*Photo: Tinubu*
It isn’t any longer Caesar’s for and/or to Caesar and God’s for and/or to God the church would previously preach against the clergy joining politics perceived only as mundane, now that the pulpits polemics have redefined political perception ahead of the 2023 presidential election challenging population to be presented based on the divided faith of the electorates United in disappointment disenchantment and/or whatever the dividend of democracy those in government could get to offer.
The emotional reactions that have dominated the political atmosphere, with the choice of a Muslim as running mate made by the APC presidential candidate who is incidentally a Muslim even though with a pastor as a wife, have changed the pulpits preaching to PVC politics aimed at presenting faith based population rather than good governance, political pundits would argue.
While the Christians, especially in northern Nigeria, feel marginalised by the choice of a northern Muslim as running mate of a presidential candidate also a Muslim from the south, the northern Nigerian Muslims on the other hand, based on population, would feel shortchanged if a northern Christian, apparently a minority, would be picked for a running mate and so goes the politics from the pulpit.
APC as the ruling party with her presidential candidate is clearly conscious of the fact that playing the southern minority Muslim-northern minority Christian would lead to a humiliating defeat, decided to go for what they considered would account for victory ahead of the 2023 presidential election; competence rather than faith based, hence the southern Muslim minority-Northern Muslim majority is picked, considering also that the Christian majority in the south are less in number than the Muslim majority in the north.
The polemics from the pulpit to politics that occupied the preaching, Jumu’at Qutba, instigated by the sermons during Sunday service have indeed redefined the perceptions of the electorates to thinking one-of-us-ness based on professed faith.
A demotheocracy is coined by Periscope Global Publishers, explaining the polemics of the 2023 electioneering atmosphere degenerating to faith based with the actors as candidates who may not even be that conscious of their faith in political terms.
It is, however, only one political party, the APC that has decided to present same faith candidates, based on certain conditions, rather than deliberately religious, seen as the ultimate strategy for winning the presidential election. Why are the antagonists so lousy about it when there are other political parties that present, perhaps more credible candidates of their taste to pick from?
Or as someone has observed, would those who are opposed to Muslim-Muslim ticket go for the Muslim presented by the ruling party if a Christian were to be picked for a running mate?
In the words of Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna, even if he should pick a Pope for a running mate, the unrepentant minority opposition would not surrender their mandates to him, hence the majority carries it, since democracy, call it crazy, is a game of numbers.
*Dodo writes from Yola.