{"id":82941,"date":"2026-02-22T10:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T10:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=82941"},"modified":"2026-02-22T10:03:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T10:03:37","slug":"lent-ramadan-christians-muslims-must-rethink-religion-avoid-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2026\/02\/22\/lent-ramadan-christians-muslims-must-rethink-religion-avoid-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"Lent, Ramadan: Christians, Muslims Must Rethink Religion, Avoid Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Samson Adeyanju<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Ignatius Kaigama, has called on Christians and Muslims in Nigeria to rethink the true meaning of religion and avoid unhealthy rivalry, as the seasons of Lent and Ramadan converge this year.<\/p>\n

Archbishop Kaigama made the call delivering his homily during the opening Mass of the First Plenary Assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), held in Abuja, urging both faith communities to embrace unity, self-discipline, prayer and concern for the poor.<\/p>\n

He noted that Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent, coincided providentially with the commencement of Ramadan, describing the overlap as a reminder of Christians\u2019 and Muslims\u2019 shared origin and destiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis convergence invites us to greater mutual respect and commitment to the common good, rather than violence, arguments and unhealthy competition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Archbishop lamented what he described as a growing tendency among religious adherents to compete over superiority, numerical strength and claims of holiness, instead of focusing on addressing poverty, youth unemployment and national development.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians and Muslims must rethink: what is religion? We should avoid unhealthy rivalry that only leads to despair, pessimism and antagonism,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n

Drawing from the Gospel of Matthew (4:9), Archbishop Kaigama warned against the temptation of power without service, authority without accountability and leadership without responsibility.<\/p>\n

He decried a situation in which leaders seek titles and positions but neglect transparency and service to the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our country, we have seen leaders who desire power but not responsibility; power but not transparency and accountability,\u201d he said, expressing hope that the 2027 general elections would reflect the genuine will of the people through credible use of modern electronic systems.<\/p>\n

He added that the misuse of authority is not limited to politicians, but also affects parents, employers, church leaders and elders who abuse power or silence the truth.<\/p>\n

The Archbishop emphasised that the Church in Nigeria survives not because of political favour but because of \u201cthe superabundance of God\u2019s grace,\u201d urging the faithful to examine whether they worship God or power, money and politics.<\/p>\n

He also called on Nigerians to pray for civil and religious leaders who genuinely seek the common good, while urging leaders to identify with the suffering of the people amid insecurity, economic hardship, corruption and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Highlighting the plight of unemployed youths, Archbishop Kaigama expressed concern over the increasing number of graduates seeking job placements through personal appeals to religious leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cChannel your requests to those you elected,\u201d he advised, warning that widespread youth unemployment could become a time bomb if not urgently addressed.<\/p>\n

He further urged Nigerians to use their votes wisely and to prioritise the common good above self-interest.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuslims, common good first. Christians, common good first. All Nigerians, common good first,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n

The Archbishop prayed for a fruitful deliberation by the bishops and called on all citizens to choose service over power, integrity over wealth, transparency over corruption, and Christ above all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Samson Adeyanju The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Ignatius Kaigama, has called on Christians and Muslims in Nigeria to rethink the true meaning of religion and avoid unhealthy rivalry, as the seasons of Lent and Ramadan converge this year. Archbishop Kaigama made the call delivering his homily during the opening Mass of the First Plenary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":82943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,172,1681],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-82941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abuja-reports","category-news","category-religion","tag-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82941"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82944,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82941\/revisions\/82944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}