Leadership (Abuja)
18 August 2008
The Chairman of the Senate Committee of FCT Imams, Sheikh Tajuddeen Adigun, has suggested that the laws governing Islam and Christianity be incorporated into the country's constitution.
Adigun made the suggestion yesterday in Abuja at a one-day seminar on "Nigerian Constitutional Review: Imams' Perspective".
The Seminar was organised by the Committee of FCT Imams.
He said the inclusion of such laws would help reduce friction between adherents of the two religions as well as religious crises in the country.
Adigun also advised the religious leaders to teach their followers to learn to tolerate other Nigerians, adding that Nigerians should respect one another and see themselves as brothers and sisters.
"In addition, Moslems and Christians must be allowed to practise their religion as contained in their holy books," he said.
The chairman told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the only way Nigeria could develop and earn the respect of members of the international community, was for every one to join hands to develop the country.
"God has blessed Nigeria with abundant human and materials resources and all we need as a people is for each and everyone of us to contribute to move the country forward.
"Nigeria will not develop if we keep emphasising those things that divide us; we should emphasis those things that unite us and not dwell on our differences," he said.
Adigun blamed the country's problem on corruption and said that those engaged in it "do not belong to one particular religion or tribe".
"Similarly, those who are rich or poor do not belong to one particular religion or tribe, so our problem has nothing to do with religion or tribe."
"We will make progress as a nation, if we work together as other multi-religious and ethnic societies have done to move their countries forward," he added.
Adigun called on the Federal Government to strengthen EFCC and ICPC to enable them win the war against corruption and said that nobody should be treated as a sacred cow.
He also said that the only way to tackle the vices in the society was for parents and leaders to live by example. (NAN)
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Thank you mr. Adigun.You must equally know or be reminded that Nigeria is neither a christian/ west, nor a muslim/arab nation. The constitution of Nigeria should instead be packed full by the religious/philosophical ideologies emanating from Africa first and richly before beginning to even think of foreign influences that,s held us down for so long.Recapture the good aspects of our past in our constitution,that,s a better deal for us.Start cutting as much as possible these destructive foreign influences in our body politic and private lives.We have enough funds to build a factory to give people work but instead we go to build a church,attitudes must change.
Rafil, good points. Let me add that the 2 most essential religious provisions are in the Constitution and MUST be preserved as such:
1. There is NO STATE Religion and there should NOT be at any level of government;
2. EVERY Citizen is supposed to be guaranteed the FREEDOM to practice whatever religion s/he professes.
We dont need anymore than that. There is already too much abuse and too much influence of Religion in running the affairs of government in Nigeria and this has not only lost us money but also cost too many lives.
Religion is a personal thing which should only manifest in the conduct of its practitioners when they assume public offices. All of the virtues that organised religion teaches are unfortunately absent from the leaders that Nigeria has had the misfortune to endure till date.
Mr. Adigun needs to expatiate on what he means by "the laws governing Islam and Christianity".In any case, he should be reminded that freedom of worship is enshrined in the current constitution. Besides, no religion should be elevated above others. Therefore, if his call is accepted, then christianity and islam would have been elevated above indigenous religions. Furthermore, this would be a flagrant display of insensitivity to the feelings of atheists. Irrespective of our views, we must recognise the fact that there are atheists among us and they are entitiled to their own belief. As long as those who take laws into their hands, in the name of religion are not punished, no amount of changes in the constituion will stop religious intolerance. Laws that are not enforced are worthless.
I want to thank Alhaji Adigun for his effort to finding a solution to solving some of the issues that divides us as a nation, but he should not forget that Islamic faith and Christianity are also foreign to us as Africans. What has happened to the values of our fore-fathers who believed in equity and justice. Please we should go back to the roots and follow the basic rule of law and stop all these craze for western idealogies that has always failed us all in the name of democracy.
i don't understand your flagging my comment as abusive, what has happened to freedom of speech in Nigeria, i am only making a comment that will get people thinking and maybe we can learn something.
We are united as one country by the laws of the federation.Therefore we should be bound by the same laws irrespective of religious leaning.This is the only way to hold our unity as a nation.Islamic laws,or christian laws should have no place in our constitution because religion is a private,personal belief,and there are some who are niether muslims nor christians also.
Enough of all these! What is the need of such incorporation? Is it for social cohesion or religious tolerance? We should channel our energies on some more profitable things than to indulge in political point-scoring. Sharia law is already in practice in the north. In the southeast we are happy with the Nigerian constitution on that hot topic. Sheikh shpuld focus his attention on better things. Be it known that Nigeria is a secular state and should remain as such.