Twelfth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Religion plays a very important role in contemporary politics. This is because, sometimes, religious texts are not only read but re-read by religious practitioners to influence the nature of interplay. As a public actor, religion is embodied in organizations, groups, and associations. Religious authorities express their opinions on political matters, religious groups organize in civil society, and religious entrepreneurs through religious texts mobilize people through political campaigns. Today, the nature of Nigerian politics has been fingered as part of the reasons for arrested development in the country. And seeing Nigeria as a religious nation where the playing of religious cards to pursue different interests has become more pronounced than ever before, many actors often find it more appealing to leverage on (re)interpretation of religious texts in order to secure political gains. This work, therefore, aims at understanding the influence of religious texts in determining the nature of the interplay between religion and politics in Nigerian history, and to interrogate how religion has become a tool for political mobilization in South-West, Nigeria; and its effects on the democratic development in the region. The work adopts both the phenomenological and historical approaches. Findings show that it was observed that many political stakeholders have resorted to the use of religious texts to gain political relevance. Also, the political landscape in the South Western region has become ‘religionized’. It is hoped that de-religionization of the political arena and electoral processes in the region for meaningful democratic development will help in actualizing the ‘Nigeria Dream’.