By Sarah NEGEDU
Muslims and Christian clerics across the country have been asked to shun political bickering and rather concentrate on their role of praying for the country, as the elections are over.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, gave the advice yesterday, at separate meetings with the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and that of the Committee of FCT Imams Initiative, CFII.
Wike, admonished the religious leaders not to fall for the antics of desperate politicians who can do anything to get power including destabilising the country through propaganda and fanning the embers of disunity.
At the meeting with CAN led by Most Rev. Daniel Okoh, the minister stressed the need for religious leaders to support the government in tackling the problems affecting the development of Abuja, in line with the dreams of its founding fathers.
In his words, “Let me advise all of us. Be careful with politicians who can do anything just because of power. It is not everything you read in social media that is correct. Go and ask questions.
“I am seated here as the Minister of FCT. If there is anything you hear that the FCT is trying to do, do not hesitate, just like you wrote for this courtesy call, do not hesitate to also ask, this thing I am hearing, is it correct? So that we will be able to defend the government and defend ourselves.
“There are those who could not face us in the political scene, what they do is to run back to religious leaders and say, do you know this man? He hates you. If not, he wouldn’t have done this; he would not have done that, and you would fall into the trap,” he warned.
He gave instance of a fake news that circulated alleging that he gave approval for a partial demolition of the National Mosque. He asked them to pray for the leadership of the country irrespective of their religious or ethnic leaning.
“What you say as religious leaders is very important. We must be careful of the kind of messages we preach because you have multitude of followers who believe in you.
Speaking at the meeting with the Imams, the minister assured that he will be just to all groups at all times. “Like you rightly said, we have different people in the FCT and it is our responsibility to provide a conducive environment for all. We didn’t come here with any colouration of victimizing any religion or anyone. The mandate of Mr President is to ensure Abuja attains the dreams of its founding fathers.
“You have to be careful as religious leaders, don’t allow politicians, those who are desperate and those who think if they are not in power, Nigeria must come down to sell or distort information.
“Anything you are not clear about, do not hesitate to ask, this is what you heard, what is the position? But if you follow propaganda by political leaders then you are not doing anything meaningful to yourself.
“Politics is over. Don’t allow be who want to use propaganda to scatter the country. Political losers. They are working against the peace but we all need peace. Without peace, we cannot go to the mosques or churches. A president has emerged. It is for you religious leaders to now pray for God’s guidance upon him to succeed because if he fails, it will affect all of us”.
Earlier, Most Rev. Daniel Okoh said the CAN leadership was at the FCTA to declare full support to the Wike-led administration and pray for him to succeed.
He appealed to the minister to award the contract for the second phase of the rehabilitation of the centre, adding that phase one had been concluded in May 2023.
Similarly, the chairman of Committee of FCT Imams Initiative, Dr Tajudeen Adigun, described Wike as a true Nigerian, pledged the CFII’s support and advice for development and unity in FCT.
Adigun, who is the Chief Imam MCC Jumaah Masjid, described Wike’s appointment as a well deserved one.
“Even as Governor, you have been working with people of all faiths, ethnicity and political affiliations. We are ready to work with you. We are not going to work with rumours, we are going to work with what we see and we are always on the side of good governance,” he stated.
“We have heard of your promise to the National Mosque -the largest mosque in the country – that you will continue to maintain the assistance the government is resenting to it and the Christian Centre. This is a very good development”.