INTRODUCTION
By
“influence” is meant ability to get others to act, think, or feel as one
intends.
However, influence as a word in this context carries weight than its vocabulary
strength when it comes to politics. Everyone has influence in way or the other.
This influence is equally seen in religion as the use of power of influence to remain
at the top of governance in Nigerian politics. Influence can be synonymous to forceful
domination, lobbying, and consistent control, having increase in promotion of
ideology without intrusion and also ruling out conscience effects. Nigeria has
been on the influence roll of religion from womb, to the delivery and also as
she grows in all structures. Before, during and post-colonial rules, Nigeria
suffers the negative effects of religions influence and also enjoys the good
impact of the influence. However, politics in Nigeria still sails on the boat
of religion due to her diversity in ethnics, landmass and religious ideology.
To really know the level of influence, there is need to know some facts about
Nigeria and her religious diversities.
THE
STRUCTURE OF RELIGION IN NIGERIA
Religion
has always been important in Nigeria and in Nigerian politics.
“The intensity of religious identity in Nigeria is regarded as one of the
highest in the world”. This
claim is supported by the fact that Nigerians are more likely to define
themselves in terms of religion than any other identity. Indeed, according to
the authoritative May-June 2006 survey on Religion and Public Life conducted by
the Pew Forum on “Religion and Public Life”, 76% of Christians say that
religion is more important to them than their identity as Africans, Nigerians
or members of an ethnic group. Among Muslims, the number naming religion as the
most important factor is even higher (91%). In effect, Christian and Muslim
identities have been the mainstay of religious differentiation and conflict,
with Nigerian Muslims much more likely to evince or articulate a religious
identity than Christians. The
CIA Factbook lists Nigeria as 50% Muslim, 40% Christian, and 10% indigenous
beliefs. The intensity of religious identity in Nigeria is regarded as one of
the highest in the world.
Relations between Muslims and Christians exhibit some tension to national
politics which remain extraordinarily complex, with the country divided
regionally, ethnically, and religiously. The Igbo people make up 18% of the
population, live in the eastern region, and are predominantly Christian. The
Yoruba people comprise 21% of the population, live in the southwestern region,
and are half Muslim and half Christian. The Hausa-Fulani account for 29% of the
population, live in the north, and practice Islam. Nigeria
contains both zones, so religion is often intertwined with regional (three
northern and three southern regions) and federal-state (36 states) issues. In
the 2007 presidential elections, all three major parties nominated a northern
Muslim for president and a southern Christian for vice-president. When the
southern Christian president unsuccessfully sought to change the constitution
so he could serve a third term, it caused great tension within the system.
According
to a Pew Survey, most of the country’s Christians (62%) say they trust people
from other religions only a little or not at all. A similar percentage of
Nigeria’s Muslims (61%) say they trust people of other religions little or not
at all. Nigeria
is usually characterized as a deeply divided state in which major political
issues are vigorously and or violently contested along the lines of the complex
ethnic, religious, and regional divisions in the country.
From its inception as a colonial state, Nigeria has faced a perennial crisis of
territorial or state legitimacy, which has often challenged its efforts at
national cohesion, democratization, stability and economic transformation.
The high point of the crisis seems to have been the civil war in the late
1960s, which ensued shortly after independence in 1960. Since Nigeria’s
transition to civilian rule in 1999 there has been a rapid increase of
conflicts in the country. Since
2009 to date, seeking for religion autonomy has now caused the highest woeful
identity for Nigeria on the note of influencing politics to her ideology.
Bombing and killing are result of religious imposition on politics on Nigeria. It
is this unique religious divide that prompted Archbishop Onaiyekan to describe
the country as “the greatest Islamo-Christian nation in the world”
by which he meant that Nigeria is the largest country in the world with an
evenly split population of Muslims and Christians, and “really the test case of
the ‘clash of civilizations,’”.
However,
the diversity of religion with political influence could be traced to
amalgamation period. It will not be correct to say that Nigeria was created
with a faulty foundation. The interest of its creators was not to build a
nation, but to find an area for exploration. The administrative, political,
social and economic system they adopted and employed was to facilitate this one
goal. Nigeria was born as a result of the scramble and partition for Africa by
imperial Europe. In 1884, leading European nations net in Berlin and divided
Africa into nations to end terrestrial struggle among them. Unfortunately,
there was no African represented. From here they proceeded with the conquest of
Southern and Northern territories, When the conquest was completed in 1903 they
divided the nation into North and South Protectorates and the Colony of Lagos.
In 1906 the Lagos colony was amalgamated with the Southern Protectorate to
become the Southern Protectorate. Nigeria evolved as a nation when the Southern
and Northern Protectorates were amalgamated in 1914 by Lord Frederick Lugard
who also became the first Governor General of Nigeria. The North was dominated
by the Hausa-Fulani ethnic group while the West was dominated the Yoruba and
the East by the Ibos. The amalgamation really caused the problems of religion
in Nigeria.
This is the beginning of influence of religion in Nigeria.
CONSTITUTIONAL
STRUCTURE THAT GUIDES RELIGION
INFLUENCE IN NIGERIA
According
to Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, it is stated that
state religion is prohibited. Part II - Powers of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria – Article 10: Prohibition of State Religion – “The Government of the
Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion”. Also,
Chapter IV - Fundamental Rights – Article 38: Right to freedom of thought,
conscience and religion – “(1) Every person shall be entitled to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or
belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or
in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship,
teaching, practice and observance. (2)
No person attending any place of education shall be required to receive
religious instruction or to take part in or attend any religious ceremony or
observance if such instruction ceremony or observance relates to a religion
other than his own, or religion not approved by his parent or guardian. (3) No religious community or denomination
shall be prevented from providing religious instruction for pupils of that
community or denomination in any place of education maintained wholly by that
community or denomination.
POLITICAL
STRUCTURE AND CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA
Politically,
Nigeria is a federal republic modeled after the United States, with executive
power exercised by the president. The government of Nigeria is also influenced
by the Westminster System model in the composition and management of the upper
and lower houses of a bicameral legislature. The president, however, is the
head of state, the head of government, and the head of a multi-party system. Nigerian
politics takes place within a framework of a federal, presidential,
representative democratic republic, in which executive power is exercised by
the government.
The presidential system in democracy allows both religions to nominate either
Christian for the presidency and Muslim for running mate or vice versa.
However, some sharia states have violated the procedures when Muslims co-run
the post at state level.
