TAMING THE MENACE OF RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN NIGERIA
It’s very appalling the rate of murder of innocent Nigerians all in the name of religion. It baffles why Nigerians of different ethnicity and religion cannot live in harmony irrespective of religious beliefs.
It is still fresh in my mind the gruesome murder of Chief Kuyoro Festus Omosanya, the philanthropist who lived on France Road, Sabo-Gari, Kano and the perpetrators of this heinous crime are still at large. Chief Omosanya ran a charity home in Kano, to help those displaced boys and girls on streets who are homeless. This kind hearted man was brutally killed in his home on the night of September 20, 2015 by suspected Boko Haram religious sect. They did not stop at that, even after over a year later when his daughter Bukola Kuyoro carried on with the family charity organisation, she and her husband were attacked severally and the worst happened when she was kidnaped in March this year. it was a miracle how she and her three-year-old son escaped from their abductors. Till date, the whereabouts of her husband is still unknown, whether dead or alive.
In recent times, there have been multiple cases of attacks by fanatics on various Christian communities, businesses, churches and individuals all over the nation: The case of the dedicated 42-year- old mother of seven, Mrs Eunice Elisha, who was heartlessly killed while doing evangelism, in Kubwa area of Abuja, readily comes to mind. Also, Mrs Bridget Agbaheme, a 74-year-old, who was murdered at Wambai Market in Kano, due to an argument with a man who came to the front of her store to perform ablution. And also the clergyman of the ECWA Church, Reverend Zakariya, who was killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Obi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. All these are still fresh in the minds of concerned Nigerians.
This frequent violence and murder of innocent Nigerians on the basis of religious intolerance demands attention by the international community, more so when the government of the day seems to play lip-service to this serious issue by adopting a tepid response to the evils being perpetrated in Nigeria in the name of religion.
We only hope that the government of Nigeria will rise up to this menace before it worsens, by finding a lasting solution to these crimes committed in the name of religion by Boko Haram and other religious fanatics. Because it will certainly be impossible for us as a nation to develop with this level of hatred and religious bigotry.