Abuja – Mr Garba Abari, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), has appealed to clerics and religious organisations in the country to engage in massive reorientation of their followers.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Fidel Agu, the Deputy Director of Press in the agency, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
“The sensitisation is to steer them away from religious intolerance and extremism in line with the teachings of the various religions on peace.’’
The statement said that national cohesion was paramount and against the backdrop of the mob murder of Mrs Bridget Agbahime in Kano State.
It urged clerics to use the holy month to emphasise the true teachings of Islam which prohibited violence and bloodshed.
The director-general in the statement condemned the murder of the septuagenarian on accusations of religious blasphemy and called on Nigerians to unite against intolerance.
“There can never be any justification for citizens taking the law into their hands or engaging in acts capable of threatening national cohesion.
“We are optimistic that with faith-based reorientation of faithful, the era of religious violence will be confined to the waste bins of history as Nigerians imbibe the virtues of tolerance and good neighbourliness.’’
It said that neither the Christian nor the Islamic religion taught vengeance or violence as freedom of worship was enshrined in the nation’s constitution.
“Nigerians must therefore feel free to practice their religious convictions in any part of the country without fear of intimidation or molestation.
“We must, as a people, speak up with one voice against extrajudicial killings rather than allow the incident to pitch us against each other into replicating this evil through acts of vengeance.
“Nigerians must be unanimous in ensuring that there is no further breach of peace in Kano or any other part of Nigeria on account of this unfortunate development.’’
The statement explained that President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to justice.
The statement appealed to Nigerians to have faith in the ability of the police and justice system of the country to ensure that justice was served.
It urged aggrieved persons to shun the temptation of reprisal attacks. (NAN)