Abuja — President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, said his administration would continue to embrace inter-religious dialogue with a view to assuaging the mounting level of insecurity in the country, saying "it must be pointed out that some of the religious tensions in the country are politically motivated."
From left Bishop Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury Designate, the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Saa'ad Abubakar; Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Christian Association of Nigeria CAN Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor at the launching of Tony Blair Foundation Led-work in Nigeria to Encourage Reconciliation Between Christian and Muslims Communities in Abuja on November 22, 2012 AFP
Jonathan who made the declaration in a speech he presented at the official launch of a Faith Foundation-led Work in Nigeria, championed by the erstwhile British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair and the Archbishop of Cantebury, Bishop Justin Welby, in Abuja, yesterday, blamed the current security situation on the handiwork of "false prophets."
He said: "It is my pleasure to warmly welcome you all, honoured friends of Nigeria, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and Archbishop of Cantebury designate, Justin Welby, to Abuja for the launch of the Faith Foundation-led work to encourage religious harmony between Christian and Muslim communities in Nigeria.
"I commend you for this singular and timely joint initiative. The idea is not only creative, it is also consistent with our efforts to promote inter-religious dialogue and harmony.
"Our country,Nigeria, is blessed by the Almighty God with two of the world's great religions which honour Him in their different ways. For generations, the two religions have co-existed and their proponents have lived side by side, in peace and harmony, knowing that both religions espouse the universal values of peace, freedom, human rights, dignity, and the oneness of humanity.
False prophets
"Our young people can easily be seduced by false prophets who take them down the path of violence and hatred. It is very important that religion is neither misused nor abused to justify violence.
"Inter-religious dialogue is already playing an important role in our society. The Federal Government continues to promote religious harmony by constantly engaging the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, jointly chaired by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and the Sultan of Sokoto. While progress on this front is satisfactory, it must be pointed that some of the religious tensions in the country are politically motivated.
"We must now use both platforms to call on all believers to reject religiously anchored violence, advance tolerance, and promote mutual understanding. We must emphasize the imperatives of dialogue as part of our efforts to create peace and advance development."
Jonathan, who was represented by Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Ama Pepple.
Blair tasks politicians on integrity
Meantime, in his speech, Mr Blair tasked Nigerian politicians on integrity, saying there was need for them to really imbibe the true qualities of leaders and not just politicians.
He stressed that genuine leadership was what Nigerians needed to surmount the myriad of challenges bedevilling it.
He said: "My foundation and I are deeply committed to addressing the challenges of religious reconciliation in Nigeria."
According to him, understanding and respecting different faiths is central to securing sustainable peace, particularly where those who seek to misuse religion for violent ends aim to destroy it."
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That Nigeria is blessed with two of the world's great religions and that for generations the two religions have co-existed and their components have lived side by side in peace and harmony is but a blatant fallacy. Muslims don't live and let live.But they live and let die.Even in Mr.Tony Blair's native Britain,muslim immigrants,most of whom from the squalors of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan don't accept the values of their British hosts.Within Britain the muslims are running their own parallel Islamic Republic. Most former British Islamic Colonies refuse the membership of Bristish Commonwealth of Nations because it is headed by an infidel and a woman,Her Majesty the Queen of UK and of Commonwealth of Nations. Nigeria was still a colony when in 1922,1945 and 1955 the muslims went out their way to slaughter innocent Christian children,men and women for good measures. The pogrom against Christians,mostly ethnic Igbos in i966 led to a civil war,from 1967 t0 1970. Of late the Hausa/Fulani muslims have always looked for one excuse or the other to subject non-muslims to their usual acts of mass murder. Thousands of innocent Christians were massacred because of a caricature of Prophet Mohammed by Kurt Westergaard in far away Denmark.In 2002 over 2000 Cristians were slaughtered by the muslims because they dared protest the imposition of sharia on them.For over ten years now, there have been an incipient genocide and ethnic clean- sing of indigenous minority Christians by the Hausa/ Fulani muslims throughout Northern Nigeria. Given the current situation in the polity the call for a dialogue between Christians and muslims raises many questions.Is the dialogue going to be on the muslims' unilaterally declaring our country an Islamic one or on their imposition of sharia uṕon non-muslims?Are we going to have dialogue on their unprovoked current war of jihad on us? This permanent threat of the muslims against us Christians has hung over us like damoclean sword for decades.A dialogue with them will certainly be an excercise in futility since muslims are like leopards. Leopards don't ever change their spots.They want to make us muslims which is tantamount to taking a horse to the stream and try to make it to drink. No!The ultima ratio here is for us to go our separate ways like the Soviets or the Yugoslave.