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| Lai Mohammed, Minister for information and culture |
The
Federal Government says the alleged Islamisation of Nigeria under the current
administration is totally false and should be perceived in its entirety as a
campaign of calumny.
The Minister of Information and
Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated this on Monday in Ilorin at the Federal
Government Town Hall meeting for the North Central zone.
He noted that in recent times, the
media had been increasingly awash with incendiary statements designed to pitch
the adherents of the two prominent religions Christians and Muslims against one
another.
The minister said the secular nature
of Nigeria’s Constitution makes the issue of religious dominance and impunity
improbable.
He said, “Such fallacies like the
Islamisation of Nigeria, the killing of Christians by Muslims, the labelling of
Nigeria as the most dangerous place for Christians in the world can only serve
one purpose: trigger a religious war.
“Needless to say, that no nation ever
survives a religious war.”
The minister said those making the
allegations were using religion as tool to demonise the government and divert
attention from the government’s anti-corruption stance.
He said that more often than not,
conflicts between Muslims and Christians were fuelled by political motivations,
ethnic differences, extremism, intolerance and terrorism.
He
said, “Make no mistake about it, there have been conflicts between adherents of
the two major religions in certain parts of the country.
“To now extrapolate from that to say
Nigeria is the most dangerous place for Christians in the world is a disservice
to Nigeria and an overkill.’’
He appealed to the media to desist
from providing a platform for exponents of incendiary statements.
The minister also appealed to
Christian and Muslim leaders to emulate Catholic Cardinal John Onaiyekan and
Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, who formed the Inter-faith Initiative for
Peace to promote inter-faith dialogue.
Mohammed said the North-Central
edition is the eighth in the series of the Town Hall Meetings, which started in
Lagos on April 25, 2016.
He said the intention was to bridge
the communication gap between the government and the people, carrying the
people along in the process of governance and also getting the much-needed
feedback from the citizenry.
The Ministers of Health, Prof. Isaac
Adewole; Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; and Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu
attended the event.
Others are Ministers of State for
Mines and Steel, Bawa Bwari, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed and
Industry; Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar.
The ministers gave accounts of their
stewardship and fielded questions from the audience on critical national
issues.
source: Today Nigeria
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