By Samuel Akpan

Nentawe Yilwatda, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has urged religious leaders to promote peace and reconciliation rather than hatred and division.

Yilwatda spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the International Conference on National Security for Socio-economic Development, organised by Jama’atu Izalatil Bidiah wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS Nigeria) in collaboration with the Muslim World League of Saudi Arabia.

The APC national chairman said Nigeria’s religious, ethnic and cultural diversity should be regarded as a source of strength rather than a trigger for conflict and suspicion.

He said the country’s diversity was not an abstract concept but a reality that Nigerians encounter daily, noting that the nation’s different faiths, languages, cultures and traditions were bound by a shared history.

“I came here to this conversation not as a new person to diversity. I’ve experienced the painful part of diversity, and I’ve experienced the beautiful part of the same diversity,” he said.

Yilwatda recalled growing up in a community where his pastor father maintained a close relationship with the local chief imam.

According to him, the relationship between the two religious leaders transcended their differences in faith, with both families regularly visiting one another and celebrating religious festivities together.

He said the experience shaped his conviction that religious differences should not create “human distances and separation”, adding that people should not be treated differently because of their faith.

The APC chairman said his understanding of the devastating consequences of religious and communal conflict deepened when his father was transferred to Bauchi in 1991, where he witnessed a violent crisis that left communities devastated.

He said his family’s home and neighbourhood were burnt during the violence, while both Christians and Muslims lost their homes and were forced to seek refuge in military barracks.

Yilwatda said he subsequently became a displaced person and spent about three months at an internally displaced persons’ camp, where Christians and Muslims experienced the same fear, hunger and uncertainty.

The APC national chairman said the experience demonstrated that violence does not discriminate on the basis of religion, ethnicity or social status.

Yilwatda warned that Nigeria was facing a range of threats, including terrorism, banditry, armed conflicts, communal violence, ethnic suspicion, religious intolerance, hate speech and the manipulation of identity for political purposes.

He particularly criticised politicians who exploit religious and ethnic sentiments for political advantage, describing such tactics as temporary gains that could inflict lasting damage on the country.

“We weaponise religion. We weaponise division for political advantage. Temporary advantage, but it leaves permanent damage on our lives,” he said.

The APC chairman asked Nigerians to examine whether their religious convictions were genuinely strengthening their commitment to humanity.

He said religion should compel people to protect the dignity, freedom and lives of those who worship differently from them.

Yilwatda called on religious leaders to transform mosques and churches into centres of peace, reconciliation and responsible citizenship.

“Let us preach truth without hatred, conviction without contempt, and truth without incitement. We can preach truth without inciting people. That is the hallmark of teaching as a religious leader,” he said.

Yilwatda said the country should aspire to a society where Christians and Muslims protect one another and where Nigerians defend the dignity of fellow citizens irrespective of religious or ethnic differences.

Source: TheCable