Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
A group on the aegis of Christians and Muslims Peace Advocacy and Enlightenment Initiative (CAMPAEI) has called for the support of President Bola Tinubu to organize a national conference to douse the religious tension, conflicts and other related crisis in the country.
This is coming after the classification of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) regarding religious freedom by President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
Recall that, the designation has drawn criticism from the Nigerian government, which has rejected the classification as inaccurate and a misrepresentation of its internal security challenges, emphasising that violence affects both Christian and Muslim communities and is not religiously motivated.
National President of the group, Prophet Iwu Jideogu Ogwu, said CAMPAEI is a registered nongovernmental organisation with spiritual and ethical foundation and a divine mandate to initiate a religious undertaking that would bring the Nigeria Muslim and Christin together as one people and one nation.
He said the group is a registered inter-faith organisation of like minds of truth that does not change in debating religious doctrines or philosophy but to love all humanity generously and obey the will of God (Allah) almighty and encourage others, so that the society will be built on morality.
In a letter to President Tinubu, titled, “Request for the sponsorship of a conference for the peace and harmony of Christians and Muslims in Nigeria,” the group said the proposed conference is aimed at offering a veritable platform to uncover the unfortunate and avoidable reasons for the disunity, conflicts, hatred, divisiveness, ethnocentrism, incessant bloodbath and deaths in the country.
His words,“Suffice it to say that COMPAEI takes into cognisance, the historical facts that we already had our esteemed indigenous traditional institutions cum religious practices before the advent of Christianity and Islam in our country.
“There is equally no doubt that the underlying principles and values of those indigenous traditional world views transcend every religion in our country today.”
Beside the President, the group has also written to the Nigeria Inter Religious Council (NIREC), the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the leadership of the National Assembly on the same subject matter.