MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORT DID NOT ACCEPT ISLAM AS CIRCULATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

 MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORT DID NOT ACCEPT ISLAM AS CIRCULATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

   The story is false. He was only invited to Islam by Sheikh Dr Isa Ali Pantami during a Ramadan Lecture as usual.

Every Ramadan, the fasting period on the Islamic Calendar, Shaykh Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, the current Director of National Information and Technology Developement Agency NITDA, use deliver Tafseer (Translation of the Muslim Holy Book, Qur'an) at An Noor Mosque, Wuse II Abuja. 

This year 1438=2017 was not been excepted on usual teachings of the Book. On Thursday 6th, Ramadan equivalent to 29th June 2017, the Honourable Minister of Sports and Youths, Solomon Dalung, attended the Mosque to listen to the lessons and pass an information to Nigerians... 

While addressing Nigerians shortly after the lessons at the mosque that evening...

"my realationship with muslims is very strong and good, because  I have been with them all my life peacefully.

 Chief of Staff of the Minister, Maiwada Dammalam said, "the update is prompted by numerous calls and messages sent to me by people trying to verify a rumor about the conversion of Hon. Minister of Youth & Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung to Islam. The story is false in its entirety. 

Dammalam further said, Hon. Minister Dalung remain a practicing Christian just as he remain a very close ally to the Muslim community in a constant effort to build bridges across ethnic and religious fault lines for a better Nigeria.

 The Minister's visit to An Nur Mosque which must have stirred the rumor was a yearly event. He always pick mosques he paid special visits on such occasions to rejoice with the Muslim community and rebuild the fractured relationship between Muslims and Christians. 

To those who know him closely, such a gesture is neither new nor a burden to him. His open mindedness has allowed him an excellent grasp of comparative religion while seeing it as a tool to reintroduce cohesion and mutual respect among adherents of the two major religions in Nigeria. 

Minister Dalung is an ardent believer in the rights of individuals for free subscription to ideological beliefs of their conviction. That explains why he deals with people on merit rather than ethnic or religious considerations. Perhaps, that's what makes him one Nigerian that's at home in every village or hamlet in any part of the country. To Dalung, religion is a matter of personal conviction and a tool for building not destroying humanity.