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D. Okoh: Address to Summit 2022, Session IVc
Written by Rev. Daniel Okoh, president, Christian Association of Nigeria
Friday, August 12, 2022
Address to Summit 2022 and Leadership Conference,
Seoul, Korea, August 11-15, 2022
Your Excellencies, fellow religious and spiritual leaders, distinguished men and women of peace,
Peace be with you.
I bring you greetings from Nigeria, the most populous and diverse nation in Africa with multiple religions and more than 200 million people, 400 ethnic groups and 250 languages spoken. May I add that it is really heart-warming to hear speakers in this summit talk positively about the development of Africa; it gives hope to Africa. I hope that the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD) will draw inspiration from the speech H.E. José Manuel Barroso, the former president of the European Union, gave, for what he said works.
Let me start by commending the leadership of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and her late husband Rev. Sun Myung Moon for their vision of "one family under God" and their work for peace in our broken world. I really appreciate the passion and enormous resources that have gone into this work over the years. May God reward their good works in full measure.
Distinguished peace leaders, you all will agree with me that Africa is blessed with an abundance of human and material resources, yet it is bedeviled by all kinds of vices, such as bad governance, corruption, gender-based violence, disease, climatic change, kidnapping, banditry, rape and child labor that slow down positive development.
Respected peace-loving leaders, the establishment of the IAPD in Africa at this time is a step in the right direction. I believe that it will give additional platform and force to the efforts being made to tackle issues of common concern and achieve many positive results.
I say so because Africans are highly religious and spiritual people. Religious leaders have a more adept relationship and can connect easily with their communities. In our continent, the majority of those in political leadership adhere to one faith or another. Therefore, to deal with the issues of corruption, bad governance, poverty, disease and general insecurity, it is imperative that religious leaders, as serious influencers, get involved and give moral leadership, mediate in crisis and prevent conflicts.
If religious and spiritual leaders do not form a common front to deal with our challenges and are not given proper recognition by the political leadership in Africa, then the wicked will continue to perpetrate violence and fuel crisis in the name of religion. One of the main reasons prominent leaders of two major religions in Nigeria came together 23 years ago to form the Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC) was to prevent religious crises.
NIREC is a non-governmental organization formed in September 1999, and since its founding, has been supported by the Government of Nigeria. The total membership, which stands at 60, includes prominent religious leaders and women and youth leaders. The council has two co-chairmen—the leader of all Christians in Nigeria and his Muslim counterpart—and meets every quarter of the year in various geo-political zones of Nigeria on a rotational basis. This is intentional. When adherents of the two religions see their leaders move together and speak with one voice, they see that there is no division and therefore no need to fight one another. It is important to note that the council also plays an advisory role to government and complements its efforts in combatting disease and poverty by collaboration among the two religions. It is often said that there is neither Christian poverty nor Muslim poverty; no Christian disease or Muslim disease or African traditional religion disease.
Basically, what affects one group affects the others.
Eminent peace leaders, may I, as a member of NIREC for 15 years, bring you the following specific testimonies of the council:
In August 2021, violence erupted in a city called Jos in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, which could have degenerated into a major religious crisis if not for the intervention of NIREC leadership. Some members of NIREC, led by the co-chairmen of the council, visited the city for a consultative peace meeting involving major religious leaders, traditional leaders and political leaders, including state governors from the Northern Region. That meeting ended the violence and killings and peace has since returned to that community.
In 2019, a major religious crisis was averted after the governor of Rivers State in southern Nigeria, who happened to be Christian, demolished a mosque that was under development. This was immediately misconstrued as a persecution of Muslims in the state and there was fear that Muslims in the north might retaliate by embarking on the destruction of churches in that area. So, NIREC’s Committee on Dialogue on Peace Building investigated the matter and discovered that the uproar generated by the demolition of the mosque was purely a land dispute between the Rivers State Government and a local chief who sold the land on which the mosque was being built to the Muslims. Second, they found out that the land had been in contention since 2002.
It had nothing to do with the two major religions in the state. It was only the local politicians and religious fanatics who took advantage of this situation to score a cheap political goal. The findings were published and people were better informed and a religious crisis was nipped in bud.
At the height of insecurity and incessant and senseless killings of innocent citizens, NIREC engaged the chief of defence staff in an interactive session to know why the military has not been able to bring the menace of Boko Haram’s insurgency, banditry and kidnapping to an end. The military personnel assured the council members that these issues are being handled tactically to prevent civilian casualty. The chief of defence declared the commitment of the military to end the insecurity soon. The leaders were better informed and faith leaders took back the information to their followers who understood the military better.
As 2023, the year Nigeria's next general election will be held, draws closer, the co-chairmen of NIREC found it necessary to sign a peace pact to de-escalate religious tensions and ensure a peaceful and secure atmosphere in the nation ahead of the elections. This peace accord was signed at the International Religious Freedom Summit, which took place in Washington D.C. last June.
Hate sermons have drastically decreased since the formation of NIREC, as leaders commit themselves to check the excesses of preachers of their respective faith. Even now, leaders complement each other in their sermons and public speeches. Due to the mutual understanding displayed by the distinguished members of NIREC, the faithful of both religions have reached a point where they have no choice other than to find better ways to live together in peace.
The leadership of NIREC collaborates on the platform the Nigeria Inter-faith Action Association (NIFAA) to combat disease and poverty.
Beyond working relationships, this platform has offered us the opportunity to develop personal friendships with one another. Today, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Sa'ad Abubakar III, the leader of all Muslims in Nigeria and other Muslim leaders in the council and many prominent Christian leaders, such as John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the archbishop emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, are great personal friends of mine. A couple of weeks ago when I became the new president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, an umbrella organization of Christians, prominent Muslims called me on phone to congratulate me and pledge their support. This kind of relationship helps us to know that we are basically humans created by God, the same God that we all claim as our God. It has dismantled all manner of hate and hostility among a large section of religious leaders and this is cascading down to other levels of religious leadership in Nigeria.
In conclusion, dear brothers and sisters, I believe the activities of NIREC can be replicated effectively in Africa. Therefore, I urge the IAPD and all who are listening to intensify diplomatic efforts to ensure the establishment of an Advisory Council on Religion/Spirituality to the Africa Union. In my opinion, this will enhance our sense of brotherhood and sisterhood in our continent where there is free movement of people and goods, and unreserved and unhindered exchange of positive ideas.
I thank you all.
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