Rights activist, Deji Adeyanju, on Tuesday declared that the politics of religion is capable of destroying Nigeria, stressing that the church is not a place for political campaigns and gimmicks.
Adeyanju insisted that elections should be about ideas, policies, and visions on how to improve Nigeria and not the church being used as an instrument of political campaign.
In a statement he signed, Adeyanju condemned what he termed the renewed patronage of churches by the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
According to the statement: “Elections should be about ideas, policies and competing visions for Nigeria. Religion and politics should never be allowed to become instruments of division.
“The church is not a place for political campaigns or political gimmicks, and politicians are not pastors. Pastors and religious leaders should stop giving politicians platforms to campaign or seek endorsements in church.
“The Electoral Act 2026 expressly prohibits the use of places of worship for political campaigns and prohibits campaigning on religious, tribal or sectional grounds.
“The gathering of religious clerics by a governor last week to endorse Tinubu is also condemnable, just as it is troubling to see Peter Obi appearing to return to the same politics of religious mobilisation that divided Nigerians in 2023.
“At what cost will it be when we continue to divide ourselves along religious lines using the weapon of politics? At what cost? The bad precedent set in 2023 should not be repeated, let alone worsened.
“Pastors must desist from platforming politicians if they are to retain their respect and keep the house of God sacred. All is not fair in politics. All is not fair in politics, like President Tinubu wrongly said.”