Cardinal Onaiyekan, Bishop Peter, Imam Fuad Preach Tolerance at Al-Habibiyyah Ramadan Food Bank Program

Religious tolerance, peace, unity and care spotlighted the 2026 Annual Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Centre’s Ramadan Food Bank Program held on Saturday 28 February at the center’s Guzape mosque, Abuja.

Imam Fuad Adeyemi, the National Chief Imam , Al-Habibiyyah Islamic Society hosted the event which was attended by both Islamic and Christian clerics and faithful respectively.

Archbishop John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the immediate past Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Diocese and Bishop Peter Ogunmuyiwa the Archbishop of African Church Diocese of Abuja and the North were among the Christian clergy that delivered speeches at the unique interfaith event. 

In his welcome address, Imam Fuad stressed the importance of harmony and tolerance between the two major Abrahamic religions in Nigeria – Islam and Christianity. He said the commencement of the Christian Lenten fasting and the Islamic Ramadan fasting on the same day – February 18- underscored the unity and common origin of the two religions. 

The Al-Habibiyyah Center founder said the kick off of Lent and Ramadan the same day was not a mere coincidence but an emperical evidence of unity and shared origin of the two Abrahamic religions.

Imam Fuad decried religious extremism and intolerance ravaging parts of Nigeria stressing that “It’s not by bringing out gun or knife that you can prove that your religion is better”. 

Describing Nigeria as a unique country on earth with preponderance of both Christians and Muslims, he emphasised the importance of unity peaceful coexistence as “strong pillars of our society”.

Cardinal Onaiyekan in his remarks said the food program of the Al-Habibiyyah center which targets the less privileged aligns with his own core philosophy of empathy and care for the needy.

He appealed to Nigerians not to allow religion to divide them. We shouldn’t allow religion to divide us. “If God wanted to make the whole world to be adherents of one religion, he would have done so, but he didn’t do that.”

Senator Salihu Mustapha, Turaki of Ilorin , who represents Kwara Central Senatorial District in the Senate said greed and selfishness are major cause division in the country. He commended Imam Fuad, Cardinal Onaiyekan and Archbishop Ogunmuyiwa for championing the cause of peace and harmony adding that both Christianity and Islam teach us how to be good to each other. He thanked the Al-Habibiyyah center for remembering and providing for the less privileged. 

General Abbas Adekanye (rtd) in his remarks said: “We must not allow some religious zealots to cause problem in our country. When insurgency started they were targeting christians mainly hoping to trigger religious war. When they failed they started to spread it to other parts. If we experience war more people will die from hunger and displacement than bullet.”