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Buhari writes on religion, division for UK’s Church Times

President Muhammadu Buhari has written in UK’s Church Times seeking unity through religion, insisting that Christians and Muslims can flourish together.

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President Muhammadu Buhari receives Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
President Muhammadu Buhari receives Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
President Muhammadu Buhari receives Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby

President Muhammadu Buhari has extended hands of fellowship to those seeking to divide the country through religion, insisting that Christians and Muslims can flourish together.

He warned against the playing politics with religion.

“As our constitution codifies, politicising religion has no place in Nigeria; for it makes us turn away from one another; it makes us retreat into our communities and walk different paths.

“I believe that there is a better way. To those who seek to divide, I still hold my hand out in brotherhood and forgiveness.

“I ask only that they stop, and instead encourage us to turn towards one another in love and compassion. Nigeria belongs to all of us. This is what I believe.’’

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Buhari stated this in an opinion article which featured on Friday on Church Times, UK’s largest Anglican newspaper.

According to his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, President Buhari, in the article, referenced a Biblical verse and stressed that Christians and Muslims share the same root even though their beliefs differ.

In 1844, the Revd Samuel Ajayi Crowther returned home to Yoruba land (now part of modern-day Nigeria).

“Twenty years earlier, he had been kidnapped and sold to European slave traders who were bound for the Americas.

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He was freed by an abolitionist naval patrol, and received by the Church Missionary Society. There, he found his calling.

Crowther made his voyage home to establish the first Anglican mission in Yoruba land. He came with the first Bibles translated into Yoruba and Hausa languages.

He opened dialogue and discussion with those of other faiths. And his mission was a success: Crowther later became the first African Anglican bishop in Africa.

Archbishop Justin Welby presents a book titled ‘Reimagining Britain’ to President Muhammdu Buhari

Today, Nigeria has the largest Christian population on the continent. The messages and teachings of Christianity are part of the fabric of each person’s life.

“Along with the millions of Christians in Nigeria today, I believe in peace, tolerance, and reconciliation; in the institution of the family, the sanctity of marriage, and the honour of fidelity; in hope, compassion, and divine revelation”, President Buhari wrote.

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“Like Bishop Crowther, I am a descendant of Abraham; unlike him, I am a Muslim. I believe our two great religions can not only peacefully coexist but also flourish together.

“But Muslims and Christians must first turn to one another in compassion. For, as it says in Amos 3.3: “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?”

“As they are People of the Book, I believe that there is far more that unites Muslims and Christians than divides them. In fact, I believe that the messages of the Bible are universal: available for anyone to exercise, and instructive to all.

“We must resist the temptation to retreat into our communities, because, if we do, we can only look inwards. It is only when we mix that we can reach new and greater possibilities.

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“Whichever religion or religious denomination they choose to follow, Nigerians are devout. Anything that Nigerians believe will place impositions on their practice, and belief is therefore sure to cause widespread alarm.

“And, unfortunately, there are those who seek to divide Nigerians — and our two great religions — and to do so for their own advantage.

“I stand accused — paradoxically — of trying to Islamise Nigeria while also being accused by Boko Haram terrorists of being against Islam.

“My Vice-President is a devout man, a Christian pastor. He, too, is accused of selling out his religion, because of his support for me.

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“This is not the first time that I — nor, indeed, my Christian-Muslim evenly split cabinet — have been the subject of such nonsense. Fortunately, the facts speak differently from the words of those who seek to divide us from one another.

“Since my administration has been in power, Boko Haram has been significantly and fatally degraded; I have befriended church leaders and church groups both within and outside our country; my Vice-President has addressed and opened dialogue with Muslims up and down our land.

“In all things, we seek that which all well-meaning Christians and well-meaning Muslims must seek: to unite, respect, and never to divide. Does it not say.

READ: PDP rascality, Vanguard unprofessionalism and 2019 election

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“There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2.256)? Does it not say “Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us” (Luke 9.50)? This, surely, is the path that followers of both our two great religions must walk.

“UNFORTUNATELY, those who wish us all to walk apart have recently found another focus for their efforts: the tragic clashes between nomadic herdsmen and settled farmers in the central regions of Nigeria.

“For generations, herders have driven their cattle from the north to the centre of our country; they tend to be predominantly Muslim, although not exclusively. The farmers, in certain areas of central Nigeria, are predominantly Christian.

“The causes of this conflict are not religious or theological, but temporal. At the heart of this discord is access to rural land, exacerbated both by climate change and population growth.

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“Sadly, there are some who seek to play fast and loose and so make others believe that these are not the facts. When religion is claimed as the cause — and by those who know that it is not — it only makes finding a resolution more difficult.

“The government has taken action to mediate, to bring the two groups together in peace and unity. But we also need all parties to follow the teachings of the scriptures, and encourage reconciliation rather than cause division.

“As it is said: “Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” (Mark 8.18).

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. George Nwankpa

    December 3, 2018 at 1:55 pm

    Buhari is the most evil, vile, hypocritical being to ever rule this Nigeria:

    Buhari, bigot who does not want to be seen as Zealot – Reno Omokri
    ON DECEMBER 2, 2018

    Have you read Buhari’s Opinion Editorial in the Church Times of UK in which he accused his political opponents of politicising religion? If you have not, do yourself a favour and do not read it. The hypocrisy will make you want to march to Aso Rock and donate two slaps to Buhari’s face!

