Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman; and the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission, Prof. Shuaib AbdulRaheem, were among thousands of Muslims who worshipped at the llorin Eid praying ground on Saturday.

The two-rakat prayer took place under a peaceful atmosphere, while security was beefed up.

The Chief Imam of llorin, Alhaji Mohammed Bashir, led the prayer, which lasted less than six minutes.

Bashir, in his sermon, stressed the significance of the Eid-el-Kabir festival, saying Muslims should always fear Allah and continue to pray for love, peace and harmony in the society.

The cleric, however, advised wealthy Nigerians to always extend their hands of generosity to the downtrodden in line with the teachings of Islam.

The Emir of Ilorin and Chairman of the Kwara State Traditional Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, in his message after the prayer, urged Nigerians to continue to live in peace to further attract development.

Sulu-Gambari charged religious leaders to inculcate the habit of promoting peaceful co-existence among adherents of the two major religions in the country.

The monarch also prayed for the successful completion of the Hajj exercise and for the safe return of the pilgrims.

He said: "Since prayer is our greatest weapon in Ilorin, we have absolute belief and confidence that Allah will continue to grant our prayers.

"We also pray Allah to grant those who witnessed and celebrated last year's Sallah but who are now dead Al-janat firdaus."