Top Muslim, Christian personalities and major stakeholders converged in Lagos for a 3-day Inter-Faith Parley, where they brainstormed on how to chart a new course for inter-religious harmony and peaceful coexistence.
The biggest gathering of religious leaders across the two major faiths which commenced on Wednesday, December 1 took place at the popular Intercontinental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event, tagged ‘Year 2021 Inter-Faith Parley’ was put together by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It afforded the Executive Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu the opportunity to intimate with religious leaders on government policies, programmes and other pressing issues, enabling information to cascade to the grassroots through the pulpits for better understanding, compliance and support.
Thursday, December 2 was the climax of the 3-day event, with the theme: ‘Achieving greater Lagos: Roles of religious leaders.’
It was attended by stakeholders from Ministries, Departments and Agencies cutting across Ministries of Youth and Social Development; Health/Primary Health Care Board; Transportation; Physical Planning and Urban Development, among others.
The essence of the parley – Gov. Sanwo-Olu
Declaring the event open, Deputy Governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat who represented Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu welcomed participants, thanked the religious communities for contributing “to our collective achievements in over two and a half years of our administration.”
According to him, “This meeting was originally planned to hold earlier than now, but for the disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was at its peak last year and the aftermath of the #EndSARS protest against police brutality”.
The essence of the parley theme, ‘Achieving Greater Lagos: Roles of Religious Bodies’, the Deputy Governor said, was for religious leaders to come together to rub minds on how we can move our dear state forward and roles our religious leaders continue to play to sustain the peaceful coexistence, religious harmony and tolerance among faithful in our state.
According to him, “We all know what is happening in our country. There is disharmony in the land. But with you, we can achieve harmony. One of the topics that I saw we will be talking about is ‘Disequilibrium in the Family’. The erosion of moral values in our country today is a source of concern to everyone and every government across all levels.”
The governor recalled how during the #EndSARS protests mayhem, youths killed policemen, roasted and ate their flesh.
He said, “We all knew what happened during the #EndSARS. What could have happened to us as a people when we all saw it on TV in Ibadan, a police officer was killed; roasted and people were eating it. In Lagos, a police officer’s left arm was cut off, roasted and people were eating it before curfew was declared. What has happened to us as a people that our lives are no longer important to us again.
“If you want to continue to enjoy peace and security in our state and of course in our country, it is pertinent that we begin to pay close attention to our children and young generation; to ensure that they are not being misled into towing the wrong path,” he stated.
Youths should be shown more love and understanding – Prince Elegushi
In his welcome address, the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofiu Elegushi, said that the bitter experience of the #EndSARS protest greatly queried the roles of the parents and religious leaders.
Elegushi said that it was expected that the gathering addressed issues dealing with character formation and moulding, the need for moral uprightness and the fear of God.
He said that at a time like this, youths should be shown more love and understanding; they should be carried along and assisted in all areas, bearing in mind that, the temptations and peer pressure influence are very overwhelming for the younger generation.
The commissioner said through the gathering, the government expected a more robust relationship that must consolidate on the gains of the relative peace and harmonious co-existence.
He called religious leaders to continue to close ranks and check the excesses of exuberant preachers, who found it convenient to create enmity among the people.
“Our weekly sermons on unity, peace and love must resonate on a weekly basis while obedience to rule of law and commitment to our Lagos project must remain sacrosanct.
“Issues of state importance should be accorded priorities in the teachings that we reel out regularly.
“The essence of our gathering is to ensure that our religious bodies will be more organised and decisions taken by government will be cascaded from one community to the other, particularly in our Local Governments and Local Council Development Areas.
“This is because we have discovered that information and decisions from government are barely heard on pulpits. Wwme therefore believe that this partnership will enrich and assist governance in the state at all levels,” Elegushi said.
Religious leaders must be the guide of the State – Rev. Babarinde
Speaking on the theme from the Christian perspective, the National Director, Fishermen Maximum Output Ministries/National Director, Education, Dialogue & Value System Initiatives, Rev. Dr. Kehinde Babarinde, said religious leaders must be the guide and critics of the state and not its tool.
“If the religious body does not reclaim its prophetic zeal,” Babarinde stated, “it will become an inconsequential social club with no moral or spiritual authority.”
He urged clergies to synergise with both Non-Governmental Organisations and tg state government to look for a way of rehabilitating the miscreants in Lagos and work out plans for the restoration of the state’s value system.
“The time has come for synergy with Lagos State Government in conducting an empirical evaluation of the impact of miscreants in Lagos. We must equally look for a way of rehabilitating street boys and girls. Lastly, we must work out plans for the restoration of our value system,” he added.
Babarinde also expressed concerns over the economic situation and the increasing propensity to faithlessness in the Nigerian project, saying that sustaining a peaceful and harmonious relationship and remaining united to build democracy is a task for every well-meaning Lagosian in particular; and Nigerians in general.
There can be no greatness without peace – Dr. Ahmad
Commenting about the components of a greater Lagos from the Islamic perspective, Dr. Sa’eed Ahmad, Head of Surgery (Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos) grouped them into four, namely peace and stability, social justice, collective prosperity, and intellectual excellence and responsible philosophy.
According to him, peace and stability form the pivot of whatever greatness anyone wants to pursue. There can be no greatness with the economic, intellectual, moral and other facets that can be achieved or built when there is no peace.
“On social responsibility, there must be social justice, inequity and institutional efficiency, there must be law and order. You can’t think of greatness for any country or city where there are separate sets of laws and regulations or separate levels of enforcement. There can’t be a separate law; for instance, for private car owners and Okada or Marwa owners, etc in a state that is aspiring to be great.
