Boko Haram insurgence, Zaria Shiites outbreak, Jos Mayhem, Maiduguri onslaughts, Kaduna religious riots, Ilorin Church burnings, Maitatsine insurgents, Zaria Uprising, are some of what most of Nigeria leaders experience during their administrations. The religious uprisings surfaced especially in the northern part of the country after the administration of General Yakubu Gowon, since then it has been a test for each administration.

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What has been happening within the governments that there has not been any solution to the religious intolerance in the country? Why is the Federal Government so neck-deep in religious activities that they have not been able to use it as a unifying factor for Nigeria?

The answers could be found in the just published book, March 2009 "The effect of Religion on the Political process: The Case of the Federal Sharia Court of Appeal (1975-1990)" by Femi Ajayi. The book came out of the studies conducted from 1991 through 1994 in Nigeria.

Do we have to slaughter our fellow human beings to see what God is doing for human beings? Which religion teaches violence? Why are Nigerians not tolerance of each others religion?

Nigerians are troubled about the capability of political institutions in Nigeria to curb religious threats, thus maintaining security with minimum damage in preventing the occurrence of religious eruptions. The book examines the debate on institutionalizing the Islamic Law referred to as Sharia at the Federal level. "The effect of Religion on the Political process: The Case of the Federal Sharia Court of Appeal (1975-1990)" establishes the effect of religion and ethnicity on the Nigerian political institutions, particularly the executive arm of the government.

The book reveals that religion is the hardest subject in the world to approach objectively. By its nature, it dwells and thrives on emotion. Moreover, where emotion holds sway, reason is held captive. Thus religion argument is like the man in the anecdote. It goes round and round in circles, endless, inconclusive, and frustrating. Religion is the "opium of the people," according to Karl Max, because religion rules the heart. I wish Karl Marx were alive today to see the gradual ascendancy of religion from the opium level to a more lethal pedestal, especially in Nigeria. Maybe one could say that religion is no longer an opium, but cocaine or even heroin of the people.

One should bear in mind the fact that religion in Nigeria follows closely the geographical and ethnic divisions in the country. For instance, the northern part of Nigeria, which is also in the Savannah Belt, is predominantly of Islamic faith, while the southern part of Nigeria is predominantly of Christian faith; it is also a Forest Region.

The Book examines how religion admits little if any of the spirit of inquiry, of empirical or ocular proof; it becomes an intoxicant. Religion urges the heart to rule the head, and many men, otherwise rational men in Nigeria for instance, are often willing to even die in defense of their faith. For most people, religion is the proof of their lives. Because it strives to preserve the obedience of its adherents, and sometimes to provoke their will to revolt, it is a powerful instrument for good and for bad.

The study examines the 1977 and 1988 Sharia debates at the Constituent Assemblies. The book reveals how the 1977 Constituent Assembly spent more than 75% of their time debating Sharia. Specific issues were addressed in the book, such as the Organization of Islamic Conference, Federal Government appointments, religious pilgrimages, the use of Arabic on Nigerian currencies, public holidays, work-free Friday, and the religious leaders, which affected the peaceful coexistence among Nigerians since the 1977 Sharia debate at the Constituent Assembly.

The book addresses the extensive government funding of religious organizations greatly encouraged on a large scale by the military administrations of General Mohammed-Obasanjo (1975-79), General Buhari (1983-85), and General Babangida (1985-1993), as well as during President Shagari's administration (1979-83).

As the government patronage of a particular religion took on other dimensions, President Shagari created a Committee on Islamic Affairs and placed it under the presidency. The public opinion about this new creation was not favorable, especially from other religious groups who queried such apparent violation of the secularity of Nigeria.

The opposition demanded the revocation of the policy or the establishment of similar committees for other religions under presidency. From that point, Nigerians had become actively polarized on the religious factor. President Shagari aggravated the controversy by making a grant of N10 million (about $15 million then) for the construction of a mosque at the new federal capital, Abuja.

The findings revealed that Nigerians were discontented with their political leaders over the use of religion in the public places. In addition to that, some Nigerian religious leaders infiltrated intra- and interreligious conflicts in Nigeria. However, the prospect of Nigeria as a nation lies with the leadership and the citizens. The study concludes that people's mentality determines the type of leaders they want, which is responsible for Nigeria's self-inflicted problems. Solutions to the ethno-religious political conflict in Nigeria are needed for uniting the country.

