The Bida Emirate on Thursday organised a prayer session for abundant rainfall and bumper harvests in Niger and other parts of Nigeria.

The residents of the emirate resorted to special prayers seeking divine intervention from God over an imminent drought due to the lack of steady rainfall in the area.

The Etsu Nupe, Yahaya Abubakar, traditional leaders, religious leaders and farmers in the emirate converged at the Eid prayer ground in Esso, Bida, for the session.

Thousands of the residents converged for the congregational prayer, followed by the cessation of rainfall in the area.

This was done in accordance with the Islamic injunctions to seek divine intervention.

Shortly after the prayer session, Abubakar said that the move was to seek the forgiveness and mercy of God.

According to him, Islam teaches Muslims to repent and seek God’s mercy in the event of any calamity that befalls society.

Mr Abubakar, therefore, urged the Muslim Ummah to forgive one another and refrain from all acts prohibited by Islam.

The Etsu Nupe also urged his subjects to shun immoralities and return to God in true repentance.

He said, “Whenever there is a possible threat of drought, we are enjoined by Allah through His Prophet Muhammad that we should go back to Him and seek His guidance and forgiveness. 

“We seek for Allah’s mercy and guidance and we hope this prayer will be answered by Allah (SWT) and will grant us not only rain but bless our crops and other things that we need to survive.”

In a sermon, the chief imam of Bida emirate, Sheikh Adamu Liman-Yakatun, listed five reasons that cause drought and other calamities to befall communities.

He said, “They include the failure of the people to redeem pledges, some shoddy deals by some marketers and people who provide services, among others.”

Mr Liman-Yakatun said withering crops were in serious need of water to survive amidst the high cost of food items in the market and security challenges facing Niger.

He admonished the residents to fear God in their daily activities and for leaders to treat their subjects sincerely and provide them with humanitarian assistance.

“Even these unnecessary killings of innocent citizens can be responsible for rainfall shortage, including our bad characters,” the cleric added.

The chief imam, however, prayed for sufficient rain so the farmers could witness bumper harvests and beseeched God to end Nigerians’ hardship.

(NAN)