“Greatness must be achieved in terms of collective prosperity. Material prosperity within the ambit of the legal framework is the right of every citizen in a great city. There must be a system that will guarantee material prosperity for those who will legally pursue it,” he explained.
The medical expert called on religious leaders to stop the hypocrisy, saying that they should not only preach, but put into practice what their holy books say.
“Both religions preach peace. When we are together at a gathering, we try to justify it, by quoting verses relating to our religions as peaceful and loving religions. But when we go back to our congregations, we would start preaching hate, inciting our followers against members of other faiths. Sadly, we have attached criminality to some colours, languages, regions, and to some appearances such that our children begin to give them bigger meanings. We need to stop this hypocrisy.
Other contributors
Jaw-jaw is better than war-war – CAN Chairman
Bishop Adegbite noted that it shows responsibility on the part of the government organising the inter-faith parley because the relative peace enjoyed in Lagos State may be strengthened.
“We just jaw-jaw rather than war-war. Last week, Sheik Ahmad was in my church and we had a wonderful time together. So, as long as we continue to live together, we must discuss and resolve whatever is arising from any gathering in the society. We pray for a better Lagos. We are in Christmas. Let there be peace in Lagos. Let there be peace in Nigeria and let there be peace for all of us.”
The Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Lagos State, Bishop Adegbite lauded the Lagos State government for coming up with the programme, saying, “It’s very important to have this kind of gathering going by the level of insecurity in the country. You’ll agree with me that virtually every state is not safe anymore. There’s insecurity in every part of our nation except Lagos, for now.
“But that relative peace we are enjoying in Lagos has to continue. And we must strengthen it. That’s why we are not taking anything for granted in Lagos. We have asked religious leaders to come together for a parley with Mr Governor, who was physically present with us yesterday (Wednesday, Day 1) and we had a wonderful time together.
“So, today, we are meeting again and we are not leaving here until tomorrow, Friday. The government organised this and that shows responsibility on the part of the Governor and his cabinet, and the Ministry of Home Affairs that manages religion in Lagos State,” he stated.
*According to him, “We just jaw-jaw rather than war-war. Last week, Sheikh Ahmad (of Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria) was in my Church and had a wonderful time together.* So, as long as we continue to live together, we must discuss and resolve whatever is arising from any gathering in the society. We must agree. We must meet. We must discuss and we must tolerate one another. If we don’t do that, then we are wasting our time. But the moment we can do all these, it shall be well with our nation.”
Our expectations from the government – National Missioner, Ansar-Ud-Deen
In his contribution, Sheikh Ahmad spoke on the significance of Inter-faith dialogue, saying that it’s Allah’s design that mankind is pluralistic.
According to him, “for as long as the world remains, there will probably be Muslims, Christians and those who do not even believe in God. “You know, at some other levels, we need to relate. We need to find commonalities between us and work on that basis. We need to understand the differences between us so that we will be able to respect one another and create harmony.”
The National Missioner of Ansar-Ud-Deen, one of Nigeria’s foremost Islamic organisations, called on the government to urgently address the hunger in the land, adding that prices of basic commodities are swelling by the day.
According to him, “People are out of jobs. They are hungry; they are angry. Every day brings its challenges. Government must also be sensitive to this. Moreso, this is not the time to further increase the economic burden on the people. They are already burdened.
“In fact, they are overburdened. An increase in prices of government services, necessities will only add more to the frustration and suffering of the masses. These are some of our expectations from the government and they are very basic indeed. Fix the roads, fix security, don’t increase prices, especially foodstuff and basic amenities, address the escalating tension in the land.”
He called on the government to make themselves accessible to the masses and provide security and economic development that will make life easy for them to live
“We expect the government to be accessible to the people. They should open helpline desks and so on so that people may be able to talk to them and they’ll take action in addition to what they are already doing.” (READ MORE HERE)
Moral censorship, bedrock of sane society – Prof Akintola
Prof. Ishaq Akintola of the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), during panel discussions that had representatives from both religions, said censoring flamboyant lifestyles was necessary to forestall social baits that made such styles trend.
He said that if peoples’ sources of wealth and excessive spending were censored, probity would be entrenched.
Akintola said that the bedrock for a sane society should begin with moral censorship.
“Our youths are emulating what they see the older generations do and internalise such societal deformity with ease.
“By the time the society de-emphasises excessive lifestyles or at most begins to reject donations from such characters, then will youths be humane and tow the line of due diligence in their quest for wealth,’’ he said.
Hijab assaults occur due to ignorance, misinformation – HRAI
One of the panelists, Hajiah Mutiat Orolu-Balogun, Director of Hijab Rights Advocacy Initiatives, stated that many cases of assault and molestation against Muslim women in Hijab occur largely due to ignorance and misinformation, adding that Inter-faith gathering serves as an avenue to address it.
Speaking with Muslim News, Barrister Orolu-Balogun noted that there is a need for Nigerians, irrespective of religion and tribe to accommodate one another and understand individual religious differences.
According to her, “If you understand the faith of your neighbours and why they take stance on particular things, you can relate with them better. That is why Inter-faith dialogue is very important. We can only hope that it is not just going to be talk without action. We expect the Ministry and government to take it, by having, probably smaller groups where people can engage more on those issues that constantly come up in the society and bring out practical ways in which they can be solved.”
Hajiah Orolu-Balogun, whose organisation champions Hijab advocacy in Nigeria, said, “Virtually every day, there are reports of discrimination against Muslim women and Muslim girls at both private and government establishments, especially public schools. So, when we have these discussions with the government, they can bring out their perspective on why those things happen and we are also able to bring out our perspective on why discrimination should not be tolerated. We can always meet in the middle by putting all those things in place to fulfill what the government wants to achieve and let the people’s rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion be protected and upheld.”
– Additional information from NAN
