{"id":58854,"date":"2025-01-03T03:08:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T03:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=58854"},"modified":"2025-01-03T03:08:19","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T03:08:19","slug":"pilgrimage-is-a-sacred-journey-not-tourism-mahmoud-tells-fct-pilgrims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/01\/03\/pilgrimage-is-a-sacred-journey-not-tourism-mahmoud-tells-fct-pilgrims\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrimage is a Sacred Journey, Not Tourism, Mahmoud Tells FCT Pilgrims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Alexis Uchendu<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, has emphasized that Christian pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise aimed at deepening faith and promoting personal transformation, not a recreational activity.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during the pre-departure orientation for the 2023\/2024 pilgrimage, attended by 290 FCT pilgrims traveling to Israel and Jordan, Mahmoud described the journey as a sacred call to spiritual growth and responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPilgrimage is neither a jamboree nor tourism. It is a spiritual call to strengthen faith and attain a new level of spirituality and responsibility,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n<p>Mahmoud assured the pilgrims of the FCT Administration\u2019s support, highlighting the orientation\u2019s purpose in preparing them mentally and emotionally for the journey\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n<p>She urged them to pray for Nigeria\u2019s peace, progress, and leadership during their time in the Holy Lands.<\/p>\n<p>Commending the Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), under Bishop Stephen Adegbite, Mahmoud reaffirmed the FCT Administration\u2019s commitment to supporting faith-based initiatives that foster moral and spiritual growth.<\/p>\n<p>Gloria Dandam, Director of the FCT Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, described the pilgrimage as a chance to strengthen one\u2019s relationship with God while embracing values of peace, love, and hope.<\/p>\n<p>She assured pilgrims of expert guidance throughout the journey and thanked the FCT Administration, including Barrister Nyesom Wike and Dr. Mahmoud, for their unwavering support.<\/p>\n<p>The exercise underscores the FCT Administration\u2019s dedication to fostering spiritual and moral development through faith-based programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alexis Uchendu The Minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Mariya Mahmoud, has emphasized that Christian pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise aimed at deepening faith and promoting personal transformation, not a recreational activity. Speaking during the pre-departure orientation for the 2023\/2024 pilgrimage, attended by 290 FCT pilgrims traveling to Israel and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":58855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,1681],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-religion"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58856,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58854\/revisions\/58856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}