CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
Nigeria is the largest country of
the black race in the world. It is also the most multi-religious among the
countries in Africa. This is in line with the view of Akumu et al (2006:3) who
opined that, “Nigeria is the most populous African state and one of the world’s
most ethnically diverse societies being made up of over 250 ethno-linguistic
groups.” The Nigerian ‘ethnic nationalities’ before the amalgamation, in 1914,
comprised two separate geo-political zones: Southern and Northern
protectorates. These two geo-political zones which constituted the ‘One
Nigeria’ consisted of various cultures each with different traditional
religions. Makozi in Okere (1988:9) asserted that:
One would then be right to say that
Nigeria as a country is an artificial creation of Lord Lugard. The
“artificiality” in making up the country is a fundamental problem besetting
Nigeria as a state in all facets of life (religiously, economically,
politically, geographically, and so on). The various cultures with different
traditional religions influenced governance in Nigeria tremendously, especially
on the negative side. Logically and traditionally, each culture with its
inherent religion, has some peculiar doctrines. These cultures had already been
operating by different types of governance.
For instance, the Igbo race within the South East zone was
strictly under democratic rule, while the Hausa/Fulani race was ruled by the
system of oligarchy or strictly indirect rule. These different ruling methods
which were merged together created a lot of problems. The worst of it all was
the merging of the two ccompeting religions (Islam and Christianity) inherently
existing in different areas under the canopy of two different geographical
locations (North and South). The emergence of these two foreign religions
(Islam and Christianity) with the already existing traditional religions
coupled with multi-populous nature of the country has made, and continues to
make, both positive and negative impacts on the democratic governance of this
giant country-Nigeria. Diara in Achunike (2011:162) stated that:
With well over 145 million inhabitants, Nigeria is
unarguably the most populous African nation. After independence in 1960,
Nigeria was to run a full democratic government, but military dictatorship
unfortunately sprang up and took more than 30 years of the country’s 50 years of
existence as an independent nation. Nevertheless, the country is today
considered a democracy, having held general elections for four republics of
four years span each – 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 – uninterruptedly.
At independence, the pioneer leaders (Founding fathers) chose the system
of democracy as the system of governance for Nigeria. Atubi (2011) attested
that: “the founding fathers of this country created a democratic system that
separated church from state so that, as a country, we could avoid the slippery
slope of getting into the business of telling people what to believe”. It
suffices to note that the reality of democracy could not be achieved under this
circumstance (the coexistence of the three different religions as well as the
multi ethnic groups). According to Udeh (2011: Oral Interview) “one concrete
reason for the failure of democracy in Nigeria is the attitudinal nature or
logical concept of each religion regarding governance (democracy)
coupled with different ethnic rationale”. A prime reflection goes to Islam.
Islam has different ideas
altogether about governance. For Islamic culture, there is no separation of
religion from governance. This concept was clearly buttressed by Ali (2002:81)
who stated that:
Muslims believe that their religion, Islam, is a
complete way of life which has made copious provisions for all facets of life:
practices, social involvement, economic undertakings, political participation,
technological innovations, legal phenomenon and religious beliefs.
If one should reflect on the above, it is pertinent
to say that Islamic religion is one with all the sayings above including
political participation and governance. This concept is contrary to the belief
of Christianity: “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs
to God”. For the Islamic religion, adherents of non Islam are referred to as
infidels. This means that such infidels cannot go to heaven not to talk of
ruling or having a say in the human society. For Moslems, it seems that only
their adherents can rule and can exercise governance. Manchilla (2003: np)
confirmed this statement when he said that:
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