BY Emmanuel Ojeifo



“The places where we worship shape the way we pray, and the way we pray shapes the way we live.” – Richard S. Vosko



At a distance of less than two kilometres to each other in the Central Business District of Abuja, two imposing religious edifices bestride the city landscape – the National Mosque and the National Christian Centre. A straight road connects both religious monuments, meaning you could drive straight down the slope from the National Christian Centre and find yourself in the National Mosque, or drive up the slope from the National Mosque and empty yourself in the National Christian Centre. Seen through the eyes of religious altruism, we have good reasons to laud the designers of the Abuja master plan for their foresight in mapping the location of these two places of worship on strategic plots close to each other in the heart of the city. You would better appreciate the beautiful scenery when you take a look at an aerial photograph of that section of the city. It also says something about the roughly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, a phenomenon that the renowned international religion journalist, John Allen Jr. describes as “the Coke and Pepsi of global religion.”



Unlike Lagos, Abuja has fewer tourist attraction sites. Thus when my two Catholic priest-friends visiting Nigeria from Australia landed in Abuja, it was quite convenient for me to take them for a guided tour of the National Mosque and the National Christian Centre. When I mentioned it to them they welcomed the idea with delight and looked forward to the visit. I immediately sent a text message to Alhaji Ibrahim Jega, the Executive Secretary of the National Mosque Management Board asking if we could come over at 10 o’clock in the morning of Tuesday, January 3, 2017. He promptly replied and said he would be glad to welcome us. Alhaji Jega is a very likeable fellow: calm, humble, easy-going, and always smiling. He served in the Federal Civil Service and rose to the position of Director before retiring in 2010. Thereafter he became Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development in Kebbi State.



On one occasion, Alhaji Jega approved the renewal of land tenancy application made by a church in Kebbi, defying the riotous threats of some of his Muslim confreres who preferred that the church be given a land outside the city centre.The church had acquired the land at a time when there was practically no habitation in the area, but over time a thriving city had grown around it. So when the land tenancy expired after 99 years of lease, the church wanted a renewal. It was then that some Muslims felt that a church should not be sitting on a precious land space in the heart of a Muslim-dominated city. They wanted the land to be retrieved from the church and a mosque built on it or something else. Alhaji Jega went home and thought about the matter. He asked himself: “If it was a mosque occupying that plot of land, would I take a decision to have the land confiscated and the mosque relocated elsewhere?”



Enlightened by a sense of justice, equity and fairness, he came back to the office the next day and signed the papers approving the land tenancy renewal for the church. Even when the Muslim lords threatening to protest the decision went to the state governor, Alhaji Jega stood his ground. The governor supported him. When he called the church authorities to follow up the process with the other departments in his Ministry, they were shocked that their application was approved. The following day a throng of the church’s members flocked at Alhaji Jega’s office to give thanks.



You may argue that this isn’t how things should be, that Christian leaders should not be thanking Muslim authorities for granting their land renewal application (since it is their constitutional right to have land for building places of worship), but this is the reality of life in some parts of Nigeria. There are many places in the North where Christians cannot get land to build churches, schools, hospitals and other social facilities that benefit all citizens. But in the midst of this fouled socio-political and religious atmosphere, Alhaji Jega did what was right, and he still feels very proud about his decision. Christian leaders who have encountered Alhaji Jega have tremendous respect for him on account of his disposition to life. He is highly committed to interfaith initiatives that promote peace among Christians and Muslims. A few years ago he jointly founded the Abuja Interfaith Peacebuilding Forum with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan. This forum has been in the forefront of championing interreligious cooperation among Muslims and Christians in the FCT.



Whenmy friends and I arrived at his office, a little later than the scheduled time, we were told he was at a meeting. But immediately the meeting was over he came out into the waiting room and warmly welcomed us. He ushered us into his office and took more than 20 minutes to speak to us about the positive role of religion in the society and the great good that can be achieved if Christian and Muslim leaderscooperate together and effectively harness the spiritual, ethical and social assets of their religions in the service of the common good.In a society where some of the most intractable violent conflicts and hostilities are fuelled by religious intolerance, it is uplifting to find eminent personalities like Alhaji Jega who devote themselves wholeheartedly to promoting peace, mutual understanding and harmonious coexistence among the adherents of different religions.



Before asking his son to take us on a guided tour of the inner precincts of the National Mosque, he handed to each of us a copy of the mosque’s guidebook.At the entrance of the imposing edifice, there was a beautifully crafted Arabic inscription on the marble-plated wall. We asked Alhaji Jega’s son to translate it for us. He paused for a moment and, wearing a disarming smile, said to us, “I am sorry, I am not too good with Arabic.” We smiled back at him, and asked if we could take photographs. “Please, feel free,” he said. We then took photographs outside and went into the mosque. At the end of the tour we offered some words of prayer inside the mosque. Interestingly, when I posted some of the photographson Facebook it was a Catholic nun, well versed in Islam, who translated the Arabic inscription for me. The part she saw read: “Remember Allah,so that you may prosper.”



When we left the National Mosque, we headed straight to the National Christian Centre, another imposing edifice. Since it is a Christian facility and I am a Christian, I didn’t think it was necessary to give the property managers a prior notice. On arrival, a security man led us to the office of the Assistant General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Barr. Joseph Daramola. Barr. Daramola is the Catholic Church’s representative on the CAN executive body. He warmly welcomed us and spoke at length about his Catholic heritage and about his deep admiration for the Catholic priesthood. He then conducted us round the facility, explaining in great detail at every point the significance of important particulars dotting the sanctum of the Christian Centre.

It made me proud when I saw the plaque containing the names of all former CAN presidents on the wall of the sanctuary. Of the six former national presidents, three are Catholic archbishops, who later went on to become cardinals, starting with the pioneer CAN President Cardinal Dominic Ekandem, the first Nigerian Catholic prelate to be made a cardinal. He ruled for 12 years and handed over to Cardinal Anthony Okogie who ruled for 7 years. Cardinal John Onaiyekan came much later and ruled for just one term of 3 years. The three other former CAN leaders are a Methodist prelate, an Anglican primate and a Pentecostal pastor.



From the inner precincts of the Christian Centre we went to the newly built state-of-the-art Guest House at a walking distance from the main building.Barr. Daramola didn’t allow us to take our leave until we had prayed and blessed him and signed his guestbook. Next was a lunch appointment with Cardinal Onaiyekan. Do I have to say what we ate for lunch? Well, I noticed that my guests were delighted with the turn of the visits. Cardinal Onaiyekan’s sense of humour, his jolly-good-fellow approach to life and his overarching breadth of intelligence crowned their day. When he appeared in the sitting room to welcome the guests, they greeted him “Good afternoon Sir” only to realize he was the cardinal they were waiting to see. They immediately made a U-turn: “Good afternoon Your Eminence!” Well, he caused it himself. He appeared in a good body fit native-tailored shirt and brown knickers. Simplicity personified!


read more at http://politicstoday.com.ng/2017/02/19/spikes-domes-and-the-glimpse-of-divinity/