Of rules and religion

Sir: It would be too easy and even lazy to blame religion for many of the problems convulsing Nigeria at the moment but it cannot be taken away that religion is partly responsible for so many of the problems. 

Many of those who consider themselves religious in Nigeria just wear the garb of religion without any serious attempt at living by the dictates of whatever it is their religion says. Many of them only conveniently invest as much as enables them to weaponise religion so that they can take their turns in lashing out at those who they consider enemies of their religion.
 
It was only in May that Ms. Deborah Samuel, a 22-year-old student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto met her grisly end at the hands of criminal religious fanatics who had claimed that she had blasphemed religion. She was burnt beyond recognition. About five months later, progress has not been made in the prosecution of the criminals, thus indicating the entirety of Nigeria`s criminal justice system.

At about the time Deborah was lynched, there were other lynchings or attempted lynchings in other parts of the country. Many parts of Nigeria have been rocked in the past by violent conflicts issuing from disputes that started as religious disagreements, yet, very few Nigerians think that religion should be checked in public life in Nigeria.

The directive immediately caused an uproar both from within and outside the bank causing the bank takes to the pages of national dailies to issue an apology. The brouhaha has also seen some customers of the bank visit the bank to close their accounts.

Religion remains such a touchy issue in Nigeria. In many ways, it continues to play an inordinately influential role in life in Nigeria, providing in the process fuel for the fire which is burning up Nigeria. The time is now for Nigerians to know when and where to draw the line and to do so clearly.
 
Kene Obiezu, Twitter:@kenobiezu