Former Chancellor, University of Abuja, Professor Abdulrasheed Allah, has advocated for a national dialogue to address the continued banditry, religious bigotry and increasingly lack of harmony among Nigerian communities.
Prof. Nallah, stated this at the public lecture he delivered at a book lunch on the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Sheikh Muhammed Bashir Imam Solih, authored by Dr Abdulazeez Arowona, in Ilorin on Thursday.
According to him, “I believe that, the very day Nigerians decide that enough is enough, it will be nipped in the bud. We need to be tolerant of each other, see ourselves as brothers and sisters, stop the hate because we are all equal citizens of the country and must share our resources and become our brothers and sisters keepers.”
He argued that Nigerian citizens, whether Fulani, Yoruba, Ibo, wherever they are in Nigeria, must not be threatened or made to pay for the purported sins of their ancestors.
“If we must forge unity and shut down the divisions, we must dialogue among ourselves as Nigerians,” he added.
Prof. Nallah, also a two term vice-chancellor of the Kwara state University, Malete, asserted that “we must solve our problems ourselves as citizens and not open to any ridiculous foreigners whose ambition is to deal in our gold and minerals.
“Forget that they talk in terms of religious saviours, the same religion they worship when they enslaved and colonized Africans.”
Prof Nallah, asked the “Nigerian government to conduct a census to know and document the Nigerian citizens in the bushes and forests and show them they are citizens too, but importantly, while eliminating the criminals, incorporate the citizens even as they prefer to remain engaged in the forest economy into the national project of discipline, peace and harmony.”
The former Vice-Chancellor, observed that “Ilorin is lucky to have inherent community structures that mobilize the Emirate people for religious harmony and community service, I make bold to say that hardly is there any other Nigerian community that has shown more tolerant and acceptance of diverse peoples than Ilorin, especially the peoples of the books.”