Prof. Olanrewaju Olaniyan, vice‑chancellor of Emmanuel Alayande University of Education in Oyo Town, used the 2026 Eid‑el‑Kabir celebration to felicitate Muslim faithful and members of the university community and to call for prayers against the country’s worsening insecurity.
“Eid‑el‑Kabir festival is highly symbolic to Muslim faithful. It shows the special love of Almighty Allah to mankind as reflected in the replacement of Ishmail, Prophet Ibrahim’s son, with a ram for sacrifice,” Olaniyan said, tying the religious observance to a plea for peace. He added that the festival “shows the special love of Almighty Allah to mankind” and urged thanksgiving to God.
Olaniyan framed the holiday as both spiritual and practical. He asked members of the university to join his administration in repositioning the institution and to rededicate themselves to its growth, saying, “I urge our Islamic faithful to, in the spirit of the Eid‑el‑Kabir festival, join and pray for our administration as we jointly put the university on the right track. We cannot do it alone but with the support of the entire workforce of the university.”
He reiterated that collective effort would raise the university’s standing: “With our collective support, I am sure our institution shall set a good pace among other universities in the country. May Almighty Allah accept our celebrations as an act of ibadah during the Eid‑el‑Kabir.” Olaniyan also prayed for peace and development in Oyo State under Governor Seyi Makinde.
The vice‑chancellor’s appeal came on the same day President Bola Ahmed Tinubu addressed worshippers after Eid‑el‑Kabir prayers at Dodan Barracks in Lagos, using the occasion to press for national unity. Tinubu thanked God for the festival and urged Nigerians to reject the divisions that have strained public life, saying: “We thank Almighty Allah for making us witness another year of Eid‑el‑Kabir. We thank Him for His mercy, and we must learn from this season’s lessons, namely, showing love to one another. No discrimination, no ethnicity, no hatred; we should share love and be generous to one another in a way that reflects the values of our country and humanity.”
The president was joined at the prayer ground by a number of senior officials, including Babajide Sanwo‑Olu, Obafemi Hamzat, Babatunde Fashola, Rilwan Akiolu, Femi Gbajabiamila and Nuhu Ribadu, underscoring how the holiday remains a platform for political and civic leaders to make public appeals.
In Gombe, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya used Eid‑el‑Kabir prayers at the Central Eid Prayer Ground to urge calm ahead of the 2027 elections. “No meaningful political ambition or struggle for power can succeed in an atmosphere of rancour, division and intolerance,” he said, appealing to politicians and voters to embrace peaceful coexistence.
Context for these appeals is straightforward: Eid‑el‑Kabir is being used across the country as a moment for spiritual reflection and public appeals. At Emmanuel Alayande, Olaniyan tied that reflection to institutional needs — asking for prayers against insecurity while seeking manpower and moral support to reposition the university for academic excellence and national relevance.
The tension in the day’s messages is plain. Leaders asked for prayers and urged unity even as Olaniyan explicitly pointed to worsening insecurity and governors and the president looked ahead to a politically charged 2027. Those calls presume that moral appeals and public exhortations can translate into calmer politics and safer communities — a link the day’s ceremonies did not, and could not, guarantee.
What matters next is how those appeals are acted on. Olaniyan has asked the university community to back his administration’s reform efforts; nationwide, presidents and governors have called for tolerance and peace. If the practical steps that follow are as public as the prayers and speeches, the appeals may shape the run‑up to next year’s elections and the immediate security climate. If they remain words, the cycle of prayer and plea will have been, for now, the most visible response to deep and continuing anxieties.
