Religion and Politics: The Debate with reference to Nigeria

Abstract

Scholars have for long been interested in the relationship between religion and politics and consequently a plethora of research has been produced by scholars of religious studies and social sciences. Literature produced in the late twentieth century did acknowledge the role of religion in the politics of the country. They disagreed on whether religion to be kept aloof from politics which means secularism or to let religion play a major role which is what Islam stands for. Unfortunately, despite the ubiquity of religion in the politics of Nigeria, Islam has been marginalized by early scholars.