RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION AND VOTING BEHAVIOUR AMONG ELECTORATES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

While politics has been part and parcel of human existence, religion is identified as one of the determinants of voting behaviour among many electorates in Nigeria. Thus, the political processes have remained under the influence of religion since the return of democracy in 1999. There are cases where political officeholders are voted into offices without taken into consideration their credibility, capability as well as their past records. Instead, people prefer to vote for someone from their religion to occupy the position of power. Albeit, several enlightenments and voter education initiatives are being conducted by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as other social and political organizations. Yet, religion continues to play a vital role during elections in this country. In Gombe state for instance, chairmanship position in some of the Local Government Areas have been consistently dominated by people from one religion despite the presence of people of other religions in those areas. This trend remains intractable as many credible politicians are denied the opportunity to serve and bring about laudable development to their respective communities. It is against this background; therefore, this research made an empirical attempt to investigate the impact of religious affiliation on voting behaviour among electorates in Nigeria with specific interest on the trend in Gombe State. First, the research begins with a background to the role of religion in influencing voting behaviour among electorates in Nigeria. Further, considering the objectives of the research, a total sample size of 789 was drawn from three Local Government Areas (Billiri, Gombe and Yamaltu Deba) out of the population of 3.3million in line with Krejcie and Morgan’s formula (1970). In this respect, questionnaires were distributed to respondents in the selected local government areas. The data generated through the questionnaire were analysed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The research also found out that religious affiliation of a candidate plays a significant role in influencing peoples’ voting decisions in Gombe. The research recommends that voter education needs to emphasise on the credibility, rather than religiosity of candidates while voting them into power.