By Abdullahi Yunusa
The only day one would ordinarily expect to see 
mammoth crowd at the National Mosque arena, is on Fridays, when Muslim faithful, irrespective of sects converge for the Jumaat prayers.
It is usually a beehive of activities on such days, as traders, beggars as well as Muslim preachers all go about their different activities before observing the two rakat prayers.
But with the Ramadan season here, Fridays are no longer the only days you would expect to see the huge presence of Muslim faithful around the mosque premises. It has become a place where faithful from different parts of the territory and even from some neighbouring towns in Nasarawa and Niger states, converge every evening to break their fast. Of course, such feeding of groups of the faithful is also done at other mosques or centres within and outside Abuja.
Approaching the National Mosque area, beginning from 4pm every evening, reminds one of a special camp, where people queue up for either food or medical items. Virtually everyone you set your eyes on, is carrying plates of different sizes and shapes in his hand, waiting to be served the free food.
They move in groups, comprising of children, women and men, all expecting to see what the next available car owner would bring out of his car boot. Some, who have mastered the art, don't even wait for the driver to open his boot, they go ahead to do that, but wait patiently for the owner to distribute whatever he had brought for them.
Investigations by Peoples Daily revealed that, most of these less privileged Nigerians, who converge at the National Mosque premises during the Ramadan season, come from different parts of the FCT and even from some suburbs in neighbouring Nasarawa and Niger states.
Suburbs like Nyanya, Karu, Gwagwalada, Lugbe, and Mabushi, all in the FCT, are some of the notable areas that these Nigerians come from daily. To them, it has become a tradition to make it to the mosque.
In a chat with Peoples Daily, Hajara Ismaila, a mother of two, who resides in Mabushi, said ever since her entire family relocated to Abuja in 2005, she has made it a tradition to always visit the mosque during Ramadan to join other faithful to break her fast.
Hajara who hinged her regular visit to the mosque during Ramadan on her family’s poor financial status, said they go there to seek for the assistance of other faithfuls who are willing to be of help to them.
She said the only time they can get the attention of well meaning Nigerians who are Muslims, is usually during the period which harps on caring for the less privileged.
On the stress they go through in a bid to lay their hands on items brought by public spirited individuals, she said with the presence of some mosque officials, who collect the items on their behalf for distribution, they don’t encounter much problems.
"We don't suffer much to get whatever anyone has brought for us. We have been told not to rush towards any in coming car at all; rather we should queue up as mosque officials take charge of the distribution,” she said.
Another regular visitor to the mosque, Shehu Danbaba, said Peoples Daily since his friend told him about the place last two years he has never missed going there every evening during Ramadan.
He said, "It was one of my friends (Surajo) who told me about this place. We are not beggars, we hawk recharge cards and sachet water, after we head for this place to break our fast".
According to him, converging at the mosque in the evening, affords them the opportunity of reuniting with other friends who reside in other parts of Abuja.
Surprisingly, some visitors to the mosque go with personal plates with which they queue up for food, but they will all end up combining their ration in a particular plate from where they eat together.
Commenting on the issue, Head of Administration, Abuja National Mosque, Malam Hussein Garba, said year in year out, they play host to thousands of Muslim faithful who go there to break their fast.
He said a greater percentage of those who go to the mosque are, mostly the less privileged ones, who are in search of what to break their fast with.
Garba who told Peoples Daily that since many of them have discovered that some well to do Muslim faithful usually supply food items, beverages and fruits during the Ramadan season, they hardly stay away from the mosque premises.
He said, as they increase in number, the mosque authorities now worked out modalities on how to ensure orderliness and guarantee security of lives and properties.
"When we realised that the number of those who come here to break their fast daily kept increasing, we now saw the need to beef up our security in collaboration with members of the Jama'atul Nasril Islam, JNI.
“Though some of them who come to the mosque are not beggars per se, among them are people of questionable character whom we are working hard to clampdown on,” he added.
Aside the criminal acts exhibited by some of these visitors to the mosque, the administrator also hinted that their cleaners work extra hours, as they daily clear waste generated after each day’s visit.
“Our cleaners work more these days; in short, to make sure that the entire environment remained cleaned daily, we have contracted the entire cleaning job to a competent private home cleaning out fit,” Garba said.
Unarguably, with Ramadan still on, the Abuja National Mosque will continue to wear its carnival-like ambience and play hosts to hundreds of Muslim faithfuls, who might want to partake in the large-heartedness of their fellow Muslim brothers and sisters.
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