building and drone pilots. It has also been contributing to motherboards. You know most of the devices we use today are on a system of a motherboard. Now once the motherboard of your device has a problem, that is the end of it and we do not have people who can build and manufacture this but Summit University is already training people in this area and in the area of renewable energy and solar energy,” he said.
