Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Lagos State Deputy Governor Dr Idiat Adebule, Chief Executive Officer of Bua Group Alhaji AbdusSamad Rabiu will lead other dignitaries to the grand finale of the Lagos Quran Competition.
The event, 15th of its kind, organised by the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) Lagos State Area Unit, is held biennially in honour of the pioneer MSSN National President and former Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, the late Dr AbdulLateef Adegbite.
It will hold on Sunday at University of Lagos Main Auditorium, Akoka, Lagos.
At a joint briefing Wednesday addressed by a son of the late Adegbite, Bashorun Ladi and MSSN Lagos State Area Unit Amir (President) Dr Saheed Ashafa at NUJ House, Alausa, Ikeja, the duo promised that the competition will be the largest in Lagos State.
Ashafa said the Chief Executive Officer of Basmallah Institute for Teaching Qur’an and Islam in Ireland, United Kingdom, Ustadh Muhammad Harun Thanni, will speak on the theme – Hope for the hopeless.
The topic, he said, is apt because “some Nigerians have already lost all hope in Project Nigeria, but we as a Muslim Students’ body say No! We believe in the Nigerian dream, which to us is still achievable if the government at all levels and the led return to the Qur’an, the hope of the Universe. That is why we have carefully chosen the theme for this year’s Lagos Qur’an Competition.”
He admitted that the country is experiencing difficult times, affecting all spheres of affairs, particularly the economy and security of lives and property.
“Many Nigerians,” he said, “are beginning to lose hope because things are not working out as promised by this government when they came to power barely three years ago. The incessant killings and the state of insecurity in the country, the rise in prices of most commodities, even as the government tries to stabilise the economy and the unguarded utterances of many Nigerians, some unfortunately from elder statesmen, can spell doom for Nigerian democracy and the 2019 general elections, if not curtailed. We can continue to count, count and count, many mind-boggling challenges bedevilling the country.
“It is on this note that we commend President Muhammadu Buhari’s scholarly gesture to teach top government officials the divine messages of the Qur’an when he attended the Tafsir-al-Qur’an session at the State House Mosque in Abuja at the beginning of the ongoing Ramadan. We can only hope and pray that the leaders live by the Quranic injunctions in bringing about the Nigeria we all crave.”
Bashorun Adegbite said he was happy to represent the family of the late Dr Adegbite “not only because it’s an opportunity to remember him but a chance to continue his legacies by transmitting those core values for which he had become well known in his life.”
Adegbite, he said, was a legend of his time, who did his best to promote the positive in all facets of his life as a youth leader, as a teacher, a lawyer, a traditional leader and for the most part as a Muslim.
“Dr Adegbite touched the lives of many people and was a firm believer in service to humanity which he spent his whole life pursuing. He remains today my hero as he is to many children. He mentored and influenced many people, a habit that came to him naturally. I thank the Lagos State Area Unit of the MSSN for this honour bestowed on our father which our family supports. I am particularly excited by this edition’s theme: “Hope for the Hopeless”, which clearly expresses the essence of the life of the late Dr Adegbite.”
