By KEMI KASUMU
For his honesty and patriotism, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General, Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has rewarded Malam Akilu Gangare, the operator of Keke Marwa, who returned the N500,000 left in his Keke by a passenger in Jos back to its rightful owner, during the just concluded week.
The DEFENDER recalls that a passenger, who boarded Malam Akilu’s Keke Marwa, had, on reaching his destination, left a bag behind while alighting because he was was in a hurry.
Malam Akilu, a while after, sighted the bag and opened it out of curiosity, only to see a large sum of money counted to be N500,000 in it.
He quickly did a u-turn in search of the passenger, who he located and handed the bag he hurriedly left behind in his Keke, with the money intact.
This online newspaper gathered from its source in Jos, Plateau State capital, on Sunday, that on receiving the news, the Sultan, who confirmed the information he heard to be true, honoured the Keke operator, Malam Akilu Gangare, with the cash reward of N500,000 in appreciation of his show of honesty in line with the teaching of Islam.
The Sultan’s gesture has been described as what leadership is expected to do to encourage restoration of lost moral values in the society as a man, who gets rewarded with goodness for doing good work, will not only want to do more but also will be copied by multitude of others in doing same.
The Sariki Musulumi of Nigeria called to mind a case made by late Sheikh Abdullahi Adam Al-Ilory in his lecture titled “Discipline”, saying the system should not only reward people with punishment but also that those who do good should be rewarded with goodness.
Sheikh Adam Al-Ilory had insisted that citizens, on their own part, should also know that while they demand for their human rights, they should also find out to know their duties towards the state in the spirit of peace, unity and development.
“Yesterday, Saturday 23.10.2021, His Eminence the Sultan rewarded Malam Akilu in Jos with the sum of NGN500,000. The exact amount he honestly returned to the owner,” The DEFENDER gathered in Sunday.
According to the source, “For His Eminence, this is not the first time of doing this kind of great gesture. He has done it severally before. It is his way of rewarding honesty and encouraging good citizenship according to Islamic teaching. Long live The Sultan! May Allah reward His Eminence with the exalted Jannah for leadership and all acts of kindness,” he said.
Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, a retired Army General and Co-President of the World Religions for Peace Council headquartered in the New York, had once retorted when he was asked about a similar gesture he did in recent time and he said:
“I am not aware of that. Whatever I do is not for show. But I only expect that when we give money to empower people, the money must be allowed to reach the person it is meant to uplift,” he once said.
