UPDATE: Atiku, Peter Obi, Tinubu Risk Jail Terms Over Religious, Ethnic Campaigns

The three front-runners in Nigeria’s presidential election on February 25—Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC)—may be prosecuted and sentenced to prison for their electioneering tactics.

According to Premium Times, because the candidates may have used divisive tactics like ethnic, religious, or regional appeals to win votes, their campaigns may have violated Nigeria’s electoral rules.

In a purportedly private phone call with well-known Nigerian preacher David Oyedepo that was leaked in April, Peter Obi described the presidential election as a fight between religions.

Election And Not War, Religious Leaders Tells Nigerians

Evidence implies contrary, despite his repeated denials that he employed religious strategies in his campaign.

For instance, Obi implied displeasure with the current administration when he asked Nigerians to retake their country during a 2022 conference at the Revival House of International Church (RHOGIC) in Abuja.

In a shocking outburst in June 2022, Tinubu declared that following Muhammadu Buhari, it was the Yoruba’s turn to hold the president and that it was also his turn.

He said: “If not for me that led the war front, Buhari wouldn’t have emerged; he contested first, second and third times and lost. He cried on television that he won’t contest again. I went to his home in Katsina, I told him you would contest and win, but you won’t joke with the matters of the Yorubas. Since he has emerged, I have not been appointed a Minister; I neither get nor request a contract. This time, it’s Yoruba’s turn and in Yorubaland, it’s my turn.”

I Will Stop The Spread Of Ethnic, Religious Violence – Buhari

At the occasion, Mr. Tinubu made reference to a Robert Ogunde song from 1964 called “Yoruba Ronu,” in which the musicians urged the people of the southwest to avoid betraying one another on issues of politics. Many Yoruba voters were won over by Mr. Tinubu’s outburst and the historical allusion, and they made the decision to support him over any other leader from another tribe.

Atiku Abubakar, however, indirectly played the regional card when he said in Kaduna that the northern areas needed a president from the north.

He said, “I have traversed the whole of this country.

“I know the whole of this country. I have built bridges across this country. I think what the average northerner needs is somebody who is from the north, who also understands the other parts of Nigeria and who has been able to build bridges across the rest of the country.

“This is what northerners need. He (northerner) doesn’t need a Yoruba candidate or an Igbo candidate. This is what the northerner needs.

Oby Ezekwesili Reveals Preferred Candidate Between Atiku, Obi, Tinubu

“I stand before you as a pan-Nigerian of northern origin.”

Contrary to what some individuals, including Pat Utomi, a Labour Party member, assert, campaigning along religious, ethnic, or sectional lines is prohibited by Nigeria’s Electoral Act 2022.

According to Utomi, there is nothing wrong with launching a campaign based on one’s religion.

He asserted that political parties are periodically created to advance the interests of adherents of a certain religion in a brief interview with African Independent Television (AIT).

He continued by saying that every politician makes an effort to appeal to religious sentiments and that none of them have ever done it without doing so.

However, violators may face hefty penalties or even jail time if they are found out.

US Re-Lists Nigeria As Country That Violates Religious Freedom

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) issued a caution against such polarizing strategies before the election.

If the INEC pursues prosecution of Atiku, Tinubu, and Obi for alleged violations of the Electoral Act during their campaigns, that has yet to be seen.

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