A clear danger to Nigeria’s unity today is the manipulation and weaponisation of religion and ethnicity with the political class manipulating these divisive sentiments to win the sympathy of the people at every election season.
Religion, ethnicity and tribal sentiments are clearly undermining Nigeria’s development. The sentiment of tribe and religion have been the greatest political tools used by selfish politicians.
Nigeria has failed to develop despite the abundant resources we have, and this is largely due to tribalism and religion. These two issues have penetrated deeply into the nation’s social fabrics and have distracted many, especially the youth who are the leaders of tomorrow.
There is no gainsaying that ethnic politics and religion have impacted negatively on the development of the nation in many fronts, namely socially, politically, economically and in governance. It is clearly a cancer requiring attention and sincere commitment with sacrifice from all Nigerians.
Recent happenings in the country, especially the electioneering campaign and the build-up to the presidential election, call for urgent attention. Many of our political parties since independence have been organised along regional lines.
We have been following this destructive path of ethnic and religious biases long before and since our independence as a country and it has contributed in many ways to stifling our growth and development.
We, as a people, need to change our perception of one another and how we measure the attributes of those that lead us. Ethnicity and religion should not be the basis of supporting political office seekers.
Our politicians should promote unity instead of playing politics on ethnic lines and preaching disunity. It’s heartbreaking to see the level of abuse and intolerance exhibited by politicians and their supporters before and during the last presidential election. Let’s all shun envy, bigotry, hatred, intolerance and bitterness.
Importantly, perhaps, for the first time since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, three candidates from the nation’s three major tribes enjoyed wide popularity and that brought to the fore once again the sense of rivalry between the different ethnic nationalities in the country.
With religion generating so much passion, the disunity among Nigerians has found full expression as the country is finally pitched as a battleground between Christians and Muslims. The influence of religion on the Nigerian State and politicisation of religion by the state have created an unfortunate identity for Nigerian politics today.
This influence has made religion lose its spiritual authority in the society to become a tool in the hands of selfish politicians and individuals to further their interests.
The federal character principle must be strictly implemented both at the state and local levels of government. Fanaticism in religion must be de-emphasised in order to pave way for the rebirth of a new Nigerian society where justice, equity, fairness and meritocracy hold sway.
In the opinion of this Newspaper, we need to urgently as a nation embark on serious political and inter-religious dialogue with the spirit of frankness, honesty, openness, acceptance and understanding in order to move forward. The use of tribe and religion as political tools would keep widening the gaps of unity, and we must not allow that to continue.
As Nigerians, we need to collectively bury our religious and ethnic differences and come together to establish a common front against forces threatening the peace and development of our country.
It is high time all men and women of good conscience rose to the occasion and proffer lasting solutions to the lingering challenges facing the entire country which are, no doubt, rooted in ethnic and religious chauvinism.
