Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard of USA hosted a dinner yesterday for prominent Nigerian religious leaders to celebrate the U.S. National Religious Freedom Day, which commemorates the passage on January 16, 1786, of the Virginia Statute on Religious Freedom.
The statute, authored by Thomas Jefferson, guaranteed freedom of religion to people of all religious faiths, including Christians of all denominations, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.
It also was the precursor to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, guaranteeing the government’s safeguarding of the freedoms of religion, speech, press, and assembly.
Joining Ambassador Leonard were Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja; Dr. Kabir Adam, Senior Imam at the Abuja Central Mosque; Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria; Arcbishop Daniel Okoh, President of the Christian Association of Nigeria; Imam Fu'ad Adeyemi, Chief Imam of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Mosque and Director of the Al-Habibbiya Islamic Society; Hajia Rafiah Sanni, President of the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria; and Mrs. Victoria Bolanle Ihesiulor, National Chairperson of the Women's Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria.