As a leader in both Christendom and in the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), I will say that we are deeply concerned too about what is happening in the country, especially in instances where seeming religious leaders weaponise religion to incite trouble, hatred, unease and unrest, especially whenever election is around the corner. You agree with me that this is not the first time religion has been used, it has been used so many times in this country, especially in political decision-making. But I would say that it is not that NIREC, as a body, has not been doing enough. But I would think that the religious leaders, when I say leaders, I mean the so-called leaders who find space or find pleasure in using religion are the ones that should be frowned at. I’m saying this against the backdrop of the fact that the issue of religious tolerance has been our watchword, both in CAN and in NIREC. I understand deeply how we struggled with the 2011 general election that gave rise to a lot of bloodshed. Prior to that election, we made efforts to preach peace, tolerance and acceptance. We tried to make religious leaders understand their role as the salt and light of the earth. You cannot be the salt; you cannot be the light when you are inciting trouble and inciting unrest. So I would say that we’ve been preaching it, we’ve been talking about it, we’ve been addressing it. But the unfortunate thing is the fact that not all these religious leaders are under the umbrella of these bodies. But then, each of these individuals, if you check their background, they have their separate training, they have their different understanding of the holy books, they have their own principles of operation, and they have a way of attracting attention to themselves. So I will say, actually, all these things are about individual self-promotion, self-deception and self-aggrandisement. That’s just what everybody you see acting or trying to promote hatred is doing. Sometimes, they even go against us. Many times His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, has been faced with attacks and persecution. Even some of them will say if they find him, they will not leave him because of his desire for the two religious leaders to meet and make sure that this country moves forward. So I would say at this point that we are not neglecting it.
Most of Nigeria’s issues are tactically provoked by religion, don’t you think it’s about time the government took a stand against people who use religion to feed the flames of discord?
If you look at the last press statement concerning the outburst of Sheikh Yahaya Jingri, when he said that the last election has shown that Muslims are dominant, that the kafirs have no place in Nigeria, and that if you don’t compromise, you should pack and leave the country, and then saw such unspeakable words, I will tell you honestly that when our leaders were reviewing it, they also felt that the government has a responsibility to take.
So I think government is also culpable. To be honest with you, government is culpable in two angles, from my understanding. First, some government politicians, particularly, take advantage of those outbursts. They feel it is something that promotes their position; it is something that helps them to garner votes, either for or against. So they keep trying to fuel some of those things, fuelling the religious leaders by stocking them with money to make sure that they speak some of those things. We’ve watched leaders of other nations. Of course, recently, this man in Burkina Faso gave a stern warning on religious intolerance. The President, Ibrahim Traore, firmly stated that Shari’a law will not be implemented in the country, emphasising that secular constitution take precedence over religious law. He emphasized that if you go to any religious nation to study Shari’a, remain there to practise it. But in Nigeria, our political leaders cannot take firm decision on religious intolerant because of votes. The government seems to be afraid; they want to protect their votes. Some see this as a way of promoting their aspirations. So it’s a cycle of negligence. It’s a cycle of deliberate fear.
I also want to say that the vote that brought President Tinubu to power is slightly above eight million. The vote that Peter Obi got is above six million. The vote that Atiku got is above six million. The vote that Kwankwaso got is above one million. Now, if you add this vote, the vote of Obi and Atiku is more than the vote His Excellency President Tinubu got. It’s more than it. If you now say, ‘Okay, Muslims have voted for Tinubu,’ then the question I will ask you is: where is my own vote? Then why does it mean that the votes between Atiku and Obi are all Christian votes? Now, the third question again is: what is the population of Nigeria? The population of Nigeria, by estimation, is above 250 million. So, if it’s 250 million and you have only eight million that have voted, what is the percentage of that population? It is so small. I dare to say that even non-believers are more than that population that voted for Tinubu, not to talk about Muslim votes or Christian votes. If you put the three votes of the major contestants in the last election together, they are not up to 20 to 30 per cent of the Nigerian population.
Given Nigeria’s population and the number of registered voters, as well as the number of person who voted during elections, do you believe that appropriate government institutions, including religious organisations, should intensify efforts on the necessity of voting?
So what I’m saying is that there are two things that are involved. One, in my opinion, is that there is a lack of voters’ education. People have not been educated on why they should vote, who they should vote for, when they should vote, and the implications of their voting or not voting. These things are very key.
You know, when you just mobilise somebody in the night and say, ‘Go and vote for Mr. F.D., he doesn’t even know why he’s voting. All we want is, ‘Let’s gather the number. And that’s what politicians do. And a lot of us that are maybe the religious groups, civil society, journalists, and all over, sometimes we don’t care. We care less about what is happening. But you know that we should give the right people the opportunity to educate the people so that they will vote based on their conscience. If you allow only politicians to create the needed education or awareness for voters, politicians will only ask for votes for themselves, not minding when, why or how. Just, ‘Let them vote for me,’ and that’s all. And he gives money for it, if he likes. That is the number one problem.
The second problem that has reduced the number of voters, or the rate of voting in this country, is largely due to disappointment. Due to disappointment, because the electorate, some of them, are highly disappointed. Most times, you know, those of us in leadership positions, we come to them, we make promises, we make commitments without fulfilling anyone. So as a politician if make a commitment, the general expectation is that you fulfil such but our politicians are not doing that. I think that those who are involved in political activities should also review the kind of leadership we churn out. Of course, the other, third thing is that people see elections from an empowerment point of view. ‘If you give me money, I vote. If you don’t give me money, I stay away.’ So it has reduced the value, the strength and the purpose for which elections are conducted. Some of these things have discouraged the electorate. They feel their votes don’t count, so they don’t go out to vote. Political class has continued to disappoint electorate, many people are no longer willing to vote, just imagine with population of about 250 million, it was just a fragment of less than 50 million that turned out to vote.
What are the roles, in your opinion that both traditional and religious bodies can play in in the fight against insecurity?
Well, I agree that for us in the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council, at the end of every meeting, by the grace of God-we will be meeting in September this year, I think the second or third week of September-at the end of every meeting, we bring out what we call a resolution or communiqué. And this communiqué carries our discussions, our decisions and our resolutions on what is happening in our nation. And I tell you that there is no time, since I started being part of this organisation, that we don’t raise the issue of insecurity. We don’t raise the issue of empowerment. We don’t raise the issue of employment. We don’t raise the issue of government development and infrastructural development that will reduce this. So, insecurity situation is a complicated matter because the level of insecurity, vis-à-vis the high rate of unemployment and the harsh economic situation, seems to give room for insecurity itself, naturally.
Nigerians anticipated religious and traditional leaders to inform those in positions of authority of the fundamental truth based on the country’s reality, but not much is being done in this regard. How do you see the situation?
It’s not true, sometimes, it’s not very easy to even meet those in authority. You know it. Let’s take the President, for instance, he has so many engagements. He has so many people wanting to see him. I know that we have a pending letter with the President that is getting to almost a year now. I know. But, of course, I’m not saying that he refused to grant us access. I don’t know, because I’m not the one who signed the letter, for sure. But I would say that sometimes, with those resolutions we make, those things we make, we expect that there are people that see those kinds of documents. We publish them in so many dailies, so we expect that they know our mind, they know what we think, they know what we do, and they know what we want for this country. Secondly, it is also expected that government, those in authority, should make a deliberate effort to listen to people. Recently, the Catholic bishops were with the President; they made statements, also an Islamic religious leader was equally with the president recently and had useful discussions. So we cannot say that religious leaders have been quiet.