Rediscovering Ijebu’s Culture of Faith and Tolerance to Heal Nigeria

Nigeria is often split along religious lines. Yet growing up in Ilese-Ijebu taught me that faith can unite rather than divide. Christians, Muslims and traditional worshippers lived side by side as neighbours and friends. Every Ileya morning, I joined fellow Christians in drums and song as we accompanied Muslim leaders to Eid prayers. Priests in cassocks stood respectfully by the prayer grounds. Later, we shared meat from freshly slaughtered rams with relatives of all faiths. At Christmas, those gifts were returned in kind. Today, religious identity has become a source of suspicion and conflict. My grandson once asked why people who claim to be religious still do terrible things. His innocent idea was to scrap religion entirely. Yet I believe the problem lies not in faith itself but in the forgotten values it once nurtured: tolerance, justice and compassion. If Nigeria is to heal, we must revive those principles. True faith shows in how we live together, respect differences and put the common good above division. Until then, professing religion will remain a hollow promise.

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