Human rights lawyer and activist, Deji Adeyanju, has condemned presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi’s, renewed patronage of churches, warning that the politicisation of religion could deepen divisions and threaten Nigeria’s unity.
Adeyanju made his position known in a Facebook post on Tuesday, where he argued that elections should be centred on ideas, policies and competing visions for the country rather than religion.
“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,” he said.
Adeyanju also cited the Electoral Act 2026, saying it expressly prohibits the use of places of worship for political campaigns and campaigning on religious, tribal or sectional grounds.
“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.”
He also expressed concern over what he described as Obi’s 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?” Adeyanju asked.
He warned against repeating what he described as the “bad precedent” set in 2023, urging pastors to desist from providing political platforms to politicians in order to preserve the sanctity of religious institutions.
“All is not fair in politics. All is not fair in politics like President Tinubu wrongly said,” Adeyanju added.
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