Posted by Chinenye on Wed 12th Aug, 2026 - tori.ng
President Bola Tinubu has delivered a fresh call for Nigerians to put differences aside as concerns over insecurity and division continue to grow.
(President Bola Tinubu. Photo by THISDAYLIVE)
President Bola Tinubu has appealed to Nigerians to uphold national cohesion transcending their differences, underscoring that continuous dialogue proves essential for sustaining the nation's unity.
Represented by Deputy President of the Senate Barau Jibrin at an International Conference on Security and National Unity convened by JIBWIS in partnership with the Muslim World League, Tinubu affirmed government commitment to resolving security challenges whilst promoting peace through international cooperation.
He emphasised that despite existing divisions, Nigerians must maintain discourse and preserve their collective status as a unified nation.
Tinubu characterised the conference as particularly opportune given mounting global security crises, asserting that deliberations would advance sustainable regional, continental and global peace objectives.
He commended the Muslim World League for selecting Nigeria as the inaugural host nation for the gathering.
All Progressives Congress National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda cautioned political leaders against instrumentalising religion and ethnicity for electoral benefit, warning that such exploitation deepens societal fractures and inflicts enduring institutional damage.
He positioned Nigeria's diversity as a potential source of collective strength rather than fractionalisation, stressing that religious and ethnic distinctions ought not erode shared humanity and mutual destiny.
Drawing from his displacement during Bauchi conflict, Yilwatda recalled that violence recognises no religious boundaries, affecting Christians and Muslims equally.
His experience in displaced persons' settlements had demonstrated that Nigerians, whilst observing distinct spiritual practices, share common anxieties, aspirations and fates.
He urged politicians to resist weaponising identity categories, cautioning that transient political advantage precipitates permanent national harm.
Yilwatda called upon religious figures to transform places of worship into forums for reconciliation and responsible citizenship, advocating preaching rooted in faith without malice, conviction without contempt and truth without inflammatory rhetoric.
The Nigeria Inter-Religious Council urged citizens to reject attempts to weaponise religion, ethnicity and poverty as divisive instruments, emphasising humanity as the unifying principle.
Executive Secretary Prof. Cornelius Omonokhua stressed that both Christianity and Islam mandate mercy, compassion and human dignity protection, noting that religion must not justify violence given both traditions affirm life's sanctity.
Sultan of Sokoto and NIREC co-Chairman Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III stressed that implementation deficits, rather than solution scarcity, impede national progress.
He urged reciprocal cessation of inter-religious denigration, asserting peaceful coexistence depends upon mutual respect.
The gathering featured Muslim World League Secretary-General Sheikh Mohammad Al-Issa, whose presence accompanied signing of the Abuja Declaration establishing an interfaith alliance designed to construct peace-building mechanisms preventing religious tensions from escalating into violence across Nigeria and West Africa.