- The Christians association of Nigeria has replied Prof. Wole Soyinka's claim that religion is perilous and needed to be tamed
- CAN in their reply to Soyinka stated that Christianity is not associated with any sort of violence and thus Soyinka was unfair with his statement
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has faulted a statement by the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, that religion will kill Nigeria if it is not tamed.
In an interview, CAN’s National Director, Legal and Public Affairs, Kwamkur Samuel stated that Soyinka's claim that religion should be tamed is uncalled for and not the best approach to religious violence.
Condemning killings in the name of religion, the nobel laureate stated: “I would like to transfer that cry by President Muhammadu Buhari on corruption from the moral zone to the terrain of religion. If we do not tame religion in this nation, religion will kill us.”
While reacting to Soyinka’s statement on religion, Kwamkur Samuel, in an interview said religion was not the problem of Nigeria.
The CAN leader stated: “With due respect to Prof. Soyinka, it is not true that religion is the bane of Nigeria’s stability. No genuine religion promotes killings and destruction of lives and property. It is unfair for the Nobel laureate to project religion as a problem when it is the faithful believers that are praying and sacrificing to keep the nation moving.
“Christianity preaches peace in all its ramifications. I challenge the professor to identify one attack on any community in Nigeria that was reported to have been carried out by Christians. Let him show any terrorist group by whatever name that shouts the name of Jesus before attacks or claim they are fighting for Jesus.
“We are sad that the so-called religious killing is persisting because our prominent leaders are not ready to call a spade by its real name.”
Samuel lamented that Nigeria’s security agencies appeared to use a different template in performing their functions at home from the one they adopted when on international mission.
He stated: “I wonder how Nigeria would have been without the coming of the Christian missionaries. This nation has the security agencies that present heavy budgets, undergo serious training both nationally and internationally, perform very highly on foreign assignments. Yet, when they are dealing with Nigeria, they seem to be very lost as to knowing what is happening in Nigeria, let alone finding any lasting solution.”
He urged respected Nigerians like Soyinka to ask relevant authorities some questions as to why for years, killings had continued with no single prosecution of perpetrators.
I think prof is void of idea. I'm asking what impact has he on Nigeria citizens? Anytime he opened his mouths is endless folly. We only know him for his big grammar, no influence no impact, prof go and sleep.
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