The Chief Missioner of Nasrul-Lahi-l-Fatih Society, Imam Abdul-Azeez Onike, has called on Nigerians to shun religious differences and be united to fight against banditry, kidnapping and other social vices confronting the nation.
The cleric also urged Nigerians to imbibe the culture of mutual trust and sincerity for peaceful co-existence in their efforts to promote freedom of religion and belief.
In a statement made available to Saturday PUNCH, the cleric, who made this call while delivering his goodwill message to Nigerians on Thursday in commemoration of the 2022 Eid-ul-Adha festival, said, “The situation of accusation and counter-accusations of religious persecution and intolerance will not do the nation any good.”
The statement read in part, “As the people of faith, we are not expected to fan the ember of discord and heat up the polity by feeding our members and the outside world with distorted facts about the insecurity situations in the country, which evidently does not discriminate on the basis of religion or ethnicity.
“Both Muslims and Christians and their worship centres have fallen victims to the dastardly acts of haters of peace, and we all should work together to defeat the enemies of peace.
“We need peace, security, love and tranquility, our Noble Prophet Muhammad (SAW) says, “You will not enter paradise until you have faith and you will not have faith until you love each other. Shall I show you something that, if you did, you would love each other? Spread peace between yourselves.”
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