SOWING THE SEEDS OF HATRED AND CONFLICTS

In the last few weeks, virtually every Muslim or Christian Nigerian, has received texts and other electronic messages from friends and acquaintances conveying advise or other messages which are targetting religious groups with regards to the forthcoming elections. Daily, many of us receive messages and requests to forward such messages to others, which abuse leaders, or people of other faith, and which inflame our passions and fear that people of other religions are about to wage a war, even if through the elections, against us.

Since the PDP Convention, and even long before it, campaigns on religious grounds have assumed frightening dimensions. Before the PDP Convention, the campaigns were low-keyed, and they centered  basically around the creation of the impression that President Goodluck Jonathan represented Christian interests, and Atiku Abubakar represented Muslim interests. After Atiku lost the nomination to President Jonathan, the messages became bitter and more abusive, as well as more inciting. Muslim Governors from States which over-whelmingly voted for Jonathan were abused with titles for Christian leaders, and Christians messages celebrated Jonathan’s victory as the victory of Christianity over Islam.

          The battles moved from Eagle Square to Churches and Mosques, and our telephones. More and more people are receiving messages that portray the forthcoming elections in purely religions terms. Political Parties other than the PDP are the fuelling this dangerous trend by appealing to Muslims to vote for their own candidates, because the PDP is fielding a Christian candidate. The cumulative effects of these messages will be to sow the seeds of deep hatred and future conflicts in our hearts and actions. Nigerians will be completely polarized along two religions lines before, during and after the elections. Muslims, particularly those from the North, will be made to believe that their faith is under attack, and the elections will be like a war they have to win to defend Islam. Christians are being made to believe that they are or the verge of destroying the dominance of Hausa-Fulani Muslims and Northern Christians minorities are about to achieve a historic victory for freedom.

People from the South are witnessing an unprecedented campaign to rally all Northern Muslims around a Muslim candidate, and even some of them who are largely indifferent to the factor of faith in Nigerian Polities will now assume a religious position and posture. Nigerian Muslims will feel that all Nigerian Christians are ganging up against them, and the tendency to close ranks  will be more pronounced . Tensions will rise, and the inevitability of conflicts and widespread violence around campaigns, and the elections and post-election issues will put the nation’s unity and security to a severe test.

Politicians appear to have lost substantial political grounds, and are resorting to the most destructive divide-and-rule tactics that are likely to destroy the foundation of our peaceful co-existence as a nation. Politicians whose credentials as good Muslims or Christians will not stand up to rigorous scrutiny are being put forward as representing all Muslims and Christians, and communities are being torn apart to support them on religions grounds. No one is talking about credibility, experience or honesty of leaders, but their faith. Our next leaders are likely to be elected only because they are Christians or Muslims, yet how they lead us will not be determined by their faith.

Some people in our country are sowing dangerous seeds of hatred and conflict in our nation, and all of us will pay the price  for it. No election in this country has exposed our weaknesses as a nation as much as this one, and no election has used religion and other dangerous propaganda as much as is being used.

No one will tell Muslims or Christians not to vote one of their own in a free and fair election, but elections exist as alternatives to war and other forms of violence. We do not need to put fear and hatred in the minds and hearts of people to get people elected. Those who hide behind their religions faiths alone to seek for our votes are most likely those who have very little to offer. There are good Muslims and Christians who can be voted to give Nigerians good leadership; and there are bad and undeserving people among the Christian and Muslim communities. Nigerians need to remember that we will require a peaceful and secure Nigeria to live in after these elections. If the campaigns and the elections are conducted with such bitterness and hatred and conflicts, there may be very little of Nigeria for either Muslims or Christians to live in. This is why all Nigerians should be wary of these campaigns to pitch Muslims against Christians by people who, when there are conflicts, will not pay any price for them. Those who use our religions beliefs to achieve their political goals should stop it, because our people can decide what is best for them.