Muslims, Christians Must Work For Nigeria’s Unity – Cleric
An Islamic scholar, Ustadh Muhammad Jamiu Tirmidhi Akano, has advised the faithful of different religions in the country, especially Islam and Christianity, to concentrate on areas of similarities instead of dissimilarities to promote unity and peaceful co-existence.
Ustadh Akano gave the advice on Saturday while delivering 1442 AH (2021) Pre – Ramadan Lecture jointly organised by the FCT chapters of Organisation of Tadhamunul Muslimeen (OTM) and The Muslim Congress (TMC).
The scholar, who spoke on ‘Ramadan: The Month of Fostering Unity’, cautioned those championing the dismemberment of the country as adaptation to the challenges of separation would not be easy for all.
He foresaw failure with the current agitation to establish “Oduduwa Republic” and “Biafra Republic”, citing the case of North and South Sudan whose economies had been in jeopardy since they took the decision to secede.
The Chairman, Imam Committee of Experts, Zakat and Sadaqah Foundation, Lagos, said Islam trains its adherents to be peaceful and maintain unity among all men regardless of colour, culture, race, language and religion.
He said with unity and togetherness, Nigeria’s population would become an opportunity to grow the economy and continue to pose as a threat to enemies that might want to seek an incursion into our territories.
He said: “Islam preaches unity and peaceful co-existence among people. Allah (SWT), in His infinite Mercies, firmly establishes the five (5) pillars of Islam upon peace and unity among all and sundry indiscriminately.
“We should find beautiful ways and better means of resolving emanating grievances. Dialogue and table talk are much preferred.
“Government at all levels should have more respect for religion and its adherents (NSCIA, JNI, MUSWEN, NIREC and other bodies). They must all be up to the task of controlling their members.
“We should encourage good home training for the grown-up ones. The outlook of our society are representatives contributed by each family.”
He stressed the need to pursue good governance that will ensure equitable distribution services and national resources, withdrawal of licenses for weapon importation, disarmament of bandits and armed robbers, and grant of amnesty where and when necessary to the “deserving criminals”, and dealing “appropriately” with “ardent ones” who refused to comply.
The executive president or the concerned authority, he stressed, should take full control of weapons importation and firearms into the country.
The cleric, who underscored the need for total orientation of citizens called for the adoption of local languages as means of communication (lingua-franca).
“Our education system should make it mandatory that Hausa-Fulani learn Igbo and Yoruba language and vice versa,” he added.
