The Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has reiterated its commitment to the peace and unity of the country.
Imam Haroun Muhammad, NSCIA Deputy National Legal Adviser, said this in a statement in Abuja.
Muhammad said that all hands must be on deck towards ensuring that religious intolerance was not allowed to further worsen the country’s situation.
He called for patriotism from all well meaning Nigerians and foreign stakeholders in Project Nigeria to avoid acts capable of polarising the polity.
He said NSCIA recently observed refutations by many well-meaning Nigerians across religious divides and the National Assembly of the recent false allegation circulating on some international platforms and the social media.
He said the reports were that there was a systematic genocidal campaign against Christians in Nigeria.
The reports, he added, accused the Nigerian government of “facilitating the mass murder of Christians.”
He, however, said that Nigeria must not allow itself to fall into the hands of elements bent on mischief and retarding of the progress made so far by the Federal Government.
”These elements have resorted to engaging in activities that verge on treason to achieve material gains.
” They also exploit transactions in religious antipathy as easy pathways to global recognition and fame,” he said.
He recalled the many intrigues that played out during the buildup to the 2023 presidential election, adding that such scenarios should not be allowed in the coming elections in the country.
Muhammad said such persons failed miserably at the project to set Nigerians against one another while banking on external support.
After failing, he said they began seeking to delegitimise the government in power by venting lies, projecting persecution and victimhood to the global audience while being responsible for the insecurity in the land.
The cleric called on Nigerians to unite and rise above religious sentiments, adding that the negative acts of terrorists required collective efforts to be fought.
He said the Council was placing on record its decision to be quiet in the face of the attacks, innuendos and insults against Muslims in the country because of the need to protect the corporate existence of the nation.
He said that the Council was encouraged with the response of CAN Director of National Issues and Social Welfare.
He qouted the CAN official as saying that ” sometimes, our situation is being taken advantage of by groups who know what they benefit from foreign interests. ”
” Those foreign interests have a right to poke their nose into what’s going on in our system, but we also have a right to report things as they are.”
Muhammad called on Nigerians to note that ” when the terrorists open fire in a marketplace, the bullets do not differentiate nor spare a Christian or Muslim or even babies.”
He cautioned patriotic citizens to see the bigger picture because they “are meant to serve some inglorious purposes, including disproportionate dominance in the current political configuration.”
He said that the Federal Government had tried to dispel these misgivings when in May it asserted that 62 per cent of presidential appointees were Christians.
Muhammad stressed that many ordinary Nigerians would not gain from these deliberate misinformation and political interest by a few elements.
He, however, urged government at all levels to pay attention to policies and programmes that citizens perceive as against their religious and cultural beliefs in order to maintain peaceful coexistence and tolerance
