A Christian cleric, Bishop Charles Ighale, and an Islamic cleric, Imam Abdul Onike, on Thursday urged increased religious harmony in Nigerian to foster peace and development.
Ighele, General Superintendent, Holy Spirit Mission, Ikeja, and Onike, Chief Missioner Nasrul-l-fatih Society, spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in interviews in Lagos.
According to Onike, religious leaders should do more to encourage members of their congregations to tolerate people of other religions.
“They should come up with messages which will make members of their congregations to see others as fellow citizens, not rivals.
“We must get this into our social psyche as a people to discourage acrimony and move forward as a country,” he said.
Onike added that messages which would promote religious harmony should be preached at gatherings.
The cleric said that religion was for human transformation and not for societal retardation.
Ighele, a gospel preacher, appealed that the citizens should not weaponise religion for selfish aims.
“Because faith is dear to the people, it is therefore a disservice for anyone to cash in on it to create discord,” he said.
He urged more interactions among leaders of different religious organisations to promote tolerance and peaceful co-existence.