THE
BRIEF HISTORICAL GROWTH AND INFLUENCE OF EACH
RELIGION IN NIGERIAN POLITICS
ISLAM
The
British colonization of Nigeria both ended the dominance of the Islamic Sokoto
Empire and legitimized Muslim cultural, religious, and governance systems.
British support for preexisting Islamic leadership, educational, and judicial
systems thus created a unified, if less economically developed, northern
Islamic political bloc. Muslim traders (wangawara) had first brought Islam to
northern Nigerian urban centers in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the
middle of the eighteenth century, Muslim missionaries began to convert the
rural and common people to their blend of traditional tribal practices and
Qur’an-based teachings. But Sunni purists saw this blend as “impure,” and
between 1804-12, the jihad of the Fulani cleric, Shehu Usman dan Fodio, replaced
Hausa leaders with a new caliphate. This Sokoto Empire controlled northern
Nigeria until 1903 when the British invaded and joined these northern lands to
Bornu lands on the southern border. The British then protected Muslim areas
from Christian missionaries since they believed the latter would destabilize
colonial rule. In the North, the British made use of Muslim emirs. Their
centralized administrative system gave them this advantage. The Northern emirs
based their administrative system on Islamic religion. The British used them as
agents of colonialism not just over Muslims but non-Muslims as well. The emirs
were charged with collecting taxes, local administration, and justice. For
effective administration, the North was divided into emirates, and not just the
Muslims areas. This whole system can be best described as joint
British-Hausa/Fulani rule and political control over the North.
Another
way that Islam influences politics in the midst of Non-Muslims in the South is
noted when Afonja, the powerful leader in Ilorin sought for assistance. To
strengthen Ilorin's position, Afonja called on the support of Muslim elements
in the kingdom. He was not a Muslim himself, and it appears to have been a
piece of political opportunism, to harness forces which were proving to be
invincible in the states to the north. He enlisted the help of an itinerant
Fulani scholar, Alim al-Salih, better known as Mallam Alimi, who declared a
jihad at Ilorin. Other support came from Yoruba Muslims led by a man called
Solagberu, from pastoral Fulani, and from Muslim slaves who deserted their
owners and fled to Ilorin from the adjacent towns. From these, mainly northern,
elements, a military force was created which started to lay waste large areas
of the Oyo kingdom. Alimi's influence among these troops grew stronger, and
Afonja belatedly realised that he was no longer in control. His attempts to
disband them led to a civil war, and he was killed in the fighting, probably
about 1823.
Solagberu was also eliminated. On Alimi's death, control of Ilorin passed to
his son Abudusalami. He declared his allegiance to the Sokoto Empire and was
recognized as Emir. The Fulani dynasty in Ilorin has survived to the present.
After
independence, the Muslim north dominated politics. Even in the north, however,
Muslim leaders split into the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), backed by
Qadiriyya Sufi sect, and the Northern Elements Progressive Party Union (NEPU),
backed by the more popular Tijaniyya. The Constitution divided the country into
three regions: Northern, Western, and Eastern. Muslims became the Federal,
Northern, and Western Prime Ministers.
CHRISTIANITY
The
Nigerian Christian community is one of the major institutions in Nigeria. In
numerical terms, it is bigger than any political party, trade union, or the
rank and file of the Nigerian Army. From
the 1990s to the 2000s, there was significant growth in Protestant churches in
Nigeria.
The Yoruba area contains a large Anglican population, while Igboland is
predominantly Catholic and the Edo area is predominantly Assemblies of God. Christian
missions also carried out their mission work within these two broad societies
in the North. The Church in Northern Nigeria was born within three powerful
contexts: (1) the traditional context, mainly in the Middle Belt areas; (2) the
Islamic context, mainly in the Far North; and (3) the colonial context of
British rule over the whole of Nigeria. This northern context had been
transformed by the Colonial Administration and Christian missions. The consequences
of this transformation in post-colonial Nigeria have influenced greatly the
nature of politics and religious conflict in Nigeria.
The
growth of Christianity depends on the denominational strength, unlike Islam. Christianity
has less involvement in power tussle on the nation. They were mostly after the
propagation of the Gospel. Though the spread was hindered by the war lord and
religious leaders, and war at the inception of pioneering work of missions, yet
there was diversion to where it was accepted. During that time Baptist
missionary W. H. Clarke explored up to Ilorin in 1857 but was equally
disallowed by the Emir from settling in the city. European missionaries of the
CMS Yoruba Mission also entertained serious plans to expand their area of
activities further north up to Ilorin, but two visits, one by Reverend A. Mann
in 1855 and another by Reverend H. Townsend in 1858, could not persuade the
Emir to open his Muslim country to Christian missionaries. Their encounter with
Islam was thus restricted to engaging with Muslims in Yoruba-land. And
the presence of Church affected health sector, education and civilization of
the area than others that disallowed. Nevertheless
a few of the leaders allowed Christianity for personal gain. During time of Bowen
of Baptist Mission as a case study, Kurumi received him very cordially and told
him to select any place he wished in the town on which to erect his house. That
personage evidently thought the missionary was a trader, and, when he saw there
were no goods for slave, and the missionary did nothing but talk to the people,
he called him to task, rebuking him as a lazy person who did nothing but sit in
his pizza and talk. The interest of Kurunmi who invited Bowen to Ijaiye seemed
to lie in the prestige and political advantage that his town would derive from
the presence of a white resident. In
Abeokuta, he was on the side of those who did not want the slave trade. Other
missionaries from different denominations (e.g. Rev. Henry Townsend, of the
Church Missionary Society) were also in the same town as Bowen.
Christianity
has distinguished itself in the areas of health care, education, the
development and inspiration of African nationalism, and social relationships.
What was not explicitly encouraged was active Christian participation in
partisan politics. However, the missionaries laid the foundation for the church
to oppose governmental policies that deprived citizens of their rights. The
intimate relationship that missionaries had with the colonial masters did not
stop them from opposing inhumane policies. In some ways, the lack of explicit
Christian interest in politics was alleviated by its focus on the implicit
socio-political emphasis in the Gospel. Today,
Christianity has grown beyond the wall of the Church into politics as she
formed a formidable body, CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) to speak for
the Christians in government policy. Though CAN is not directly governmental
body but she has impact in influencing the politics of the nation through
special advice to the presidency on religious affairs, through her members in legislature,
judicial and executive arm of the government.
