Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says President Muhammadu Buhari is a leader who respects other people’s beliefs, saying he has not had any dispute with him since they started working together in 2015.
Osinbajo said this when he received the Senegal-based Grand Khalifa of Tijjaniya Movement, Worldwide, His Eminence, Sheikh Muhammadu Mahi Ibrahim Niass, at the Presidential Villa on Sunday.
“President Buhari is a serious Muslim and I am a pastor, both of us have worked together for about 7 years, we have not had any issues,” the vice president’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, quoted him saying in a statement.
“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.”
The statement also added that Osinbajo emphasized the need to promote religious tolerance and ensure the people of the country and Africa at large, live together in harmony despite having different religions.
“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,” he added.
“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.”
