The subject of nationalism and the role which Nigeria’s founding fathers played in it has always been hotly debated in political circles. There is no doubt that ethnicity largely seeped into the foundations of Nigerian nationalism and threatened to destroy it.
But considering the role which religion has been playing in helping to harmonise the differences within the different quarters of the country could push one to believe that religion could be a better way to achieve national unity.
As the Federal Government has declared that today, November 11, be set aside to celebrate the Eid Maulud festival of the Muslim community; all Nigerians, irrespective of their religious affiliations have taken to observe it. Come December 25 and 26 too, most of the Muslim community will join other Christians to celebrate the Christmas season in the same spirit. This has been the way Nigerians of all religious backgrounds have been giving one another space enough to exist in their domain. This same spirit of “sharity” or sharing is hardly existent in other facets of Nigerian life.
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History has shown that it is a different ball game entirely with ethnic backed politics for a longer time in the nation. But one Nigerian, a courageous nationalist at that too, crossed several religious and ethnic boundaries to emphasize the oneness of Nigerians above all else. That Nigerian is the late M.K.O Abiola – the acclaimed winner of June 12 presidential elections.
On June 12 1993, Nigerians ignored the religious and ethnic affiliations of M.K.O. Abiola who was a Muslim and Yoruba, to popularly elect him. He was able to revive and appeal to the innate nationalist within every Nigerian and he got a majority of the population on his side. The electorate came out en masse, in one of the most unprecedented voter turnouts in Nigeria’s history, and defying the armoured tanks of the General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida’s military junta, to exercise their civic right.
Then the question is, if Nigerians are able to cooperate and arrive at reasonable consensuses in matters of religion, why not in political matters? No doubt that the country has had its fair share of religious riots which is a reflection that extremists do exist within the system still. However, tensions are doused after some time and Nigerians keep breaking the religious ceiling, one stereotype at a time, with the perseverance of the believers in the oneness of the nation.
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As the race for 2023 heats up, we are continually being presented with supposed leaders who are stoking the fire of division in the people just to have their own time posing with the proverbial National Cake. Debates are already raging on about which section of the three major geo-political zones in the country that the seat of the presidency will be zoned to in the major party primaries. Others – though fewer – are entangled in the mess of what religion the next president should practice.
Asides the deeper grassroots realpolitik qualities which Abiola possesses, I believe that one of the reasons Nigerians backed Abiola more at the polls was because he had already shown examples that he was not only a detribalized Nigerian, he was also a respecter of all religious faiths even if he did not agree with others. Nigerians believed in something else inspired by Abiola’s national tenacity. That same belief in consensus and oneness which Abiola inspired should be brought back to save the soul of our nation.
Featured Image Source: Wisdomguy4u – Nairaland Forum
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