Buhari and the Separation of Mosque and State

President, Muhammadu Buhari, is at it again. Last year, when he pledged to stop state sponsorship of pilgrimages, some people were sceptical about his intentions. They doubted, given his religious record of accomplishment. On the other hand, many applauded and thought that Buhari had truly become a ‘converted democrat’. However, they were mistaken. Buhari has proved the sceptics right.
In fact, since he became the president, Buhari has consistently violated Article 10 of the Nigerian constitution by merging the mosque and state. He has gone about his presidency privileging Islam in his activities at Aso Rock and officially discriminating against non-Muslims. Contrary to his inaugural address, that he belonged to everybody and he belonged to nobody, Buhari has, in the past 15 months made it clear that he belonged to Islam. This is not to say that Buhari should not practice his religion. There is a clear difference between the Nigerian president practicing his faith and Nigerian president using the state machinery to fund and further his faith. Buhari is doing the latter with relish.
How else does one explain many of Buhari’s unilateral decisions to use scarce resources to fund religious activity particularly Islamic programmes and events? This is in spite of the government not able to pay salaries, execute capital projects or create jobs and alleviate poverty in the country. Given that Nigeria is in recession and the economy may not experience any meaningful growth for some time, Buhari has gone about sponsoring breakfast during the Ramadan at state expense. In fact, he used the Ramadan period to feast his political and Islamic friends and associates while most Nigerians were languishing in hunger.
In the past few months, the country has witnessed the revival of activities at the Aso Rock mosque, and this religious structure is maintained at the state expense.
However, nothing is more troubling than the recent directive to CBN to subsidise the costs of Hajj. This directive is worrisome given that he Buhari is pretending to fight corruption. Buhari has been trying to recover stolen funds, but has kept mute on state resources used to sponsor religious pilgrimages, construct mosques, pay Imams and financially reward Christians who converted to Islam. Why is Buhari not investigating state funds for financing his own religious activities?
Well the reason is not far fetched. Buhari is part of the same religious business. He is an unconverted Islamic theocrat. The Nigerian president subscribes to mixing religion and politics and using Islam for political ends. He is not relenting in using his position to please Allah and to further the cause of Islam.

How else does one make sense of his recent directive to the Central Bank to sell dollars to Muslims going on this year’s Hajj at N197 for a dollar at a time Nigerians are going through serious financial difficulties. Buhari has consistently blamed ex-President Jonathan for wasting state resources, yet he is giving state subsidy to Nigerians on religious tours of Saudi Arabia. Is that not wasting of state resources? How does subsidising 2016 Hajj add value to the country’s economy? How does it help get the country out of its current recession?
Based on this directive, each Muslim pilgrim gets up to a thousand dollars at this rate and banks are told not to charge interests for transactions. Going by that calculation, the Buhari government is giving a hundred percent subsidy to tens of thousands of 2016 Hajj pilgrims from Nigeria. However, there is more to this subsidy.
Indirectly, Buhari is encouraging Hajj pilgrimage, undermining the separation of mosque and state and using the state machinery to promote Islam. Buhari is creating an avenue to fritter away state funds because in the coming weeks, Hajj would become another scheme for acquiring cheap dollars from banks and then selling at a hundred percent profit at the parallel market using the Muslim connections. Sai Buhari, Amīr al-Mu’minīn
Yes, Buhari has made going to Hajj a lucrative business. He has made being a Muslim financially rewarding. Buhari is fiddling religiously, while the country burns. This is annoying because those who used state funds to fund their elections and party campaign activities are deemed corrupt and harassed by the EFCC. Buhari has, while fighting ‘corruption’ is also aiding and abetting the crime. He has made a corruption scheme out of 2016 Hajj. Performance of Hajj is and should the private business of Muslims who can afford it without any government interference, without state subsidy
It is time Buhari kept mosque and state separate.