Vice President Kashim Shettima has charged families and communities to promote the values of honesty, patience and compassion, saying it is at the home that these values are tested everyday.
According to him, while the family remains the oldest institution trusted by humanity, nations survive because families endure, and civilisations flourish because homes produce men and women of principle.
Shettima gave the charge on Saturday at the wedding reception of Aishatu Yusuf Buratai, daughter of former Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai (rtd), and her husband, Malam Umar Abba Zoru, at the Tukur and Tukur Farm, along Abuja/Keffi road, Nasarawa State.
The Vice President, who was special guest of honour at the event, noted that the home is measured by the kind of value it transfers from one generation to the other. .
“Our faith describes marriage as half of religion, and I have always understood why. It is at home that patience, honesty and mercy are tested daily, far from the applause of strangers. Today we celebrate Aishatu and Umar, and the families that raised them. Both households are known for service, discipline and restraint.
“Yet what makes a family great is not prominence or influence. The truest measure of a home is the value it transfers quietly from one generation to the next, a value that no lawyer can draft into a will and no hardship can erase,” he stated.
Shettima reminded the bride and groom that they live in an age that rewards visibility above virtue, teaching the young ones how to pursue success without training them to sustain a relationship.
He, however, stated that “marriage offers a rebellion against that emptiness,” just as he he observed that the marital union “teaches restraint in a season of excess, loyalty in a season of fleeting attachments, and, above all, responsibility, which is the price every meaningful love demands of us.”
A lasting marriage, the Vice President noted, “is built upon forgiveness, patience, friendship and the humility to choose each other again on the mornings when choosing is difficult.”
He pointed out that while affection alone cannot sustain a home, “beauty will change and fortunes may rise and fall, but character is what keeps two people standing beside each other when life tests their convictions.”
Shettima congratulated the couple and prayed for Allah’s blessings upon their union, urging them to build their home on the foundations of love, patience, and mutual understanding
He also commended their families for upholding values of unity, respect, and service to nation,
The colourful wedding reception also featured prayers, goodwill messages, cultural and Durbar display, and musical performances.
Deji Elumoye
