1 Samuel 18: 1-9 in the Context of the ‘Politics of Bitterness’ in Nigeria’s Political Space

Abstract

The politics of bitterness, which is an act of violating political principles of fairness and justice and inflicting bitterness and killings into politics, is a major factor that has prevented development and stability in Nigeria’s political space. Oftentimes, politicians kill and betray each other because of political positions or appointments. But this situation deprives the Nigerian political space of the necessary impetus for integrity. Therefore, this paper analyses 1 Samuel 18:1-9 to draw templates for minimizing and resolving the prevalence of political bitterness in Nigeria’s political space. This paper tends to justify the effect of politics of bitterness as in 1 Samuel 18:1-9 as a yardstick for Nigeria politics. The paper adopts historical-critical and biographical research methods to collate primary data from the Bible, while secondary data are descriptively collated from other literature sources. Data is textually analysed. The study recommends that Nigerian politicians should minimize division and rule which generates bitterness among themselves and the masses.