UMCN Bishop Ande Mobilises Church, Muslims, Media for Peace

 

In an effort to promote lasting peace and peaceful coexistence in society, Bishop Ande I. Emmanuel of the United Methodist Church Nigeria (UMCN) has called for stronger collaboration among the Church, Muslim community and media.

 

 

 

Emmanuel made the call on Friday at the closing session of a five-day Roundtable Peace Talk and Media Interactive Session held at the Catholic Pastoral Centre, Mile Six, Jalingo, Taraba State.

 

The engagement, themed “Promoting Peace, Reconciliation, Unity and Sustainable Conflict Transformation,” brought together religious leaders, traditional rulers, media practitioners, women and youth leaders and other stakeholders to discuss ways of preventing conflict and strengthening peaceful coexistence.

 

The bishop said peace cannot be achieved by Christians, Muslims, government or the media alone, stressing that it was a shared responsibility.

 

 

“Peace is a shared responsibility. Peace is a human responsibility. Peace is a national responsibility,” he said.

 

He urged Nigerians to move beyond discussing peace and take practical steps to make peaceful coexistence possible.

 

Emmanuel said the responsibility of church leaders extended beyond preaching the gospel, urging them to become active peace vanguards by promoting reconciliation, tolerance and unity in their communities.

 

He also called for stronger Christian-Muslim cooperation, saying religious differences should not become a basis for hatred or violence.

 

 

 

According to him, Christians and Muslims might have different theological beliefs, but they share communities, markets, schools, workplaces and a common country.

 

He urged both faith communities to protect those bonds and make Jalingo and Taraba examples of peaceful Christian-Muslim coexistence.

 

The bishop said the United Methodist Church in Nigeria had learned important lessons from its own experience of internal conflict and reconciliation.

 

He said the Church had experienced serious divisions over the years, resulting in leadership disputes, strained relationships, court cases, factions and divided communities.

 

 

 

“Our experience has taught us something very important: conflict is easier to start than to end. It is easy to create suspicion. It is difficult to rebuild trust,” Emmanuel said.

 

He explained that conflict transformation should go beyond simply ending immediate disputes to addressing the underlying causes of conflict, including mistrust, injustice, inequality, exclusion, grievances and damaged relationships.

 

The bishop said the Church’s experience could serve as a message of hope to Nigeria, arguing that if a divided church could begin to rebuild trust and unity, divided communities could also overcome longstanding differences.

 

“If we can say, ‘We are one family,’ then Nigeria can also say, ‘We are one nation,’” he said.

 

 

 

Emmanuel, however, stressed that unity did not mean uniformity, noting that Nigerians could belong to different ethnic groups, political parties and religious traditions while respecting one another.

 

“Difference must not become division. Disagreement must not become hatred. Competition must not become destruction,” he said.

 

The bishop particularly urged journalists and media managers to recognise their role in promoting peace, warning that irresponsible reporting and unverified information could worsen tensions and trigger crises.

 

He called on media practitioners to verify information before publishing it, investigate claims, provide context and avoid inflammatory language that could deepen religious, ethnic or political divisions.

 

 

 

“Where journalists give false information, misinformation takes centre stage, and this can lead to crisis in society,” he cautioned.

 

Emmanuel warned against allowing social media to turn newsrooms into “forwarding centres,” urging journalists to cross-check information before amplifying it.

 

“A headline can create fear. A headline can create hope. A photograph can inflame. A story can reconcile,” he said.

 

He encouraged journalists to report not only conflicts but also stories of reconciliation, cooperation, community rebuilding and peaceful relations between Christians and Muslims.

 

According to him, responsible journalism could help identify early warning signs of conflict, expose injustice before it escalated and give communities opportunities to be heard.

 

 

 

Emmanuel also urged religious leaders to ensure that churches and mosques did not become platforms for hatred.

 

He called for regular meetings between Christian and Muslim leaders and joint peacebuilding initiatives involving young people and women.