THE
ROOT OF INFLUENCE ON NIGERIAN POLITICS
ISLAM
1. Ideology
of Sharia for good governance
In
all but a handful of the 39 countries surveyed, a majority of Muslims say that
Islam is the one true faith leading to eternal life in heaven and that belief
in God is necessary to be a moral person. Many also think that their religious
leaders should have at least some influence over political matters. And many
express a desire for sharia – traditional Islamic law – to be recognized as the
official law of their country. Solid
majorities in most of the countries surveyed across the Middle East and North
Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia favor the
establishment of sharia, including 71% of Muslims in Nigeria, 72% in Indonesia,
74% in Egypt and 89% in the Palestinian territories.
Before colonization and subsequent annexation into the British Empire in 1900 as
Colonial Nigeria, the Bornu Empire ruled the territory where Boko Haram, a
terrorist group, is currently active. It was a sovereign sultanate run
according to the principles of the Constitution of Medina, with a majority
Kanuri Muslim population. In 1903, both the Bornu Sultanate and Sokoto
Caliphate came under the control of the British, who used educational
institutions to help spread Christianity in the region. Now
in Nigeria, Boko Haram was founded as a Sunni Islamic fundamentalist sect
advocating a strict form of sharia law. Eventually,
the sharia law was imposed by local authorities, beginning with Zamfara in
January 2000 and covering twelve northern states by late 2002.
This is the ideology of Islam; to impose her law as the law of the nation. This
actually has influenced the political structure of Nigeria. Islam jihadists use
every means to appropriate their ideology into the system of the nation. From
the inception, Boko Haram started good and kind just to enter the heart of the
country. Mohammed Yusuf founded the sect that became known as Boko Haram in
2002 in Maiduguri, the capital of the north-eastern state of Borno. He
established a religious complex and school that attracted poor Muslim families
from across Nigeria and neighbouring countries. The center had the political
goal of creating an Islamic state, and became a recruiting ground for jihadis.
Yusuf attracted followers from unemployed youths.
He used the existing infrastructure in Borno of the Izala Society (Jama'at
Izalatil Bidiawa Iqamatus Sunnah), a popular conservative Islamic sect, to
recruit members, before breaking away to form his own faction. The Izala were
originally welcomed into government, along with people sympathetic to Yusuf.
The Council of Ulama advised the government and the Nigerian Television
Authority not to broadcast Yusuf's preaching, but their warnings were ignored.
Yusuf's arrest elevated him to hero status.
The
question of using Shari’a Islamic law has generated additional public
controversy since the 1970s. In the writing and ratification of the
constitutions of the Second and Third Republics, the demand for a Federal
Shari’a Court of Appeals created political crisis, requiring the intervention
of the military. In both instances, the South interpreted the debates on
Shari’a as an attempt to impose Islam on the country. There has always been a
political side to the demand for the Shari’a.
Its most forceful advocates are not religious preachers or scholars, but
a new breed of politicians. The demand for Shari’a enables these ambitious
politicians to always seek an ideology to unite the North, to halt the inroad
of southern competitors to the north, and to even discredit established
northern politicians who are regarded as too soft in advancing the agenda of
the North.
Religious
tensions between Evangelical Christians and Islamic groups have long existed,
but the anticipated extension of sharia law in a number of northern states has
caused increased religious tension since December 1999. For example, in Ilorin,
Kwara State, fourteen churches were burnt to the ground by suspected Islamic
fundamentalists. News of the introduction of sharia law on 1 January 2000 in
Zamfara State led to widespread violence in February/March 2000 in which
property was destroyed and more than 1,000 people were killed. A second state,
Kano State, adopted Islamic law in June 2001 and in 2002, a further ten
northern states followed suit. Though the Nigerian central government has
openly recognized the incompatibility of sharia law with the federal
constitution of the nation, President Olusegun Obasanjo has avoided intervening
in decisions taken by states that apply Islamic law, merely calling for
moderation. As an outspoken born-again Christian, he knows that vigorous
condemnation of strict Islamic law will only inflame passions further and at
the same time he fears that the spread of sharia law will increase religious
tension and undermine Nigerian unity.
2. Correcting
injustice
Nigerian
was rated high in corruption in the world. Therefore, Islam came on board on
the basis of healing the nation from the malady of injustice. The leader of the
terrorist group, Shehu, is quoted:
"We are doing what we are doing to fight injustice, if they stop
their satanic ways of doing things and the injustices, we would stop what we
are doing”
This was one of several political and religious assassinations Boko Haram
carried out in 2001, with the presumed intention of correcting injustices in the
group's home state of Borno. Islam adherents believe that their religion
brings absolute sanity over the decadent land and
the stability of this nation.
3. Indifference
to Western culture in governance
In
the decades since the end of British occupation, politicians and academics from
the mainly Islamic North have expressed their fundamental opposition to Western
education. Western culture is the product of America
such as democracy in government, scientific advancement, academic and
educational development, English legal system, American dressing culture, etc.
Most Muslims do not necessarily agree upon a number of these major issues: the
secular, or otherwise, nature of the Nigerian foundation; the distribution of
federal positions to ambitious members of the political class; the continuation
or not of the English legal system; the retention of Nigeria as a federal
structure; and the distribution of power between the federal and states; the
place of women in society and politics; the number of Nigerians and their
regional distributions; the number of states and local governments in the
federation, etc. The access to and manipulation of Western education has long
been a source of tension. The South had an early advantage, as Christian
missionaries came via the Atlantic Ocean to evangelize and promote formal
Western education. When Independence came in 1960, the South had more educated
elite than the North. To the North, this was a source of domination. This
disparity fueled regionalism and attacks on Southerners. As the North
established more Western-style schools, so too did the South, with the result
that to date, that the South continue to have more educated people than the
North. As economic opportunities shrink, the Southern educated people,
especially the middle class and fresh graduates, have resorted to migrations to
all parts of the world. To these migrants and to the jobless in the South,
Muslims and the North have held the nation back and must be blamed for their
predicament. As many Yoruba and Igbo in the South have said, their “nations”
would have developed but for the inclusion of the North in Nigeria.
