By Nasir Dambatta
On Monday, October 5th in Kaduna, something rare happened. A Sheikh, a Reverend, a Professor, Defence Minister and a Monarch – Ambassador Nuhu Bamalli, stood on the same podium at the Government House Banquet Hall and said the same thing: Kaduna’s peace is real, and inclusion is the reason.
In a state once defined by recurring ethno-religious tensions, that consensus matters more than any political endorsement. When the pulpit and the minaret agree, it is no longer politics. It is validation.
The occasion was the Special Interfaith Dialogue organised by the Kaduna State Bureau of Interfaith with a deliberate theme: “An Overview of the Impactful Three Years of Peaceful Co-Existence and Inclusivity in Kaduna State; Unveiling the Secret.” What was unveiled was not a strategy document. It was a lived experience shared by leaders who have spent decades watching Kaduna burn.
Governor Uba Sani himself provided the context. “When we came into office, we inherited a state that was highly toxic and divided. As a Governor, he devised a workable peace model. “Our model is very simple. It does not need any study. It is about justice. It is about bringing everyone to the table.” It is a model he said he swore to on May 29, 2023, when he took his oath on the Glorious Qur’an to govern fairly irrespective of ethnic or religious affiliation. The result, he noted, is that Kaduna has not recorded any ethno-religious crisis in three and a half years.
That claim found powerful validation from the Christian community. Rev. Caleb Ma’aji, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State, did not speak in abstract terms. He spoke about roads. Three specific roads he requested at the 2024 Christmas Carol — Nasarawa-UNTL-First Bank, PAN Drive-Television Garage-Sabon Tasha, and Romi-Karatudu — two have been completed, one is nearing completion. He spoke about pilgrimage. For years, Christian pilgrimage to Jordan and Jerusalem had stalled; last year, 50 Christians were sponsored. He spoke about representation, praising the choice of Jerry Adams, a Christian, as running mate as a clear departure from an old culture of exclusion.
From the Muslim community, the validation was equally direct. Both Sheikh Gumi, Prof. Khalid Aliyu, Secretary-General of Jama’atu Nasril Islam, described Governor Sani as a peacemaker, a progress that has since become the signature mark of the current administration in the State.
Perhaps the most striking statistics came from Sheikh Haliru Maraya, who contrasted the past with the present. In the previous years, he said, Kaduna recorded 4,876 lives lost, 7,694 kidnapped, 1,660 insecurity incidents, 534 schools closed and 500 hectares of farmland abandoned. Today, all 534 schools have been reopened, farmers have returned to the 500 hectares, and communities that once fled are rebuilding. These are a proof that inclusion has a human dividend.
Even the doubters have been converted. Bishop David Bakare, National Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, was disarmingly honest: “I didn’t vote for Sani in 2023… I didn’t know you… I didn’t believe in anything that you were going to do,” he confessed, before declaring that performance has now earned his support.
That is why the dialogue resonated beyond the walls of Government House. It was not simply a gathering to celebrate peace. It was an opportunity to reflect on how peace was built, why it has endured and what must be done to sustain it. And perhaps that is the real secret that was unveiled. Not the triumph of one man and not the victory of one political party.
Here is what it is: the growing acceptance that peace thrives when citizens feel included, when justice is visible and when development reaches communities without regard to faith, ethnicity or geography.
For many of the influential voices gathered at the dialogue — Muslim clerics, Christian leaders, traditional rulers, security chiefs – notably Minister of Defence – Major-General Chris Gwabin Musa and community stakeholders — those principles are precisely what they see reflected in Governor Uba Sani’s approach.
Whether history ultimately judges that approach a lasting model will depend on the years ahead. But on October 5th, one message rang out clearly from an unusual coalition that the State has rarely seen on one stage: Kaduna’s peace gains are real, inclusion matters and both are worth protecting.
For a state once symbolising some of Nigeria’s deepest fault lines, that is no small validation.