Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar and the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, have called on all religious faithful in Nigeria, irrespective of their beliefs, to come together in unity and promote inter-religious harmony and peaceful coexistence to achieve a greater Nigeria.
They made the call during an international conference on “Diversity and Social Peace: A Partnership for a Promising Future,” organised by the Muslim World League in Abuja.
Sultan commended the organisers of the conference for providing a platform for religious leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders to engage in meaningful discussions on diversity, peace and global security.
Abubakar recalled that the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) was established by Christian and Muslim leaders as a platform for dialogue and interaction towards peaceful coexistence, rather than as a government creation.
He urged Nigerians to stop insulting and demonising one another, stressing that all human beings were created equal by God and that no individual or group was inherently superior to another.
According to the Sultan, one of the major challenges confronting Nigeria is the absence of honesty and trust among citizens.
“We lack honesty and trust. We don’t trust ourselves, and that is where the problem is. Nobody is better than another person,” he said.
Yilwatda, who described diversity as a defining reality of Nigeria’s national existence, said the country’s different faith, ethnicities, languages, cultures and traditions should be transformed from potential sources of division into instruments of national strength and development.
He challenged Nigerians to look beyond religious and ethnic identities and recognise their shared humanity and common destiny.
The chairman stressed that the fundamental question confronting the country was not whether Christians and Muslims could live together, but “what kind of nation are we building by the way we live together?”
Yilwatda in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki, said from his personal experiences growing up in Yobe State and later witnessing communal conflicts in Plateau State, recalled the close friendship between his late father, a pastor, and the Chief Imam of Nguru.
According to him, the relationship between the two religious leaders demonstrated that religious differences should never become barriers to friendship, mutual respect and peaceful coexistence.