4. Ethnicity
and Religious domination by region and population
It
is generally believed that Northern part of Nigeria is mainly religiously
dominated by Islam adherents, while South has the majority of Christians. In
reality, the South is more afraid of the North. For most of the years since
independence, the North has produced the majority of the country’s leaders,
leading to the political concept of “northern primacy”. The British bequeathed
a northern region bigger than the South combined. After independence, the
northern political class used the army to control power and distribute
resources to themselves. In the 1990s, a number of politicians were developing
a political theory of domination: the East should control trade, the West the
civil service, and the North political power. The Northerner believes that
governance belongs to them as inheritance. However, the fear of this domination
gave rise to suggestions on zoning, an arrangement whereby each region, a
cluster of six states, would produce the country’s president in a rotational
arrangement. The fear of domination is unlikely to disappear as long as
religion is part of the definition of community and ethnicity in most parts of
the country. In the North, minority
elements define themselves as Christians, and they have actually resorted to
Christianity to solidify their identity, as in the case of the Kataf of
Zangon-Kataf. At the national level, the North-South divide is treated both as
ethnic and religious fault lines. Nigeria is a multi-plural society, with many
ethnicities and languages. Religious pluralism and ethnic differences do
undermine the process of building a Nigerian nation-state. But the divisions
prevent or undermine equally the attempts by one group or religion to impose
itself on the country. For instance, Muslims have been accused of wanting to
impose Islam on Nigeria, but mobilization by southern Christians has suggested
that there would be secession or warfare. The use of Islam to promote the
politics of “One North” began after 1945. Both Islam and Christianity compete
for space, converts and political domination. Leaders of religious
organizations use the style and language of politics, in their quest for propaganda,
control of converts, and the prevention of one another from dominating the
political environment.
5. Hiding
under Political propaganda
Everyone
that uses Islam as a tool has a mission under veil as a propaganda; to extend
domination and control over the people. Muslims tolerated, temporarily, a king
accepting Islam and at the same time continuing to practice the traditional
religion. The king would want to straddle the fence this way because he was
expected to be the father and high-priest for all his people. If a significant
number of them or even a few prominent citizens adopted a particular religion
that did not threaten his power, he would be expected to lead them in their
religious practice, thus providing religious leadership to all groups, and not
allowing it to go into political opposition. The kings found Islam a convenient
support to their imperial authority, since it was a unifying ideology bridging
the many tribes and presenting them with a wider brotherhood, citizenship or
nationality. This produced the phenomenon of "state Islam", whereby
Islam was controlled and used to promote the interests of the rulers.
In history of propaganda with Islam influence, a new impetus to the spread of
Islam was provided by Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the Northern Region after
Nigerian independence in 1960, with his Islamization programme that led to the
conversion of over 100,000 people in the provinces of Zaria and Niger. The
military coup in 1966, which claimed the lives of many politicians including
Ahmadu Bello, brought his Islamization programme to an abrupt end but the 1970s
saw continued government policy favouring the dominance of Islam. History has
shown that Islamization was easier under military dictatorship and Islam spread
quickly under Ibrahim Babangida (1985-1993).
A
combination of factors has made religion a powerful factor in Nigerian
politics. First is the failure of
political leadership. To many Muslims, Mhumar Gadaffi of Libya and Ayathola
Khomeini of Iran provide alternative models to emulate. Second, the failure of institutions and structures of
governance have been interpreted as the failure of the state itself. To
many Muslims, the failure represents the limitations of secular
institutions. Third, the Structural Adjustment Program and its
failures in the 1990s instigated tensions expressed as religious conflicts.
As the economy declines, more and more people see in religion an escape or a
source of opposition to the state. For instance in Kano, the country’s
political decay and economic problems have not only drawn more people to Islam,
it has also radicalized them. Fourth, religion, like ethnicity, is a source of mobilization for political actors.
Once a political candidate defines himself as a Muslim and his rival happens to
be Christian, politics can acquire the coloration of religious conflict. In the
North, many politicians have turned to Islam for power legitimization. There have been power rivalries with Christians
and bids to impose the Shari’a over a larger region. These attempts have
radicalized the Christian Association of Nigeria to contest all religious
symbols and what it perceives as efforts to use Islam to dominate politics.
By and large, Northern politicians have continued to profit from Islam, using
its symbols as political ideology and propaganda in order to unite the region
against the South and to mobilize their different constituencies.
CHRISTIANITY
1. Christendom
Why
does church need to influence government? From the church history, Christianity
had strived highly as the center of dominion and authority fir the state. Christendom
from the word ‘Christian dominion’ filled the air during the early church and Roman
Empire and that was the basis for some denominational root in their nations.
There was no separation of state and church. Church was powerful with all
domination. In Nigeria, this foundational strength of the church (Roman
Catholic Church) has influenced the government in some decisions. The
presidency and some state government houses also have Christian worship center
as chapel in which the presence of church is identified in governance. Church
of God cannot divorce herself from history. Influencing Nigeria politics is
inheritance passed on from history. This can also be expressed as the body that
cares for the Christians in Nigeria against aggression. However, CAN has been
accused of excessively occupying itself with Muslim aggression. At the top of
CAN’s is reducing the frequency of religious violence, establishing a more
cordial relationship with Islam and weakening the political influence of
Muslims.
The average member of CAN would say that Muslim aggression towards Christians
is the sole reason for the birth of CAN. Many believe that this is the one thing
that has melded the Nigerian Christian churches together and gives CAN its
strength. Incidentally, CAN has been the
best known channel through which Christians affected by religious violence can
voice their complaints and seek compensation from the government.
2. Expansion
and extension of Gospel
Another
root of influence that engages Christianity in politics is to join and make
policies that will expand and extend Gospel of Christ. Islam’s mission is to islamize
the whole nation and block the extension of Christianity by all means. The influence
will be justified when the majority of Christians stand to enact laws that
allow freedom of religion and execute fairness in worship in Nigeria. Christianity became an alternative religion to “a people
looking desperately for something to counter the dominance of Islam”, which
they associated with Fulani political domination.
Also, the advent of Christianity in the Middle Belt gave the people access to
western education, which was crucial in elite formation and political
mobilization. This was more so as the Christian missionaries who were
restricted from operating in the Islamic emirates by the colonial
administration were welcomed into the “pagan” areas.
3. Strengthening
of Fundamental Human Rights
From
online archive, Nigerian Fundamental Human Rights are stated. What are Human
Rights? These are rights naturally accruable to every person by virtue of
his/her existence as a human being. The Nigerian Constitution under Chapter IV
enumerates the following as fundamental rights: Right to life; Right to dignity
of human persons; Right to personal liberty; Right to fair hearing; Right to
compensation for property compulsorily acquired; Right to private and family
life; Right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; Right to freedom of expression; Right to
peaceful assembly and association; Right to freedom of movement and Right to
freedom from discrimination on the grounds of ethnic group, place of origin,
circumstance of birth, sex, religion or political opinion. Christianity
flags up influence to stand to protect national human right which Islam in some
states has been violating.
