Presidential monologue – Part 51

Good morning, Mr President. I address the creeping politicisation of religion in the South-west of Nigeria. Two related incidents triggered my alarm bells, and I have been wondering ever since if it has a latent function, in other words, an ulterior motive. I shall return to the motive in the concluding part of this piece.

A few days before Christmas, there was in the news a story of blasphemy against the Christian religion by an Islamic group somewhere in the Lekki area of Lagos. To summarise, a banner about Jesus Christ was hoisted at the gate of the Lekki Central Mosque in Lagos State which read “Jesus Christ is not God. He is a Prophet and Messenger of God!” for effect. Inscribed on the banner was a section of the Quran 5:72 that read “Allah says, they have disbelieved those who say that God is the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary. While the Messiah had said, ‘Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. God has forbidden Paradise to anyone who worships something else besides Him.’”

It attracted an immediate reaction. Some viewed it as disrespectful of the Christian religion and wondered why anyone should go to lengths to do that. Following the reactions, it was quickly replaced. 

Mr Tunde Alabi, who claimed to be a member of the Lekki Muslim community, said he noticed “that there was a banner in front of our mosque causing some controversies. I sent a message to the mosque committee, and they informed me that it had been removed. I came here personally to check, and I can confirm it has actually been removed.” Mr Alabi tendered an apology (see https://punchng.com/mixed-reactions-trail-jesus-is-not-god-banner-displayed-at-lekki-central-mosque/#google_vignette and https://punchng.com/controversial-jesus-is-not-god-banner-removed-from-lekki-mosque-following-backlash/ for details). Ironically, Ridwanullah Jamiu, the Chief Imam of Lekki Central Mosque in Lagos, said the banner was for the education of the Moslem faithfuls. May God help us..

While the Lekki incident was yet to fade away, news broke in faraway Oyo town, in Oyo State, about the inauguration of Shari’ah Court. The protagonist in the matter is the Supreme Council for Shari’a in Nigeria, Oyo State chapter.  Dr. Bello Adisa, one of the organisers, said there was nothing novel about the development. He noted that the “Independent Shari’a Arbitration Panel” mislabelled shari’a court in the news report, already exists in several South-West states to resolve family disputes among willing Muslims.

However, the outrage led to the immediate postponement of the event. Nevertheless, proselytes of other religions and supporters of the Islamic cause weighed in on the matter in ways that increased the bile. Worst still, a certain John Olanrewaju Ifagbemi, a traditionalist is alleged to have been arrested for desecrating the Quran with a similar plan for the Holy Bible.

Despite the suspension of the setting up of the Sharia panel, the Yoruba Council Worldwide (Igbimo Apapo Yoruba Lagbaye) has threatened to institute legal action against the promoters of the Oyo Sharia panel if the plan is not abandoned outright. Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) restated the fact that what was being planned was not Sharia court and that Igbimo Apapo Yoruba Lagbaye was raising unnecessary tension.

Apostle Joshua Akinyemiju, Oyo State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), described the proposed panel as “unconstitutional and a threat to the state’s secular nature.” He further noted that it should not “happen in Oyo State where Christians and Muslims co-exist in nearly every family.”

Seyi Makinde, Oyo State governor, has weighed in on the Sharia matter. According to him, people may try, but for us, I swore to uphold our laws and the Constitution of Nigeria…If their actions are within the law, fine; if not, they should expect that I will insist the law must be followed. Besides, there are indications that the central authorities may have instituted a covert probe of religious tension in the south-west geopolitical zone (for details, see  https://punchng.com/just-in-why-we-are-establishing-a-sharia-panel-in-oyo-islamic-group/ and https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/01/sharia-row-rages-in-south-west-as-supporters-expand-scope-of-demand-from-panel-to-court/).

Religion has been a divisive matter in both ancient and contemporary worlds. Following the end of the Cold War, western imperialists declared war against fundamentalist theocracy/Islam in what Benjamin Barber brilliantly labelled“Jihad vs. McWorld”. Also, it is the subject of Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilisations”. Its danger lies in Vladimir Lenin’s qualifications. He says “Religion is the opium for the people. Religion is a sort of spiritual booze, in which the slaves of capital drown their human image, their demand for life more or less worthy of man”. Due to its sensibility, Lenin, according to the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, now defunct, emphasised: “The impermissibility of insulting peoples’ religious feelings since this can only serve to strengthen their prejudices”. The attitude of the pioneer leader of the Soviet Union was to emphasise, “freedom of conscience, the separation of the church from the state and the school from the church. As far as the state is concerned, religion must be declared a private matter of the individual.”  

Lenin’s viewpoint articulated above is the spirit of Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution as amended that engrossed the secularity of the Nigerian state. Nigerians must avoid the imposition of one religion over the other. We must respect the sensitivity to the beliefs of others in so far as they do not infringe on the freedom of conscience.

To come back to ulterior motive, I see a political subtext in what is going on. Unknown to some religious proselytes, they are being controlled to incite religious disharmony in a geopolitical zone that exemplifies religious harmony at its best. The run-up to the 2027 general election may be central to attempts at inflaming religious tension.

A united South-west would vote en masse for the incumbent if he chooses to run in 2027. With a foreseeable united opposition from the North, a divided South-west would boost its electoral fortune. The people of the South-west must guide against any conflict in whatever guise, what tradition has cemented, let no politics put asunder.

Prof. Akhaine lectures in the Department of Political Science, Lagos State University.

This column will go on a recess until March 3, 2025.