The Impact of Religion and Culture on Political Corruption in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State: A Case Study of 2015 General Elections

Abstract

This study examines the impact of religion and culture on political corruption in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State in reference to 2015 general elections. Many local governments in Nigeria lack many developments, social amenities, health facilities, rural development and power supply due to the syndrome of corruption and autonomy independence to control their resources without the state interference due to that scenario, lack of accountability, lack of credible leadership, instability of political and socioeconomic development as take place. Culture and religion as influenced voting patterns of the electorate during the 2015 Presidential general elections. The impacts of corruption on the politics of the country include the crisis of legitimacy, lack of party ideology, weak political institutions; economic underdevelopment and political violence and the role of “Godfatherism” as initiated electoral corruption. Some power brokers with sufficient financial muscles sponsored their anointed godsons for political offices in return for lucrative contracts and spoils of the public treasury looting. They sponsored thugs, bribed the electoral stakeholders, and influenced voters through vote buying and all sorts of electoral manipulation to ensure that their candidates scale through and control power at all levels. The questionnaire and the structured questions formulated by the researchers were given to project supervisor, who criticized and that the instruments are validated, for they were seen measuring what were expected to measure. Findings revealed that a total number of 30 respondents represented (22.3%) candidate’s choice, 27 respondents represented (20.1%) election campaign, 23 respondents represented (17.1%) family background, while 54 respondents represented (40.2%) religious belief. This implies that majority of the respondents in this study agreed that religious belief is the means by which religion and culture influenced the voting pattern of Akinyele Local Government Area in the 2015 general elections. The study recommends that all candidates contesting for any political office must declare their assets publicly to avoid cases of corruption.