How to solve Nigeria’s religious crises –Tony Blair

Tension, politically motivated, says Jonathan

Former Prime Minister of Britain, Tony Blair, has declared that Nigeria’s incessant religious crises will end only if the nation’s politicians are ready to be leaders rather than politicians. Blair made the declaration yesterday in Abuja after President Goodluck Jonathan said that some of the religious tension in the country were politically motivated.
Speaking at the launching of a Faith Foundationled programme to encourage religious reconciliation between Christians and Muslims organised by the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, Jonathan noted that young people in the country were being seduced by false prophets and led into the path of violence and hatred.
He advised religious leaders to ensure that religion was not misused or abused to justify violence. Although Jonathan was in Pakistan yesterday, he spoke through the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Annan Pepple. In a brief remark read on behalf of Jonathan by Pepple, the president said: “Inter –religious dialogue is already playing an important role in our society.
The Federal Government continues to promote religious harmony by constantly engaging the Nigerian Inter-Religious Council, jointly chaired by the President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Sultan of Sokoto. “While progress on this front is satisfactory, it must be pointed out that some of the religious tensions in the country are politically motivated. “We must now use both platforms to call on all believers to reject religiously anchored violence, advance tolerance, and promote mutual understanding.”
The president also emphasises the imperatives of dialogue as part of efforts to create peace and advance development. Founder of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and former Prime Minister of Britain, Mr Tony Blair, said Nigerian politicians had to choose whether they wanted to be leaders or politicians. He pointed out that leadership was required to tackle the challenges fac-ing the country. He said, “My foundation and I are deeply committed to addressing the challenges of religious reconciliation in Nigeria.”
According to him, understanding and respecting different faiths is central to securing sustainable peace, particularly where those who seek to misuse religion for violent ends aim to destroy it.”
He said that the foundation would be working with the Archbishop of Canterbury Designate, Bishop Justin Welby, towards healing the rifts and divisions amongst faiths in Nigeria in order to bring unity and peaceful co-existence to the Nigerian people.
Also speaking at the event, the President of CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, while thanking Blair for the initiatives said that the solution to religious violence lay with Nigerians themselves. He said there was no alternative to dialogue to resolve the crises. He however, said that dialogue must be progressive with set objectives achievable within stipulated time.
He said that the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Saad and him had the understanding of what needed to be done but however said that the challenge was for them to pass the understanding to their followers. In his remarks, the Sultan of Sokoto called on Nigerians to embrace peace. He noted that those who engaged in religious violence were in the minority adding that majority of the Nigerian people were peaceloving and non-violent.
While expressing confidence in the ability of Nigerians to resolve the crisis in the country, he appealed to all Nigerians to choose peace. In his contribution, an Anglican Primate, Right Reverend Nicholas Okoh said that religion had become victim in the hands of political predators. He said that religion had been misused and abused by politicians adding that the greatest task before religious leaders was how to rescue religion from the hands of politicians.