Cardinal Oneiyekan, Muntazzar foundations advocate religious tolerance as panacea to lingering crisis


From Abubakar Sadiq, Zaria 

Cardinal Onayeikan foundation for peace and Muntazzar foundation have advocated for religious tolerance and peaceful coexistence as panacea to lingering crisis among the society.

The Convener of a 2-day seminar on interfaith peace building jointly organized by the two foundations in Zaria, Dr. Sajjad Abubakar Nasir said no society can live together peacefully without respecting each other's religious belief and faith.

The seminar with the theme: Fostering Peaceful co-existence in Religious Diversity in Zazzau Emirate held at Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria.

The Convener said the seminar was aimed at fostering unity, understanding and tolerance among people from different background, ethnicity, culture, tradition and religious affiliation.

"It also requires participants to fully implement practical peace projects in their various communities for peace and unity.

"The project in Zaria is specifically intended to address religious and ethnic divisions by assembling participants from Christian, Muslim (Sunni and Shi'i), and other diverse backgrounds." He stated.

He noted that "most of the crisis bedeviling our society were artificially and politically motivated to create unnecessary divisions for self-centered interest.

Dr. Sajjad Nasir who is also the chairman of the Muntazzar foundation urged participants to step down what they learnt from the seminar by propagating the gospel of peace and unity among their community for the overall development of the larger society.

In his remarks, An ambassador of Cardinal Oneiyekan Foundation for Peace, representing Selfie foundation, Bashir Yahaya said the collaborative project was aimed at ensuring that the fellows, (The eight cohort) were able to successfully implement the context of peace awareness in their area.

"And Dr.Sajjad has no doubt been able to perform creditably well by assembling renowned facilators and experts in various fields of peace building, conflict management and mediation as well as specialists from various faiths that clearly deficts the theme of the seminar." Yahaya noted.

In his presentation, Mr. Samson Auta of the Interfaith Mediation Centre, Kaduna attributed two reasons to the challenges faced by the society towards achieving peace.

Auta blamed some religious leaders for not leaving up to expectations in discharging their responsibilities according to the dictate of their religion.

He also attributed corruption as another factor hindering sustained peace as it denied people the opportunity to live their lives peaceful without engaging in acts prohibited by their religion.

In his paper presentation, Sheikh Muhammad Sani Isah, the Chief Imam of Waff road mosque forum, Kaduna tasked Muslims and Christians to strictly adhere to the good teachings of their religion by upholding the virtues of peaceful coexistence.

He warned against stereotyping and building a negative mind set between fellow humans where people feels their beliefs or religion is superior to one another.

Imam Isah observed that such misconception often causes mistrust and lack of cohesion among the society, urging for tolerance and mutual respect between people of different faith.

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