SOCIAL JUSTICE: THE USE OF RELIGIOUS IDENTITY TO CHALLENGE DICTATORIAL GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA

Abstract

Social Justice: the use of Religious identity to Challenge Governance and Dictatorial Governance in Africa. The paper is a critical analysis of how religious identity has been used and is still being used to challenge governance. It argues that social justice is prerequisite to good governance and again that; religious identity; and violence; have come about largely as a result of frequent leadership change, lack of ideology, policy reversal and weak institutional patterns. Using the method of historical interpretation review of related literature to collect data and employed the theories of primordial, fundamentalism, and instrumentalism the researcher argues for how it affects religion that leads to the challenging of the polity (government). The paper also examines the leadership selection process in Africa and that leadership selection process in Africa takes the imposition pattern mostly and that African leaders frequently come to their position with limited technical know-how of the job. Hence, the decline in moral and godly values/religious resources and discipline caused by bad policies, eroded professional standards, distorted values and ethics and weakened the system of governance. The paper lays emphasis on leadership, governance and religious fundamentalist in some selected African countries. The paper observes that for African countries to overcome the crises of leadership governance in the Continent and fundamentalism in the world, those on whom the burden of leadership will fall in the future must fully comprehend their responsibilities, duties and obligations. They must also be exposed and be prepared to face the challenges of leadership in developing society, since the long term salvation of developing countries depends on the quality of its leaders. The paper concludes that religious identity is not the only factor for waging war against the government and only leadership that has maximum empathy for the people can be relevant to the qualitative movement of African countries.