Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, the Sultan of northern Nigerian state of Sokoto argues that the unity and political development of Nigeria is threatened by politicians who combine religion with politics.
The Sultan made his case during the sixth annual Ramadan lecture, organised by the National Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) in Kaduna on August 13.
“If you are playing politics, you should not involve religion in it and you should know that Nigeria belongs to all — not Muslims or Christians alone,” he said.
“We have other people from other religions. We should pay attention to the poverty and illiteracy our people are subjected to and not to be using religion to divide them.”
According to Section 10 of the Nigerian Constitution the government is not allowed to fund religion or religious activities in any way or adopt a law peculiar to any religion.
However these laws have been dormant.
Nigeria is made up of a majority Muslim north and a predominantly Christian south.