Gowon, Sultan, Oritsejafor harp on unity

A former militaryhead of state, General Yakubu Go-won (retd), has identified the battle for supremacy and the struggle for political power as the major factors threatening unity and peaceful co-existence in the country.General Gowon spoke on Tuesday at the opening of a four-day international conference on Islam, Peace Building and Political Engagement, at Bayero University, Kano.He said this was why efforts by successive administrations to entrench a culture of peace and harmony had remained unsuccessful.According to him, ethnic polarisation and religious misunderstanding fuelled by those he called political charlatans had also compounded the political misfortune that had been the lot of the nation.'Politics with the attendant struggle for power in the country has deepened suspicion among Nigerians and poisoned national unity and peaceful co-existence,' he said.On the serial bombings by the Boko Haram group, the former head of state said at no time in the practice of Islam in the nation was it more challenged by identity crisis than now.He, therefore, called on the group as well as other similarly inclined groups in the country to sheathe their swords and embrace peace, stressing that violence was an ill wind that would blow no one any good.Speaking on the proposed constitutional amendment, he counselled that such amendment should accommodate issues frustrating peace-building efforts, rather than to continue to play the ostrich over recurring issues that had become thorns in the body politic.The conference brought together several prominent Nigerians, including the chairman of the presidential committee on 2011 post-election riots, Sheik Ahmed Lemu, who lamented that the Nigerian society had lost its moral values due to greed, injustice and absence of good governance.The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar, blamed ignorance and moral decay among Nige-rians and the elite for the perennial ethno-religious disaffection in the country.The Sultan noted that corruption and greed, as well as injustice, were threate-ning the corporate existence of the country, while he cautioned religious leaders to prevail on their followers to tow the path of morality and justice.On his part, the president of the Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, tasked the Federal Government to tackle the security challenges in the country head on, to give room for rapid socio-economic development of the country.The Kano State governor, Dr Rabi'u Musa Kwank-waso, used the occasion to reaffirm the commitment of his administration to ensure peaceful coexistence among the various ethno-religious groups in the state.
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