Avoid bringing shame to Abia, Otti charges intending pilgrims
The governor of Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has charged intending pilgrims from the state to avoid attracting shame to the state as they join their counterparts to participate in this year’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
This is as the state has announced that it has commenced the screening of intending pilgrims for the 2025 Christian pilgrimage.
Otti, represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Kenneth Kalu equally advised them to be good ambassadors of the state.
Flagging off the screening in Umuahia, the state capital, Otti emphasized the need for intending pilgrims to shun every behavior that could attract shame to the state but focus on their religious mission.
Otti lamented that the Abia contingents had not participated in the pilgrimage for the past few years, explaining that it was the value placed on the trip that made his administration reactivate the sponsorship of pilgrims.
The governor pointed out that the reduction in the number of those to be sponsored was necessitated by other competing needs in the state.
Earlier, Chairman of Abia State Christian Pilgrims Board, Emmanuel Agomuo, encouraged every person who would be successful in the screening to be a good ambassador of Abia while in Israel.
He, however, informed the intending pilgrims that filling of forms was not an automatic guarantee that they would make the trip, rather only those successfully screened.
