Worried by the absence of rainfall within the Katsina metropolis and its environs, the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumini Usman, last Tuesday, led Muslim faithful to the Eid Prayer Ground Mosque to seek the face of Allah in supplication for the much expected downpour.
While heeding the very unusual call of the highly revered monarch, residents of Katsina, in their large numbers, converged on the Eid ground as early as 8:00 am. on the Tuesday, as the prayers were led by the Chief Imam of the Katsina Central Mosque, Imam Gambo Mustapha.
In his message at the Eid praying ground, the Emir admonished the “people to repent from sins and seek Allah’s forgiveness, I plead.”
Arewa PUNCH recalls that only recently, farmers in the state had aside the rain drought, also lamented the rate at which strange worms continue to ravage and destroy their grain plantations.
A visit by our correspondent to some affected farmlands in the state capital reveals that the unsparing worms have continued to overwhelm and devour the crops.
Umar and Ahmad, whose farmlands within the Katsina metropolis, Katsina Local Government Area of the State were also totally over taken by the worms, told Arewa PUNCH that the only presumably response to the strange scenario is due to the absence of rainfall as most farmers are already rounding up this year’s farming season plantations.
According to Ahmed, “the worms are only interested in eating up guinea corn, millet, and maize plantations.
“To this end, farmers have, in fact, resorted to spraying insecticide and also prayers for Allah’s divine help and intervention.”
Our correspondent also reveals that the situation is not different in several other communities such as – Autawa, Bambami, Daɓa, Sabon Gida, Dabaibayawa, Angawa and Makaɗa villages in the Batagarawa Local Government Area of the State.
In an interview with a resident of Katsina, Mallam Ahmed, he said the emir’s call for prayers is timely because of the current economic situation coupled with inflation facing the country which is no exception to Katsina State. “Such prayers should be sustained because we need to survive this inflationary trend, and our hope is mostly on farmers. We want a bumper harvest to reduce the economic hardship being experienced and also to reduce the hike in food prices.
“Katsina State is facing a lot of problems ranging from insecurity, and we must not fail to seek Allah’s intervention at this crucial time,” Ahmed stated.
On her part, a resident of Kafar Kwaya in Katsina town, Hajiiya Mairo Adamu said, “We will not understand what is befalling us in Katsina because we don’t fear Allah, hence there is need for us to fear Him in all our ways.
“Also, leaders at all levels must respect and treat their subjects with sincerity of purpose.
“Take for example, these persistent killings going on in our society, of course it has its own consequences on the society and I will not be far from the truth that it is also responsible for the shortage of rainfall,” she noted.
As the residents and their leaders seek spiritual help to the rain drought menace, our correspondent through a telephone conversation spoke with an official of NiMET on the scientific interpretations of the sudden absence of rains in the state, but declined,
saying, “it is only the Director General of NiMET who can speak.”
Arewa PUNCH followed up with SMS and WhatsApp messages to the NiMET DG but he has yet to respond even three clear days after the messages were forwarded to him and, as at the time of going to press.
In the same manner, efforts to speak with an agronomist at the Federal University, Dutsinma, were unsuccessful due to the demise of one of the lecturers who was killed by terrorists, Tuesday.
One of his colleagues in the department simply excused Arewa PUNCH “from any official activities for now, as we are mourning the untimely death of one of our colleagues,” he pleaded.