President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday declared that contrary to insinuations in certain quarters, his administration had no plans to Islamize Nigeria.
Buhari stressed that there is no credible fact to indicate that his administration is out to Islamise Nigeria.
The President spoke through the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, while meeting the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Sokoto.
He noted with dismay that such negative propaganda and innuendos are being peddled by outsiders and finds narrative in the churches across the country.
Mustapha blamed politicians for using religion as a tool to spread hate and division among the people.
He said: “It is pertinent to note that due to circumstances we found ourselves as a nation, suspicion on religious grounds has almost destroyed the fabrics of unity and love that binds us.
“There has been a lot of negative propaganda being instigated by outsiders and finds narrative in the church that there is a plan to Islamise Nigeria without any credible fact.
“The issue of membership of Nigeria to Organisation of Islamic Conference, Shariah and farmers/herdsmen clashes had created a lot of suspicion in the minds of the people despite the fact that the problems had existed in the country for several decades.”
The President said both Christian and Muslim religious leaders had been victims of killings in some parts of the country.
He said that the federal government was committed to securing the lives of the citizens.
“I assure all Nigerians that criminals would be fished out and dealt with. The federal government will continue to provide a safe society for everyone.
“The fight against the Boko Haram insurgency is achieving the desired goal while efforts are being made to tackle myriad of challenges in the polity,” he stressed.
The president expressed optimism that Nigeria would rise again, despite the myriad of challenges bedeviling it.
He stressed the need for the church, especially Catholic bishops to rise up to the occasion and educate the people on the negative propaganda being spread by politicians in order to achieve their selfish aims.
“As you round off this conference, I urge you to go back to your various communities and preach a message of hope, reconciliation and peace,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has called on religious leaders in the country to stand firm against societal vices.
Tambuwal made the call in his goodwill message during the annual Catholic Bishops Conference held in Sokoto at the weekend.
He said: “Indeed, this challenge is to the entire body of religious leaders of our nation. Besides the family unit the church, mosque and school are society’s main fountains for character formation and reinforcement. This is a role our religious leaders cannot afford to abdicate.
“They must stand firm as a bulwark against vices such as corruption, armed robbery, kidnapping, unconscionable shedding of innocent blood and the wanton destruction of property by not only exposing perpetrators but sanctioning those within their folds,” he said.
Tambuwal also called for unity and peaceful coexistence, noting that the geopolitical, sociocultural and ethnoreligious composition of Nigeria show the country “is not an accident because God does not, and indeed cannot, make a mistake”.
“It is a divine reality at the foundation of our coexistence and prosperity as a people and as a nation. Those who consider these factors as spices for divisive politics do the nation grave harm and disservice,” he added.
The governor urged the church to pray for the country, adding that if the nation ever needed prayers for divine intervention, now was that time.
“My Lords, Nigeria faces challenging times: a slow- paced development, a crawling economy, a fledgling democracy, a precarious security situation and indeed an endangered polity bedeviled by heightened divisiveness.
“Indeed the forthcoming 2019 general elections is another challenge in its own rights. As you deliberate at this auspicious conference, I implore you to consider prayers as a priority,” he added.