Rev Fr Anthony Zakka
Nigeria seems quite a religious society. Religion is very deeply enshrined in this country. And often it takes quite conservative, sometimes violent forms. What your thoughts on religion in Nigeria and what it means for anarchism and organizing society might be quite different from mine. Whatever your thoughts, religion and religious practices have entered a new phase in Nigeria. Before the advent of colonialism, our people were mostly traditional religionists, who worshipped small gods – gods of thunder, gods of river, and such other gods. With the coming of colonialism, the two main global religions – Islam and Christianity – became a predominant force in the lives of Nigerians.
The rivalry and competition between the two religions has tended to play down the fact that not all Nigerians are Christians or Muslims. Even in the North-central, you are talking about pagan tribes and different forms of African religion that take place in those places. But today Nigeria is profiled and stereotyped as a Christian South and a Muslim North. Yet, in the North you find a lot of non-adherents to Islam, you come to the South as well you find a lot of non-adherents to Christianity.
But in the past twenty to thirty years the singular influence of Christianity and Islam has been considerably negative on the Nigeria society in the sense that both religions have become sources of manipulation, political manipulation of ordinary people. Whenever you hear there is a religious riot in the North, a religious riot in the East and you go down and examine the issues, they are not basically religious. Politicians are usually being accused for using religion to manipulate the ordinary people into fighting for the political positions and beliefs of the elite.
Religion seems to become an instrument of manipulation, exploitation, deceit, and large-scale blindfolding of ordinary people in Nigeria. It is one of the elements militating against social consciousness and the development of the working class, as a class, in Nigeria. The development of a class of the dispossessed, the oppressed, the marginalized, who feel and share common interests and are keen to fight for those common interests. Religion is thrown in as a wedge, as a source of conflict among ordinary people. Like Karl Marx said, religion becomes the opium of society. Every little thing is covered and given a religious coloration, when it is actually not. It is a tremendous setback to the development of social consciousness in Nigeria and the rest of Africa as a whole.
Nowadays, however, it seems religious leaders are manipulating political leaders. Or how do you explain a situation where religious leaders create a case of apprehension by organizing prayer sessions, crusades, night vigils, sacrifices, etc in the name of protection for politicians who are desperate. Who is manipulating who when politicians turn imams or pastors overnight? Who is manipulating who when politicians become impoverished after leaving office while their ‘anointed’ clerics fly their jets years after?
Fr Zakka is the Director of the Media Service Centre, Independence Way, Kaduna
