As the 2023 general election fast approaches, religious leaders have been charged to preach peace and desist from partisan politics in order to achieve peaceful polls.
The Chief Imam of the Al-Habibiyyah Juma’at Mosque, Fuad Adeyemi, made the call at an Interfaith Peace Summit on 2023 Election, organised by Nigerian Television Authority NTA, in Collaboration with AL-Hababiyyah Islamic Society in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital.
Imam Adeyemi explained that religious leaders have critical roles to play in ensuring peace and unity in society.
“If we all claim to be descendants of Abraham in the bible and the Quran, then we have no business fighting one another. Ignorance is the driving force behind inter-religious disputes; whoever knows the history of Christianity and Islam would never see the other as an enemy” Imam Fuad stated.
Representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria and Archbishop of the African Church Province of Abuja, Dr Peter Ogunmuyinwa, tasked Nigerians to give their mandate to the candidates that focus on issues rather than religious sentiment.
“Every candidate must be seen as brothers and sisters when selecting leaders as good leadership has no tribe or religion. A candidate’s religion should not be the basis for voting for such a candidate as poverty has no friends and bad leadership affects the general public,” Ogunmuyiwa said.
He urged the electorate to be wise and make wise choices that would promote peace in Nigeria as the country cannot afford a religious war.
In the same vein, Juma’atu Nasrul Islam and Imam of the Central Mosque Abuja, Dr. Muhammad Kabir, emphasised the need of ensuring peaceful conduct of the forthcoming general election in Nigeria.
Speaking on peaceful coexistence, Imam Kabir said “Allah in his infinite wisdom created humans of different races and tribes so they will live harmoniously” adding that “if all humans are from one source regardless of their differences, they must live in diversity together peacefully”.
Earlier, the Executive Director Programme of the Nigeria Television Authority and one of the organizers of the event, Mr. Wole Coker, affirmed that the two major religions, Islam and Christianity need not be at loggerheads with each other but rather complement one another.
He attributed religious riots to a lack of trust between both religions and stated that under no circumstance should Nigerians be divided by their religious differences adding that “whatever choices we make during this 2023 general election will live with us for the rest of our lives”.
Improved System
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s Deputy Director in charge of Electoral operation in the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Ishaq Aliyu, said the Commission has improved the system and process of election in preparation for the 2023 general election in Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerians need to maintain peace and order, in order to experience free, fair and credible polls in the forthcoming general election.
“We are also going to train security personals to monitor the conducts of elocutions, we are for peaceful election.”
“INEC as a body cannot conduct a peaceful election in an atmosphere where there is violence”
“And within the content of this we are also improving our system and process of election and so far we going to use two things that will make the process transparent. We are going to use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS as we have done in some off season election in Ekiti, Osun, Anambra and the FCT, also we have introduceD what we call the INEC result viewing centre” he added.
Also Speaking, the representative of the inspector-general of police, Mr. Usman Alkali-Baba, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Onaghise Osayande stated the Nigeria police force is charged and geared towards the general in the country.
Osayande assured citizens of water-tight security, noting that steps have also been taken to curtail vote buying and electoral violence.
He also added that the Force is in synergy with other security agencies to ensure a peaceful election and called on political parties to clearly identify their party agents during the elections.
The Interfaith peace summit is aimed at bringing diverse people to the discussion table on issues threatening the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general election.
“Police are charged towards a peaceful election in the sense of training our men. The Inspector General of police has put in place so many things in order to train over ten thousand police men to have a robust straight and work force and to maintain a peaceful election. Apart from that we have also put in place some techniques so that crimes can be controlled before, during and after the election,” ACP Osayande noted.
Earlier in his goodwill message, the Representative of the United State Embassy in Nigeria, Mr Jason Currier stated that the election in Nigeria is a big deal and all the organisers of the Peace Summit are doing a good job in fostering peace.
He re-emphasised that the US does not support any political party but supports a just and peaceful process that reflects the will of the people. He stated that a peaceful transition needs to happen and appreciated the efforts of the organisers of the programme for fostering interfaith peace.
The event, Themed “prosecuting peaceful election: the role of faith communities” is to also encourage politicians to stop politicizing religions to instigate tension in the society.
Nnenna.O