    It is just annoying, and certainly hypocritical, that a man who in 2003 said ‘Muslims should only vote for those who would uphold Islam’ is now writing an oped (can Buhari write?

    A consultant wrote it) asking Nigerians not to politicise religion. No man has politicised religion in Nigeria like Muhammadu Buhari!

    It is an insult for Buhari to claim in his consultant written oped that “Along with the millions of Christians in Nigeria today, I believe in peace, tolerance, and reconciliation”.

    This is a man that threatened to “soak” his political opponents in “blood”. I blame Church Times for giving him a platform to lie!

    This is a man who allowed his military kill at least 348 unarmed Shiite men, women, children and infants just because they blocked the road in Zaria.

    Has Church Times investigated Buhari? They should watch the YouTube video of soldiers shooting unarmed Shiites in Abuja. Buhari believes in blood, not any dirty peace!

    And Buhari had the guts to say “Muslims and Christians must first turn to one another in compassion.”

    What compassion did Buhari show his fellow Muslim Shiites? If Buhari cannot love a Shiite and has killed so many of them, is it a Christian he will love?

    Does Buhari think that we are all mentally lazy enough that he can get some highly paid consultants to throw some Biblical and Quranic verses at us and we will forget that his government told us that ‘giving land for ranching is better than death’? What a hypocrite!

    And the worst hypocrisy, the most blatant double standard, the most annoying sanctimonious words were when Buhari said “Whichever religion or religious denomination they choose to follow, Nigerians are devout. Anything that Nigerians believe will place impositions on their practice, and belief is therefore sure to cause widespread alarm.

    And, unfortunately, there are those who seek to divide Nigerians — and our two great religions — and to do so for their own advantage.”

    Really? Is Buhari not even ashamed to say this?

    This is a man who in 2001 said “I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria”.

    Not done, Buhari continued as follows “God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country”.

    And now this same odious fellow is now preaching against the politicisation of religion! Buhari did not just politicise religion, he weaponised it!

    And then Buhari lies to Church Times by saying “I stand accused — paradoxically — of trying to Islamise Nigeria while also being accused by Boko Haram terrorists of being against Islam.”

    Just that quote alone is proof to me that Muhammadu Buhari DID NOT write the article because the Buhari I know does not know the meaning of the word ‘paradoxically’!

    But on a serious note, I have never accused Buhari of trying to Islamise Nigeria, but it is a lie that Boko Haram accuses or accused him of being against Islam. They never did.

    What Boko Haram accuses Buhari of is being against their caliphate and I urge Church Times to investigate my statement.

    As a matter of fact, Boko Haram so admired Buhari that they once nominated him as their preferred negotiator in peace negotiations between them and the Nigerian government.

    Moreover, ever since he rose to power on a bouquet of lies and empty promises, Mr. Buhari has pursued a radical policy of releasing so called ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members arrested by the previous administration. Over a thousand have been released. Church Times should not be deceived!

    And then Buhari goes on to blame his political opponents for the rising tensions between herdsmen and local farmers.

    He forgot to tell the Church Times how he sent an invading army against the IPOB who have not killed anyone but said ‘I can only pray’ about herdsmen.

    After herdsmen (Buhari did not tell Church Times he was once their Chief Patron) killed 150 people in Plateau on June 24, 2018, Buhari said “There is nothing I can do to help the situation except to pray”.

    But He did not pray about IPOB or Shiites. He sent soldiers to kill them!

    I must say that I am very disappointed in Church Times for giving a hypocrite of the highest order, like Muhammadu Buhari, the platform he needed to whitewash himself and project an image that is not true to the British public.

    The Church Times would do well to Google Bridget Agbahime. This 74 year old female evangelist was beheaded in Kano for Blasphemy after preaching.

    The five suspect that were arrested were released on a ‘no case submission’. Where is Buhari’s justice for Agbahime?

    The Church Times may also want to investigate the case of Pastor Eunice Olawale, who was killed in Abuja in broad daylight on July 9, 2016 for preaching Christ. Not one person was arrested.

    The Muhammadu Buhari they are now celebrating did NOTHING, yet a man who named his dog ‘Buhari’ was arrested and jailed!

    Church Times should ask their new darling, Buhari, why every intelligence agency is headed by a Northern Muslim male including the:

    1.NPF

    2.NSA

    3.DSS

    4.NIA

    5.DMI

    6.DIA

    7.NPS

    8.NCS

    9.NIS,

    and
    10. EFCC

    One or two may be a coincidence, but all 10 of them is a deliberate strategy to shut out Christians!

    Is it for nothing that no less an institution as the US Congress revealed that Nigeria, under Buhari, is now the “most dangerous place in the world for Christians”.

    Church Times should not take my word for it. They should investigate this claim before celebrating Buhari.

    These are just a few instances of the injustice against Christians perpetrated by Muhammadu Buhari and those who have died are having their graves trampled upon by Church Times in their celebration of this unceremonious fellow they gave their platform to.

    The fact remains that Muhammadu Buhari is a thoroughly nasty piece of work, who will go down in history with the likes of Stalin and Pol Pot, as a man who has blood on his hands and no amount of PR whitewash can revise his history of bigotry and nepotism

    Culled from Vanguard News (online).

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