Since the eruption of what was tagged ‘Sharia crisis’ in Kaduna State in the year 2000 and the closely followed ‘Miss World crisis’ in 2002, Christians and Muslims have been living with mutual suspicion.
The development did not only create tension, it also left residents of Kaduna to indirectly adopt segregated living, along religious lines.
The two crises have equally forced people to move their worship places away from where their fellow worshippers are in minority to where they have people of their faith in majority. Where such worship places were left behind, they had often served as the first targets during crises.
Mosques standing around the predominant Christian settlements of Sabo, Gonin Gora, Kakuri, Barnawa and the likes had often been razed during crises while churches around Tudun Wada, Tudun Nupawa and Ungwar Dosa suffer similar fates.
It is against this backdrop that the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Gospel Church Tudun Nupawa in Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna State last week donated assorted food stuffs to Muslims within its domain in the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan as part of efforts to foster peaceful religious coexistence.
The gesture is not the first peace move by the church. It recently gathered Imams and Village/Districts Heads from its predominant Muslim host community to fellowship with them.
The Imams were invited to the Sunday church service by the Senior Pastor of the Church, Reverend Yunusa Nmadu, not to change their faith but to worship with them and build love between Christians and Muslims.
The Muslim religious leaders and the traditional rulers were in the church from the beginning of the Sunday service at 9am till 12:30pm. Even though, they could not join in the reading of the Bible and rendition of hymns, some of them gave offerings to the church.
Speaking, during the special church service, Nmadu said even though the church had been burnt more than four times during crises, youths of the area once stood their ground and prevented the church from being burnt by hoodlums.
He explained: “That is why we thought we should return what has been done to us with love. We have done something similar during the Ramadan period.
“So, this is to cement the relationship between us and our neighbours because we believe we can live together in harmony, because we were all created in the image of God.
“We invited you Muslim religious leaders and traditional rulers to see what we are doing here and fellowship together with us so that we can show you the love of Jesus Christ.”
Responding, the Chief Imam of Salamat Central Mosque in Bachama area of Tudun Wada, Kaduna, Sheik Dahiru Adamu, said there was nothing as important as peace and peaceful co-existence in the world.
He added that any Muslim or Christian that hurts another human being due to religious differences lacks understanding.
According to him: “Prophet Muhammed taught us to love our neighbours, even if they are non-Muslims.
“The Prophet said if we see a non-Muslim that is thirsty and about to die of thirst, we should give him water, even if the only water we have left is the one we want to perform ablution with we should save the life of the non-Muslim and perform our ablution with sand.”
He urged Christians and Muslims to desist from spreading destructive rumour.
“We should desist from a situation where somebody will send us message that they have killed one Muslim in Zonkwa, then we too have to kill one Christian in Tudun Wada. That is tantamount to taking laws into our own hands.”
The Village Head of Tudun Nupawa, Dr. Yusuf Nadabo, said: “We have entered the church and worshipped with the congregation. It didn’t change anything about us and did not convert us to Christianity.”
He said gestures like invitation to the church were lacking in the past, which led to distrust among Muslims and Christians.
The church followed up with donation of assorted food stuffs to Muslims within its domain in the spirit of the holy month of Ramadan.
Items donated to the beneficiaries numbering 150 families drawn from the Panteka market union and Tudun Nupawa community included rice, beans, maize, noodles, sugar and eggs, among others.
Nmadu said: “The gesture by the church to provide food items to members of the host community during Ramadan is to demonstrate the Biblical injunction that we should love our neighbours as ourselves.
“Apart from that, we have also embarked on this to show the world that peace is possible and that we are all peace makers by demonstrating it in practical terms.”
Nmadu commended the reformation in the community, saying “Tudun-Wada/Tudun-Nupawa which used to be in the news for the wrong reasons has since begun on a new slate.”
Even though this community used to be a crisis-prone community, there has been a tremendous improvement over the years due to concerted efforts, guidance, counselling and proper leadership provided by the leaders and village heads.
One of the beneficiaries, the Sarkin Dutse, Alhaji Shaibu Balarebe, commended the magnanimity of the ECWA church by assisting his people during the Ramadan fast in the past two years.
Kadun State Governor, Mukhtar Yero, stressed the need for peaceful coexistence.
Yero, who was represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties, Dr. Yari Everton, urged all to shun all forms of social vices.
