Interfaith Endurance Peace Walk: Kaduna Assembly, Clerics, Others Commend WIC, JISRA

Frederick Peters, KADUNA

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: The Kaduna state House of Assembly, religious leaders and others have on Wednesday commended the Women’s Interfaith Council, (WIC) and Joint Initiative for strategic religious Action, ( JISRA) for their several peace initiatives and a successful Interfaith Endurance Peace Walk 2025.

The Interfaith Endurance Peace Walk featured strategic visits to the speaker KSHA, Ansarul Islam society of Nigeria, Kaduna, Assemblies of God’s church, Nassarawa Road, Kaduna and brief stopovers at NEPA Roundabout, Abubakar Gumi Central Market, Kaduna among other things.

The speaker, KSHA, Rt Hon Yusuf Dahiru Liman, represented by the Deputy Speaker, Rt Hon.Barr. Magaji Henry Danjuma. while welcoming the group to the Assembly, commended their initiative and commitment to peace, adding that as an Assembly their duty is to legislate laws that promotes peace and development ” you are on the right path, therefore I want to encourage you

” and I say you have the blessings of the Kaduna House of Assembly to continue on this mission and I assure you that we are together with you and the governor am also sure is together with you, the all of Kaduna state government is together with you, so go in peace” he assured

The Speaker added” what brings about unnecessary rancours we have in life is the evil one, so you have chosen to associate with good, with God, so any body who is truly Godly and good, will want to also associate with you, we know of a truth that peace is a prerequisite, is a necessity.”

According to him,” whether you are a leader, ruler, a commoner, whether you are rich, whether you’re poor every thing revolves around peace, progress, governance and every thing and sincerely speaking where there’s peace that means the evil one is not there, then every body will bring his or her contribution and the nation will move” he said

” On a more serious note, I think what you are doing should be replicated every where, every state, every local government and every community in Kaduna state, honestly, I want to say, we at the Assembly assure you that we are with you physically and spiritually, we are with you 100 percent, because all the laws, all the legislations that we are trying to come up in this state is to ensure that there’s peace, we will never legislate on laws that will not bring peace in this state, it’s not in our character.” he reiterated.

He also commended the Kaduna state Governor Uba Sani for his tireless efforts for peace in the state since assumption of office as governor, describing him as an’ architect of peace’

He further tasked adherents of the two major Religions to live out their life inline with tenets of their faith to ensure the needed peace in the state.

Earlier, the JISRA country coordinator Nigeria, Mr Jude Likita briefed the speaker on the visit and Project JISRA, saying ” we want to use this opportunity to say thank you for honouring us, Joint initiative for strategic Religious action,( JISRA) is a partnership of over 50 civil societies organizations in the world an is being implemented in seven countries “including Nigeria.

He said countries where JISRA is implemented ” it is carrying out a freedom of belief program that supports inter religious engagements and has shown that inter religious dialogue has helped communities grow and progress and in Nigeria today we can say Kaduna state and Plateau state, where we implement the project have seen a lot of peaceful walk and engagements and even right now we just coming from a Mosque and you can see how both Christians and Muslims work together for peace

“but all these happened because of support we’ve gotten from you, we’ve seen progress, a lot of inspiration, a lot of community leaders, religious leaders, faith actors, all working together to ensure Kaduna is a home of peace, because of the work government here has been working alongside with CSOs, we can say Kaduna has been peaceful, we are working in several local governments in Kaduna state, such as Kaduna north, Kaduna south and Kajuru LGAs,

” so as we are here we want to seek your support that all the successes we have had, such as having women included in the youth council, as you can see the Women’s interfaith council ( WIC) standing in front of you, having a peace walk to show that interfaith collaboration is something that is possible and must continue, in support of peaceful coexistence.” he stressed.

