Unity, tolerance key drivers of peace – Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says unity and tolerance are crucial values needed to safeguard peace and stability in a multi-religious society like Nigeria.

Osinbajo’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Thursday, said the vice president said this when he received a delegation of Imams, Islamic scholars and Muslim leaders from all over the country in Abuja.

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The delegation of more than 25 Islamic clerics, intellectuals and leaders of different groups was drawn from higher institutions, National Council of Ulamas, Qadiriyya Movement, Fitiyanul Islam of Nigeria and Darika Sect.

Also in the delegation were National Council of Muslim Youths, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, Jammat Tajdidul Islamy, Salafiyya Youth Movement, Imams from the National Mosque and Legislative Quarters in Apo, Abuja among others.

The delegation was led by Prof. Siraj Abdulkarim from ABU Zaria, the National Chairman of the Community and Youth Development, (CYD), a public affairs group of Ulamas.

Addressing the delegation, Osinbajo said that until one engaged with the people, one could not tell what they and others wanted.

Earlier, one of the leaders of the delegation, the Chief Imam of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Dr Abdul Hakeem Abdul-Lateef described the vice president as a leader who loved all Nigerians, regardless of religious or ethnic differences. NAN