Browsing by Author "Daniel, Mary Taiye & Iyanda, Sunday Elijah"

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    Religion in Nigerian Politics: Historical Dynamics, Manipulations, and Democratic Implications
    (Department of Religions & Peace Studies, Faculty of Arts, Lagos State University, Ojo, 2025-02) Daniel, Mary Taiye & Iyanda, Sunday Elijah
    Nigeria is a country blessed with a triple religious heritage namely: African Traditional Religion (ATR), Islam and Christianity. Each of these religions, relate to the Nigerian society differently and they fulfil different roles; which are deeply rooted in the nature of each of the religions. Politics is a loaded term that has a variety of acceptable meanings, therefore, as a working definition, this paper utilizes Quincy Wright’s definition of politics as “the exercise of power, authority, the making of collective decisions, the allocation of scarce resources, the practise of deception and manipulation, and so on”. An average Nigerian politician views politics as a short-cut to wealth and so pursue it with their might, using any weapon; religion inclusive, in order to achieve their selfish political aim. This paper focuses on the negative impacts of religion on the Nigerian society which runs under the democratic governance. Tracing some religious crises and proffering resolvable approach to ameliorate religion and its practices in democratic governance. Using the historical and descriptive tools, its findings suggest that the prevalence of political violence is fundamentally caused by the political elites manipulating religion as one of the ready weapons for selfish interests. The paper concludes that it is unpatriotic to manipulate Religion to gain political office in the society; patriotism is an integral part of religious faith that must be upheld. Keywords: politics, religion, manipulate, politician, secularism