Re-thinking Politics and Ethno-religious Issues in Contemporary Nigeria

Politics is regarded as the art of governance; and has to do with acquisition and use of power.In Africa, nay Nigeria, politics is still regarded as a “dirty game” via which the ultimategoal is to secure power at all cost. Ethnicity and religion are seen as suitable platformsfor mass mobilisation in the hands of the political elite. This is simply because of theirall-embracing and emotive nature. However, due to some correlation between politicaland socio-economic development, the evolving political underdevelopment through aculture of undemocratic party politics characterised by monetary inducements, vote-buying, violence, and the weaponisation of ethno-religious differences has promoted adysfunctional social force, which has equally produced a degeneration that is antitheticalto national development and nation-building in Nigeria. This paper, thus, interrogatesthe ethno-religious issues that have characterised politics in Nigeria since 1999, whenthe current Fourth Republic was birthed. The paper relies heavily on secondary sourcesof historical data. The paper, therefore, concludes by recommending that, building andmaintaining state institutions that are capable of regulating the conduct of the politicalelite be established, among others.