Stakeholders demand violent free society at UFUK Dialogue in Lagos

*As US don advocates ‘deep peace’ in Nigeria

As UFUK Foundation Dialogue held in Lagos on Tuesday February 13, stakeholders came to an understanding that for Nigeria to attain peace and tranquillity as prerequisite for achieving lasting development, people must move beyond effort at tolerating to understanding and accommodating one another.

This was one of the conclusions reached at the 4th International Conference on Love and Tolerance with the theme “Countering Violent Extremism”, which took place at NECA House, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday, February 13.

Particularly, in his presentation titled, “The Islamic Formula for Building Bridges”, Prof. Muritala Bidmos of the Department of Arts and Social Sciences Education, University of Lagos, advised Nigerians to rather accommodate one another than tolerate, as tolerance has a negative connotation.

Tolerance, Prof. Bidmos who is the Chief Imam of UNILAG, is reluctant acceptance and said Nigerians should not be wasting their time talking about violence and tolerance, but should strive to fight the causes.

His words: “God created us to worship him in peace and comfort; but we created intolerance and violence.  Also, God gave us facilities, social media (shared values), prophets and books, as well as intellect (brain). The problem we need to tackle is the way we use our intellect.”

According to him, “our brain is like a razor blade, which can be used to create as well as to destroy.”

Also speaking at the event, Jon Pahl, the Peter Paul and Elizabeth Hagan professor in the History of Christianity at The Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, says what the world, especially Nigeria, needs is beyond basic peace, which is the absence of war but, according to him, the society needs deep peace, which engenders trust.

In his goodwill message, Abdulhakim Abdullateef, Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs, urged religious leaders to control their followers, as “hate speakers are encouraged by their denominations”.

Noting that “extremists are the most ignorant about their religion”, he said claims of fighting for God make it seem that God is incapacitated.

The Commissioner sees matters of religion as “too private” and urged state governments to see them as such.

The conference tagged Ufuk Dialogue, which will also hold in Abuja on February 15, and Kaduna on February 17, is in collaboration with the Federal Government, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA), Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), National Council of Women Society (NCWS) and other partners.

Ufuk, a Turkish Foundation, came to Nigeria in 2011, with the mission to foster inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, stimulate thinking and exchange of opinions on supporting and fostering democracy and peace all over the world, and to provide a common platform for education and information exchange.