Religious leaders strategize to promote peaceful co-existence

Dr. James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa Co-Executive Directors of Interfaith Mediation Centre Kaduna State said in a communique issued at the end of monthly forum organized by the centre on Thursday in Kaduna, that government especially Federal Government must address the problem of insecurity in order to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.

Participants at the monthly Interfaith Mediation Centre on Peace lamented over what they described as Gross insecurity in the country especially on Kaduna -Abuja high way, Plateau and Nasarawa states within the month of November 2020.

They condemned the recent attack on the students of GSS Kankara in Katsina state and also observed that the attack was a serious blow to the western education, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria.

They attributed the escalation of insecurity in the country to committing of series of sins that repentance is paramount for God to put an end to insecurity in the country.

They described the Forum as a sign of coming back to live together like in recent years as brothers and sisters.

They called on authorities in the country to desist from taking side while punishing any law breaker in the society, stressing that no matter your influence, status or your faith you must be punished according to the law of the land.

According to them, “whatever we are doing we must first put Nigeria as our number one project “.

They urged the authorities in the country to ensure that Muslims are being taught CRK as well as Christian being IRK at schools so as to promote peaceful co-existence among the students.

The participants decried over the recent attack  on the group of northern youths by armed thugs at the Arewa House  Kaduna, describing the attack as unfortunate as the attack came at a time when issues of insecurity in the region were been discussed.

The group also lamented on the persistent farmers and headers conflict in some parts of the country.

They also decried over the continued skyrocketing of foodstuffs prices, which they noted within the period has hit to 200 percent.

They also complained that hate speech is still trending among some community in the country, especially on social media.

The group emphasized on the need of living together for peaceful co-existence, that there is need for people to leave together and shun segregation.

Malam Yusuf yakubu of Rigasha community lamented that Rigasa used to be a place where both Christians and Muslims live together in peace and harmony with one another even dining and wining together due to understanding and tolerance among them.

People were urged to desist from using their various religion negatively in order to promote chaos, mischief and evil in the society.

Some of the participants invited from different communities in Kaduna like Barnawa, Mando, Tudun Wada, Sabon Tasha Barakallahu also made their testimonies on the effect of living in a segregated communities.