Date: 2020-05-06

A cleric, Mallam Lukman Muhammad Isalekoto, has admonished Muslims to use the current lockdown occasioned by Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to rededicate themselves to acts of worship in the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Isalekoto, who gave the advice yesterday in his Ramadan Tafsir in Ilorin, explained that many Islamic clerics had achieved enormously through self-isolation as directed by the government.

He added that the period should be the one in which individuals familiarise themselves with what they did not know about their religion before, so as to gain Islamic knowledge and get closer to Allah.

The cleric also urged Nigerians to see social distancing advised by experts and government at all levels as preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19.

He said the ongoing partial lockdown was not punishment but a means of containing the spread of the deadly disease.

Isalekoto also enjoined Nigerians to abide by all the instructions put in place by the Federal Government to combat the pandemic, adding that "this trying time is an opportunity to rebuild Nigeria by everyone playing their own respective role".

He further advised citizens to be kind-hearted toward one another by helping those that were in need and by ensuring that palliatives got to the most vulnerable citizens.