We need to respect each other’s beliefs for peaceful religious coexistence to thrive in Nigeria. To use some harsh, unacceptable words, which I cannot even repeat in writing here, on the divine Being many Nigerians accept as the Almighty, is wrong and will naturally inflame passions and agitate people.
Nigeria is the largest Islamo-Christian nation on Earth, and I appeal to all Nigerians to be tolerant and refuse to be controlled by their emotions, but instead let reason and good judgement guide our actions.
That was the mindset of Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, a Muslim who saved the lives of 262 Christians in 2018. He was a good Nigerian whose statements and actions have united our country and its people, irrespective of their religion or region. Perhaps we can all emulate him by using respectful words for the God who inspired his righteous act.
Nobody can love our country more than ourselves, just as we cannot cherish another nation more than the citizens of that country.
If we allow outsiders to set our country on fire, they will leave, and we will be left alone to put out the blaze they ignited.
The difference between Nigerians is not Muslim or Christian, or Northerner and Southerner. The difference between us is that there are good Nigerians and there are bad citizens.
It is up to the good citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to unite in love for their country and against naysayers.
President Tinubu is working with the National Assembly, the thirty-six state governors, and the Nigerian Police Force to introduce State Police with safeguards and guardrails.
No other President has taken practical steps such as this to make State Police a reality. That is a solution to the localised insecurity we are experiencing in some parts of Nigeria.
Only the President is talking about this and taking steps to make it a reality. Carefully scrutinise his opponents, who are stoking tensions nationally. None of them has tabled State Police as a solution.
I urge Nigerians to cooperate with the President by reaching out to their Senators and Representatives to support the President’s State Policing initiative so that it becomes a reality sooner rather than later.
That is a tangible solution. Insults, abuses, threats, and offending the sensibilities of people of other faiths are not a solution. That is an emotional response that adds to the problem.
Nigeria needs calm heads, not hotheads, at this crucial time in our evolution as one indivisible nation under God.
May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Reno Omokri
Ambassador Designate to Mexico. Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year, 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.
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