Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, says politicians were using religion and ethnicity to promote division in their campaigns.

El-Rufai said politicians using religion as a campaign tool in the country should be punished, adding that Nigerians should take religion out of politics in the 2023 general election.

The governor said this while commissioning the head office of the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development in Kaduna on Tuesday.

He said politicians should focus on how to address the challenges bewildering the country than holding meetings to promote religious and ethnic division, adding that elections in Nigeria should not be based on religion but on what a person could do to make life better for the citizens.

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Governor El-Rufai, however, called on traditional rulers and other prominent Nigerians to pray to God to choose the best leader that will unite and move the country forward in the next year’s general election.

“People are united in their poverty, in their need for education, in decent healthcare and to put food on their table, that is what we should focus on but some people are holding meetings to promote religious and ethnic division. That is the last thing Nigeria needs at a time when the whole world is facing challenges of ultra-nationalism and global supply chain disruption.

“We try to do what is right but only God is right, my apologies to anyone that I have offended, we have five months to go and I will like to leave and sleep in peace,” the governor stated.

Others who spoke at the event were the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar; and the Emir of Argungu, Samaila Muhammad Mere; among others.

The Star