The Executive Director, WIC, Rev Sr Veronica Ifeanyiwa Oyeanisi, OLA, hinted on the essence of the Endurance Peace Walk from ” the Mosque, down to the Kaduna state House of Assembly, where pigeons were released signifying peace and the Assembly supporting us in this work for peace, adding that ” if there’s no peace, there will be no development, there will be no progress,

” it’s when there’s peace that people will live and do their business, so that’s why we are here also talking about things that hinder peace like all these harmful cultural practices; when we don’t respect other peoples’ rights, they hinder peace, when we talk to people anyhow, they also hinder peace and that’s why we are talking about it

” And also, how do we manage stress, there’s alot of stress in our country and people are just being cranky and nagging because there’s stress and how do they manage it, that’s why we stopped at the central market to talk to the people that the should learn to manage stress, learn to talk to people they trust when stressed up and join healthy societies that will promote them, from there, we moved to the Assemblies of God’s church , Nasssarawa road, as Muslims and Christians learning to respect worship places, by entering a Mosque earlier and now a church, so all these has been a long walk from 7 am to this time, that goes to show that, to get peace is not easy, you have to endure” she averred

Earlier, the Chairman Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria, Kaduna Branch, Alhaji Ali Mohammed Jimoh, lauded the visit to the Mosque, harping on unity among faiths and deemphasizing religious fanaticism, saying ” all religions preach peace, because if you don’t preach peace no body will even try to join your religion, they will be running away, so this interfaith group, you doing a very wonderful job in order to uphold the two religions together especially in Nigeria”

He however lamented that sometimes, “we see ourselves as enemies but we are not, all of us are worshipping one God, and if you want to worship God, God is peace every where, so religion too is peace, we thank you all for coming and thank you for choosing our Islamic centre for this program, you’re welcome ” he reiterated.

Similarly, the Deputy Director General Bureau of Interfaith, Kaduna state, Rev Fr. Anthony Shawuya, applauded the peace walk/ initiative and how the event can go into cementing relationship among faiths in the state, saying ” something has to start from somewhere and little by little and one of the principles of Interfaith dialogue is that no matter how little, there should be a move to bring people together and the event seems small but it will go a long way to send a lasting message to the minds of every body through the media that are here

” to let the people know that peace is possible and that every one is a stakeholder of peace, wherever you are, and whatever you do you’re a stakeholder of peace, many of us here, we are suppose to be in our various offices, but because we know the importance of peace that’s why we’ve come to partake in this Endurance Peace Walk and I will encourage many other organizations to carry out this kind of advocacy for peace” he added.

The Senior Pastor, and District Superintendent Assemblies of God Church, Nassarawa Road, Kaduna Rev Paul Adim, describing the visit to his church ” I think it’s a wonderful one, we count it a privilege that they chose to finish it( peace walk) up here today, and seeing the work they are doing it’s a wonderful work, bringing people together, I think it’s very wonderful,”

He urged WIC ” they should continue with this, every support that is given to them should be encouraged, from the government, from who ever is supporting them, it should be strongly encouraged, this thing should go down to every one to understand that we are one” he stressed

On her part, the General coordinator, WIC, Mrs Elizabeth M. Abuk, harped on the peace walk ” I see this as part of what can change the behavior and thinking of people in Kaduna state, from where we started this walk to this place, I’m sure we are giving the message and I could see people nodding their heads even as they read the inscriptions on the T- shirts and banner, we call it Endurance Peace Walk, we need to endure in whatever situation we are passing through now”.

According to her,” for us to make it we need to tolerate one another and that’s what it means by Endurance, and so I see positive change in Kaduna state and Nigeria at large” I call on the youths because they are the future leaders of tomorrow and without them we can not have a good society” She charged them to work hard, behave well and endure to be future leaders they are meant to be.

Also, the Christian coordinator, WIC, Rev Dr Rose Opawoye, maintained that” this Endurance Peace Walk is to be able to bring the Muslims and Christians together from the grassroot and religious leaders, Imams and Pastors , and you know as we walk as Christians and Muslims all through the town it makes people to know that it is possible to live together, we can live together, we had lived together before until some’ unscrupulous’ elements decided to divide us, but we can still do it” she averred

Similarly, the Muslim coordinator, Hajia Hauwa Usman Magayaki, said ” the Endurance Peace Walk is a success, we enjoyed it, we exercised ourselves while calling for peace and we were able to address so many people even in the market, we were able speak to women and Men, and we went to the state house of Assembly, and we were welcomed there and we went to the Mosque, we were welcomed there too

” and even here the last Bus-stop is a church, and we are welcomed into a conference, so it’s a blessing, we thank God and I pray that peace will continue to reign in our homes, communities, state and in the country at large” she added

It would be noted that Women’s interfaith Council (WIC) is one of the organisations in Kaduna Nigeria implementing the JISRA Project.