The warning by the Sultan of Sokoto and President of Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar III, to religious leaders to desist from predicting the winners in the rescheduled elections is not only timely but also necessary.
The Sultan gave the admonition at the meeting of the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) held in Abuja on Saturday. He said that given the way such rampant predictions were being dispensed, they might trigger a disaster, particularly if the proclaimed candidate did not win the election.
He said, “As spiritual leaders, we need to be cautious about what we are saying to our followers in church buildings and mosques, taking into consideration that we shall stand at some point before Allah and account for our deeds.
“We ought to by no means permit ourselves for use by any political candidate. If you want to help any candidates, do it personally. “Religious leaders should preach love for one another and do whatever they do with the fear of God.” We cannot agree less with the Sultan.
The tendency is always there for political actors and their followers to see such prophecies as God’s verdicts, leading to complacency on their part.
Those favoured by such prophecies could take their hands off the plough in the belief that their victories are a foregone conclusion, rather than doing the needful during electioneering. Such pastime should be left to political analysts and pundits who base their forecasts on hard facts and performances of parties and their candidates in an atmosphere devoid of electoral frauds.
In a country where clerics lay claims to being the representatives of God with large followers who are so gullible, any failed prophecy would be blamed on manipulation of results by electoral umpires at various levels and other factors to rubbish such predictions originating from God!
These political clerics have sympathies for certain candidates or parties and as such, the tendency to incite their followers to resist the outcomes of polls even if they were credible would be there, claiming that the will of God has been shortchanged.
Besides predicting winners ahead of polls, there have been instances where some men of God claimed they had received divine instructions from God to contest elective positions only to fail in the end. When such vote-swaying declarations backfire, what impression do they want the people, especially their followers, to have about God?
In view of the outrage that has dogged the rescheduled polls, there is need for more circumspection and understanding on the part of all Nigerians. Given the mutual suspicion and bad blood that have defined the postponement of the polls to Saturday, February 23, 2019, we urge Nigerians to show greater faith in themselves and the electoral system as a necessity to ensure that the exercise is conducted peacefully and seamlessly.
While charging clerics who are paid or influenced in one way or the other to dispense prophecies to desist from such, politicians should also be cautioned against using religion to precipitate conflicts in the country ahead of the rescheduled polls.
Equally, we enjoin the youths to avoid politicians that deploy hate speech to incite violence for their selfish interests before, during and after the polls. Be that as it may, clerics are not the only ones bitten by the bug of partisanship.
Traditional rulers, who are supposed to be fathers for all, have also joined the fray. Most of them endorse and openly campaign for candidates of their choice. Such partisan royal fathers expose themselves to the danger of being attacked by thugs belonging to the political parties they do not support.
Such leaders also lose the right to make peace in the event of any conflicts in their domains. Lastly, it is high time we came to terms with the fact that we are first and foremost Nigerians before anything else. Politics and religion were made for us and not the other way round. It is a truism that religions are a spiritual compass aimed at guiding us on our life journey.
Those who deviate from the path and choose to deploy it to fan the embers of disunity for their selfish interests should be called to order as advocated by the Sultan.