From Aliyu Askira, Kano

The Kano Police Command has rolled out new security measures as Muslims in the state commence the Ramadan fast.

In a press release issued on Wednesday and signed by CSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, the Command stated that it had put in place robust security arrangements across Kano to ensure safety throughout the holy month.

Under the leadership of Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Adamu Bakori, the statement noted that the measures are in line with the directives of the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun.

The police advised residents to remain security-conscious, particularly during Tarawih prayers and other religious gatherings.

“In view of the increased influx of visitors, the Command advises the public to avoid carrying unnecessary items to Tarawih prayers, be vigilant and report suspicious activities to security agencies.

Obey traffic rules and regulations, ensure underage children are not operating vehicles or motorcycles, accompany children with adults throughout the fasting period, and avoid prohibited activities such as horse riding, unlawful gatherings, and use of fireworks,” the statement read.

The Command also warned against thuggery and related crimes during Ramadan.

“The Command warns that thuggery activities will not be tolerated during Ramadan. Perpetrators will face decisive action under the law,” it added.

It urged residents to cooperate with security agencies and report suspicious movements through the emergency number.

From Sylvia Udegbunam, Enugu

The Director of communications, Catholic diocese of Enugu Rev. Fr. Anthony Aneke, in his 2026 Ash Wednesday homily write up emphasized that lenten season is a period that God gives new hope, new beginnings, new possibilities to christians.

A period of another second chance.

In his homily, he pointed that it is a journey of repentance marked by intense prayer, fasting, almsgiving and other forms of charitable works.

“It is a special moment to grow in faith, hope and charity. In fact, it is a special moment God is giving you to have a fresh encounter with him. Don’t miss it. He is a God of new hopes, new beginnings and new possibilities. In fact, God has many second chances. The Lenten period is another second chance for you.

According to him, The Lenten period begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. When we exclude Sundays, that makes a total of forty days. The number forty is very symbolic. The earliest reference we have to a forty day preparation for Easter is in the canons of the Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325). One of the most expressions of its meaning however appears in the work of St. John Cassian in the fifth century.”

He describes Lent as “the tithes of the year”, because it is roughly a tenth of the days in a year. We give those days to the Lord as a special offering; and in doing so; we imitate his own fast, as he intended us to do. Cassian also notes the Old Testament models of Israel in the wilderness, of Moses and Elijah, who also underwent forty days fast.

The placing of ashes on our foreheads with the words, “dust you are and unto dust you shall return” or “repent and believe the gospel” is very remarkable. What does Ash mean for you on Ash Wednesday?

The bible tradition first speaks of ashes as a symbol of Mourning and repentance. We see this in the biblical stories of David, of Job, Esther, of Jonah and the Ninevites, of the prophets like Jeremiah. In each of these episodes, individuals acknowledge their nothingness before God and express their sorrows to God because of their sins and ask for forgiveness, making promises of repentance.

Again, ashes symbolizes our frailty and hence our mortality. This is the fact that we are not as strong as we think we are. We are not as powerful as we think we are. We are finite. We are limited. And such, we will certainly die one day.

Finally, Ashes symbolize our final destiny – Gen: 2:8. We come from Dust and we are going back to dust.

Do we really and wholly come from dust? No. Remember, God breathed into dust and man came to be. We are all breaths of an Immortal God. And that’s how we reflect his image and likeness. If this is true, then ashes represent just the vehicle of our material existence. It does not tell the full story of our nature. But it does point to a powerful God who by the very fact of his breath, we are immortal.

So the paradox is, ashes tell us about our nothingness and at the same time our somethingness. Ashes tell about our mortality and also about our immortality. But most importantly, Ashes tell about the all-powerful God who can turn “nothing” into something and something into nothing. It is this God who can turn these ashes again into a glorious resurrected body. That God is all final end. Our Immortality can end either in his grace or in disgrace. Only those who have identified with his grace will end his grace at the end. Ashes speaks of the hope of our immortality in his grace. Lent is a period of extravagant grace my dear brothers and sisters. Don’t miss it.

May the ashes on your forehead today incite your hope of genuine repentance and faith in his mercy. May these ashes remind you of your nothingness before God and your ‘somethingness’ with Him. May the ashes always remind you of the vanity of your mortality also and also the profundity of your immortality with Him”.

Readings Is.58.7-10, Psalm 112, 1Cor.2.1-5, Mt.5.13-6

The element light is very fundamental in both human and vegetative life. It is as a matter of fact important and crucial in the phenomenal world. To this end Plato in his ‘Timaeus’ see light as the origin of goodness, while the early Greek philosophers, Thales and Heraclitus considered it (fire) as part of the basic primal stuff of the cosmological order.

This means without light life will be challenging and dark. The presence of a physical light inspires confidence, disperses fear, builds hope and evokes assurance.

God through his word today invites you and me to be light to others. The opposite of not being light in the life of people would be darkness; be light not darkness to all you meet.

The first reading from Isaiah details how we could lighten the life of others. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless, then your light will be alive and shining, says the prophet.

In the second reading Paul offers another perspective to the call of being light to others. Eloquence without substance will not supply the needed energy of light to others, but an examplary life of humility and faith would. Light in the life of others could be served by actionable works of charity and a shared spiritual life.

The gospel makes deeper this invitation of being light to the lives of others. You are light of the world and salt of the earth, Christ said. This statement doesn’t only invite us to be light, it confers the identity of being light upon us. It is therefore not optional in the radiation of light in the lives of others, but it is sacrosanct. Failure to live out our identity is to be a disappointment to our Maker and redeemer. He who out of love shares his identity with us. Christ is the Light of the nations, Simeon declared, Mt.2.32. And we are joined to Christ in spirit and body, 1Cor.6.17.

Exemplifying his life in this regard, Christ the Light of the nations fed the hungry, attended to the sick, comforted the discomforted. His attitudinal light based life is referenced, he went about doing good healing the sick and all how were yoked, Act.10.38.

To this end, the Church hands on a burning candle light to those receiving baptism with the words, “receive the light of Christ”, and keep it burning, he adds.

To preserve and keep the light burning is as important as the light itself. The metaphor of ‘salt” in the gospel applies here. Salt preserves, so our light should endure by our preservation of it for eternity, and our light living life should preserve the world from the corruption of sin.

Our world today is being wrestled by sins of avarice, selfishness, killing, ignorance, cyber bullying, and the likes. As a result many are homeless, mourning, out of school, emotionally traumatized and depressed. Your life of light can lighten a life out there, it can save a life which is on the brink of giving up. Your simple sincerity in the office will go a long way to light up the other’s life. Assist the homeless, your “pro bono publico” service can give one light to live.

When we don’t share the light we are with others, we make our world a dark place.

Psalm for prayer; 27, 73,120