The changing impact of religiosity on agentic political engagement in Nigeria

Figures & data

Table 1. Religiosity and political engagement in Nigeria

Item	Response options	% (N = 348)
Which of the following best describes your religious affiliation?	“African” Traditional Religion	3.2
	Christianity	89.7
	Islam	4.0
	Others	3.2
Do you believe ONLY Allah/God decides political leaders for each society?	Yes	29.7
	No	70.3
Social changes are results of:	Active citizens rejection of the status quo	96.3
	Massive praying and fasting	3.7
For social change to happen, citizens planned and active resistance is more important than praying and fasting	Certainly Yes	43.9
	Yes	42.7
	No	10.8
	Not at all	2.6
Who among the following can most likely influence your decision to participate in a political protest?	Your pastor or priest	10.7
	Your Imam	0.6
	You	72.3
	A seasoned political elite	16.5
It is wrong in the sight of Allah/God to oppose political leaders	Certainly Yes	2.6
	Yes	15.9
	No	40.5
	There is no connection between protesting against political leaders and what is right or wrong in the sight of Allah/God	41.0
If a political activity like voting or sit-at-home instruction clashes with going for religious activity, any truly religious person should forego voting and attend to the religious activity	Certainly	7.0
	Yes	16.9
	No	47.7
	That will be extremely wrong	28.5

(Source: Survey via SurveyMonkey 2019)

Table 2. Chi-Square test of association between religious groups and political engagement

	Which of the following best describes your religious affiliation?—Options: (1) “African” Traditional Religion; (2) Christianity; (3) Islam; (4) Others
	Pearson Chi-Square
	Value	Asymp. Sig. (2-sides)
Do you believe ONLY Allah/God decides political leaders for each society?—Options: (1) Yes; (2) No	10.982	0.012*
Social changes are results of:—Options: (1) Active citizens rejection of the status quo; (2) Massive praying and fasting	5.855	0.119
For social change to happen, citizens planned and active resistance is more important than praying and fasting.—Options: (1) Certainly Yes; (2) Yes; (3) No; (4) Not at all	3.491	0.942
Who among the following can most likely influence your decision to participate in a political protest?—Options: (1) Your pastor; (2) Your Imam; (3) You; (4) A seasoned political elite	52.773	0.000*
It is wrong in the sight of Allah/God to oppose political leaders.—Options: (1) Certainly Yes; (2) Yes; (3) No; (4) There is no connection between protesting against political leaders and what is right or wrong in the sight of Allah/God	2.200	0.988
If a political activity like voting or sit-at-home instruction clashes with going for religious activity, any truly religious person should forego voting and attend to the religious activity.—Options: (1) Certainly; (2) Yes; (3) No; (4) That will be extremely wrong	5.306	0.807

* = Significant at 0.05 level.