By Dapo Akinrefon

A pressure group, the Patriots Roundtable, yesterday, urged Nigerians and supporters of political parties to ensure they imbibe religious tolerance as the 2023 general elections draw near.

In a statement by its Director-General, Uthman Shodipe-Dosunmu, the forum urged Nigerians not to be divided by religion adding that religion has no place in politics.

The statement reads: “When Asiwaju Tinubu told the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria that his wife and Children are all Christians while he is a Muslim, he appropriately defined the very exemplar and the unique accommodating essence that is the normative particularity of Lagos state and the South-West in general.

“The Yoruba people are undoubtedly the most liberal in this nation when it comes to matters of faith. Here they lack the prejudicial recourse of the extremist who would discriminate and vilify others over religious differences.

“Not in Yorubaland. Not in Lagos state. If there is a place where the two religions intermingled without malice, distortions or any violent upheaval, we urge everyone to come to Lagos.

“It is common typicality in Lagos that a family will have a Christian father and Muslim Mother or vice-versa. It is a long-held customary practice where all religions both Islam and Christianity, including the traditional worshipers, cohabit under one roof without rancour.

“They all celebrate Christmas, Eid Kabir, or even the Egungun season with genuine friendship, with the sincere clarity and bond of cultural brotherhood without any intimation of differences or hostile intentions.

“This accommodating amity should be a guide, a bellwether to the unifying core of the Nigerian nation.

“Religion should not divide us. Religion has no place in politics. We at the Patriots Roundtable are convinced that the sincerity of character, the genuineness of the core of the human soul, the competence of leadership, and the devotion to the supremacy of the unity of our nation should supersede any narrow divisive recourse to sectarian values.”

“Faiths and individual beliefs should not be a gauge of leadership. What ought to concern us all in the renewal of the national ideals should be the content of character, the indices of leadership such as intellect, vision, competitive bearing, merit, reflective grasp of power and the progressive ability to project far ahead of the throng, selfless in service and devotion to the general welfare. That is the leadership we should encourage. That is the leadership effulgence in the Tinubu-Shettima ticket,” he added.