Tinubu's Eid Message: No Faith Permits Banditry or Taking Human Life

President Bola Tinubu used his address following Eid-el-Kabir prayers at Dodan Barracks in Lagos on Wednesday to deliver a message that went beyond the customary holiday greetings. He called on Nigerians to reject banditry, ethnic hatred, and religious violence, anchoring his appeal in the theological heart of the celebration itself.

"Nowhere in the holy teachings does it say you should engage in banditry or take a human life," Tinubu said.

He went further, drawing directly from the story of Ibrahim, the act of sacrifice at the center of Eid-el-Kabir, to make his point about the value of human life.

"The sacrifice we speak of, even from the beginning of life, where we take these lessons, teaches us that a child was replaced with an animal. That is the value placed on human life."

It is a theologically grounded argument, and a deliberate one. By locating his appeal inside the meaning of the holiday rather than outside it, Tinubu was not lecturing Muslims about their religion. He was reminding them, and everyone listening, what the religion actually says. No faith condones murder. The lesson of Ibrahim is not about killing. It is about the sanctity of life.

Whether that message reaches the people most likely to need it is a different question entirely.

Banditry in Nigeria's northwest has not slowed because of speeches. Communities in Zamfara, Sokoto, Katsina, and beyond have endured years of killings, kidnappings, and displacement that no public address has stopped. Tinubu knows this. The statement is not naive. It is political, pastoral, and pointed at the same time, an attempt to use a moment of national religious significance to reinforce a norm that violence has eroded.

The President also called on Nigerians to reject discrimination and ethnic hatred, urging that the country's diversity be treated as a source of unity rather than division.

"No discrimination, no ethnicity, no hatred. We should share love and be generous to one another in a way that reflects the values of our country and humanity," he said.

Tinubu was joined at the Dodan Barracks prayers by a notable gathering that included Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, former Governor Babatunde Fashola, Lagos Oba Rilwan Akiolu, Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, and National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu.

Grand Chief Imam of Lagos State, Sheikh Sulaimon Abou-Nolla, also addressed the congregation, calling on Muslims to embody solidarity, selflessness, and charity, values that sit at the core of the holiday's observance.

Eid-el-Kabir is, at its foundation, a festival about what you are willing to give up and what you choose to protect. Tinubu's message, stripped of the political context, is simple: human life is what you protect. Everything else, ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, is secondary to that.

It is the right message. Nigeria needs to hear it more than once a year.