There is a general but simplistic assumption
that electoral victory necessarily implies Allah’s endorsement of the winner
and His disapproval of the loser.
Politicians, potential beneficiaries of the
electoral victory of politicians, and overzealous followers engage in supposedly
wholehearted Addu’a for their and their benefactors’ electoral victory.
The practice of Addu’a for electoral
victory has grown into a phenomenon and has indeed become an integral part of
politicking in Nigeria. It has, in fact, turned into an industry of a sort
where huge amounts of resources are invested in engaging amateur, part-time and
professional Addu’a service-providing malamai who provide their
services to the highest bidders or whom they expect higher gain from them of
whatever kind.
Besides, with the growing phenomenon of
holding the so-called special prayer sessions in public places for the success
of one politician or another, the ‘political Addu’a industry’ has been growing
further, attracting more investments from politicians. This is even though such
so-called special prayer sessions bear the hallmarks of Bid’a.
On their part, winners in elections and
their followers brag that their electoral victory
necessarily implies Allah’s acceptance of their Addu’a hence His
endorsement of them. They equally mock their opponents and attribute their loss
to Allah’s disapproval of them. Whereas, in reality, nobody knows for sure whether
or not a particular electoral victory implies Allah’s endorsement, or whether or
not a particular loss implies His disapproval.
Because, the fact that politicking under
democracy is inherently characterized by gross dishonesty, hypocrisy, cunning, deceitfulness,
bribery and other serious vices, which arguably all politicians perpetrate in
their struggle to outmanoeuvre one another, makes the whole system too filthy
for Allah to have anything to do with it, in the first place, let alone endorse any politician against
another.
The winner, therefore, only wins thanks to his ability to somehow outdo his opponents in that regard, and the losers only
lose due to their failure to outplay the winner, while none enjoys Allah’s
endorsement, for all are equally guilty of the same grave sins, regardless of
the extents of their involvements, respectively. After all, they actually never
take that Addu’a seriously in the first place; they only feign
commitment to in the context of their manipulation of religion for political interests.
Electoral victory under democracy is just
like winning in gambling, which obviously never implies Allah’s endorsement.
Though craving for power and the
temptations of what comes with it are irresistibly tempting, they aren’t worth the
price of politicking under democracy, with all that it entails, which those
involved pay in the hereafter.
