The General Overseer of the Christ Evangelical and Life Intervention Church, Pastor Yohanna Buru has distributed clothes, food items and cash gifts to Muslim orphans and widows for the Eidel-Fitri festivities.
According to the Nation, Buru said the church supports about 50 orphans to join other children to celebrate the Sallah with joy and happiness.
Buru said this is not the first time the church is sowing new clothes and giving out foodstuff to the orphans and widows.
“We are doing this to promote religious tolerance and foster peaceful co-existence among different faith-based organisations in the country.
It is aimed at strengthening relationships among Christians and Muslims in the country and to promote peace, unity, and forgiveness among the adherence of the two religions.
The cleric also felicitated Muslims all over the world for the successful completion of the 30-day fasting and prayers.
He said the church cannot forget the annual contribution of a Muslim woman, Hajiya Ramatu Tijjani, for remembering the church widows and orphans with foodstuff and gifts at Christmas to pastors and other people.
According to him, for the past few years, Ramatu Tijjani has been sharing Christmas foodstuff and other gifts with church members.
Buru said they would share more clothes with the orphans so that they could celebrate this Sallah with joy like every other child.
This year’s Sallah celebration comes amid an increase in prices of foodstuff in the markets and the general insecurity challenges bedevilling the country.
He urged Muslim and Christian clerics to intensify prayers for peace and stability in the country.
He congratulated the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad, Sheik Zazzaky Yakub Elzazzaky, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, Sheik Hamza Lawal, and Sheik Dr Ahmed Mahmud Gumi and other top Islamic scholars for the completion of the Ramadan fasting.
Buru said they are going to extend friendship visits during the Sallah holidays to their Muslim counterparts in order to boost the Christian/Muslim relationships in the country.
One of the orphans, who received the donations, thanked Pastor Buru for remembering them.
He said last year, it was the same pastor who gave him new Sallah clothes, food and little money for Sallah celebrations.
He called on the government at all levels to always remember the orphans, widows and children and the internally displaced persons.