The Church and Politics in Igboland, 1957-2003

In 1957, the year the Eastern Region of Nigeria had its autonomy the Roman Catholic Church went into party politics in Igboland, abandoning it, old comfort of silence. The Roman Catholic Church saw the 1957 Eastern Regional election as a watermark for reducing the protestant denomination¿s ascendency in politics in the land. This presented what seemed like a power contest scenario: the Roman Catholics working assiduously to have their members elected into the Region¿s Government seats and positions and the Protestants who had dominated the Region¿s political scene striving to keep the status quo. In the 1957, 1959, 1961, and 1964 elections in the land, they were actively involved at different levels of the politics and campaigns. Although the nations Second Republic politics and its successors were regulated by a new national grundnorm that constitutionally barred the Churches from denominational party politics, the Church remained politically relevant and active in the elections of 1979, 1999 and 2003. In these elections, they engaged in budget and election monitoring and observation, media publications, symposia, homilies and general enlightenment of the electorate.