A former Kaduna Central senator, Shehu Sani, said Muslims and Christians in Nigeria must unite to end insecurity.
Sani stated this at a one-day summit he held for Muslim and Christian leaders in Abuja, on Friday.
He said the country’s diversity was meant to be a blessing, not a weapon of division,
He urged clerics across faiths to “speak truth to power” and pressure leaders into decisive action.
- JUST IN: NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine-Laden Vessel From Brazil, Detains 20 Filipino Crew Members
- CITAD Launches Unified ‘Reportrix’ App to Strengthen Accountability,
The summit, themed: “Conversation on the Search for Peace in Nigeria,” was organised in collaboration with the African Freedom Foundation and Yari Roundtable for Peace.
He said Nigeria’s security crisis marked by mass killings, school kidnapping, banditry and terrorism, persisted because leaders often prioritised political loyalty over truth, while religious leaders are only consulted by politicians during elections, not on governance.
The former lawmaker said Christians and Muslims must stop allowing extremists and politicians to manipulate religion for violence, insisting that Nigeria’s problems can only be solved through unity.
“If our creator wanted all of us to be Muslims, he would have made all of us Muslims. If he wanted all of us to be Christians, he would have made all of us Christians. Our diversity is a blessing,” he said.
Sani recalled visiting Ethiopia with clerics years ago and seeing mosques and churches over 1,000 years old standing side by side in peace – a contrast to Nigeria, where religious tension is often exploited for violence.
“We came late to both Islam and Christianity, yet we behave as though we knew more than nations that have practised these religions for centuries,” he added.
