The 2015 elections will come and go and Nigeria will remain the same. These were the words of President Goodluck Jonathan while addressing the opening session of the Interfaith Summit in Abuja.
The President, who observed that the strength of Nigeria lies in its diversity, promised that the 2015 elections would be transparent and only one man, one vote would count.
His experience, he said, has shown that Nigerian youths want the country to remain as one while the elderly politicians are the ones fanning the embers of disunity.
He called on religious leaders to use their platforms to educate Nigerians on the need to be their brothers’ keepers.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Mohhamadu Saad Abubakar, who was one of the distinguished Nigerians from all walks of life, who gathered at the Interfaith Conference, reiterated the unity of Christians and Muslims in one country.
According to him, steps must be taken to fight the common enemy which he said was poverty.
While the Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onayikan, pointed at politics as being responsible for the vices that exist in the country, he stated that Nigerians need a turnaround of the negative image and practice responsible politics.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, also described Nigeria as a complex society and that the conference, which came at a time Nigeria is said to be in dare need of peace more than ever before, was urgent to iron out the differences.
The initiative has been in existence and it is believed that discussions in fora like this have been without concrete results, but participants pledged a total commitment on this occasion, giving assurance that the report from the meeting would be forwarded to the Presidency and National Assembly for implementation.
