Dr ‘Gbade Ojo, who recently resigned as Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi, has explained how religious factor contributed to the loss of the APC in the just concluded governorship elections in Oyo State.
Ojo, in an article Does Democracy Need Religion?, published by Sunday Punch, disclosed that this is unprecedented in voting patterns in Nigeria.
“One state in the South-West that tasted the venom of jaundiced religious inclinations in making electoral choices is Oyo State. The Christian community was of the view that the informal power sharing was breached in the state. The incumbent governor being a Muslim for eight years was mentoring and sponsoring another Muslim to take over from him. As if to add salt to an injury, the three senatorial candidates in the state happened to be Muslims. This became a campaign issue which was used to swing votes against the APC.
“In my personal interaction with some Christian leaders in the state, they confided in me that they were far from being comfortable with the sense of alienation they had before the elections in terms of choice of candidates which was tilted in favour of Islam.
“Interestingly, Moslem clerics in a live telecast during the last Maolud celebration asked the APC governorship candidate to affirm his Islamic faith before he could enjoy the support of Muslims in the state. APC lost virtually all critical elections at a roll – presidential, senatorial seat contested by the governor and the governorship election badly too.
“From the foregoing, it needs to be emphasised that the relationship between religion and democracy would thus appear to require careful management.
“It may take ‘eternity’ for Nigeria to operate really as a secular state. This is because sufficiently educated people who are supposed to know better as a guiding light to society operate as religious bigots how much more an ordinary folk,” Ojo, who has returned to the University of Ilorin where he teaches Political Science, added.
