awarded to Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye
Pastor Dr James Movel Wuye and Imam Dr Muhammad Nurayn Ashafa, whose remarkable story of interfaith reconciliation and peacebuilding was documented in the Initiatives of Change film The Imam and the Pastor, received the inaugural Commonwealth Peace Prize on 10 March 2025 during a reception to celebrate Commonwealth Day at Marlborough House, London, in the presence of King Charles.
The Commonwealth Peace Prize is a collaboration between the Khalili Foundation and the Commonwealth Secretariat to honor those who have fostered dialogue, understanding and conflict resolution, reinforcing the Commonwealth’s commitment to a more peaceful and inclusive world.
Expressing gratitude for the award and their hope that it will ‘serve as inspiration for the next generation of peacebuilders’, Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye pay tribute to all those working for peace:
‘We are humbled that this award goes to a Christian and a Muslim from Nigeria. We have been fortunate to be surrounded by remarkable people and have played a role in supporting the transformation of many thousands of others. We dedicate this amazing achievement to them.’
Pastor James Wuye and Imam Muhammad Ashafa were once mortal enemies, leading opposing armed militias in the interreligious and interethnic conflict that shook Nigeria in the 1990s. Pastor James lost his hand in the conflict, while Imam Ashafa lost close family members. Both harbored desires for revenge, until an unexpected meeting in 1995 led them to confront their differences and accept the challenge of making peace.
This was the beginning of an extraordinary journey of collaboration as reconcilers and peacebuilders, and of a remarkable friendship. The same year, they founded the Interfaith Mediation Centre, which would go on to train tens of thousands of people – youth, religious leaders, civil society activists, army, police and government officials in Nigeria.
Pastor James and Imam Ashafa brokered the Kaduna Peace Declaration in 2002 which sealed an end to communal violence in the city, and the Yelwa Shendam Peace Affirmation which ended communal killings in Yelwa Shendam, Plateau State.More recently, Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa have been pioneering interfaith efforts in environmental restoration and climate action in Nigeria.
They won the UN Intercultural Innovation Award for their work in resolving conflict between pastoralists and farmers in 2017. They retired from leading the Interfaith Mediation Centre after almost 30 years, and their work continues to inspire interfaith reconciliation and collaboration in Nigeria and across the world.
The film, The Imam and the Pastor, produced by Initiatives of Change, premiered at United Nations Headquarters in New York, the House of Commons in London and the International Conference Centre in Abuja. It won first prize at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival and has been translated into fourteen languages, including Somali, Korean, Arabic, Sinhala, Tamil and Bahasa Indonesia.
Its sequel An African Answer, depicting inter-ethnic mediation by Pastor James and Imam Ashafa following post-election violence in Kenya, was described by Kofi Annan as ‘a very important film’.
Both films have been used in training mediators around the world, notably by the United Nations in Chad and by the United States Institute of Peace in Iraq.
Reflecting back on the 20 years since first meeting Pastor James and Imam Ashafa in Caux, Dr Alan Channer, the Director and Producer of The Imam and the Pastor, said:
‘It’s been an incredible journey ever since, making the films and screening them around the world, from parliaments to refugee camps, hosted by IofC teams in Australia, Canada, Chad, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Kenya, Lebanon, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
For me, with ancestors who were soldiers with the British Empire, I feel humbled and moved to have the honor of the friendship and mentorship of these Nigerian clerics. They’re not just winners of a peace prize; they are mentors and spiritual leaders for the people of the Commonwealth and the world.’
Dr Imad Karam, Executive Director of IofC International and Associate Producer of The Imam and the Pastor, said: ‘I’m truly honored to have been part of the journey of making ‘The Imam and the Pastor’ and for accompanying and supporting Imam Ashafa and Pastor James for the past 20 years. It has been an amazing interfaith journey that has touched the lives of so many around the world.
This prize is very well deserved by these two remarkable Nigerian and global citizens and peace ambassadors. The work that they have pioneered and continue to champion is particularly acute at this moment in our human history especially when thinking of the increasing turmoil in the world today and when what divides people seems to have become more important than what unites them.
The world today is possessed by greed and self-centeredness. We live in a time when old norms are shifting and new power structures and political trends are emerging. Initiatives of Change will continue to support the work of Imam Ashafa and Pastor James and their message of finding a pathway to healing broken relationships and creating harmony through healing the wounds of the past.’