President Bola Tinubu has called for greater unity and community collaboration among Nigerians to address security challenges and promote lasting peace and development.
Tinubu, represented by the Deputy Senate President, Sen. Barau Jibrin, made the call on Tuesday at the International Conference on “Diversity and Social Peace: A Partnership for a Promising Future” in Abuja.
The conference was organised by the Muslim World League (MWL) in collaboration with Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) Nigeria.
Tinubu said the conference came at a critical time when the world is facing multifaceted security challenges.
He called on participants to use the conference to examine emerging security threats and share practical ideas for promoting lasting peace in Nigeria, Africa and the wider world.
“The government is determined to make sure that we remain united in our country; despite our little differences, we should work and remain in this country and allow Nigeria to remain as a united nation.
“The participants in this conference are also expected to take advantage of the internationality of this event to share diverse experiences that will further contribute to the ongoing debate on searching for viable options for restoring sustainable regional, continental and global peace.”
He commended the Muslim World League and JIBWIS Nigeria for choosing Nigeria to host the conference, expressing confidence that its outcomes would contribute to strengthening peace and security.
Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, said Nigeria does not lack solutions to its challenges but needed greater commitment to implement agreed decisions.
“We don’t lack the number of solutions to our problems; what we lack is implementation.
“The more we come together and discuss our issues, our problems, our solutions, the more united we become,” he said.
He urged religious leaders and stakeholders to deepen dialogue, strengthen mutual trust and identify common ground in addressing the country’s challenges.
The Sultan also called for stronger Christian-Muslim relations through the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), stressing that religious differences should not undermine national unity.
Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said Nigeria’s diversity should be regarded as a strength rather than a source of division.
Yilwatda, who spoke from personal experience of communal conflict and displacement, said religious differences should not undermine Nigerians’ shared humanity.
“Religious differences do not have to produce human distances and separation because of our beliefs; we may worship differently, but we suffer together, we dream together.
“We can build together, and ultimately, we can rise and fall together,” he said.
Yilwatda urged religious leaders to preach without hatred and truth without incitement, while calling on political leaders to resist exploiting religion and ethnicity for temporary political advantage.
“Let us preach faith without hatred, conviction without contempt and truth without incitement.
“To our political leaders, let us resist the temptation to exploit religion for ethnicity, for sentiments and for temporary political advantage.
“No political victory is worth the permanent damage inflicted on a nation,” he said.
He called on Nigerians to reject hate speech and protect vulnerable communities and places of worship regardless of religious or ethnic differences.
Rev. Fr. Cornelius Omonokhua, Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), said humanity remained the strongest bond among Nigerians in spite of religious differences.
He said religion should promote mercy, compassion and love rather than division.
“The essence of religion is mercy and compassion and this should be called love, not tolerance, because human life is sacred.
“We should never allow anybody to weaponize religion, ethnicity or poverty to turn us against each other,” Omonokhua said.
He said NIREC would continue to promote human dignity, common good and peaceful coexistence through collaboration between Christian and Muslim leaders.
Earlier, Sheikh Abdullahi Lau, National Chairman of JIBWIS, said government must sustain efforts to address insecurity while investing in education and economic empowerment for young people.
Lau said quality education and economic opportunities would reduce youths’ vulnerability to radicalisation and recruitment by criminal groups.
“Qualitative education for our youths, with emphasis on economic empowerment, will constitute one of the means of engaging our youths, which will remove them from vulnerability to radicalisation and recruitment into criminal groups.
“JIBWIS Nigeria and the World Muslim League will also provide a forum for regular dialogue between adherents of the two major religions in Nigeria to foster peaceful coexistence,” he said.
He also called on Nigerians to pray for peace and for the country’s leaders to be guided toward decisions that would promote development and stability.
The two-day conference, holding from Tuesday to Wednesday, is aimed at promoting tolerance, acceptance of diversity, interfaith dialogue and cooperation among religious, ethnic and civil society groups toward building social peace.
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