Acting Governor of Edo State, Rt Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu today hosted Muslim faithfuls in the state in the spirit of the Eid-el-Kabir celebration. While receiving the Muslims at the Government House, Benin, said, "Only in Edo State Philip will cook and celebrate Sallah with Shaibu and Shaibu will in return cook and celebrate Philip during Christmas".
The Acting Governor charged the Christians and Muslims to co-exist peacefully, noting that, "Violence has no religion, ethnicity or morality, if anything, it reflects a betrayal of our basic humanity, for in violence we forget who we are. What surrounds us is beyond comprehension and puts all of us to shame. For people of faith and principles, this is a time for deep reflection".
He went on to say that "We must never forget that life has not always been like this and we have never had it so bad in the history of this country in terms of security challenges. However, we should have faith that we can stop the tide. To do this, we need to stand firm and form an alliance of virtue that will combat and deal justly with the root causes of the problems, not their symptoms. We must be convinced that the issue is not beyond what we can collectively deal with as a people. With our collective efforts, the criminals out there need to be brought down and treated like other criminals".
Though the task is enormous, we should not be afraid of our duty as bridge-builders and peacemakers. To do this effectively, we should dig deep into the teachings of our faith on justice, compassion, courage, patience and respect for humanity. As Christians and Muslims, we need to be detribalised", Shaibu said
In his address, the Chief Imam of Benin Central Mosque, Alhaji Abdufatah Enabulele urged both Christians and Muslims to shun violence and bloodshed and elect leaders who will pilot the affairs of the country to the promised land.
