The Presidency has warned religious leaders and organisations in the country to refrain from divisive statements.
It said the responsibility of maintaining peace and peaceful coexistence was not only the duty of the government, but also of religious organisations whose words carry weight.
According to a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Saturday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said these while speaking on BBC Hausa Service on Friday.
Shehu was responding to a statement by the Supreme Council for Sharia, accusing President Muhammadu Buhari of letting down Muslims by his failure to attend the emergency summit of Organisation of Islamic Countries called by Turkey to discuss the United States’ declaration of Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel.
He said the allegation was totally misleading and baseless.
The presidential spokesman explained that Buhari had to go to France to attend the Climate Change Summit because he had earlier given a firm commitment to President Emmanuel Macron.
He added that the President sent the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to represent him at the Turkey meeting of OIC.
He explained, “The Paris summit on climate change wasn’t a junket. It was also about the problems of the Lake Chad region which affects Nigeria as well as the neighbouring countries.
“About 30 million lives are involved. Without the drying up of the lake, we would probably not have had the acute poverty that nurtured the environment for Boko Haram terrorism.”
Shehu recalled that countries such Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which sponsored the Unuted Nations’ General Assembly Resolution to condemn Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the official Capital of Israel, did not also attend the Turkey meeting for various compelling reasons.
“As a respectable religious organisation, an organisation that we hold in high esteem, the Supreme Council for Shari’ah could have helped themselves and the nation by checking the facts before the outburst, which sadly, was repeatedly aired by the international radio.
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