Groups Caution Religious, Political Leaders Against Inflammatory, Divisive Statements

The leadership of Beacon Security and Innovations Limited (BSIL) and the Whiteink Institute for Strategy Education and Research (WISER) have cautioned both religious and political leaders against inflammatory and divisive statements capable of endangering national unity and security.

They gave the caution in a statement signed by Dr Kabir Adamu and Brig-Gen. Saleh Bala (rtd), co-leads BSIL–WISER Partnership following recent remarks by Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir, describing non-Muslims as infidels, during an event in Kano attended by the state governor and two other governors.

According to them, statements by religious leaders carry considerable moral and social weight capable of creating or deepening divisions between Muslim and non-Muslim Nigerians, especially at a time when the country requires dialogue, mutual respect and collective action to overcome its security and developmental challenges.

They said, “The leadership of the BSIL–WISER partnership therefore unequivocally condemns the reported statement attributed to Sheikh Jingir and calls on Nigerians of all faiths, both Muslims and Christians, including well-meaning clerics, traditional and community leaders, intellectuals and other respected voices, to reject rhetoric that demeans fellow Nigerians on account of their religious identity.

“We similarly call on the government of Kano State, which hosted the event where the statement was made and on all public authorities and civic leaders, to affirm the principles of peaceful coexistence, equal citizenship and mutual respect among Nigerians of all faiths.

“As a respected elder and religious leader, Sheikh Sani Yahaya Jingir bears a special responsibility for the consequences of his public utterances. We therefore call upon him to recant and retract the offensive remarks attributed to him and to offer an unambiguous apology to the Nigerian people, particularly those citizens who were disparaged or offended by the statement. Such an action would demonstrate responsible leadership and contribute towards healing rather than deepening divisions.”

The duo further called on religious leaders of all faiths to exercise the utmost caution when entering partisan political spaces or lending their religious authority to political causes.

They warned that religious leaders occupy positions of exceptional trust and influence, and their words can reach millions of citizens in ways that ordinary political rhetoric cannot, adding that this influence imposes an equally exceptional responsibility. They said while religious leaders have every right, as citizens and moral authorities, to speak on matters affecting society, they must however, guard against becoming instruments of partisan mobilisation or allowing political engagements to draw them into making inflammatory, discriminatory or reckless statements capable of endangering national unity and security.

“The pulpit, mosque, church and other platforms of faith should never become vehicles for demonising fellow citizens or conferring religious legitimacy upon political hostility. When political contestation is framed as a struggle between religions, ethnicities or communal identities, ordinary political differences can be transformed into existential grievances, with potentially grave consequences for peace and national security.

This responsibility also extends to politicians and political actors. Those who deliberately court, procure, sponsor or deploy religious leaders and their platforms for divisive political mobilisation must recognise the dangers inherent in such conduct. Political advantage gained by exploiting religious or ethnic fault lines can impose costs on the nation far beyond any electoral cycle,”.

They cautioned political actors against inducing religious leaders to make inflammatory pronouncements, using places or platforms of worship for divisive partisan mobilisation, or exploiting the enormous influence of religious institutions to set one community against another.