Nigerians have been infected with religious chauvinism and exploitation by some Nigeria leaders. Many scholars have written on the religious divide in Nigeria, including this author, about religious divide in Nigeria.

The journey took a couple of years to get to the root of the religious divide in Nigeria. During the course of study, some Nigerians, including the actors in the policy making in Nigeria, never noticed how deep some groups in Nigeria has been abused in its secular stance as proclaimed in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The study took us to Jos, Kaduna, Abuja, Maiduguri, Sokoto, Ilorin, Zaria, Benin City, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Osogbo, Ibadan, and Lagos.

In 1986, the news that Nigeria had joined the OIC as a member nation spread like wildfire in Nigeria. It coincided with the ongoing political debate, and once again reopened the issue of Sharia, which dragged on to the 1988 Constituent Assembly deliberations. The Political Bureau endorsed the Government decision to join the OIC. It commended that: "Nigeria's diplomatic representation at the Vatican should continue as well as the country's admission into the OIC if that has already been concluded. If not, it should be done."

Related in part to the OIC issue was the question of the Islamic Development Bank. It was believed that the bank would be able to bail out Nigeria from its economic woes through the interest-free loans. The OIC was capable of paying the colossal external indebtedness of Nigeria to the West. Do you want to know reasons for Sanusi wanting to go Islamic bank, check it out in the book. Pick up the book and get details to clear your doubts.

The re-emergence of the Sharia issue in 1999 as in all faces of any new administration in Nigeria should not come as a surprise to someone familiar with the Nigerian political process. More importantly, however, the trend of the religious cum ethnic conflicts in the 1980s, 90s and 20s were good pointers for the strange bedfellows of politics: religion and ethnicity in the Nigerian political process. The consequent actions started in Zamfara and the Jos mayhem show that the issue of the Federal Sharia Court of Appeal has not settled yet.

We are aware of the fact that religion is essentially and primarily an individual affair. Some may argue that religion is a communal affair. However, I would assert that it is only in religious extremism that domination, discrimination, and persecution is placed. Nonetheless, I allude to the fact that the ethics of each religion demand love, peace, justice, and tolerance of other people and religions. In the quest for personal political gains, individual religious leaders and a handful of politicians exploited the underprivileged masses. In effect, the ruling elite used religious sentiments to polarize the people and created unnecessary and unhealthy tension.

History has a way of repeating itself, as demonstrated by the Sharia issue in the Nigerian political arena, but man in his infinite folly has a habit of not learning from the past. As a matter of fact, tolerance is an abstract thing that is difficult to define. Tolerance is not only needed to avoid disaster, but also if the Nigerian State is to remain healthy politically. Unfortunately, extremism has no room for tolerance. Intolerance has no room for compromise, and in such a situation any State experiencing such is headed for violence and collective suicide.

US have predicted that Nigeria will break up soon 2015, Pastors, Prophets have predicted that Nigeria is going to break into three, would Nigeria take caution? With the emergence of religious riots in Nigeria, which rose sharply in the 1980s, and it is still continues till today, 2009, could one possibly assume that Nigeria is ready to take its dose of suicide, as a result of the use of religion mainly in the political process? In other words, what has been the government policy on the infiltration of religion in particular, and ethnicity, which has existed since independence (1960), in the Nigerian political process? Is Nigeria heading for a disaster on religious issues?

Pick up your copy of "The Effect of Religion on the Political Process: The Case of the Federal Sharia Court of Appeal (1975-1990)" by Femi Ajayi (Mar 31, 2009), from any of Barnes & Nobles Bookstores world-wide. Or by Visiting: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search:alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Femi+Ajayi&x=17&y=17; http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=femi+ajayi&box=femi%20ajayi&pos=-1, www.iUniverse.com; and over 25,000 other online retailers world-wide.

Religion is a slippery terrain, more slippery than a banana peel. However, the path of wisdom is to avoid the terrain; that is to stay away from religious organizations. The pages of history books testify to the unending rivalry or problems created by religion in this century all over the world.

We could use religion as a unifying ingredient for the world peace so that we could have better passages to heaven, starting from earth, as witnessed by the flamboyant burial, as a Moslem, the passage of Ganiyu Fawehinmi to the next world. The Heaven may start right here on earth. Religion should not divide the people of GOD, the CREATOR.