President Bola Tinubu has urged Nigerians to preserve the unity of the country by embracing dialogue and refusing to allow their differences to undermine national cohesion.
Tinubu, represented by the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, made the call on Tuesday at the International Conference on Security and National Unity, organised by Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’ah Wa Iqamatus Sunnah in partnership with the Muslim World League.
The President said his administration remained committed to tackling the country’s security challenges while working with other nations to advance peace.
He said, “Not only that, the government is determined to make sure that we remain united as a country, despite our differences, whatever the differences may be. We should talk and remain in this country, and allow this country to remain a united nation, a united country.”
Tinubu described the conference as important amid the security challenges facing countries around the world, expressing optimism that discussions at the event would support efforts towards lasting peace across Nigeria, Africa and the wider world.
He also praised the Muslim World League for its partnership with JIBWIS and for selecting Nigeria as the first country to host the conference.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, warned political leaders against using religion and ethnicity as tools for gaining political advantage, noting that such tactics could worsen existing divisions and cause lasting harm to the nation.
Yilwatda said Nigeria’s religious and ethnic diversity should strengthen the country rather than become a source of conflict. He stressed that Nigerians, despite their differences, share a common humanity and destiny.
Recalling his experience as a displaced person during the Bauchi crisis, the APC chairman said violence affected people regardless of their religious identity.
“When violence comes, it does not ask whether you are a Christian or a Muslim before it destroys either your home, or your humanity, or your dignity,” he said.
According to him, his experience in an internally displaced persons’ camp demonstrated that Nigerians could practise different faiths while facing similar fears, hopes and aspirations.
“We may worship differently. Or we may suffer together. We dream together. We can build together. And ultimately, we can rise and fall together,” Yilwatda said.
He appealed to politicians to avoid manipulating religious and ethnic sentiments for short-term political benefits, warning that such actions could leave the country with consequences that outlast political victories.
“To our political leaders, let us resist the temptation to exploit religion or ethnicity for sentiments, and sentiments for temporary political advantage.
No political victory is worth the permanent damage inflicted on our nation, and we’ve been seeing it every day,” he said.
Yilwatda also called on religious leaders to make places of worship centres for peace, reconciliation and responsible citizenship.
“You as religious leaders, let our mosques and our churches become centres of peace, of reconciliation, and responsible citizenship,” he said.
He urged them to “preach faith without hatred, conviction without contempt, and truth without incitement,” while asking traditional rulers to promote dialogue and reconciliation instead of retaliation.
The APC chairman further urged political leaders, religious authorities, traditional institutions and citizens to jointly reject hate speech and defend vulnerable communities.
“We will not use religion to justify violence, and we will reject hate speeches where it comes from a pulpit, or a mosque, or the palace, or a political platform, or the keyboard of our social media,” he said.
He said Nigerians should work towards a society where people protect one another regardless of their religious or ethnic backgrounds.
“Not because we share the same faith or ethnicity, but because we share the same humanity.”
Yilwatda said the country must deliberately choose peace so that future generations would inherit functioning schools, secure homes and opportunities rather than displacement camps and memories of violence.
The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council also called on citizens to reject efforts to manipulate religion, ethnicity and poverty to create divisions.
The Executive Secretary of NIREC, Prof Cornelius Omonokhua, urged Christians and Muslims to promote compassion, mercy, love and respect for human dignity.
Omonokhua said, “No one is created a Christian, and no one is created a Muslim. We are created as human beings; hence what binds us together is humanity.”
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He maintained that neither Christianity nor Islam should be used to justify violence, stressing that both faiths recognise the sanctity of human life.
He added, “We should never allow anybody to weaponise religion or ethnicity or poverty to turn us against each other. May God give us security and may we continue to live in peace and harmony.”
The NIREC executive secretary said the council had continued to advance human dignity, the common good and the welfare of Nigerians through collaboration between Christians and Muslims.
Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto and Co-Chairman of NIREC, Sa’ad Abubakar III, said the major challenge facing Nigeria was not a shortage of solutions but the failure to implement agreements reached at conferences and other engagements.
“We don’t lack solutions to our problems. What we lack is implementation. How to implement whatever we agree to do,” the Sultan said.
He also appealed to Christians and Muslims to refrain from insulting each other as part of efforts to strengthen peaceful coexistence.
“Christians should stop insulting Muslims. Muslims should stop insulting Christians, and that’s how we live in peace.”
The conference featured the presence of the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Issa, who attended the event to witness the signing of the Abuja Declaration.
The declaration seeks to establish a new partnership between Muslim and Christian leaders and develop a peace-building framework aimed at helping Nigeria and West Africa prevent religious tensions from escalating into violence.
Al-Issa is recognised as a prominent advocate of moderate Islam and interfaith engagement. He is also the most senior Islamic figure to have visited Auschwitz and, during the papacy of Pope Francis, led one of the early agreements between an Islamic organisation and the Vatican.
Ministers, governors, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other dignitaries attended the conference.