By Abimbola Abatta
Imagine two Nigerian, a Muslim and a Christian, who were once bitter enemies winning the inaugural £50,000 Commonwealth Peace Prize for excellence in peacebuilding.
Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, the co-founders of the Interfaith Mediation Centre in Kaduna State were named the winners of the award on Wednesday.
When the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Khalili Foundation launched the Commonwealth Peace Prize, which aims to reward excellence in peacebuilding, in September 2024, the organisers said it would be “awarded triennially to a distinguished peacebuilder with a strong track record of faith and values-based engagement in conflict resolution, promotion of social cohesion and sustainable peace”.
This makes Ashafa and Wuye the very first co-winners of the award.
Given the history of religious intolerance and clashes which have resulted in death and destruction between Muslim and Christian communities in Kaduna, the relationship between Ashafa and Wuye did not start on the note of friendship let alone peacemaking.
This was how Tanenbeum, a non-profit committed to respect for religious differences, described what brought them together:
In 1992, violent interreligious conflict broke out in Kaduna State. Christians and Muslims fought each other in the marketplace, destroying each others’ crops and attacking each others’ families.
Both the Imam and the Pastor were drawn into the fighting, and both paid a heavy price for their involvement — Imam Ashafa with the loss of two brothers and his teacher, Pastor James with the loss of his hand.
After this event, they each dreamed of revenge against the other. Nonetheless, as leaders in their communities, the two men reluctantly agreed to meet.
The men would gradually build mutual respect until they both resolved to mend the metaphorical fences between their communities broken down by religious conflict.
They founded the Interfaith Mediation Centre (IMC) in 1995 in Kaduna. As the name implies, IMC is a religious grassroots non-profit organisation that engages in peacebuilding, conflict resolution and the promotion of trust and tolerance between Christian and Muslim communities.
Ashafa and Wuye, through the IMC, also provide interfaith training to students, youths and women as well as religious and political leaders.
The activities of the centre helped defuse tensions during and after clashes in Kaduna, Plateau, Taraba, Benue, Borno and other northern states.
For instance, the founders worked with the government to attain the Kaduna Peace Declaration of Religious Leaders which saw Muslim and Christian leaders vow to promote peaceful co-existence and religious tolerance. The declaration was signed by 22 Christian and Muslim religious leaders in August 2002.
This was after the Sharia crisis in 2000. In February 2000, Governor Ahmed Makarfi announced the introduction of Sharia Law, despite nearly half of the population being non-Muslim. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) organised a protest in response. This led to clashes between Christian and Muslim youths, which escalated into widespread violence and destruction.
Ashafa and Wuye’s inter-faith organisation also brought peace and sanity to the warring communities of Yelwa and Shendam in Plateau, where ethno-religious conflict killed hundreds of residents.
IMC’s mediation strategy to resolve the conflict was in four phases. First, they spent months identifying those fueling the conflict and its underlying causes. The final phase, held in 2005 and witnessed by local and international observers, was the “Peace Affirmation”. During this event, both sides publicly signed a pledge to live peacefully and resolve future disputes through dialogue.
– Source: Foundation For Investigative Journalism
Email: info@fij.ng
