Be Vanguard of Peace and Never Give Room for Manipulations – Rev. Wuye tells Youth

Zainab Tanimu

Kaduna, North-West, NIGERIA

A call has been made on the need for young ones to take the front seat in the search for peace and not to allow themselves to be manipulated.

This call was made by Rev. Dr. James Movels Wuye, Co- Executive Director Interfaith Mediation Center Kaduna at the end of a four day Inter-religious Dialogue Training for the Leadership of Follower-ship of Christian Students (FCS) and Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, (MSSN) held at the Kadpoly Banquet Hall Tudun Wada Kaduna.

While fielding questions from journalists Rev. Wuye who is also a member of the African union Steering Committee for the Interfaith Forum had condemned in its totality the use of hate and dangerous speech.

Hate and dangerous speech he said has led to loss of many lives. Leading to killings and destruction of things just because they perceive what is told to them as free license to violence.

“One other thing that l have always discovered is that people are not just talking speeches, there are hate actions. You find people destroying posters and it  is quite rampant. Politicians are fighting themselves. This is Dangerous and ethnicity, tribal sentiments everywhere. People fighting one another, and young ones are watching and they are carrying it along. It is very dangerous”.

The coming together of religious leaders including the Human Rights Commission to draft document on Religious Tolerance which presently is getting attention at the federal level  he sees as going to checkmate the menace.

“Whoever is preaching ‘hate speech’ should be held responsible for his ‘hate actions’ and perpetrated as a result of their hate speech.

“African Union is taking this over, and right now as l am speaking to you in January it would be in the agenda of the African Union to ensure that people that are trading hate speech are held responsible for destructions and actions”.

As to what steps to take to curb this menace he said, “one of the steps is what is happening here in Poly today. When you get groups operating within the campuses of the schools, you are getting it right”.

Rev. Wuye called on the media to help in sensitizing people. Young men and young women should be brought on board to be interviewed on both electronic and print media to speak on the matter because both the bible and the Quran are against it. Adding that, when one foments trouble he does not know where it would end.

“To foment trouble is through hate speech and dangerous actions. That can cause this country a lot and we do not want another state of violence, destruct ions and killings in this country. This should be stopped and if a pastor is propagating hate speech, he should be held responsible and if Imam is seen propagating hate speech, he should be held responsible and should be dealt with according to the laws of this country. Enough is enough”. He sounded.

According to him, “When l was a younger person, we have been manipulated by our leaders to think the other is our enemy. Of course bad governance also contributed to the narratives that we have hitherto carried and promulgated and so l became a victim because l did not know how to manage, l did not know how to dialogue and the best thing then was to be vengeful and re vengeful.

“ Enough of that.  People should not die because other people have some ambitions. The politicians should learn to work with the people and think of the people and also religious leaders should be inclusive otherwise, we would be sending what we cannot stop. Here in the campuses, l think its stitch in time; it is very good.

He commended the support by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz International Centre for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue, (KAICIID), and Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace, (IDFP) in Kaduna for their efforts in preaching peaceful coexistence particularly as it concerns the young people who are the future leaders of  tomorrow who unfortunately are being used by the politicians to ferment trouble.

“I have heard a little of their action plans. If they do that, then we can have some peace in this country. The young people should take front seat and ensure that they are not manipulated for anything”. He added.

In his speech, the Convener of the training, former National President of MSSN ,Mohammad Jameel Muhammad while stressing on the need to foster on peaceful co-existence among the adherence of the two religion which sums up the reason for the gathering explained that in the cause of the training, they had all gone to the Mosque, gone to the Chapels and nothing evil were found in any. He therefore warned participants against being used as agents of conflicts and destruction while urging that the knowledge goes beyond the confine of the training. Other Speakers who spoke included Mallam Shehu Abubakar, who spoke from the Islamic  perspective. Quoting verses from the glorious Quran he said Allah enjoins the spirit of peaceful co-existence and good neighborliness saying, Islam preaches peace thus condemns any act of violence, hate and dangerous speeches.

Grace Ayuba a participant from Kaduna State University, (KASU) expressed satisfaction over the conduct of the training saying, it has broaden up her knowledge on the need to dialogue on issues concerning religion. She called on the youth to try and make a difference.

“We should try and extend love to our brothers and sisters. We are serving the same God and not to look down on other religions. We should try and take a stand today to make a difference by saying; l would not be among those that would cause conflicts and causing chaos here and there. We are also not happy about it”. She said.

Speaking, Suleiman Zubair from Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU) Zaria said the training had impacted immensely on them as their perception on issues bordering on religion is beginning to change. Nobody he said can use them again for their selfish gains particularly the politicians now that politics is by the corner.

“Nobody would use our ethnicity and our religion to divide us again. He stressed.

A communique issued at the end of the training signed by the convener, Muhammad Jameel Muhammad, observed that

“There are huge challenges with regards to conflict management and peace promotion.

“That wide spread ignorance and lack of investigation among citizens leads to conflict.

Also observed is the misconception and misuse of scriptures by religious followers.

That Politicians use religion to achieve their personal goals.

It also added that religious leaders misinterpret messages to suit their followers.

Stated in It recommendations were the following calls that,

“The public should restrain itself from politicians using religion to incite conflicts as all religion promotes peace and tolerance.

“Religious leaders should teach religion devoid of their biases.

There is also a call for the intervention of the sponsors of this program on the issues of faith discrimination regarding sacred sites.

The need to Indulge the participation of the government to carry out such programme was also stated.

The hosting of such programme some other time for another set of participants was also emphasized.

It is worthy of note that participants of this four day Inter –religious Dialogue training  which commenced 24^th August -31^st were exposed to Understanding and Conceptualizing Dialogue, Causes of Misconception and the rest activities contained in Module 1 and 2 respectively. They  were made up of both MSSN and FCS leaders of tertiary institutions in Kaduna state.

The event witnessed presentation of certificates to participants.

END.