‘Islamic Youths Must Reject Fundamentalist Preachings That Motivate Them To Violence

A coalition of Christian and
Muslim youths paid a
courtesy visit to the National
President of Christian
Association of Nigeria, CAN,
and co-chairman of Nigerian
Inter-Religious Council,
NIREC, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor
in his church office in Warri,
in a bid to seek new
approaches to tackle the
menace of terrorism in
Nigeria.
The 20-man delegation was
led by the national president
of Youth Wing of Christian
Association of Nigeria,
YOWICAN, Dr Simon Dolly and
his Islamic counterpart, the
national president of
National Council of Muslim
Youth Organisations,
NACOMYO, Alhaji Kamal'ddin
Akintunde and was joined
by five leaders from the
Warri Muslim community.
Pastor Oritsejafor while
welcoming the youths
charged the Muslim youths
whose members are often
used by the perpetrators of
the violence, to take the
gospel of peace to the
grassroots on the need for
youths to refuse to be used
as instruments of
destruction.
The CAN president expressed
delight for the visit by the
joint leadership of YOWICAN
and NACOMYO saying, "The
time has come for peace-
loving youths of this country
to rise in defence of the
peace of the nation because
no country can develop in an
atmosphere devoid of peace
and tranquillity.
"It is amazing," he added,
"that the two major religions
in the country, Christianity
and Islam, were unanimous
about the preaching of
peace, tolerance and good
neighbourliness, yet there is
so much violence against the
Christian faith, arguing that
disgruntled politicians and
fundamentalist religious
clerics who cannot tolerate
other people's views are
behind the entire crisis.
Oritsejafor further
maintained that if other
Islamic youths refuse to be
used by the class of
intolerant politicians and
fundamental religious clerics
the violence in the North will
abate, adding that he is
looking forward to the day
when Christians and Muslims
can sincerely, genuinely and
without pretence sit
together and rub minds to
move Nigeria forward.
"We must first appreciate
that we are first and
foremost, Nigerian before
any other consideration," he
said noting that recent
demographic survey shows
that over 70 per cent of the
nation's population falls
under the age of 40 which
means that the future of this
country is secure because a
focused youth can galvanise
this advantage for the
betterment of the country.
"The interesting thing about
violence is that the old
people who perpetrate the
act of violence, sit down in
the comfort of their homes
and send the young ones to
the battle field where they
lose their lives for no just
course because no religion
will ask you to kill your
fellow human beings," he
said, adding that fellows
who bankroll the violence
will never use their children.
The CAN president further
argued that the earlier the
youths of the North realized
that the politicians using
them, often abandon them
sooner than later, then "are
we on the path to the
resolution of the crises. True
religious ideology will not kill
human beings who were
created by God," he said,
lamenting that most
churches in the North are full
of orphans and widows as a
result of the mindless
killings.
"Young people must reject
those fundamentalist
preachings that motivate
them to violence. Nobody
will come to Nigeria to
develop it for us. Only
Nigerians committed to the
corporate existence of the
nation can develop the
nation and gavalnise to the
path of righteousness and
the much talked about
growth. Help us. Get this to
the grassroots because God
has created us one. Nigeria
cannot be a Christian nation.
Nigeria cannot be a Muslim
country either. It is not
possible!" he said.
According to him, "a nation's
greatness will never
manifest until somebody
rises up to take cetain risks
for the survival of the
nation." He therefore
promised to take their
request to be inauguarated
as Youth wing of NIREC to
his friend and co-chairman
of the organization, the
Sultan of Sokoto at the
nearest possible time. [VN]