THE
FOUNDATIONAL STRENGTH OF ISLAMIC INFLUENCE IN NIGERIA
Islam
had enjoyed some levels immunity and licentious right during and after colonial
rules. In the colonial period of Nigeria Islam was favoured by several factors:
1. Pax
Britannica
Pax
Brittanica permitted Muslims and everyone to move freely throughout the country
in pursuit of trade or livelihood. Muslims were thus able to build mosques and
interact with local people throughout the country, even though the system of
sabon gari isolated them somewhat from the local culture. This was not the same
for Christians, who were free to move around the country, but was restricted in
building churches in Muslim areas and their priests were forbidden to
evangelize Muslims. The colonial conquest established a rule that active
Christian preaching could not occur in the northern Muslim region, although in
1990 the two religions continued to compete for converts in the middle belt,
where ethnic groups and even families had adherents of each persuasion.
2. The
increase of power during system of indirect rule
The system of
indirect rule for the north of Nigeria (the former Sokoto and Borno Empires)
strived during colonial era. The closure of the Atlantic slave market explains
the relative atrophy of the Sokoto caliphate in the second part of the 19th
century, so that it had little power to resist a British take-over. Instead of
sweeping away these Islamic governmental systems, as the French did in their
territories, the British propped them up and increased their authority. This
was notable especially in areas, such as the Middle Belt, where most of the
rural people were not Muslims. Outside the caliphate, Islam already had a
foothold in Etsako and the Niger-Benue confluence area because of Nupe raiding,
and was present in the Yoruba towns along the route to Lagos, such as Ogbomoso,
Oyo, Ibadan, Sagamu, Ijebu-Ode and Abeokua. Hausa slaves in these towns became
integrated in the social and political life of these towns, and many of the
chiefs declared themselves Muslims, although they continued to be actively
involved in the traditional religion. In these areas Islam came to symbolize
the preservation of Yoruba identity against the intrusion of British culture.
For the same reason, many Yoruba Muslims resisted Western education and this
left the Muslim community at a disadvantage compared with Christians who were
more progressive and successful in areas where education counts.
3. Ruling
the economy.
Nigeria’s
denominations have been scripted with Arabic words from the inception and are
meaningful only to the Muslims as a symbol of domination on the means of
economy. This has great influence on the nation. The then opportune leaders
were Muslims and it is to their good record that Naira still maintains the
Arabic words when Nigeria is not an Arabic country. The contention on the words
has gradually been removed because non-Muslims are in power.
4. Population
increase strategy and Brotherhood Tactics
Islam
allows polygamy and polygamy gives chances of increase in childbirth.
Tactically, population increase favours Muslims. Islam encourages brotherhood.
Even when your brother is not qualified or inappropriate for a position, it
pays them to handover to Muslim than to non-Muslim. Islam has great influence
on a nation because of numbers of people who vote and be voted for. They
involve themselves so much in politics than other religion.
THE
FOUNDATIONAL STRENGTH OF CHRISTIANITY INFLUENCE IN NIGERIA
1. Rapid
Conversion via Formal Education
Christianity
always attracts education and education attracts conversion. There is little
information about religious change during the colonial period, but it is a fact
that Christian schools attracted many conversions of Muslim students in the
south of Nigeria. The only requisite in these schools was for all the students
to take classes in religious instruction and to attend opening school prayers.
Conversions occurred where parents had no objection or even encouraged their
children. The influence of Christianity began with education in which the
Muslims stood against because of the rapid conversion of their children.
Christians, however, founded their influence on education. Though, some states
in Nigeria war against that by paying West African Examination Council (WAEC)
fees for only Muslim students; discriminatory school fees against
non-indigenous Christian students. The
missionaries’ formal education was a means to an end. Through a sustained
education programme both religious evangelization and social transformation
might be realized. For, as Father Shanahan suggested, 'Those who hold the
school, hold the country, hold its religion, and hold its future.' For the
Africans, too, the acquisition of Western education was a means to an end; education
would provide the weapon with which to fight colonialism. Stewart, Dianne notes
that embracing Christianity provided African captives with opportunities for
leadership, education, travel, and social mobility, which were unviable to them
as adherents of African religious traditions. Becoming a Christian meant having
the opportunity to learn how to read and write along with opportunity to
receive standard theological training. This offered converts more potential for
upward mobility than ancestral religions of Africa.
Ekechi adds that the writers of the era had tended to stress the utilitarian
aspect of Western education as a means to higher jobs and overall economic
improvement to the neglect of its ideological aspect. From 1901 both the C.M.S.
and the R. C. Missions were intent on expanding their education programme.
2. Relief
and Health Programme Developments
Health
facilities were in place during the colonial era through the missionaries. It
was a great impact to affects the lives of people that were neglected by the
government of the day. Babajide notes the benefits that were in place when the
missionaries entered Nigeria, especially Yoruba Land. He observes that
Christianity became so successful in Abeokuta such that the town was described
by Miss Tucker as “the sunrise within the tropics.” Also, the various
denominations that arrived in Abeokuta were able to translate into three fold
programmes of the missionaries: Christianity, commerce and civilization
(western education). Although, a fourth dimension was later introduced by the
Baptist Mission, which is Healthcare. All
these mark the point of influence that Christianity strikes as she raises
leaders in government to enforce her agenda.
3. Commercialization
and Modernization
From
the outset, the Christianity was seen as ideal vehicles for gaining the trust
and confidence of the tribal leaders, before the real money interest moved in.
It could be argued that the Christianity was one part of the wheel of business
and economics that starting to turn in Nigeria, while a substitute for slaves
was sought. The humanitarian touch they seemed to bring disguised these motives
behind a facade of peaceful and beneficent civilization. In the
predominantly-Christian and indigenous south, however, British administrators
developed a more specifically Western political system. Christianity,
modernization, and Westernization eventually formed a competing cultural blend. These influences really hallmark newness in
business approach and economic growth. With these, Christianity still strives
to rise to the political ladder to influence further for development at all
levels.
