By Dada Ahmed
(Lagos)
The Federal Government has urged religious leaders in the country to
refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity, warning that
resorting to scorched-earth rhetoric at this time could trigger
unintended consequences.
The government gave the advice in a statement issued by Segun Adeyemi, the Special Assistant to the President (Media),Office of the Minister of Information and Culture
Lagos on Saturday.
Adeyemi qouted the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, as saying that ”while religious leaders have a responsibility to speak truth to
power, such truth must not come wrapped in anger, hatred, disunity and religious disharmony.”
According to the minister,it is particularly graceless and impious for any religious leader to use the period of Christmas, which is a season of peace, to stoke the embers of hatred, sectarian strife and national disunity.
”Calling for a violent overthrow of a democratically-elected
government, no matter how disguised such a call is, and casting a
particular religion as violent is not what any religious leader should engage in, and certainly not in a season of peace,” Mohammed added.
The minister noted that instigating regime change outside the ballot box was not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.
Mohammed said while some religious leaders, being human, might not be able to disguise their national leadership preference, they should refrain from stigmatizing the leader they had never supported anyway, using well-worn and disproved allegations of nepotism or whatever.
The Minister said whatever challenges Nigeria might be going through at this moment could only be tackled when all leaders and indeed, all Nigerians come together, not when some people arrogantly engaged in
name-calling and finger-pointing.
