Cleric tasks military officers on dedication, sacrifice

The Chief Imam, National Defence College (NDC), Squadron Leader Abdulhakeem Hanafi, has urged participants of NDC Course 32 to embody the spirit of dedication and sacrifice in discharging their constitutional duties.

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Hanafi made the call during a Special Jumu’ah Prayer as part of activities to commemorate the graduation of Course 32 participants on Friday in Abuja.

He said his sermon centered on the ethics or moral principles that Islam had taught them to imbibe, alongside knowledge, to be productive as strategic military leaders.

According to him, for someone to be trustworthy with the knowledge that God has endowed them with, they must be steadfast, just, and strike a balance whenever they are passing judgment.

“For our participants who are on a strategic course here, whenever they are appointed as Commanding Officers, commanders of a unit or ship, they have to embody all they have learned here strategically, coupled with the time.

“Whenever you want to do anything, you consult back to God. That is why God told us in the Quran too that if you are in doubt of anything, return back to God.

“That is, looking at God in His judgment, in His instruction to do whatever we are doing, then you always perfect your actions, decisions, and endeavor,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the Commandant, the College Public Relations Officer (PRO), Commander Muhammed Tukur, said the Special Jumu’ah prayer was one of the series of activities to commemorate the graduation of NDC Course 32.

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Tukur said the participants were billed to graduate from the college on 23 August, saying the prayer session intended to give some spiritual backing having gone through the course for one year.

He said there was a need to pray to God so that what they have learned would be useful to the nation, to them, and be deployed to solve some of the national security challenges facing the nation.

“There will also be an interdenominational church service on Sunday, and it is just the beginning of the several activities lined up for the graduation ceremony.”he said.

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