The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, has commended the Igbo diaspora brotherhood dictum (Nwanne di na mba) as a hospitality maxim, which MACBAN said the Igbo has practically demonstrated in its engagement with cattle rearers in the zone.
MACBAN chieftain and immediate past chairman of the group in the South East Zone, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki made the commendation in his 2024 Eid-el-Fitr goodwill message to both Muslim and Christian brethren across the South-East and beyond.
Siddiki said MACBAN has enjoyed a cordial relationship with the people of the South-East and appreciated the patrons, board of trustee members and the entire hierarchy of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders’ Association of Nigeria for their consistent advocacy for peaceful coexistence as the only panacea for sustainable progress in Nigeria.
He said: “I thank the entire leadership of the South-East states for insisting on the efficacy of the Igbo Nwanne di na mba dictum which encourages unconditional hospitality amongst Nigerians wherever the search for livelihood takes them.
“I humbly enjoin my Muslim and Christian brethren in South East Nigeria and everywhere to embrace the cardinal lessons of Ramadan and Eid-el-Fitr by submitting to the will and dictates of Allah for peace amongst the peoples of the world.
“Evidently, the mounting challenges caused by the prevailing harsh socio’-economic realities and the anxiety upon our fledgling political experiences are capable of stretching our elasticity for survival to its limit; but in all of these, Allah’s wish that we will triumph is supreme and should be jealously upheld by everyone.
“The singular hope that we will outlive the trials of the moment and successfully march into prosperity should inform our sturdy endurance.
“This year’s Ramadan gave us another opportunity to intimately appraise the totality of our being – the material and the spiritual. We will hardly just wish away the hardship visited on us by the actions and inactions of the authorities that superintended over our means of livelihood these past months.”