Towards Curbing the Two Pristine Musketeers in the Nigerian Political Space

It is of immense interest to note that the independent and post independent political space in Nigeria is controlled by religion and ethnicity. These two musketeers have dovetailed into virtually other aspects of governance and bureaucratic sectors. In point of fact, these two musketeers brought about incompetent leaders, unqualified leaders, bad governance, religious bigotry, ethnic sentiment and amongst others. The aim of this study is to ensure curbing religion and ethnicity in the Nigerian political space. Whereas the objectives are to critique religion and ethnicity in the light of the political unwholesomeness in Nigeria. The research methods employed in this paper include historical and descriptive approach. The historical method will help to trace the origin of the two pristine musketeers, while the descriptive approach will help to elicit information through qualitative method. The study seeks to posit that the current political quagmire in contemporary Nigeria is heightened by religious cum ethnic fangs. The study concludes that religion and ethnicity should be kept away from public policies and Nigerian governance. Therefore, the paper recommends that Nigeria should rather utilize the tenets of religion to help stabilize the country than promoting religion and ethnicity.