Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice-President of Nigeria, says President Muhammadu Buhari and himself are good examples of great leadership as they have not had any problem working together in the past seven years despite their religious differences.
In a statement on Sunday, Laolu Akande, spokesperson for Osinbajo, said the vice-president disclosed this when he received Sheikh Mahi Ibrahim Niass, Senegal-based Grand Khalifa of Tijjaniya movement, at the presidential villa on Saturday.
According to him, religion must be used to encourage peace and unity adding that it plays a great role in human development.
“President Buhari is a devout Muslim and I am a pastor; both of us have worked together for about seven years; we have not had issues,” Osinbajo said.
“The President has shown great leadership, he has shown that he wants a country where people of different faiths live in harmony and with love for one another.
“We must use our faiths to promote peace and prosperity for our people. We need to work together to ensure that our people benefit from religion. We tend to underestimate the importance of religion even though it plays a key role in the development of the society, not just in the spiritual aspect but physical.
“There are many nations of the world that have benefitted from the impact of religion both spiritually and physically. So, we must use religion in our countries (in Africa) to help our people to live better lives because, in other parts of the world, leaders of faith have used religion to better the lives of the people.
“No matter what the situation may be, we in Africa must be able to sit together and talk. We must never allow situations where we cannot sit together. With what is going on across the world, people of faith must continue to emphasize that both major religions (Islam and Christianity) promote peace and we must allow our people to practice whatever religion they want to practice.”