4. Freedom
from slavery
British
Imperialism in Africa provided missionaries the opportunity to spread
Christianity and the word of the Lord in aims that the people would see the
evils in slave trading. As a result,
Nigeria became an attractive spot for Christian missionaries. Not only did British missionaries help foster
the spread of Christianity in some part of Nigeria, but also freed slaves from
British Colonies. When slavery was
abolished in the British Empire many freed slaves returned to Africa. Back
to history, slave trade ended as Christianity in treaty endorsed with Queen of England
the abolishment of slave trade. In the Abeokuta Treaty of 1852 when an
agreement between Her Majesty, the Queen of England and the chiefs of the Egba
nation, for the abolition of the traffic in slaves was signed at Abeokuta on
the 5th of January 1852, Rev. T. J. Bowen was among the witness to the treaty
that stated that:
(Article 1) The export of slaves
to foreign countries is forever abolished in the territories of the chiefs of
the Egba nation… (Article 2) No Europeans or any other persons whatever shall
be permitted to reside within the territory of the Egba nation for the purpose
of carrying on in any way the traffic of slaves… (Article 5) Europeans or any
other person now engaged in the slave trade are to be expelled from the
country… (Article 7) The chiefs of the Egba nation declare that no human beings
shall at any time be sacrificed within their territories on account of
religious or other ceremonies, and that they will prevent the barbarous
practices of murdering prisoners captured in war. (Article 8) Complete
protection shall be afforded to missionaries or ministers of the Gospel, of
whatever nation or country, following their vocation of spreading the knowledge
and doctrines of Christianity, and extending the benefits of civilization,
which the territories of the chiefs of the Egba nation. Encouragement shall be
given to such missionaries or minsters in pursuit of industry, in building
houses for their residence, and schools and chapels. They shall be hindered or
molested in their endeavours to teach the doctrine of Christianity to all
person willing and desirous to be taught; nor who may embrace the Christian
faith be on that account, or on the teaching or exercise thereof, molested or
trouble in any manner whatever… witnesses: Henry Townsend, C.M.S.; Isaac Smith,
C.M.S.; Thomas J. Bowen, Am. B. M.; F. E. Forbes, Commander R. N.
Christianity
influences Nigerian politics to restore freedom and peace in the land. There is
enlightenment and civilization from those who take opportunity of ignorance to
rule.
THE
BAD EFFECT OF CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM ON NIGERIAN POLITICS
Even
though Christianity and Islam have contributed positively to the growth of the
country; they have also created a history of conflict and or violence. This
includes a war of words motivated by
conflicting beliefs: A good Muslim is one who is able to withstand Christian
conversion tactics and campaigns. A good Christian is also one who is able to
confront Islam and challenge the Quran’s authority.
These beliefs sanction symbolic violence, and Muslims and Christians use each
other’s sacred writings to perpetuate stereotypes that “express fear and anxiety
about the domination of other..., reflect a narrow extremist subculture of
either their community or their religious group”.
Violence begins with the differentiation, dehumanization, stigmatization, and
demonization of others. It takes place in cleavages, which Falola describes as
marginalized and defensive groups - Christian minorities, the Islamic majority,
Southern Christian Intelligentsia, Northern Moslem Intelligentsia,
Intra-Religious groups, Reformist groups, and State establishments. These
cleavages are “fairly permanent,” and their violence could be a quest for
freedom from domination, or perceived threat to their socio-political position.
Similarly,
there has been a corresponding upsurge in Christian extremism expressed in the
rise of revival and Pentecostal movements in the 1970s.
Christian fundamentalists regard themselves as engaged in a three-pronged
conflict: with Muslims, with mainstream Christians whom they accuse of
abandoning the basics of their faith, and followers of traditional religion.
Just like the Muslim fundamentalists, they also seek to expand their support
base, hence conversion and poaching of followers of other religions through
stereotypes, hate preaching, distortion, misrepresentation and
misinterpretation of the various religious texts in such manners that promoted
prejudice and intolerance in both camps. Such intolerance could be deciphered
form the following exhortations attributed to the Pentecostal community:
When a non-believer in Christ
strikes a Christian, the latter (Christian) should stand up erect and look at
the former direct in the face. A look can many times transform the
non-believer, can pierce and melt the heart.... But there are moments when the
Christian like the master should take up his whip and flog sense into people.
Moments of open and direct confrontation may sometimes be called for. On no
account should a Christian take himself as the one who always has to bear the
stroke of the other. There are moments when he has to stand up on his two feet
and say like the fly, ‘No’ to the huge cow! We Christians in Nigeria want peace
and unity of the nation. But on no account shall we compromise our religion for
any or both of them.
To
be sure, Muslim-Christian conflict could be part of the dynamics of identity
politics, and may not be dysfunctional as long as the rights of other Nigerians
are respected. Rather, as Amadi noted, Nigerian politics is built on the
appeasement of religion. Religion then becomes a deity that proves difficult to
be overpowered and equally incapable of decisively breaking out of the
constraints of liberal legality.
In the elite’s intense struggle for access to power and state resources,
“patterns of political domination are constantly being transformed. It is this
constantly changing pattern of domination that has produced the fears and
anxieties that underlie increasing conflict and intolerance”.
Since the return to democratic rule in 1999 after almost three decades of
military rule, ethno-religious conflicts have been a recurring decimal in
Nigeria. Religious strife between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria
and its ripples in other parts of the country has left thousands dead, wounded,
and rendered many homeless over the years. For instance, as claimed by the US
Commission on International Religious Freedom, at least 12, 000 people have
been killed in sectarian and communal attacks and reprisal between Muslims and
Christians (US Commission on International Religious Freedom, 2009).
Despite
the National interfaith dialogue that takes place between the establishment
national religious organizations, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
and the Nigerian Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), the act of
violence reprisal never ceased. Local Christian-Muslim clashes, therefore,
often embody national political, ethnic, regional, and economic tensions
despite the fact that there are no religious or ethnic parties, and neither
religious nor ethnic questions are allowed on the national census.
Religion
becomes a very powerful force during adverse conditions. During the economic crisis in Nigeria, the
people segregated themselves by their religions, and the elites took
advantage. Political actors have turned
religious terrain into battle ground for contesting perceived marginalization
and to gain political recognition and support from their communities
(172). The enemy called ‘religion
influence’ has negatively wasted many lives in Nigeria and still ready to fight
on. Who will occupy the throne of Nigerian politics? Only peaceful coherence
with one another will save Nigeria, looking forward again for another election
of 2015.
