Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Jama’atul Nasir Islam (JNI) have signed a peace pact, pledging “to de-escalate religious tension” during the 2023 general elections. The “Declaration for a peaceful and secure Nigeria” is meant to ensure a peaceful and secure environment so that Nigerians could freely vote and be voted for. It was signed during the weekend in Washington D.C., United States, on the fringes of an International Religious Freedom Summit 2022.
Prof. Yusuf Usman represented the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, who is the President-General of Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) and CAN was represented by Rev. Samson Ayokunle, its immediate past president.The leaders of CAN and JNI assured they would “work together to avoid violence, embrace dialogue and remain committed to building resilient communities that are free from fear for Nigerians to be able to cast their votes for candidates of their choice in a conducive environment,” according to a statement by Rev. Ayokunle.
The two religious bodies also promised to embrace a vision of common humanity and speak publicly of hope for Nigeria’s peaceful and bright future by embracing each other as members of the same family. They acknowledged that “it is a difficult time in Nigeria, with an ever-escalating security crisis and an overwhelming loss of trust in the government, saying that “unfortunately, so much of the crisis in Nigeria has had a religious context leading to loss of lives and destruction of property in different parts of the country. This has drawn the country backward in all spheres of life.”
It noted, however, that “there are so many Muslims and Christians who abhor the ongoing violence and want to live in peace with their brethren of other faiths just as they have done for so long.” The statement said such patriots would “only build a stronger Nigeria that is able to tackle these urgent issues that are destroying the country such as lack of security, accountability, corruption, conflict between different peoples and faiths, hunger and the economic situation, if religious leaders determine together to truly lead their people.” According to the statement, that was why it was important for the Sultan and CAN to sign the ‘Declaration for a Peaceful and Secure Nigeria’, and to do so on the world stage of the desire of citizens to live in harmony irrespective of any different.
It said the declaration set out a number of principles that the religious bodies believed all Nigerians could readily affirm “as it states that all people are endowed by the Creator with inherent values and fundamental rights, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, culture, region, or the many other differences that often divide them and that the essential freedom and dignity of every person must be respected and protected for the sustenance of peace, unity, and development. Ayokunle said that the religious leaders pledged to demand that free and fair democratic elections should be conducted in peace and for the benefit of all Nigerians regardless of ethnicity, religion or geographical zone.
It is good to know that leaders of the two dominant religions in that do genuinely desire a peaceful and secure Nigeria and determined to work together towards that goal. Specifically, they want see peaceful, free and fair elections in 2023. Their avowal, if carried out sincerely, will go a long way to erase the notion that they are responsible for the tension, sometimes very violent, between Christians and Muslims.
It is also heartwarming that their starting point is the upcoming elections. Because of the high stakes involved and the tendency of politicians to use political platforms to fight for political office, the religious leaders, by declaring they would have none of this, have set in motion a tension cooling mechanism. However, in doing so they have their work cut out for them. They have to prove that their followers do, indeed, prefer spirituality to the bread and butter that politicians hold out to them.
