By Yunusa Isa, Gombe
In an efforts to fight religious intolerance, religious extremism and to foster peace and unity amongst diverse communities in Gombe State, TEKAN Peace Desk and the Centre for Community Actions for Peace and Development through their Faith for Peace (F4P) Project co-funded by the European Union and Bread for the World, have engaged local actors on road walk campaigns to sensitize community members on religious tolerance, extremism and human rights for peaceful coexistence.
During the road walk campaigns at Kunuwol and Deba of Yamaltu-Deba Local Government, and Ɓilliri and Kalmai of Ɓilliri Local Government, participants walked round the towns preaching against religious intolerance and extremism while encouraging peace, love, togetherness and care for one another irrespective of differences.
Before the road walks, representative of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI) and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) reminded participants on the importance of peaceful coexistence, love and support for one another.
The clergies said holy scriptures of Islam and Christianity ordered believers to be peace loving and supportive of one another as they equally condemned crisis, bullying and harassment.
Speaking to the road walk participants at Kunuwol, the District Head of Kunuwol Abubakar Muhammad, stressed the importance of peace amongst members of the society, maintaining that “peace formed the backbone of every development, without which, no society can move forward”.
He encouraged participants especially parents to enroll their wards and children to school in order to fully contribute to the development of the nation.
Also addressing participants of the peace campaign, the district head of Ɓilliri Malam Muhammad Yusuf Ali, said “No society can progress without peace”, assuring to complement TEKAN Peace efforts to attaining violent free societies.
The traditional leaders appreciated TEKAN Peace Desk and its funders for their commitment to peace and development in their domains and the state at large.
Representatives of various security agencies who addressed participants before the peace campaign, charged them to stay free of violence and report any suspicious move to nearest security agents.
On his part, TEKAN Peace Desk Media Officer Joseph Ojedeji, said the road walk was to increase public awareness on human rights and religious tolerance in Gombe State.
“We come to understand that ethno-religious and political violence have brought a lot of setbacks to our communities, hence the need to go down into societies to create awareness on the significance of religious tolerance.
Joseph maintained that being critical stakeholders in ensuring peace and progress, the campaign mobilized youths, women, traditional and religious leaders to support the campaign for peaceful and progressive societies.
While encouraging all stakeholders to preach peace, unity and religious tolerance, the Media Officer maintained that “Not everybody will be your religion, we therefore need to learn how to live together as brothers”.
The one-day road walk which simultaneously took place in Ɓilliri and Kalmai, Kunuwol and Deba, drew participants from religious, community, youths and women groups, who were chanting peace and love songs while carrying placards conveying different messages to include “Prevent religious extremism, promote peace”, “Religious freedom is a human right”, “United for religious tolerance”, “Respect all faiths, respect all rights”, “Together we can protect human rights” amongst others.
Faith for Peace Project is being implemented by TEKAN Peace Desk in six communities of three local government areas (Ɓilliri, Kwami and Yamaltu-Deba) of Gombe State, with support from Bread for the World and the European Union.