NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR

REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE ON:

"ETHNIC CONFLICTS IN NIGERIA: UNMASKING THE PUPPET MASTERS"

8th April 2023

BACKGROUND

The National Prayer Altar is an interdenominational and international platform of Christians who meet daily at 9pm to pray for Nigeria. The National Prayer Altar commenced daily prayers on 18th April, 2022.

As a company of intercessors committed to the birth of a new Nigeria in which righteousness, justice, and peace shall reign, the National Prayer Altar is alarmed at the ethnic conflicts that have trailed the 2023 governorship election in Lagos State. Of particular concern is the tension being created between the Igbos and the Yorubas, the two major nationalities in the south of Nigeria.

Out of concern and apprehension at the disastrous consequence of such ethnic conflicts, the National Prayer Altar decided to organize a colloquium to discuss the issues and proffer solutions. The meeting was well attended by Yorubas, Igbos, and other citizens of Nigeria. Attendance at that virtual meeting, which was held on ZOOM, was over 200 people. Participants were from Nigeria and the diaspora.

At the end of the discussions, which featured three key speakers, from the North, the East, and West of Nigeria, the meeting resolved as follows:

COMMUNIQUE

WHEREAS Nigeria is a country made up of hundreds of ethnic nationalities living in peace and harmony with each other;

WHEREAS the Yorubas and the Igbos hold the global record of being the only two neighbouring tribes on earth, with populations of more than one million people, that in the past one thousand years never fought themselves but only traded;

WHEREAS the Igbos have been living in Yorubaland in large numbers from the colonial era without any conflict with their Yoruba hosts;

WHEREAS during the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 – 1970 the Yoruba people shielded and protected the Igbo people and safeguarded their properties which they duly restored to the Igbo people after the war;

WHEREAS the Yoruba people demonstrated largeness of heart by appointing an Igbo man as State Commissioner in Lagos State as well as accommodated Igbos in the Lagos State House of Assembly as State Reps;

WHEREAS the Igbos have reciprocated the good gestures by living peacefully with their hosts while they engage in their businesses and contributed to the development of Lagos State;

WHEREAS Igbos have been living in peace with Yorubas in Igbo states and in other parts of Nigeria;

WHEREAS during the Presidential elections held on 25th February 2023, both the Yorubas and Igbos in large numbers generally demonstrated an evident preference for the same political party;

THEREFORE it came as a rude shock that during the governorship election of 18th March 2023, some agents of a political party, claiming to represent the Yoruba race, denied the Igbos the opportunity to exercise their civic right to vote, thereby precipitating an ethnic conflict in which Yoruba people were accused of tribal bigotry;

The Conference therefore concluded as follows:

THAT the incident of 18th March 2023 during the governorship election especially in Lagos State was not a reflection of the attitude of Yoruba people to the Igbos living in their midst, because if it was a Yoruba agenda, it would have been replicated in the other Yoruba states of Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, and in the Yoruba speaking parts of Kwara and Kogi States;

THAT Afenifere, the leadership of the Yoruba race, was not in support of what was done to the Igbo people by the agents of a political party;

THAT Afenifere has not concealed its support for the Labour Party's presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi;

THAT the All Progressives Congress (APC) is to blame for covertly and overtly instigating the disenfranchisement of the Igbos in pursuit of its ambition of winning the governorship election in Lagos State by all means right or wrong;

THAT Nigerians should stand up to the intimidation of APC, because any political party that bullies any people cannot mean well for the country;

THAT Christian leaders should be more vocal in promoting peaceful co-existence amongst citizens of the country;

THAT there is need for Christian leaders of Igbo and Yoruba origin to come together and address the issues publicly, in the promotion of peace and mutual goodwill;

THAT Igbo and Yoruba Christians should remember that the major actors in the civil war of 1967 – 1970 were Christians fighting each other and decimating one another across ethnic lines exaggerated by their clever religio-ethnic colonialist dividers;

THAT both the Igbos and the Yorubas should remember that divide-and-rule was a major policy of the colonial powers, and has been adopted by an internal ethno-political colonialist;

THAT the doctrine of hate and the supremacist ideology of one ethnic group in Nigeria have been major factors hindering the unity and progress of Nigeria, especially as the unity of the Igbos and Yorubas is integral to resisting local colonization;

THAT the Yorubas and the Igbos must do everything possible to promote peace and unity amongst themselves as precursor to the liberation of all other indigenous ethnic nationalities in Nigeria, and ultimately, the emancipation of the negro race globally;

THAT Igbos and Yorubas must understand that what occurred on 18th March 2023 was a manipulation by an unscrupulous political party, and should not be ascribed to any ethnic nationality;

THAT Nigerians should be of one mind to ensure that the mandate of the people during the 2023 presidential election is not stolen but duly restored to the rightful winner;

THAT Nigerians should remain prayerful, peaceful, and watchful;

God bless Nigeria.

NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR