By Lukman Olabiyi
Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, has called for religious harmony and tolerance among the people of the race, and further urged them to shun religious fanaticism to avoid crisis in the land.
The Yoruba generalissimo made the call in Lagos while speaking during a Ramadan lecture, even as he charged the people on the need to return to immediate past era when both Muslims and Christians lived together in peace and celebrate and shared with one another during festivals.
Adams, who is also the national coordinator of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), while calling for harmony, decried what he termed commercialisation of religion by the new generation evangelists, even as he said there was need for the government to partner Muslim and Christian clerics in fervent prayers for the land.
He, however, noted that despite that there abound both Muslim and Christian clerics in the country who were God-sent, individual Nigerian leaders engaged them for their own selfish end, instead of the general well-being of Yoruba land.
“There should be religious harmony in Yoruba land. The government should accommodate the religious clerics, keep them in a place, give them special package, take care of their children’s education so that their minds would not be distracted, but concentrate on praying for Yoruba land.
“But instead, the leaders are only engaging the clerics for their own selfish end. There is work for us to do in Yoruba land.
“What we are doing here today is observing the holy month of Ramadan which is also meant for prayer. What we are doing now is Ramadan lecture, we started 10 years ago,” he said.
In his sermon, the guest lecturer, Jamiu Sanusi (Amin Olorun), urged the Muslims to be faithful in seeking God’s guidance.
The cleric said though the OPC members are believed to be pagans and non-believers, he maintained that the Ramadan lecture is an attempt to change the negative narratives, adding that members of the OPC, under the leadership of the Aare Onakakanfo of Yoruba land, had shown commitment to the ideals of the organisation.
“It is until we improve in our faith that we can be called faithful members of the Islamic world. I appeal to all members of the OPC to remain steadfast in their beliefs,” he said.