Sheikh Jingir is wrong, but what about the pastors?

Guest Column By Bayo Olupohunda

Sheikh Jingir, the controversial Jos-based Islamic preacher who called non-muslims infidels and rallied Muslims to support a Muslim-Muslim ticket, has been facing criticism, and rightly so. The intolerant Sheikh deserves every backlash that has come his way. But the sentiments Jingir expressed are not new. We have heard similar rhetoric before, in one form or another, by Nigerian pastors who have also mounted the pulpit to preach divisive religious rhetoric, especially during elections. While Sheikh Jingir’s criticisms are justified, some pastors who use the pulpit to spread hateful and divisive messages also deserve condemnation, just as the Sheikh. This is why many observers have argued that religion should not be mixed with politics and that religious leaders across all faiths should refrain from partisan and divisive political rhetoric.

Recently, during a mass wedding in Kano, Sheikh Muhammad Sani Yahaya Jingir drew condemnation across the country when he strongly advocated for the continuation of a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket for the 2027 general elections. The Sheikh reportedly said Nigeria is a Muslim country, claimed Muslims have a superior numerical advantage and urged his followers to reject any alternative ticket. He was quoted as having said, “I urge all of us to get our voters cards ready. Let us show the infidels their limit, who claim they are more populous than us in Nigeria. They are lying,” he said. There is little doubt that the Sheikh’s statement is dangerous. A religious leader asking his followers to prepare for an election and then describing fellow citizens of another faith as “infidels” is a call to arms.

Jingir deserves to be criticised for his unconscionable rhetoric. But the criticism should not stop just because a Muslim leader said it. There is a tendency in Nigeria to condemn religious extremism when it comes from the other side while making excuses for it when it comes from a side we consider our own. This is where the Jingir controversy should force Christians, particularly Christian leaders, to also look in the mirror. Nigerian pastors have also used the pulpit to endorse candidates, mobilise congregations and make elections sound like battles between Christians and Muslims. During the 2023 elections, some of the rhetoric from Christian pulpits was so divisive that it was difficult to distinguish between a campaign and religious preaching.

Social media was awash with videos of some pastors who pushed outright hatred – cursing and invoking scriptures to suit their biases. Some urged Christians to vote as a bloc. Others suggested that the election was a fight that Christians had to win against Muslims. If that is wrong when a Muslim cleric does it, then it is equally wrong and condemnable when a Christian pastor is involved. This argument is not about denying any Nigerian the right to vote according to their religious beliefs. A Muslim has every right to support a Muslim candidate just as a Christian is allowed to support a Christian candidate. Nigerians are entitled to vote for a candidate based on values that matter to them. That is the beauty of democracy. But there is a problem when religious leaders turn democratic choices into a religious battle with rhetoric such as ‘church take back your country or ‘Muslim take back your country’ that has characterised elections.

Sheikh Jingir’s use of the term ‘infidels’has also re-ignited conversation about the use of religious language. Muslims have theological terms for people who do not accept Islam. The word ‘unbeliever’, for example, is also routinely used in Christian preaching to describe people who do not share the Christian faith. The mere existence of these categorisations is not necessarily the problem. The question is how they are used. There is a difference between explaining a religious doctrine and using religious language to demean other Nigerians. A distinction must also be made between preaching one’s religion and using the pulpit or the mosque to mobilise voters against people of other religions.

Nigeria is a religious country. Religion is an important part of the lives of millions of Nigerians. It is unrealistic to expect people to leave their faith at home when they go to the polling station. But we should expect religious leaders to know the difference between faith and divisive rhetoric. The pulpit should not be used as a campaign ground.

The 2023 election showed us how dangerous the mixing of religion and politics can become. In an election that should have been about the future of the country, too much of the conversation became about Christian versus Muslim. The election was, in some quarters, presented almost as a religious war. It was dangerous then, and even now, the country is still living with the consequences. Nigerian politicians have seen how religion can deliver votes and have been exploiting it without shame. As the election approaches, we are going to see more politicians climbing the pulpit with conniving pastors to exploit religion and manipulate the people for their agenda.

This is why the criticism of Sheikh Jingir should go beyond Sheikh Jingir. He should be called out for using religious language to mobilise Muslims politically. But Christian pastors who do essentially the same thing are not exempt from criticism. The standard cannot depend on whether the person speaking is a Muslim cleric or a Christian pastor. If it is wrong for Sheikh Jingir to tell Muslims to “show the infidels their limit”, it is equally wrong for a pastor to frame elections as religious war or curse candidates who are not their choice on the pulpit. If one side’s religious rhetoric is described as bigotry, the other side cannot be branded as patriotism. Sheikh Jingir is not the only problem. If Sheikh Jingir is wrong, then the pastors who do the same thing must be condemned.