PARTICIPATION OF CHRISTIANS IN POLITICS AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA
PARTICIPATION OF CHRISTIANS IN POLITICS AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

Summary/Abstract: Leadership is championed through political participation starting from the grassroots to the federal. However, Christians’ participation in politics/governance has not been significant and their civic responsibilities appear to be consciously eroded given the misconceptions of biblical injunctions. To address this, qualitative methods were used in critiquing areas of duties of Christians’ in Nigerian politics and democratic governance from doctrinal and moral standpoints; and examining the doctrinal and moral questions surrounding Christians’ apathy. The paper revealed that three areas of obligations that Christians are to fulfill comprise: duty to God, duty to the State, and duty to neighbours. Failure of the clergymen, failure of the government, political corruption, godfatherism conundrum and failure of the security operatives were the identified moral questions. The paper concluded that the level of Christian involvement in Nigerian politics is low and democratic governance is lacking in Nigeria. It therefore submitted that Christians should fulfill their duties through political involvement and advance social justice and social welfare policies as part of the hallmarks of scriptural injunctions. The implication of the paper for practice is that except the moral questions raised in this paper are tackled, Christians would likely maintain their apathetic stand on politics.

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