History of Religious Violence in Nigeria (a Case Study of Kaduna and Plateau States)
CHAPTER ONE
Aims and objectives
It is of absolute necessity to note that Nigeria is a country of multi-ethnic groups and built on religious pluralism. This research work mainly aims at determining the origin of religious violence in Nigeria. Also, it aims at providing answers to religious bigotry which is a mechanism for violence, conflict and crises. It also aim at explaining what religious conflict is and also enable various adherents of various religions to see the similarities as well as the differences between their faith, enabling them to see that no religion is great or better than the other.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED AND RELEVANT LITERATURE
Religion and Violence in Nigeria
Violence in Nigeria has taken various forms over the decades and the data in this study depicts its wide ranging character expressed through the interaction between Muslims and Christians. Political issues especially those associated with the struggle for elective offices and power allocation remain a potent source of violence. This state of affairs is often catalysed by a lethal infusion of interests rooted in deep socioeconomic and ethnic concerns, some of which may be legitimate and others spuriously held by different actors and groups. In addition, the overall frequency of violent deaths in Nigeria owes much to a combination of other causes such as car accidents and crime. And certainly not in the least, religious issues appear to also reinforce the collective expression of fatalities particularly in terms of recurrence rates in regions such as northern Nigeria. Scholarly interpretations of this religious angle hold significance because of the added perspective they brings to our assessment of Muslim and Christian involvement in the trends of violent deaths. However, in instances where violent deaths are not underscored by religious issues between Muslims and Christians, or in cases where violent deaths transpire between groups of the same religious faith, it raises questions regarding the limits of certain theoretical paradigms and how effectively their frameworks capture the violent interaction between adherents of religious faiths in Nigeria. One such paradigm pertains to the ‘clash of civilisations’ and it suggests that civilisation identity, of which religion is a core component, will be increasingly important in the post-Cold War period. Samuel Huntington, the main proponent of this acclaimed yet widely criticised civilisational thesis went further to assert that the fundamental source of conflict and great divisions will be cultural and that the fault lines between IFRA-Nigeria epapers series, 2014, n°32 6 civilisations, being the broadest level of cultural identity, will be the battle lines of the future (Huntington 1996). To a certain degree, some of the fundamental conflicts evident in the era Huntington prognosticated about have indeed found some expression along religious fault lines, and particularly in relation to Islam in countries such as Nigeria. In fact, further scholarly import from the academic literature is instructive in the way it guides our thoughts on the central role of religion. Ellis and Haar (2007) describe religion as an emerging political language whose pattern of interaction cannot be ignored in the study of African politics. For Matthew Kukah (1993), the process of political bargaining in Nigeria appears to increasingly embody the factor of religion. Toyin Falola (1998), in his part pushes this further by underscoring the profundity of religious attachment expressed by both Muslims and Christians and its instrumentality in political life and leadership in Nigeria. In the overall estimation of various scholars writing on religion and politics in Nigeria, there appears to be an almost seamless connection between several violent incidents from the 1960s through the decades up to the current period. And at different phases in this historical trajectory, the controversy between Muslims and Christians over the definition and interpretation of ‘secularity’ for instance has offered opportunities for analysts to gauge what they see as diametrically-opposed platforms of Muslims against Christians in Nigeria.
