{"id":538,"date":"2022-07-09T00:28:46","date_gmt":"2022-07-09T00:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/?p=538"},"modified":"2022-07-11T16:40:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T16:40:25","slug":"2023-nigerian-presidential-election-politicisation-of-religion-and-its-violent-conflict-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bbforpeace.org\/blog\/2022\/07\/09\/2023-nigerian-presidential-election-politicisation-of-religion-and-its-violent-conflict-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"2023 NIGERIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: POLITICISATION OF RELIGION AND ITS VIOLENT CONFLICT RISK."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Religion<\/a> has been a\nvital phenomenon in political discourse in Nigeria. Since the 1960s, opinions\nand participation of religious actors in the country\u2019s political affairs have\nmanifested a series of religio-political violent conflicts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christain from southwest Nigeria\nwas democratically elected as the president to end decades of military\nauthoritarianism. A year after, Islamic\nfundamentalists enforced sharia law in the northern part of the country\nwhich led to a series of violent\nconflicts<\/a> between Christians and Muslims in Kaduna killing more than\n2000. To revenge for the killings of fellow Igbo Christians in the north, the\nIgbos violently attacked the Hausa-Fulanis Muslims residing in the southeast\nregion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, a Muslim politician was elected as a local\ncoordinator of the federal poverty alleviation programme in a predominantly\ndivided Christians and Muslims area in Jos, Plateau State. This led to another religio-political violence<\/a>\nthat killed more than 1,000 people and displaced thousands within a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death\nof President Umaru Yar\u2019Adua on May 5, 2010, gave his vice president, Goodluck\nJonathan, a Christain from the southern region, the constitutional right to\nbecome the next president. In 2011, Jonathan contested and won the presidential election<\/a> with 22.5 million votes compared to\nMuhammadu Buhari, the former military ruler and a Muslim candidate, who\nhad more than 12 million votes. Some Muslims in the north rejected the result\nand staged a series of violent attacks<\/a>\nagainst Christians, burning churches, shops and houses, killing Christians and\nmembers of ethnic groups from the south perceived to have supported the ruling\nparty. Mobs of Christians retaliated by killing Muslims and burning mosques and\nproperties in communities highly populated by Christians in Kaduna. The\npost-election violence killed more than 800 people from both religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodluck\nJonathan\u2019s ambition to retain the seat as the president by contesting in 2015\ngrieved some northern elites who felt they had been politically short-changed.\nThey wanted another tenure on the ground that Yar\u2019Adua did not complete his 8\nyears. In their ploy to discredit President Jonathan and bring power back to the north<\/a>, the activities of the terrorist\ngroup, Boko Haram, were politicised. His administration\u2019s inability to\neradicate the insurgency and rescue 276 Chibok girls (all\nChristians) kidnapped<\/a> in April 2014 by members of the jihadist group\nwere some of the reasons he lost the 2015 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2021, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) voiced its\nsupport for a Yoruba Muslim to become the\npresident of Nigeria<\/a> in the forthcoming 2023 general election. They\nurged Muslims not to vote for a Yoruba Christian on the ground that Yoruba\nMuslims have been politically marginalized. On January 14, 2022, MURIC publicly affirmed its support<\/a>\nfor Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and\na Yoruba Muslim, as the best candidate. In November 2021, Bishop Wale Oke, the\npresident of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), said that for equity\nand fairness to reign the next president of the\ncountry in 2023 should be a Christian<\/a> because a Muslim president has\ngoverned for 8 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 28, 2022, the Redeemed Christian Church of God\n(RCCG) announced the creation of a directorate for\npolitics and governance<\/a> to support members who are aspiring to occupy\npolitical offices. The memo directed to the church leaders stated that \u201cThe\nessence of this directorate is to help coordinate the engagement of our people\nwho are willing to be involved in politics, as well as mobilize support for\nthem when required.\u201d This triggered xenophobic feelings among Muslim clerics who\nthought the idea is intended to favour a Christain candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since 2021, the issue of Muslims being the president and\nvice president of Nigeria is another issue that has been creating political arguments\namong Christians and Muslims which is already inciting religio-political\ndivision among their followers. On 21 June 2021, there was a mass protest<\/a>\noutside the secretariat of the All\nProgressives Congress (APC)<\/a> in Abuja, Nigeria, that Bola Tinubu, the\nparty\u2019s flag-bearer in the 2023 presidential election should refrain from\nchoosing a Muslim as his running mate, but rather choose a Christain. A year\nlater, on 3 July 2022, the Human Rights Writers\nAssociation of Nigeria (HURIWA) cautioned<\/a> that Muslim-Muslim ticket\nmay worsen the recent aggression by bandits and terrorists against Christians<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria is currently faced with multiple violent conflicts\nranging from farmer-herders conflict, Boko Haram terrorism, banditry, violent\nsecessionism, kidnapping for ransom, rise in cultism among youths etc. Another\nviolence will be a threat to the people\u2019s rights to religion and life as politicking\nfor the 2023 general election is already carrying a religious undercurrent. Appropriate\nand strategic awareness should be undertaken by the National Orientation Agency<\/a> (NOA) to step up its game in\npromoting inter-faith understanding and peaceful co-existence between the two\nreligions. Strategic awareness should be channeled towards peaceful electioneering\nand democratic process for altruistic political representation of the Nigerian citizens.\nMedia organizations as major stakeholders should come together to form a\nstrategy and tactics to control the religio-political narratives spreading\nthrough various media platforms to mitigate violent conflict risk in the\nforthcoming election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written By<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amos Oluwatoye<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Director for Research<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building Blocks for Peace Foundation<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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