By Abdullahi Yusuf
Senator Basheer Lado has presented cash gifts to 30 Winners of the recently-concluded Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji Tinubu Quranic Recitation Competition.
The cash prizes which ranged from N100,000 to N1 million were presented to the contestants by Senator Lado, who is the organizer of the competition, at a ceremony held in Kano on Friday.
Represented by his Special Adviser,Malam Ibrahim, Senator Lado presented bank cheques for the cash gifts to the winners, explaining that the gesture was meant to empower the young Quranic Reciters to enable them start small businesses so as to become self-reliant.
“The cash gifts are also meant to encourage the competitors to sustain the reading and recitation of the Holy Qur’an for their spiritual development and fulfillment.
“Additionally, the cash prizes are aimed at encouraging the young Quranic Reciters to continue to memorize the Holy Qur’an so as to cast their minds away from social vices,” Senator Lado, who is the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), said.
According to him, the competition started from wards of the 44 to local government areas up to the state level, featuring a total of 150 participants.
He said many other winners of the competition had earlier been presented with prizes which included houses, cars and Hajj seats to enable them perform the Holy pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Senator Lado said the competition was organized in memory of the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji Tinubu, the mother of President Bola Tinubu, “a matriarch and a towering figure in both Nigerian commerce and Islamic devotion.”
In his remarks, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the competition,Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, said the event had greatly impacted the lives of so many young Quranic Reciters as they went home with valuable gifts including houses, cars, cash and Hajj seats.
Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil,who is also the Chairman of the Kano State Council of Ullamas, explained that the competition also featured prayers and salutations for the late Abibatu Mogaji who spent her life serving humanity.