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National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari and Northern Islamic leaders to immediately initiate actions to build a united Nigeria.
It said a situation where Nigeria operated ” under a “divisive ideology that preaches one country, two systems,” did not promote harmony among the different religious faiths and their adherents in the country.
The NCEF advice came against the backdrop of the killing of 11 people on Christmas Day by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
According to reports, 13 men were shown in a video pleading for mercy but 10 were eventually beheaded and one shot dead. The remaining two were freed for aligning their faith with that of the ISWAP members.
Buhari on Saturday condemned the incident , describing the killers as ”godless, callous gang of mass murderers.”
He said he was “profoundly saddened and shocked by the death of innocent hostages in the hands of murderers that have given Islam a bad name through their atrocities.”
The President implored Nigerians not to, under any ”circumstance, let the terrorists divide us by turning Christians against Muslims because these barbaric killers don’t represent Islam and millions of other law-abiding Muslims around the world.”
But NCEF, in a statement by its President, Solomon Asemota (SAN), said while it agreed with Buhari that “we must not allow terrorists to cause acrimony between Christians and Muslims,” some policies of his administration cast doubts on them.
The forum canvassed the promotion of democracy by the Federal Government as a national ideology
It argued that doing this would, help in buiding a united Nigeria and in stemming the wave of terrorism visited on the citizenry by criminals under the guise of Islam.
The NCEF said “ the current distress in the country is caused by the conflict between democracy and sharia ideologies” and warned that “until democracy, as designed by the founding fathers becomes the national ideology, Nigeria will not know peace.”
The body also enjoined Buhari to immediately reorganise the nation’s security agencies as another key step to promoting a united Nigeria.
It said the control of the military agencies is not only at variance with the Federal Character Principle, it emboldens criminal elements to maim and kill innocent people.
On the comment by Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, that Christians in Nigeria were not being persecuted, the NCEF said: “Denying the obvious under the circumstances could hardly be described as a suitable solution to problems threatening the corporate existence of the country.
The Christian elders however implored President Buhari and the Sultan to, as Muslims and leaders of the Islamic Ummah, open dialogue with the rest of the country to resolve the problems caused by religious intolerance in Nigeria.
The elders said: “Already, some Muslim countries in the world are relaxing their erstwhile hard Islamic stance in order to operate meaningfully in modern multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic societies.
They mentioned Saudi Arabia which recently banned marriage of under 18 girls and the Sudanese government which apologized to Christians for their oppression, destruction of their temples; prosecution and confiscation of their church buildings as an examples.
The elders added: ”The Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of Sudan on Christmas Eve tweeted a photo with prominent activist Natalina Yacoub and said that he seeks to build a Sudan “that respects diversity and enables all Sudanese citizens to practice their faith in a safe and dignified environment.
They welcomed the visit of Shiite Muslims to three churches in Kaduna to rejoice with Christians celebrating the Christmas season and noted that Sudan celebrated Christmas for the first time in 10 years.
The forum said: ”All these are pointers to leaders of the Sunni Muslim Ummah in Nigeria that rigid Islamic intolerance is going out of fashion. It is time for Sunni Muslims in Nigeria, particularly in Northern Nigeria, to adjust to modern civilization and join to restructure the country for the peace, safety, and prosperity of all the citizens.
“ The conflict of ideologies must be dismantled. As we enter a new decade in a few days time, NCEF appeals to leaders of Sunni Islam in Nigeria to join all well -meaning citizens to build a country that “though tribe and tongue differ, in brotherhood we stand.”
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