 

The bishop cautioned against collectively blaming Muslims for acts of violence committed by extremists, saying individual criminal acts should not be used to stigmatise entire religious communities.

 

“An extremist is responsible for his or her actions. A criminal is responsible for his or her crime. A terrorist is responsible for terrorism. We must not transfer individual guilt to an entire religious community,” he said.

 

He said collective blame could become a seed of further conflict.

 

Emmanuel stressed that sustainable peace must also be built on justice, accountability, good governance, development, education, employment and security.

 

 

 

“Good governance is peacebuilding. Justice is peacebuilding. Development is peacebuilding. Education is peacebuilding. Employment is peacebuilding. Security is peacebuilding,” he said.

 

The bishop also called for greater involvement of traditional rulers in early warning, mediation, dialogue and community reconciliation.

 

According to him, traditional rulers understand their communities, histories and grievances and can often identify rising tensions before they develop into major conflicts.

 

On youth development, Emmanuel said young people should not be viewed merely as a problem to be controlled, but as a generation that should be empowered through education, skills, employment and opportunities.

 

He also advocated greater participation of women in peacebuilding processes, saying women were often among those most affected by violence but also played important roles in mediation, family support and community rebuilding.

 

“Women must be at the table, not merely serving the people sitting at the table,” he said.

 

 

The bishop also challenged the United Methodist Church to take the lessons from its reconciliation experience beyond the Church and contribute to peacebuilding efforts across Nigeria.

 

He urged members of the Church to protect the unity achieved through reconciliation and avoid returning to factionalism, sectionalism and personality-driven divisions.

 

He said the Church must put “Christ above personalities, mission above ambition, unity above faction and reconciliation above revenge.”

 

Emmanuel said the Church’s experience should demonstrate to Nigerians that reconciliation was possible even after prolonged division.

 

“A wounded Church can heal. A divided Church can reconcile. Broken relationships can be restored. People who once stood apart can stand together again,” he said.

 

 

 

He urged Nigerians to reject the use of religion, ethnicity and politics as weapons of division and instead choose dialogue, reconciliation, justice and unity.

 

Emmanuel proposed seven commitments for peacebuilding: speaking truth without spreading hatred, verifying information before amplifying it, choosing dialogue before escalation, protecting human dignity, building bridges across religious and social divides, pursuing justice without revenge, and making peacebuilding a way of life.

 

He called on the media to help tell a more balanced story about Nigeria by reporting the country’s challenges while also highlighting efforts at reconciliation, cooperation and peaceful coexistence.

 

“Expose injustice. Challenge leaders. Investigate wrongdoing. But also report reconciliation. Report courage. Report cooperation. Report hope,” he told journalists.

 

The bishop called on Nigerians to become “bridge-builders” and work towards a society where religious, ethnic and political differences would not destroy the country’s common humanity.

 

“Let the Church be a bridge. Let the mosque be a bridge. Let the media be a bridge. Let traditional institutions be bridges. Let government be a bridge,” Emmanuel said.

 

Speaking on behalf of traditional rulers, HRH Alh. AbubakarMamoud Adamu, Kur Jibu Bali, called for collective efforts to promote peaceful coexistence and national unity.

 

Adamu urged religious leaders to consistently educate their followers on the importance of dialogue and peaceful resolution of disputes whenever misunderstandings arise.

 

Also speaking, Pastor Dr. Haniel Banti, Kpan Sanwi Chiefdom, Lau Local Government Area, called for an attitudinal change among church leaders, accusing some of contributing to crises within the Church.

 

Banti urged the Church to reclaim its position as a vanguard of peace by demonstrating tolerance, reconciliation and responsible leadership.

 

Speaking at the event, Rev. Dr. Christie Neal, Domain Facilitator from the United States, charged participants to put into practice the lessons acquired during the five-day Roundtable Peace Talk.

 

Neal commended Bishop Emmanuel for organising the programme, describing the initiative as timely and relevant to the promotion of peace in society.