By Malik Opeyemi Joseph 

Most Muslim faithfuls I have come in contact with are quick to mention peace as one of the main tenets of Islam and they say so with such seriousness that you could see the sincerity in their assertion.

However, events of late does not seem to corroborate their claims, not with the recent killings and attacks allegedly committed by people of the Islamic faith.

The death of a woman who was killed for alleged blasphemy readily comes to mind, late Bridget was attacked by an irate mob in a Kano market  after a religious argument.

So many questions arise- what constitutes blasphemy? Is death the penalty for blasphemy? If the answer to the second question is yes, who delivers the judgement? Man or God?

If we all start killing people who share a different religious belief from ours, I doubt if there will be an entity called Nigeria. So tolerance is the key word.

Our diversity as a nation either on ethnic, political or religious grounds shouldn’t divide us, rather it should bring about unity. Our forebearers fought and got independence from people who have different colour skin from ours presumably with the hope that being free would solve most, if not all our problems but events after 1960 has proved them wrong.

With the civil war (6 july,1967-15 Jan, 1970) fought because a section of the country wanted to secede and be an autonomous nation ( Biafra) to the various inter communal wars fought (Umuleri vs Aguleri) in Anambra state, also (Ife vs Modakeke) in Osun state, inter ethnic clashes, (Hausa vs Yoruba) in Lagos state and several inter-religious fights between Christians and Muslims, isn’t it a shame that the independence fought for could not bring us the unity and peaceful co-existence expected of a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious nation as ours?

The recent incidences involving Fulani herdsmen and their host communities is a testament to the fact that we as a people are intolerant, the casualties keep on rising with new incidences recorded almost weekly, this trend if not curbed is a disaster waiting to happen.

Perpetrators of this act of terrorism should be made to face the law and serve as deterrent to other would be terrorists. Nigeria is not George Orwell’s animal farm where some animals are more equal than the others.

To ensure lasting peaceful co-existence, citizens should abide by laws and regulations while the Federal and State Governments should be proactive in ensuring security of lives and properties of the citizens.

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