Soyinka’s Comment On Religion Unfair, Unkind, Say CAN, JNI
The Christian Association of Nigeria and
the Jama’atu Nasril Islam as well as individuals and groups have
faulted a statement by the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, that
religion will kill Nigeria if it is not tamed.
CAN’s National Director, Legal and
Public Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel, and the Secretary-General of the JNI,
Dr. Abdulkadir Khalid-Aliyu, stated this in separate interviews with The PUNCH.
Soyinka had, at a book presentation in Abuja, on Thursday, warned that religion would kill the country if it was not tamed.
Condemning killings in the name of
religion, the Nobel laureate stated, “I would like to transfer that cry
(by President Muhammadu Buhari on corruption) from the moral zone to the
terrain of religion. If we do not tame religion in this nation,
religion will kill us.”
The Nobel laureate also said the
President and the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, were
wrong in their approach to the Southern Kaduna killings.
Reacting to Soyinka’s statement on religion, Samuel, in an interview with The PUNCH, said religion was not the problem of Nigeria.
The CAN leader stated, “With due respect
to Prof. Soyinka, it is not true that religion is the bane of Nigeria’s
stability. No genuine religion promotes killings and destruction of
lives and property. It is unfair for the Nobel laureate to project
religion as a problem when it is the faithful believers that are praying
and sacrificing to keep the nation moving.
“Christianity preaches peace in all its
ramifications. I challenge the professor to identify one attack on any
community in Nigeria that was reported to have been carried out by
Christians. Let him show any terrorist group by whatever name that
shouts the name of Jesus before attacks or claim they are fighting for
Jesus.
“We are sad that the so-called religious
killing is persisting because our prominent leaders are not ready to
call a spade by its real name.”
Samuel lamented that Nigeria’s security
agencies appeared to use a different template in performing their
functions at home from the one they adopted when on international
mission.
He stated, “I wonder how Nigeria would
have been without the coming of the Christian missionaries. This nation
has the security agencies that present heavy budgets, undergo serious
training both nationally and internationally, perform very highly on
foreign assignments. Yet, when they are dealing with Nigeria, they seem
to be very lost as to knowing what is happening in Nigeria, let alone
finding any lasting solution.”
He urged respected Nigerians like
Soyinka to ask relevant authorities some questions as to why for years,
killings had continued with no single prosecution of perpetrators.
“Why a woman will be murdered in cold
blood by known neighbours, yet they will be set free without prosecution
like it happened in Kano? Nigeria will be far from getting to any
solution,” he said.
The Secretary-General of the JNI, Dr.
Abdulkadir Khalid-Aliyu, said depending on the context from which
Soyinka made the statement, the retired don’s position was most
uncharitable.
He called on Nigerian leaders to guard their utterances, especially on religion because of its sensitive nature.
Khalid-Aliyu stated, “Is Prof. Soyinka
saying religion is bad? It is important that we really have to be
decorous and be respectful of the sensibility of the people.
“Even in advanced countries, people respect religion and adhere to religion.
“Until we are able to separate the chaff
from the grain; there is a difference between religion and people of
religion. Such assertion coming from somebody who doesn’t believe in
religion is uncharitable.
“If he is talking about moderation and
the need to really purge ourselves of extremism in the practice of
religion or of being used to advance considerations that are inimical to
peace and development, then, that could be understandable.”
The former Secretary-General, Nigerian
Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, said religion
was positive, admitting that positive things could be abused.
In an interview with The PUNCH,
he said, “It depends on the perspective from which he was speaking.
Anything, no matter how positive, if negatively good, will be negative
and it is the other way.
“Religion, as far as I am concerned is
positive. But that does not mean that anything positive cannot be
negatively good. So, it depends on the context from which Soyinka
spoke.”
Also, the Vice-Chancellor, Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Prof. Taofeek Ibrahim,
disagreed with the Nobel laureate that religion should be tamed.
In an interview with journalists in
Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Ibrahim said religion had been pivotal
to the development and peace of many countries.
He stated that people, who were using
religion to cause mayhem rather than religion should be held responsible
for the killings and wanton destruction of properties.
He warned that going against the
dictates of religion could be counter-productive and even destructive,
adding that it was important to ensure peaceful co-existence of
different religious faithful.
Ibrahim said, “I strongly disagree that
we have to tame religion. For most of the developed world and
everywhere, where there is sanity today, religion has been the basis of
development and peace over the centuries.
“It is those that show themselves as
religious but are actually not religious and for selfish reasons, which
they impose in the name of religion, are the ones that cause the
troubles we have been witnessing in this country.
“When you look at the history of America
and Europe, you will appreciate the role of the church in the building
of such nations. Similarly, where you still have relative peace in the
Muslim world, you will see the contribution of Islamic religion in these
areas.
“As a matter of fact, it is when we go
away from the dictates of religion that we get into further problem.
Whether Muslim or Christian, the problem is for people taking advantage
of religion; it is for minimal personal issue that they destroy the
picture of the role religion should be playing.”
The Al-Hikmah VC urged religious leaders
to place greater priority on spirituality, morality and ethics rather
than on materialism.
Ibrahim said, “Our religious leaders,
the heads of the church and the mosque have a lot of roles to play. As
we preach and eulogise the issue of mundane things, then there will be
problems. We need to go back to preach moral and ethics.
“It is amazing that people in
government, who claim to be Muslims and Christians will take all the
funds they steal from the public or government to the churches and
mosques. It makes nonsense of the whole claim of our being religious.”
The VC agreed with the Vice-President,
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, who, at the book presentation, lamented the
non-prosecution of perpetrators of religious violence and other
high-profile murder cases in the country.
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