Lai Mohammed, minister of information and culture, says
ethnicity and religion are not to blame for Nigeria’s problems but the people.
Mohammed said this during the book presentation and 75th
birthday of Bamigboye Ogunbiyi, a renowned obstetrician and gynaecologist, on Saturday
in Abuja.
Unveiling the autobiography titled, “Ripples of Grace’’, the
minister said the country is only in its current challenges due to some people
who are trying to propagate enmity among people.
He said that the country was initially built on the mindset
of peaceful coexistence between the two major religions; Islam and
Christianity.
Mohammed also added that he was trained as a child to see
everyone as equals, irrespective of their religions and tribes.
“From the book, we learnt that the celebrant attended
Federal Government College (FGC), Keffi and that is why I am not surprised he
ended up marrying Justice Clara from Borno,” he said.
“In Keffi, we were taught at a very young age that this
country is one and the same and that religion, ethnicity and social status do
not matter but rather one’s academic prowess,’’
“This is a shining example of religious harmony and peaceful
co-existence that we know in Nigeria.
“For three years, a Church made its premises available free
of charge for the annual Ramadan lecture.
“This is contrary to the acrimony and mutual suspicion that
many religious leaders are promoting today.
“The lesson from this is that the religious disharmony that
is being propagated today by some religious leaders is avoidable, and that
adherents of the two major religions do not have to be enemies.
“I have been living
in GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, for almost 25 years and during annual Eid-el-Fitr and
Eid-el-Kabir, we, the Muslims always have our open prayers at Arch Bishop
Vining Memorial Church belonging to Anglican Communion.
“There was a particular year, Eid-el-Kabir fell on a Sunday
when the venue will also be used for the usual Christian service.
“With this development, we all agreed that we should come
very early to pray so as not to disrupt the church service.
“To our surprise, the management of Vining Memorial
Cathedral rescheduled their own Sunday service to noon after we would have left
the place.
“I have not seen better example of religious tolerance in
Nigeria,’’
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com