The National Chairman of the Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS), Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, has urged Nigerians to respect one another’s religions and work together to protect the country.
He said Muslims and Christians have equal stakes in Nigeria and should live peacefully despite their religious differences.
Bala Lau spoke on Friday at the Abuja international airport after the departure of the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Sheikh Dr Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, following the conclusion of a two-day international conference on diversity and social peace.
The conference, organised by JIBWIS in partnership with the Muslim World League, was themed, “Diversity and Social Peace: A Partnership for a Promising Future.”
According to Bala Lau, the conference was aimed at promoting peace, harmony and stability in Nigeria, West Africa and the wider African region.
He said diversity should not prevent Nigerians from pursuing the common goal of peaceful coexistence.
“Despite our diversity, we have our common goal. We have a common goal to ensure that we live in peace and harmony. You do your religion, I do my own religion. There is no compulsion in religion,” he said.
He added that neither Muslims nor Christians had the right to drive the other out of Nigeria, stressing that the country belonged to everyone.
“What do we do? We have to respect our religion. You respect my religion, I respect your religion. And we protect our country. The country belongs to us,” he said.
Bala Lau urged Nigerians to draw lessons from the example of Prophet Muhammad, who, he said, lived peacefully with people of other faiths in Medina.
He also said the communique issued at the conference would not be left on paper, disclosing that an implementation committee would be established to monitor its execution.
He said JIBWIS and the Muslim World League would jointly establish a forum to follow up on the commitments contained in the communique.
“We are religious leaders and spiritual leaders. We have to abide by what we say. We have to implement what we say so that people can copy from us,” he said.
Earlier, Sheikh Al-Issa warned against extremism and urged Nigerians to protect their shared humanity and reject attempts to use religion, ethnicity or poverty to divide the country.
He said diversity was part of God’s creation and that attempts to eliminate it through violence and conflict were bound to fail.
The conference ended with the signing of the “Abuja Declaration” by religious leaders representing different religions and sects across the region.
The declaration adopted a joint action plan involving government institutions, Muslim and Christian leaders and civil society organisations.
It also approved the expansion of academic, training and media programmes to address threats to peace, coexistence and social stability.
The declaration further provided for stronger partnerships in conflict prevention and the protection of Nigeria’s religious and ethnic diversity.
A coordinating body for religious and civic leaders and institutions in West Africa was also established to monitor implementation of the action plan and evaluate progress periodically.
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