CHAPTER THREE
THE CAUSES OF ETHNO – RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS IN KADUNA AND PLATEAU STATES
Oral and Documentary Sources
Oral interviews on the causes of ethnic and religious conflicts in Kaduna and Plateau states were conducted on a sampled population of about 150 people, that is, 75 people in each state. Through the interviews conducted information was obtained from both Christians and Muslims groups. These include leaders and faithful of Christianity and Islam, Government officials, Law Enforcement Agents, business men and women, teachers and students of tertiary institutions etc. these interviews were conducted from six randomly selected Local Government Councils in Kaduna State and from another six Local Government Councils in Plateau State. These include: Kaduna North and South Local Governments, Zangon Kataf Local Government, Jema’a Local Government, Zaria Local Government and Lere Local Government Council all in Kaduna State. While in Plateau State Jos North and South Local Governments, Wase Local Government, Lantang North Local Government, Panshin Local Government and Barkin Ladi Local Government Government were used for the study. The interviews captured the feelings and mood of some Nigerians both indigenes and non–indigenes on the causes of the conflicts. The causes include amongst others: religious causes, poverty/unemployment, poor security 90 network, political causes, ethnic migration/indigene-settler causes, constitutional violation, electoral malpractice and political intolerance, economic causes, external influence, poor standard of education, and non-implementation of conflicts reports by government. These are discussed in the above order.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE EFFECTS OF ETHNO-RELIGIOUS CONFLICTS ON DEVELOPMENT IN KADUNA AND PLATEAU STATES
Plurality of ethnic and religious group ideally should not be a problem for they are parts and parcel of societies. Diversity and pluralism are known to be the basic of cosmopolitan and complex societies and other cultures such as ours in Nigeria but Kaduna State in particular. However, the management of these factors by socio-political systems and controllers of political power often breed sectarian and other conflicts. The multi ethno-religious nature of the society should not be a problem. That will be a problem only when ethnicity and religion are made means of narrowing people’s participation in social, economic and political spheres in various forms.
The last two and half decades (80 – 2010) witnessed a resurgence of violent religious conflicts in Nigeria with obvious and severe consequences on political instability, low economic development, negative international image, break down of social order and heightened mutual suspicion between Christians and Muslims. These have led to the death of hundreds of thousands of people. In fact, the conflicts have impacted negatively on every aspect of life. That is why Sani (2007:194) stated that: The conflicts have impacted negatively on political, social and economic development. Religious fanaticism affects or limits social interaction and harmony… These have also affected the social components of associations as exemplified by the situation in Kaduna where there is sharp segregation of restructuring of the town in settlement by people along religious and ethnic divides. From the foregoing, we shall now look at the negative social, economic and political effects of ethno-religious crises on Nigeria (Kaduna State in particular).
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Principal findings
Religious conflicts have been a major problem in the history of Nigeria. These conflicts have negatively affected the social, economic and political sectors in the last three decades (80 – 2010). During such conflicts, many lives were lost and properties running into billions of naira were lost. Socially, the conflicts succeed in limiting social interaction and harmony between Christians and Muslims. These have also resulted into major religious restructuring of settlements or town with people congregating in areas where their religious faiths have majority of inhabitants in the Northern part of Nigeria. The crises have also resulted in the sharp increase in the number of widows and orphans leading to prostitution, begging, unemployment, etc. Economically, the Nigerian economy is weakened particularly through the cost of investment by the conflicts in the affected States.
Suggestion for Further Research
In spite of all that has been said and done on this research work, there is still much to be done on this topic (the affects of ethno-religious conflicts on the socio-economic and political development of Nigeria). However the researcher hereby suggests that further researches should focus on the following areas:
- a) The psychological effects of the ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria.
- b) How Comparative studies on religions with help to enhance better understanding of religious leaders and their followers.
- c) Conflict prevention and management of ethno-religious crises in Nigeria. Conclusion In conclusion therefore, the researcher believes that sincere governmental schemes and efforts must be established by government to achieve social and distributive justice for all people in the country. Merits, qualification and competence in or for a particular position must be respected. For where there is justice there will be peace and where is peace, there will be no ethno-religious conflicts. In fact, the control of ethno religious conflicts in Nigeria will among other social vices like corruption, litany of politically motivated killings, prostitution, examination malpractice, kidnapping, terrorism, rigging of elections etc. will go far in moving the country forward.
A complete and total implementation of the above recommendations would go a long way in the control of the incessant ethno-religious conflicts in Kaduna and Plateau States and in most of the northern states of the country.
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