MALICIOUS
INFLUENCE OF ISLAM ON NIGERIAN POLITICS
1. Attempt
of extermination of Christianity
The
influence of Islam on Nigeria and her politics is gradually becoming cold war
against other religion, especially Christianity. A plea of a noble Nigerian is
quoted: "We are also worried that the Christians are been systematically
eliminated by members of the Boko Haram Islamic extremists. We are forced to
believe that the whole attack is a deliberate plan to exterminate Christians
living in the affected areas." The church leaders urged the government not
to downplay the events that have been taking place including killings and
kidnappings. The leaders believe, “the
whole onslaught is a deliberate attempt to exterminate Christians in the
captured region.”
Though the Muslims gain power to dominate, the excess of power now launches
threat against the survival of Christians. Islam had gained ground earlier
enough to hinder Christianity who was the threat to her to dominate the
country. In 1842 Thomas Freeman founded the first Methodist Church in Abeokuta
a village in southern Nigeria, and in 1844 the CMS (Church Missionary Society)
arrived in the same village. Yet, Christianity was not as attractive as
Islam was in the North. It was hard to
convince many Nigerians to follow “the white man’s Lord.” The Islamic faith had such a strong impact on
many northern cities, and missionaries found it impossible to convince people
outside of southern Nigeria the benefits of Christianity, even till date.
As part of extermination which was seen as a step toward “improving” the
standards of the Nigerian education system, General Mohammed ordered the
takeover of mission schools in the northern states with “immediate effect” (his
trademark). What made his actions suspicious was the changing of the mission
schools’ names to Islamic instead of neutral names. It was alleged that the
Queen of Apostles school in Kaduna was renamed the Queen Amina College. Queen
Amina was a Muslim warrior who led men ¡n her conquest of the Zazzau emirate.
St. John’s College, in Kaduna, was renamed Rimi College. The Sardauna Memorial
College, taken over from Islam, was left as it was. Christian chapels were
converted to assembly halls, and mosques were raised in the schools at
government expense.
All these are malicious influence on Nigerian politics.
2. Danger
of Islamization of Nigeria
The
Muslims’ call for autonomy flies in the face of Nigeria’s secular tradition.
The constitution does not allow elevating any religion to a state religion. Yet
this principle is violated when governors in the North use state authority to islamize
public life. In Zamfara, the first state to introduce a strict form of Sharia,
the government claimed that its religious reform was bringing about major
changes: all spheres of public life are being transformed into Islamic oriented
institutions.
This state-sponsored Islamization affected non-Muslims as well, as they were
subjected to some Sharia proscriptions like the ban on alcohol and the gender
separation in hotels and restaurants, in buses and taxis. In Zamfara’s state
schools, boys and girls were separated without regard to their faith. In
addition, all girls and young women were forced to conform to the Islamic dress
code. By declaring the Will of God the highest authority, Sharia politicians
have given believers permission to disregard all man-made laws and agreements
that are at variance with Islam. This undermined the legitimacy of the
Christian President, and it also threatens the authority of the emirs and other
representatives of the Islamic establishment.
The call to shape state and society by the rules of Islam has increased
antagonism between Muslims and members of other faiths. Christians and
Traditionalists are worried that Islamic law may spread to other parts of
Nigeria and that it may pervade more spheres of social life. Where Sharia
becomes dominant, non-Muslims are excluded, to a large extent, from political
participation, and their social environment is determined by the laws of an
alien religion.
3. Weakening
the educational system and Marginalization of Christians
Islam
influence is relatively bias. Some sects do want to promote western education
while some still want to maintain Islam ideology and still enjoy benefit of
western culture. There
is the Ansarud-deen which is also conservative, but promotes Western education.
And there are branches of the Muslim Students Society and various other youth
groups influenced by Saudi Wahhabi ideas calling for a reformed purist Islam.
The
ignorant ones will end up illiterate and be useless to them mainly to be
adherents to Islam alone. In
opposing the ideology of Sharia, Christians had based their arguments not only
on their conviction that Islamic values will be imposed more rigorously on
Christian’s everyday life, but also the fact that the extant marginalization
that Christians suffer in the state will be intensified. Such cases of
marginalization, according to them, include the non-appointment of Christians
to political offices, especially the executive council ; the payment of
the WAEC fees for only Muslim students; discriminatory school fees against non-indigenous
Christian students; the conscripted space for Christian evangelism, a point
underscored by inability of Christians to get land to build churches,
and the stoppage of a film on Jesus in November 2000, a month to the formal
adoption of Sharia in Kebbi.
Where
there is extensive poverty and political mismanagement, Islamic radicalism is
unstoppable.
4. Forceful
imposition of ideology
For
almost 40 years, the Islamic elite of Northern Nigeria had dominated the
political scene, without a government making efforts to introduce an Islamic
penal code. The former president Shehu Shagari, for example, who suddenly
emerged as a champion of Sharia, had never tried to pass new criminal laws
while he was in office. Muhammadu Buhari, a former military dictator, took a
similar stance.
With the dawn of democracy, he joined the Sharia activists and assured his
coreligionists: “I can die for the cause of Islam”.
Boko Haram as the major impostor of Islamic ideology seeks to establish an
Islamic state in Nigeria, and opposes the Westernizing of Nigerian society that
has concentrated the wealth of the country among small political elite, mainly
in the Christian south of the country.
Growing distrust in political leadership, a lack of government presence and
chronic underdevelopment created the perfect context for radical groups to take
root and flourish in northern Nigeria. To
enforce the ideology, in April 2014, Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from
Chibok, Borno. More than 50 of them soon escaped, but the remainder has not
been released. Instead, Shekau, who has a reward of $7 million offered by the
US DOS since June 2013 for information leading to his capture, announced his
intention of selling them into slavery. The attack on Gwoza signaled a change
in strategy for Boko Haram, as the group continued to capture territory in
north-eastern and eastern areas of Borno, as well as in Adamawa and Yobe.
Attacks across the border were repelled by the Cameroon military.
In a video obtained by the news agency AGF (Agence France-Presse)
on 24 August 2014, Shekau announced that Gwoza was now part of an
Islamic caliphate.
The town of Bama, 45 miles from the state capital Maiduguri, was reported to
have been captured at the beginning of September, resulting in thousands of
residents fleeing to Maiduguri, even as residents there were themselves
attempting to flee.
