By Emmanuel Oloniruha
Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar has called on Nigerians to strengthen the bond of love in spite their religious differences.
Abubakar in a statement by his Media Office on Sunday in Abuja commemorating the 2022 Eid -el fitr celebration, described love as the prerequisite for binding unity in any diverse society such as Nigeria.
The Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirant appealed to Nigerians to develop the spirit of tolerance and respect toward one another, despite our ethnic and religious differences.
“We should use religion as an instrument for creating unity, love and harmony rather than using it to feed hate and intolerance, which usually results in needless conflicts.
“Let’s not allow selfish politicians and people of bad faith to divide us and use us as fighting tools for their own sinister agendas,” Abubakar said.
He urged Muslims not to abandon the useful lessons of the Ramadan, rather internalise them.
“The Ramadan fast makes us appreciate what it means to go without food and drinks for the whole day, thereby understanding the impact of hunger on millions of poor people.
“The self-discipline created by the Ramadan fast encourages us to show compassion toward our fellow human being who cannot feed because of poverty.”
While wishing Muslims a happy Sallah celebration, Abubakar called for greater efforts toward interfaith dialogue in order to bridge the communication gap between members of the two religions.
“Let’s not associate with people who undermine the efforts toward interfaith dialogue because doing so may create the conditions for extremists to thrive.
“The agenda of the extremists is to promote hate and bigotry in order to cause confusion. Let’s not give them the opportunity to succeed.”(NAN)
