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From: Janet chima <talk2jane_4ryl@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 08:28:28 +0100 (BST)
To: ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com<ayo_olukotun@yahoo.com>
ReplyTo: Janet chima <talk2jane_4ryl@yahoo.com>
Subject: Beyond the manipulation of religious identity
2015: Beyond The Manipulation Of Religious Identity
By Ayo Olukotun
There is a difference as Yusuf Bala Usman reminded us in a persuasive book many years ago, between the expression of religious identity, which is healthy and the manipulation of religious identity, a cynical elite stratagem to gain or retain power. What is on display in the ongoing debate about the prospects of an All Progressive Congress Muslim-Muslim ticket and to a lesser extent in the mobilisation for a Christian governor in Lagos state smack more of manipulated or trumped up controversy around religion than the manifestation of healthy identity politics. A related scenario is playing out in the state of Osun where opponents of Rauf Aregbesola are deliberately stoking religious fires over the wearing of Hijab in schools, in order to shift the debate away from his performance in office to the politics of religion.
In the unlikely event, for example that the APC settles for a Muslim-Muslim ticket, it will not be the first time that a political party made that kind of choice. The Social Democratic Party, in the historic presidential election of June 1993 it will be recalled, fielded the Muslim-Muslim ticket of MKO Abiola and Baba Gana Kingibe. As is well known, that did not prevent swathes of voters from endorsing the ticket and giving them victory over the National Republican Party (NRC) which featured a Muslin-Christian ticket. The lesson to take home from that experience is that Nigerian voters may in fact be more discerning and more sophisticated than the avid promoters of religious balancing.
From another point of view it will be extremely difficult for religious bigotry to thrive in a constitutional democracy considering the elaborate checks and balances which undergird the system, for example, the constitutional requirement to appoint ministers across the Nation's geo-polity. There is also the Senate and the House of Representatives with their religious and ethnic diversities, the judiciary as well as the fourth estate of the realm comprised by the media. All of these are part of the complex fabric of the presidential system which it would be difficult for the presidency to ride roughshod over or as the canvassers of the alleged threat posed by religion would like us to believe employ to "Islamise the country" through a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
What more, the elaborate and diffuse political structure in which power is de-concentrated is reinforced by the country's rich tapestry of religious pluralism. Western Nigeria featuring families in which husbands and wives belong to different religious affiliations provides an exemplar in this respect. The much touted Muslim Identity of the APC leaders in the South-West is counter balanced by the Christian identity of their spouses making it extremely difficult for the leaders to ram an Islamic agenda down the throats of the citizenry without risking a domestic war. Of course this pluralism does not apply across the entire country but it is true that the presence of Christian minorities in predominantly Muslim states and of Muslim minorities in predominantly in Christian state constitute checks on possible excesses. That statement should of course be qualified by the recent upsurge of terrorism wearing a religious garb and employing the persecution even slaughter of Christians and churches as opportunistic vehicles to air grievances which may be more political than religious. Even at that, when you closely inspect it the Boko Haram has produced a substantial count of Muslim casualties including attacks on Emirs and mosques; as well as running siege of the economic and social lives of Northern Nigeria with disastrous consequences.
The reason for cutting through the underbrush of religious scare mongering is not to argue for a Muslim-Muslim ticket but to refocus the national debate in order to capture important matters such as the character and reliability of aspirants to high office, their governance record as well as the prospects of transforming Nigeria from its current wasteland status to a deserved niche on the world map; a country that is easy to live in and do business with. Apart from the feel good dimension it is extremely difficult to see how the lot of Christians have been improved under the Presidencies of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. True, a few religious leaders may have employed the politics of religion to worm their way to the sinews of power and its lucrative benefits; but when you look at the statistics, the lot of citizens Christians and Muslims were not significantly uplifted. In the same manner can we say that the lot of Muslims if we exempt a tiny upper crust was improved under the presidency of the late Umaru Yar' Adua? The point being made is that what Nigeria needs is not symbolic association with so called Christian or Muslim presidents but a genuinely transformational leader whatever his religious identity who will make election promises and keep them and who will ensure that Nigeria's so called miracle growth is evenly distributed across religious, spatial, social and gender categories. If we consider the case of Lagos state, where there is now a deafening clamour for a Christian governor can it be said that the lot of Christians in Lagos state has degenerated because the governor happens to have a Muslim identity? Will a Christian governor have necessarily done better in terms of the tempo and substance of governance than Fashola?
In other words, the manipulation of religious identity should be seen for what it is: an elite past time to divert attention away from substantive governance issues by focusing on shallow identification with leaders based on religious affiliations irrespective of whether they obey the scriptures or not. Another possible dimension of the issue is that the playing up of religious identities may in fact have the opposite effect of subtly marginalising those who had hoped to benefit from the display of religious brotherhood. Have you noticed as Minister for Information Labaran Maku never tires of pointing out that under the supposedly "anti-North" presidency of Jonathan, the North has succeeded in cornering a substantial portion of juicy federal appointments as well as projects? We are dealing here with a case of reverse discrimination in which a Southern President has bent over backwards or even made somersaults to please an aggrieved group. In the same manner, a Muslim President put on the defensive may in fact marginalise Muslims while a besieged Christian President may end up marginalising Christians – situations that would not have arisen if religion was not put on the front burner or cynically manipulated by politicians.
As previously mentioned, the peaceful expression of religious identity as indeed of other identities is an important part of politics famously defined as who gets what, when and how. What is dangerous and ought to be resisted is the substitution of the manipulation of religious identity for urgent matters of statehood as well as the attempt to rig or pre-empt a necessary focus on the performance of our leaders, the scrutiny of their records in office and the omens that these convey for their potential to redeem the Nation's lost opportunities. In this respect, the current uproar over a Muslim-Muslim ticket constitutes an elaborate diversion.
Olukotun is professor of Political science and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences and Entrepreneurial Studies at Lead City University, Ibadan.
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