Member of a committee constituted to mitigate the Boko Haram insurgency and former Federal Permanent Secretary Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed made the observation while presenting a paper entitled, “Freedom of Worship in Nigeria, Myth or Reality” during a round table forum in Jos by Carefronting Nigeria (CfN).
He said it was unfortunate that Nigerian politicians had become so bereft of worthy personal attributes that they were increasingly employing religion to win public goodwill.
The committee member said the insurgency of Boko Haram and Ansaru represented the clearest example of the convergence of faith and the struggle for political power which offends the basic tenets of the Islamic faith, which insists that nobody should be compelled to be a Muslim.
According to him, although no government policy directly restricts religious practices, practices exist in many parts of the nation that hinder the application of freedom of worship of citizens. He said these include policies and practices which discriminate between citizens in terms of access to resources and power principally on the basis of their faith.
He said it was wrong for government not to work hard to encourage mixed living patterns, as against segregation of people of different faiths as obtainable especially in Jos and Kaduna.
He also expressed regret that some state governments discourage citizens from building or having access to places of worship in areas where they are minorities; stressing that such inhibition to religious practices was inimical to national integration.
