Tinubu: No disagreement is worth tearing Nigeria apart
By Chris Steven
President Bola Tinubu says Nigerians should protect the unity of the country despite their religious, ethnic and political differences, noting that no disagreement is worth tearing Nigeria apart.
Tinubu, represented by Barau Jibrin, deputy senate president, spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at an international conference on security and national unity organised by Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah (JIBWIS) in collaboration with the Muslim World League.
The president said dialogue and cooperation remained essential to addressing Nigeria’s security challenges and sustaining peace.
He said his administration was committed to keeping the country united despite its differences.
“Not only that, the government is determined to make sure that we remain united as a country, despite our differences, whatever the differences may be,” Tinubu said.
“We should talk and remain in this country, and allow this country to remain a united nation, a united country.”
Tinubu described the conference as timely given the security challenges facing Nigeria and other parts of the world.
He expressed confidence that discussions at the event would contribute to efforts to promote peace in Nigeria, Africa and globally.
The president also commended the Muslim World League for partnering with JIBWIS and choosing Nigeria as the first country to host the conference.
‘VIOLENCE DOES NOT DISTINGUISH BETWEEN MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS’
Nentawe Yilwatda, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), cautioned political leaders against exploiting religious and ethnic sentiments for electoral gains.
Yilwatda said Nigeria’s diversity should be regarded as a strength rather than a source of division, arguing that political victories were not worth the lasting damage that inflammatory rhetoric could cause.
Reflecting on his experience as an internally displaced person (IDP0 during the Bauchi crisis, the APC chairman said violence affected people irrespective of their religious identity.
“When violence comes, it does not ask whether you are a Christian or a Muslim before it destroys either your home, or your humanity, or your dignity,” he said.
Yilwatda urged politicians to resist attempts to weaponise religion and ethnicity, while calling on religious leaders to use mosques and churches as platforms for peace, reconciliation and responsible citizenship.
He also urged religious leaders to preach faith without hatred and conviction without incitement, while appealing to traditional rulers to prioritise dialogue and reconciliation over retaliation.
NIREC WARNS AGAINST WEAPONISING RELIGION
Cornelius Omonokhua, executive secretary of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), also warned against using religion, ethnicity and poverty to divide Nigerians.
Omonokhua said humanity remained a common bond among Nigerians and noted that both Christianity and Islam upheld the sanctity of human life.
“We should never allow anybody to weaponise religion or ethnicity or poverty to turn us against each other,” he said.
Sa’ad Abubakar III, Sultan of Sokoto and co-chairman of NIREC, said Nigeria had solutions to its challenges but needed stronger commitment to implementing agreements reached at conferences and other platforms.
“We don’t lack solutions to our problems. What we lack is implementation,” the Sultan said.
He also appealed to Christians and Muslims to refrain from insulting one another as part of efforts to strengthen peaceful coexistence.
The conference was attended by Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, as well as ministers, governors, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other dignitaries.
The event culminated in the signing of the Abuja declaration, which seeks to strengthen cooperation between Muslim and Christian leaders and establish a peace-building mechanism to prevent religious tensions from escalating into violence in Nigeria and West Africa.