Sporting Activities Can Mend Potent Electioneering Divide

Election is a time to choose new leaders for our country or to reinstate current leaders. With way over fifty political parties registered and vying for elective offices, it is impossible to have  a unified interest amongst the populace.
Nigeria is divided along language, culture and religious lines. Elections has been known to further divide us since we need to choose different candidates.
A stroll past a vendor or a quick look at different social media platforms will prove this, battle lines are being drawn, and it can only get worse.

Sports have been regarded as just entertainment and more importantly a means of employment. However, sports can give more. Sports can indeed serve as a tool to foster peace and unity especially at electioneering times like this.
As a matter of fact, Sports have proven to be quite capable of cutting across all barriers of religion, during the last world cup in Russia we saw Christians chanting Salah's name, Christians in Nigeria called Ahmed Musa the 'saviour', when he scored the opening goal in the 2 nil defeat against Iceland at the just concluded FIFA world cup in Russia.

The official FIFA slogan reads "For the game, for the world'' a term FIFA believes epitomizes all that the world governing body is all about; freedom, equality, unity and fairness all merged into football and sports in general. FIFA hopes and believes that the message passed in the slogan is good enough to unite sportsmen and people in diaspora irrespective of their origin, colour, ethnicity and race in the spirit of sportsmanship. A sentiment that resonates in the Olympic games. A fair reflection of this was seen in 1956 when Taipei, a sovereign country not politically recognized by China, competed in the Olympic games following the Chinese civil war.

In Nigeria, amidst all the conflicts, religious and political uprising, the flag of Nigeria flew as one at the Russia 2018 world cup and we all stood to salute as the Super Eagles, a perfect blend of religious differences, ethnic differences, came together to offer us a taste of good football in the game against Iceland. The united celebration was quite telling as Nigeria, at the time, had experienced a tragedy in the northern part of the country, a repeated menace that divided opinion and threatened to pitch ethnicity against one another.
Sports can prove to be a healthy and welcome distraction, from the heat of political activities, as it has proven to be.

In this time of elections in Nigeria, it is important that we focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us. Elections will come and go, we will always have sports with us.

KADIRI TOLUWALASE AKOREDE is a Corps member serving in Omu Aran LGA, member Creative Writing SAED, Kwara State.