Desirous of enhancing peaceful co-existence among the religious groups in the state, the Ebonyi State government has inaugurated a 50-man Nigeria Inter-religious Council Committee (NIREC), with a charge to faithful to tolerate the ideals and organisational framework of the two main religions: Christianity and Islam, practised in the country.

Addressing a large gathering of Muslim and Christian faithful, on Tuesday, at the Women Development Centre, Abakaliki, Governor Martin Elechi, shortly after the inauguration of the committee, enjoined the members to be at the vanguard of educating and teaching their followers on tolerance and accommodation of other religions.

According to him, “if we must co-exist as a nation, we must know and understand our differences, live and let live, should be our watchword.

“We need to respect our religion to have inter-religious dialogue,” restating that the two ideologies needed to be critically analysed to enhance the peace and unity of the country.


Earlier in his address, the Anglican Bishop of Enugu, Emmanuel Chukwuma, who is equally the co- chairman of the South -East chapter of the Nigeria Inter-religious Council, attributed the prevalence of violence in the nation to the selfishness and ignorance of individuals in the society, who failed to understand the tenets of the religion they professed.

Bishop Chukwuma advocated for the inclusion of cooperative religious studies in universities’ curriculum in the country, in addition to more teachings on religious tolerance through seminars and workshops in the country.

Speaking against the backdrop of the menace of the Boko Haram sect, and the loss of life and property in recent times, due to the activities of the sect, the cleric described the sect as satanic, and enjoined all well meaning citizens to condemn the sect in its entirety.

He said “Boko Haram is not Islamic, it is satanical, every Muslim must condemn it in its entirety. It is a compounded satanism, every Muslim must disown it. What Boko Haram is doing is the work of the devil.”

The cleric restated that there was no alternative to peace, stressing that for the nation to attain its desire of being one of the leading industrial and viable economic nations of the world, peace and tolerance must be inculcated in the teachings and ideologies of followers of Islam and Christianity.

In his presentation, the vicar of the Catholic ChurchAbakaliki, and a resource person at the occasion, Rev Father Abraham Nwali, blamed the elites and religious fundamentalists for the extremism being exhibited by some adherents of both religion.

The occasion had in its attendance a large turn out of different faithful comprising the Christian community and its counterpart from the Moslem worshipers.
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Misplaced priorities. The governor is just confused

How did he arrive at this? Is there any religious problem in Ebonyi state. In the state today, about four or five communual clashes are going on and they are land related matters which were caused by the inept governor and his cabal. He has not done anything on those issues, now he is constituting a panel on religious war that is not in existent in the state and will not be. The man has lost direction, he is too blind to lead Ebonyi state. God please help ebonyi.