Speech Delivered at the National Youth Peace Concert Organised by Her Excellency, Dame (Dr.) Patience Faka Jonathan, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 8th March 2014 at the Eagle Square, Abuja In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah and may His unending Benedictions and mercy be upon the Last Prophet of Allah, Muhammad (Peace Be Unto Him). Permit me to rest on all existing protocols. Your Excellency, the First Lady, I thank you for the opportunity you have afforded me to share my thoughts on Peace, Unity and Love with my brethren, Muslims and Christians alike. In reality, we are nothing but a fellowship in humanity. I face you all today with a heavy heart considering the gruesome massacres of our brethren and our children in the North Eastern states, the increase in the rate of kidnappings, rape (especially of children), terrorism, wanton killings and corruption all over the country. I come to you with the burden of seeing the harrowed expressions on the face of the families and friends of those afflicted and with the pain of knowing that many of these evils could be avoided. Many have lost hope in this life. Some think succour will never come. I however come also with a message of hope. There is a lot we can do to bring peace and unity. I will not be saying anything you have never heard before; but when different people pass on the same message to you in different ways, it sinks home better. Today, more than ever before in the history of this great nation, we have allowed ourselves to be deceived into becoming disunited and we have allowed those with selfish and sinister aims to tie the blindfolds of race, tribe, ethnicity, region and religion over our faces. The result has been blind hatred, religious bigotry, ethnic chauvinism, unwarranted attacks and unbelievable distrust. How did we get here? How did we become so blind to reason? What is the way forward? We should be asking these serious questions. We should change our thought processes to reflect the fact that we have understood differently from what certain vested interests would have us understand. We have no other choice than to change the way we think presently. Doing the same thing always and expecting different results is likened to insanity; we must rise above petty sentiments and look at how we can turn things around. The fact is that things are looking so bleak but then, the fact is also that things can look up for the better if we are ready. A wise man once said that peace is not the absence of violence but the presence of justice and equity. The most important ingredients of peace are justice and fairness. We must show that these two principles are important to us as a people. Our leaders should not allow anyone to get away with wrongdoing without a commensurate sanction. When this happens repeatedly, the impression people get is that it is better to resort to self-help. When certain people are left unsanctioned for their misdemeanour or crime while others are punished for the same or similar crimes, observers are left with no choice than to conclude that our leaders think some people are superior to others and that some people are above the law. These sentiments are the ingredients of mistrust and violence. Next to these is tolerance and a complete education. Tolerance is a bye product of an educated mind. Education is incomplete when only a set of ideas are sold to people without exposing them to contrary views and opinions. It is for this reason that we have very literate individuals who are all the same very self- opinionated and ignorant. The youth are increasingly at the receiving end of this imbalanced education that many get these days. It is the reason the comments people make on social media about other people’s cultures, religions or beliefs are full of hatred and ignorance. Knowledge is indeed light and it illuminates the mind and thought. Let us embrace dialogue over violence. Let those placed in charge of our affairs develop the capacity to receive, acknowledge and understand our diversity of thought, faith, background and means. There are too many areas of convergence for everyone of us to dwell on than the few areas of divergence. Love is a powerful tool. It makes the world go round. If it were not for the love that Allah The Most Gracious has for us, His creation, we would be in a situation far worse than we are in today. If not for the love of our parents, we would have died as infants without their care. Let us use love as a tool to take care of ourselves. Love breeds altruism and this in turn leads to trust. When you think of how you would feel in someone else’s shoes, it puts your actions into clearer perspective. The Last Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (Peace Be Unto Him), said “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” (Recorded by Al Bukhaari and Muslim). This is a profound declaration of the essence of brotherhood- to wish for others what you wish for yourself. The lack of a robust and balanced education is often reflected in the way people react to issues or generate issues. Take for example the misguided and heretic elements responsible for this insurgency in the North East. These ignorant and violent men and women have their poor education to blame. Their antics and actions are anything but Sunnah, Islamic Propagation and Jihad. In fact, by their actions and words they make total mockery of the Sunnah and twist the noble concept of Jihad, which is meant to protect the weak and the oppressed. They oppress the weak and are too cowardly to come out and confront the strong armed forces. Instead, they sneak around ambushing the army, go to poor, weak and unarmed students, and slaughter them; may Allah guide them and forgive us all. Another example is that of the ethnic bigots calling themselves militants and freedom fighters wherever they may be. These are nothing more than ethnic chauvinists and criminals whose mainstay is terrorizing the innocent and embarrassing the nation. They claim to be fighting for the good of their people when the reality is that they only enrich themselves to the exclusion of the masses. All these are products of a warped and imbalanced education. Let us take to heart the command of Allah where He said in the Glorious Quran, “And hold on fast to the rope of Allah, all of you, and be not divided. Call to mind the favours of Allah on you when you once were enemies and He brought your hearts together such that you became brethren. You were all once on the brink of a pit of Hell and He saved you from that…. ” Q3:103. Though addressed to the Muslims originally, this verse and others like it holds guidance for everybody. It is, after all, a revelation from the Mighty and Most Wise. To the youth I advise that you learn as much as possible about each other’s religions, cultures and ways of life. Travel as much as you can and visit places far from home. These are the ways you can broaden your education and improve your relationship with fellow Nigerians with whom you may share neither tribe nor religion. Nigeria is one the few unique places on earth where you can get so many ethnic groups and tribes in one place. It brings to mind the words of Allah in the 49th Surah of the Glorious Quran, “O Mankind! We created you from the male and female. We made you into tribes and nations that you may recognize yourselves, the most honoured in the sight of Allah are the most pious of you; Allah is All Knowing, All Aware”. (Q49:13) Many of us were raised to take other people’s opinions and feelings for granted. This must change! We must truly learn to listen to others and to remember that we are all inherently good and our capacity for good far outstrips our capacity for evil. We must learn how to avoid the stereotype trap and eschew mistrust and actions that engender it. Do not tar a people with the same brush just because one of them or some of them did wrong. What ultimately counts is the good we collectively achieve because we rose above our sentiments. I leave you with these thoughts and hope you have a wonderful deliberation. Thank you very much for your attentiveness and for the patience with which you exercised that.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 17:19:32 +0000
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