2023: Elites shamelessly deploying religion to gain unmerited advantage ― Akeredolu

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has chided elites for shamelessly playing up the topic of religion to gain an unmerited advantage in the 2023 election.

A campaign he described as dangerous and divisive, Akeredolu said current agitations for a faith-based political representation, especially by the All Progressives Congress (APC), were simply mischievous and manipulative politicians deploying religion to attain political power.

He bemoaned that the manipulative use of religion, which dates back to ages, usually comes before elections, such that mundane issues outshine the main issues that should bother Nigerians.

The Ondo governor told Nigerians to be wary of the fact that the sentiment of religion is again being employed as a weapon to manipulate the mass of Nigerians while the real issues are relegated from the political discourse.

Noting that the job of being president requires capacity, forthrightness and courage, Akeredolu argued that any religious leader or Nigerian who ignores knowledge and competence as necessary criteria in choosing their next president is an apostate.

Akeredolu who made these remarks as a guest lecturer at the 1st memorial lecture and celebration of the life of Professor Bankole Olusiji Oke held at the International Conference Centre, the University of Ibadan, on Wednesday, particularly described the controversy around Senator Bola Tinubu/Kashim Shettima APC ticket as needless and unnecessary.

Touching on history, he pointed to the fact that leadership never emerged as a consequence of religious leanings or inclinations, but that communities and settlements held on to their preferred modes of worship representing their worldviews.

In time past, he pointed to the fact that religions existed alongside traditional practices such that there were adherents of the various religions in almost every family in Yorubaland.

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In his lecture titled: “Nigeria: The Politics of Religion in a Transitional Society,” Akeredolu said: “Religion is currently being deployed most shamelessly by the elites to gain an unmerited advantage. The earlier we stop this dangerous and divisive campaign, the better it will be for everyone.

“The manipulative skills of politicians currently put to use will aggravate an already bad situation.

“The solution to the challenges faced in the country will not be found in the faiths of individuals. A person’s religious persuasion is based on personal conviction. It is essentially private. The public space must remain secular.

“Consequently, the current agitations for a faith-based political representation are anchored on certain misapprehension of the requirements for leadership in a multi-ethnic state such as Nigeria.

“It borders on plain mischief to set the people on themselves to attain political power. Any so-called religious leader, who ignores knowledge and competence as necessary criteria to measure leadership capacity, is an apostate.

“The current noises made on the need to have people occupy offices on the basis of religion is not only dangerous but, annoyingly, does not portray politicians as those who are interested in the public good.

“Religion has always been a weapon of manipulation in a transitional society. Religious leaders rely on the gullibility of their followers to participate, actively, in politics, while presenting a façade of spirituality.

“A country in the process of evolution cannot afford to be distracted by the business of religion.

“Granted that it is expected of political gladiators to magnify even the most irrelevant of issues to score cheap political points, it is profitable for the leaders of thought, especially religious leaders, to act decently. The contestation for a political office and fight for relevance must not be used as an excuse to mislead the people.

“The unnecessary lamentation by a section of the political class on the recent choice of the presidential candidate of the ruling party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a Muslim, to pick Senator Kashim Ibrahim Shettima, another Muslim, as his Vice-Presidential candidate, is most regrettable.

“This choice has generated needless controversies. Those who spearhead this apparent mischief either ignore or are oblivious of the fact that the position of the Vice President, as provided in the 1999 Constitution, as amended, is innocuous. The occupier of that office can only act as directed by the President who wields the real executive power.”

“Beyond promises, freely given during campaigns, very few of the members of this exclusive class really spare any serious thoughts for the general well-being of the masses. Any little opportunity, offered by socio-economic crises, is appropriated to wreak maximum havoc.

“The point of difference is emphasized for maximum effect. The sentiment of religion is employed as a weapon of mass mobilization to confuse the easily impressionable.

“The real issues are relegated or taken down, completely, from political discourse and replaced with manipulative and emotive outbursts to achieve the desired end.”

Speaking further, Akeredolu urged discerning Nigerians to be wary of a conscious plan in some quarters to disrupt the unwritten agreement since the return to democracy in 1999 that power must rotate between the North and the South.

Pointing to the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari from the North will complete his eight years tenure in 2023, Akeredolu declared that having the South produce the next president is non-negotiable.

He warned that the attempt to disrupt the power rotation may herald unpleasant consequences and aggravate the already bad situation in the country.

Furthermore, he cautioned those heating up the polity on the altar of religion to rather lend their voices to the issue of resource generation and control by the federating units.

Akeredolu stressed that restructuring, state police, practice of federalism, power rotation must be achieved in the interest of a better nation.

He said: “Nigerians celebrate the fact that the democratic experience remains unbroken ever since. There appears to be an understanding that power must rotate between the North and the South. This understanding witnessed the contest of two candidates from the Southwest for the Presidency. It was part of the unwritten agreement that the power equation must be balanced to allay the fear of domination harboured by the people of the South.

“There is a conscious attempt not to disrupt the extant agreement. There has been a seamless transition from one civilian regime to another since 1999, the longest in the political history of the country.

“The current political permutations raise strong suspicions of an undeclared motive to thwart the arrangement that has been working for the country.

“The rotation of the office of the President has been between the North and the South since the inception of the Fourth Republic. Our quest to have the South produce the next president is one thing that is not negotiable. We will give it whatever it takes.

“The attempt to disrupt the process of democratic transition using all manner of subterfuge heralds forebodings of unpleasant consequences.

“But beyond the agitation for power shift is the quest for economic independence of the States under the current political arrangement. The clamour for the restructuring of the polity should gain currency more than the unprofitable noises made for representation based on religion.

“Those who overheat the polity for personal aggrandizement should lend their voices to the issue of resource generation and control by the Federating units.”

Also speaking, Akeredolu described the late Oke as a humanist, who understood the human condition and was prepared to accept any person.