Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba State has tasked Christians embarking on this year’s pilgrimage to the holy land to be good ambassadors of the state and the country at large.
He also charged them to use the opportunity of their presence in the holy land to pray fervently for peace in Taraba and the entire axis of the country.
Ishaku gave the advice on Tuesday in the state secretariat of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Jalingo, where the intending pilgrims were camped.
He said, “Pilgrimage is a religious obligation where the pilgrims are expected to intercede for the wellbeing of the state and country” and urged them to eschew acts capable of degrading the image of the state and the country.
Such an act which the pilgrims must desist from engaging in, as suggested by him, include absconding, and carrying contraband goods.
Ishaku also urged the pilgrims to pray for a successful 2023 general election in Taraba and the country.
Also speaking, the state Chairman of the Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, Isaiah Magaji Jirapye, assured the governor of the readiness of the entire pilgrims to make the state and the nation proud in the holy land.
Stressing that the state has not for once recorded any of its pilgrims absconding, this year’s exercise, he believed, would not be different from the past ones.
Over two hundred intending pilgrims from the state are to be airlifted from the state to Jerusalem on December 26.