HIGHLIGHTS:
* Leave religion out of this. People are going to vote for persons not religion.
* All over the world and not just in Nigeria, people want to know how their religion will be affected if a candidate they intend to vote becomes president.
* If you think referring to religion in an election forecast is complete nonsense, then why do you think politicians appeal to the religious sense of voters in order to gain an advantage?
* Even in the US people want to know how their candidates’ religious orientation would affect their leadership. I think these concerns are appropriate
Recently I wrote a story about 17 states where Buhari might lose this election and I wrote another story about 18 states where Jonathan might lose this election. But some people objected to my reference to religion in the one about where Buhari might lose.
I wrote in that story for instance, “Jonathan won 99% of the votes in Abia while Buhari won less than 1% there. The east is Buhari’s worst nightmare. Abia is mainly Christian.”
But someone commented, “Leave religion out of this. People are going to vote for persons not religion.“
I understand that Buhari supporters, ironically, take the man religiously and will get behind him whenever they see something unfavourable to him. That’s not a problem to me.
But here’s the thing.
All over the world and not just in Nigeria, people want to know how their religion will be affected if a candidate they intend to vote becomes president. They want to know how the candidate respects and values their religion even if he belongs to a different religion. They want to know his religious position.
It’s not just Buhari who’s been scrutinised because of his religion. Even Obama’s opponents tried to portray him as a Muslim to the American people when he ran for president in order to bomb his campaign. This is a country that’s had a 9/11, where Christianity is the main faith and where minorities including Jews are wary of Muslims. People take religion seriously when making voting decisions.
You don’t need to be a genius to know that a Christian is less likely to defeat a Muslim in Kano than in Imo for example. Anyone who’s lived in Nigeria knows that. It’s just common sense.
This year there was a YouTube video of Namadi Sambo telling Muslim listeners at an event in Niger that his party is the real Muslim party and that a vote for the opposition is a vote for the Christians, essentially trying to antagonise the Muslims toward the opposition party.
If you think referring to religion in an election forecast is complete nonsense, then why do you think politicians appeal to the religious sense of voters in order to gain an advantage?
Why didn’t Buhari select a Muslim running mate to form a Muslim/Muslim ticket and why didn’t Jonathan select a Christian running mate to form a Christian/Christian ticket? Do you know what that would do to their campaign?
It would bomb their campaign.
Of course there are a lot of moderate Nigerians who don’t bother about the candidates’ religion.
Khadija says for example, “I personally don’t care if my president is Muslim or Christian. What matters to me is what he stands for and what he’s bringing to the table. I want a president who will work to make life better in this country and who has strong moral values. These things are more important to me than his faith.“
But a lot of Nigerians care about the candidates’ faith not because they’re prejudiced but because they’re interested in understanding their character, values and orientation. They want to understand their religious views. They want to know what they stand for in order to understand how this might affect their policies if they become president. This is a very reasonable thing to consider.
Nancy says for example, “It matters to have a president who sets the right examples, because the president is a model to the whole country. I want a president that I can encourage my kids to emulate. I believe in God and that we should serve him.
“So a president who doesn’t take his faith seriously or have acceptable religious beliefs is not going to get my vote. We want leaders who will be good examples to our young people.”
Khadija says too, “It’s silly to believe all these rumours about one candidate wanting to Islamise or Christianise Nigeria. But what I’m concerned about is the religious orientation of the candidates and how it’s going to affect the way they run our country if they win.
“Even in the US people want to know how their candidates’ religious orientation would affect their leadership. I think these concerns are appropriate.”
Critics who don’t think it’s appropriate to refer to religion in an election forecast certainly need to take their cue from that.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/405373-why-religion-might-determine-who-wins-this-election.html
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