Arresting The Storm Within NIREC

THE Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) is an independent union voluntarily formed by the leaders of the nation’s two recognised religious faiths – Christianity and Islam. It is composed of 50 members, made up of 25 Christian and 25 Muslim leaders and co-chaired by the Sultan of Sokoto, the leader of the Muslims in Nigeria and his counterpart, the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

When leaders of the two groups came together to form this organisation in 1999, former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was very supportive because he saw it as a very good thing. One of its cardinal mandates is to provide a platform for regular interaction and understanding between leaders of the two faiths to reduce the religious conflicts that have bedeviled the nation down the decades.

The Council carried on very well in the past sixteen years until recently. It has organised seminars on conflict manage-ment  and resolution, international relations and terrorism and offering advice to government on ways of governing to impact positively on the lives of people. In fact, as recently as the first quarter of 2013, NIREC had perfected plans to organise a youth summit to sensitise our young ones to the need for mutual peaceful co-existence.

However, it seems the National Conference organised during the President Goodluck Jonathan administration drove a wedge between the Christian and Muslim leaders of the Council. While the Muslim Leaders, with Ishaq Oloyede as spokesman, complained that the Conference was skewed against the interest of Muslims, his counterpart, Sunny Oibe, retorting that Sultan Sa’ad Abubakar (III) has frustrated attempts to convene meetings of the Council until the tenure of his co-chair, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor ends.

The effects of Boko Haram terrorism has also heightened suspicion between the two sides, with Oibe saying that most Northern Muslim leaders are secret supporters of the terrorists.

Though the Council has not been able to stop religious conflicts, one of its clear benefits is that it has helped to arrest the possibility of reprisal attacks since Boko Haram went haywire in 2011. Though their interfaces have not always been smooth, at least that they meet is beneficial.

We encourage them to continue to meet, but as peacemakers, they must come to the table with open mind and not as gladiators. The current storm in the Council is worrisome, and unless it is arrested quickly, it might turn to something else, whereby the Council will be adding to the problem they set out to help solve. At that point, govern-ment would have to dissolve it.

The National Conference was a collective Nigerian talk shop, with resolutions arrived at amicably. It need not breed bad blood between supposed peacemakers.