AS BORNO FASTS AND PRAYS FOR PEACE

By: Inuwa Bwala

Borno, the once acclaimed home of peace and hospitality has become a dangerous tower of safety, and those who give the peace have themselves become vulnerable. Her most productive cadre has been wasted, leaving behind a crowd of widows and orphans. Many have fled their ancestral abodes, and living as vagabonds, relying on charity to survive.
I am not the type that fasts and prays very often, but I am determined to join the fasting and prayers
called by our dear Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, for the peace of my dear state, Borno, tomorrow, Monday 19 October, 2019.
After due consultations with religious and community leaders, the Governor has called for this exercise for the second time now. It was exoected to continue at individual and mini group levels, but after the first round of prayers and fasting, which brought some respite, most of the people became backsliders and forgot the place of God.
I decided to join seeing that, Borno needs rescue, and a return to God is inevitable for all, if we hope get back on track and check the root causes of the problems.
I also joined knowing the essence of tomorrow’s fast is for citizens, to deprive themselves of food, drinks and all forms of pleasure, and to symbolically subject themselves to the sufferings being experienced by our brothers and sisters, such that God will have mercy upon us and lift this curse that has bedevilled our land.
This, being the case, all lovers of humanity and all those who share in the grieves of Borno people are expected to join.
I was almost in tears reading the Governors speech in which he enumerated the several options taken in the efforts to end the menace, and calling for the fasting and prayers may be the ultimate call.
Having acknowledged the roles of the Military and other security agencies, as well as that of volunteers, Governor Zulum’s resort to the spiritual option remains an inevitable course in the fight against terrorism.
I felt a sense of pity for him, seeing that, the more ways he explores to end the madness, the further he seems to be getting away from having the desired result. I cherish his sense of resilience and the all inclusive approach to the fight.
Governor Zulum, on his part has demonstrated uncommon emotional attachment to ending the almost eleven years of physical, emotional and psychological onslaught on his citizens: the complementary role of the ordinary citizen cannot be ignored at this point.
It is pertinent at this time to call on all those who have been passive or reluctant in participating in similar exercises aimed at complementing the Governor’s efforts, to see the sense in Governor Zulum’s crusade such that, in the fullness if time, every citizen will stand to be counted as being part of the general quest to bring back the lost glories of Borno.
May God Almighty respond positively to our supplications, and reward us with peace in Borno, so that we can build the state of our dreams.