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Christian Nigerians Nervous After Election Of Muslim President

by | Mon, Mar 6 2023

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Christians in Nigeria warn that Africa’s most populous nation is “standing at the edge of a dangerous precipice” following the election of a Muslim president.

President-elect Bola Tinubu is a former governor of the biggest city of Lagos and one of Nigeria’s  richest politicians.

He’s from the ruling All Progressives Congress Party but received only 37% of the popular vote to become the first president to take office with less than half the vote.

The Guardian reports Christian candidate Peter Obi overcame a lack of resources and a weak organisation to make big gains with 25% of the popular vote and win the key cities of Lagos and the capital Abuja.

Nigeria’s electoral system is under intense scrutiny after only 25 million people (11%) out of a total population of 225 million voted.

Opposition parties and Christian organisations have raised questions about the voting process.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria says there were flaws in how the Electoral Commission ran the contest and how a new electoral law was applied.

“In many places, the human element is alleged to have compromised the gains that were expected”, its president said.

“The delay in the electronic transmission of the results of the polling units before their announcement at the collation centres raised suspicion in many minds about the transparency of the entire process,” he added.

President-elect Tinubu did not follow the country’s customary practice of having both a Muslim and a Christian on his campaign ticket.

That prompted thousands of Christians to stage protests prior to the ballot, fearing it may widen the nation’s religious divide.

Tens of thousands of Christians have been killed by Islamic terror groups over the past two decades, but successive governments have always denied the violence was religion-based.

CEO of World Mission Greg Kelley told Mission Network News: “I think this quite honestly could be the most consequential election in the last generation. And that’s not just for Nigeria, that’s for Africa because Nigeria is such a trigger point for the entire continent of Africa. As Nigeria goes, so much of Africa goes.”

“It’s really located itself literally right in the line of demarcation between Christianity and Islam that cuts right through the centre of that country. So there’s a tremendous amount of hostilities, religious challenges, and persecution in Nigeria,” he explained.

“The only solution for Nigeria and these other conflict zones around the world is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which fundamentally changes the heart. Until that happens, there’s quite honestly only a bunch of temporary solutions that are band-aids,” Mr. Kelley concluded.

President-elect Tinubu will formally take office at the end of May.