The militants were reportedly killing men and teenage boys in the town of over
250,000 inhabitants. This
imposition has really caused conflict that made many of children displaced;
they were not able to attend school.
Furthermore, many of the individuals involved in these conflicts acquire
severe injuries that ultimately handicap them. Therefore it limits the economic
activities the handicapped can engage in thus making them economically
dependent, and in most cases leading many to the streets begging and increasing
homeless refugee in a country with sovereignty.
EVIL
OF CHRISTIANITY INFLUENCE IN NIGERIAN POLITICS
1. Hypocrisy,
Corruption and Loss of ethics
Christian
influence would have become great and continuous-impacting but the sorrow of
corruption has bitten the veins of Christian leaders who have selfish ambition
in the name of God and still influence politics to themselves. Boer identifies
the problem of Christian influence in politics as he notes that "the first
is the corruption that has penetrated every level of society”.
The church is still guilty of many types of corruption that characterize the
society as a whole. Many church members have failed in displaying their
Christian ethics in nation building. Jude Arogundade, a catholic priest laments
on the issue that, despite the fact that some Christians are in power,
corruption still thrives in the country. There are many Christians in politics
that are good and ready to do the right thing as well as very dedicated and
selfless. We also have many of them too who are just out there to cause
problems, make money and loot the treasury. He notes further that still on
corruption, some of the indicted politicians still come to church immediately
after serving their jail terms. Don’t you think the church should enforce some
punitive measures on them as deterrence to others? To some extent, the church
had been complacent in standing its ground against some (Christian) politicians
who are corrupt, dishonest and indicted.
Iheanyi
Enwerem in his book, Dangerous Awakening:
The Politicization of Religion in Nigeria laments on the political activities of CAN and how politicians
have always used religion for their advantage. Idowu
Samuel, an online news writer, quoted Justice Ayoola, the Chairman Independent
Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), saying that the
leader of churches in Nigeria should start by preaching the value of integrity,
which according to him had initially formed the cultural value of the citizens
of the country, as he urged church leaders to begin the process by reflecting
the value of integrity in their own conduct. However, church is corrupted by
its fruits and the leaders. We have lost our responsibility by be charged again
from political end reminding church its glorious duty to implant Christian
ethics in its members as an ambassador of God and the church at large. The
influence of Christianity is gradually affecting other religions to be corrupt.
No one can trust a Christian in power because of history of propaganda
perpetrated. Corruption in the church and Christian bodies need check and
balance to save the future of Nigerian politics.
2. Adverse
effect of neglect of church from state
Christianity
was after slave freedom, commerce and evangelism and not to dominate.
Evangelism, commerce and the abolition of the slave trade came together in the
Niger expedition of 1841. The aims of this were to explore the interior, to
make treaties with the local peoples, to evangelize, and to establish a model
farm at Lokoja.
Firstly, Christianity only then intensified the study of the Yoruba language
and its reduction to Roman script. The Bible was translated by Crowther and
others, and both Crowther and Bowen produced important Yoruba grammars and
dictionaries. Townsend was producing a newspaper in Yoruba in Abeokuta by 1859.
Secondly, extensive first-hand information on the interior began to appear,
both in the mission reports and in published memoirs. A further effect was to
influence British policy towards the area, and especially towards Lagos.
All these were done as a church on missions but separated from ruling system of
the land. Everyone was busy preaching but politics was far from the church.
That is why the gap is still wide to fill. Muslims join politics to make policy
that will affect Christianity. The influence level of Islam is very huge and
deep to Christianity. Christians only endure what is done on their behalf
without options because they ignored state affairs from the church.
FEW
SUGGESTED CONTROL MEASURE ON RELIGIOUS
INFLUENCE IN NIGERIAN POLITICS
1. Separation
of state and religion
Various
governments in Nigeria have not stood very clear on the relationship between
state and religion. The Nigerian constitution is not very clear either. Its
provisions for religions matters are almost contradictory. On the one hand, it
says that Nigeria is a secular state and that the federal or state government
shall not adopt any religion as state religion, but on the other hand, it has
provision for the establishment of the sharia court of appeal which gives room
for the establishment of the Sharia law. Because the government and the
constitution have failed to clearly separate religion from the state or
politics it is difficult for religions to make the separation. The
religious influence should be made clear in constitution and also be followed.
The adherence to constitution without lobbying by religion sentiment will
actually move Nigeria forward and be free of religious violence.
2. Interfaith
approaches
Religious
beliefs and values are expressed within the faith community and in society. In
a peace-building process, religious actors are important agents who collaborate
with others to resolve conflict and effect transformation within society. It is
hence more advantageous if, for example, religious actors are formally trained
to become advocates, mediators, and apostles of peace. Such people make a
valuable contribution to religious education, mobilization for peace, and
advocacy and network building for sustained dialogue in moving society towards
greater integration. Whenever
the issue of influence is treated with oneness as a body, not as separated
religion, there will be peaceful growth and stability in the nation. However, National
interfaith dialogue takes place between the establishment national religious
organizations, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Nigerian
Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (NSCIA). The Sultan of Sokoto, since March
2007 Alhaji Muhanmmad Sa'ad Abubakar, is the formal head of Nigeria's Muslims.
The National Interreligious Council (NIREC), which consists of twenty-five
Muslim and twenty-five Christian leaders, was revived in fall 2007, partly
through the influence of the new sultan, who serves as co-chair, along with the
president of CAN.
This can further strengthen the relationship to jointly influence the politics
aright.
CONCLUSION
Consequently
the effects of this religious influence and its crisis has thwarted the
development of the body polity and has given the impression that the problem
has nothing useful to offer to the progress of Nigeria as a growing nation. Furthermore, it has affected the “democratic
norms and values and has consistently presented Nigeria as one big disunited
and largely polarized”. Having
a nation of many diverse religions and ethnicities has caused many problems,
and instead of being a strong point of Nigeria it has become a weakness. Furthermore, rather than being one nation it
has become many nations within one.
These religious crises have more often than not resulted in loss of
lives and violation of human freedoms.
In order for Nigeria to move in a productive path in the 21st century, there
is need to understand unity in diversity in religion, and also to forget the
erroneous game of regional partition of colonial masters to favour a religion
to other. New approaches of interfaith be introduced and religious orientation
on good governance be preached by the religious leaders. However, Nigeria had
been for over 100years, and religion has held loosed occasionally because of
selfishness of some leaders, there is need to hold her again with common
interest of influencing politics with selfless motive and unity of the nation.
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