Politicians May Destroy Nigeria With Religious Politics- Group Warns

A pan-Nigeria advocacy group, Greater Nigerian Youths Movement (GNYM), has warned that politicians may destroy Nigeria by playing politics of religion and ethnicity.

The group in a statement signed by its Chairman, Lukman Olorunloseyi, and Secretary, Mohammed Wakil Abubakar, on Tuesday, urged the current political players not to dwell on issues that divide the people.

According to them, religion and ethnicity contributed to the nation’s setbacks over the years and constituted needless fault lines, adding that the election of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has effectively killed religious politics, and should never have a spot in the annals of the nation’s body polity.

The group however claimed that the North-West deserved a reward for its role in the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC), hence should be conceded the office of the senate president in the 10th National Assembly.

The statement partly read, “No serious nation plays up religion as much as we do in all things and we have seen over time, the devastating effect of religion in many spheres of our lives, the political terrain inclusive. But we have come of age and should begin to see that these things divide us more than they unite us.

“There are people who feast on religion and ethnic factors, in fact, it is a booming industry: playing up religion at every turn. This is why Asiwaju deserves commendation because he dared it and defeated it. We should, therefore, not go back to it again under whatever guise. It is goodbye to that cancer in our collective life.”

“The North West can conveniently boast of serving the victory of the APC and the president-elect. They put in their everything and today, there are discussions on whether or not they deserve the Senate presidency. That debate should not have come up in the first place.

“The north west deserves, not just to be compensated but to be given the office of the president of the senate. It is not a concession; they earned it, otherwise, we might be rewarding rebellion and bad behavior if it goes elsewhere and we would have discouraged the northwest from trusting us ever again,” the group stated.