Nentawe Yilwatda, the national chairperson for All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged religious leaders to make churches and mosques centres of peace, saying faith should promote human dignity, tolerance and peaceful coexistence rather than hatred and division.
The political party leader made the call on Tuesday at the opening of the international conference on security and national unity. The conference, organised by Jama’atu Izalatil Bidiah wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS Nigeria) in partnership with the Muslim World League, Saudi Arabia, is themed ‘Diversity and Social Peace: Partnership for a Promising Future.’
PREMIUM TIMES reports that the conference, which ends on Wednesday, brings together religious leaders from Muslim and Christian communities, as well as scholars and representatives from Saudi Arabia and other African countries.
Reflecting on his experience of religious diversity and communal violence, Mr Yilwatda urged religious leaders to use their influence to promote peaceful relations among Nigerians of different faiths.
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“Let us preach faith without hatred, conviction without contempt, and truth without incitement,” he said.
“We can preach truth without inciting people. That’s the whole way of teaching as a religious leader,” the APC national leader added.
Nigeria has been grappling with spiralling violence stemming from banditry, insurgency, communal clashes and farmers-herders crisis among others. Most of these conflicts are triggered along ethnic-religious lines.
Mr Yilwatda said religious differences should not undermine Nigerians’ shared humanity, arguing that faith must compel believers to protect the lives and dignity of people of other religions.
“Can we truly change the people of faith if our faith does not compel us to protect the life and dignity and freedom of those who worship differently from us?” he asked.
He added, “If your religion does not protect the dignity of all human life, then we are not acting in religion.”
The party leader said his understanding of peaceful coexistence was shaped by his childhood experience in Yola, Adamawa State, where his father, a pastor, maintained a close friendship with a Muslim leader.
He recalled that the two families visited one another and celebrated religious occasions together, saying the experience taught him that religious differences need not prevent people from building strong relationships.
He also recounted experiencing communal violence in Bauchi, saying his family lost its home and possessions during the crisis.
According to him, the experience demonstrated that violence carried out in the name of religion ultimately harms people regardless of their faith.
“Sometimes they commit it in the name of religion, but I don’t believe they spare anybody. Sometimes it’s committed in the name of tribal diversity. I believe it spares nobody. All of us are victims,” he said.
Mr Yilwatda said his experience of displacement also taught him that Nigerians have more in common than their religious differences suggest.
“We have different places of worship and different religions, but in that moment of suffering, none of these different places will protect anyone,” he said.
“We may worship differently, but we suffer together. We dream together. We can build together, and ultimately, we can rise and fall together.”
He called on political leaders to resist the temptation to exploit religion and ethnicity for political advantage, while urging traditional rulers to use their moral authority to promote dialogue and counter suspicion.
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He also urged Nigerians to be more careful about spreading claims capable of deepening religious and ethnic divisions.
The party leader said Nigeria should aspire to a society where people protect one another regardless of religious identity.
He urged Nigerians to build a country where children inherit schools, homes and opportunities rather than displacement camps and memories of violence.
He concluded by calling on Nigerians to choose peace over violence and work together to build a more united country.