LAGOS — DISTURBED by recent violent ethno-religious crisis that led to loss of several lives and property in parts of the country, the Muslim Rights Congress, MURIC, yesterday held a seminar on religion and violence with a call on the Federal Government to hold religious leaders responsible for every religious violence.
MURIC, a Lagos-based human rights organisation which believes that the nation needs to take urgent steps to arrest the threat to human existence through the misapplication of religion, requested the federal and state governments to hold the Imams of mosques and pastors of churches in areas where religious uprising occurs in future responsible.
The two lecturers at the seminar, one Islamic scholar, Dr. Murziq Adeyemi of the Department of Political Science of the Lagos State University and Prophet Olurotimi Olulana of the Divine Messengers of Christ, Lagos stressed the need for Nigerians to always ignore self-serving politicians and adhere strictly to the basic tenets of their religion which is centred on love and peaceful co-existence.
Every speaker including the chairman of occasion, Chief Kola Animashaun and the Director of MURIC, Dr. Is-haq Akintola agreed that religion which is supposed to the beacon of love and harmony all over the world has become an instrument for destruction in Nigeria with the casualty figure already rising to an alarming proportion and unless something urgent is done mankind may destroy itself through the misapplication of religion.
They are all unanimous in their belief that the progenitors of the two predominant religions in Nigeria preached love and peace to every man and went ahead to pronounce blessing on those who promote peace and curse upon every man who promotes violence among neigbhours.
Animasaun, in his opening remarks, said the idea of the gathering was to propagate unity among all persons in Nigeria, stressing that it was not an occasion for debates “but to highlight our similarities and forge ahead for peaceful co-existence in the nation.”
“We fight among ourselves because we do not understand ourselves. We don’t know that we are all children of the same Father who descended from Abraham,” he said, arguing “if we all know that we are children of one God why do we fight ourselves over what is common to us both.”
Dr. Akintola submitted that there can hardly be any religious uprising anywhere without the knowledge or input of the religious leaders, adding that traditional rulers should also be made answerable particularly in cases of ethnic clashes.
According to him, “Nigerians have the inalienable right to live and work unimpeded and unmolested in any part of the federation.”
Dr. Olulana traced the source of religion to God Himself who has ordained both religions, saying “we must not fight one another for no just cause. He maintained that immoral practices in the world today will be a thing of the past if every man can show the love of God to his neighbour.
While Dr. Adeyemi in his lecture, spoke of three fundamental principles for mankind to peacefully live with one another, adding that the law of love of God is the foundation of worship stressing that the love you have for your neighbour will determine the way you love God.
He too will hold the government responsible for the crisis in the country, maintaining that the recent crisis in Plateau State which culminated to declaration of a state of emergency was an unfortunate development.
