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In this section I shall focus on the history of religious conflicts in Northern Nigeria by analysing significant historical, religious and political events.
Conflict, as an intrinsic and inevitable part of human existence, can be defined as disagreement, the clash of opinions or principles between peoples, or the pursuit of incomparable interest and goals by different groups or individuals.127 In Northern Nigeria
religious conflict is a common phenomenon. From independence until the present day, Nigeria has experienced much religious violence, especially in the North. 128 What has been
the cause of these conflicts? Are these conflicts caused by religion, or is religion only used to express the deep-rooted ethnic-political divide?
British colonial rule in Nigeria lasted sixty years. On 1st October 1960, colonial rule ended in Nigeria and political administrative power was handed over to a Muslim Northern Hausa-Fulani man, Sir Ahmadu Bello, who said, “The imposition of British colonial domination was an expression of the grace of Allah.”129 This was perceived by most non-
125 Chuks Okocha, “PDP insist on Zoning Presidency to North,” This Day, Nigeria, 03 May 2010.
126 Oriyomi, Nigerian Muslims in Focus. 127 Francis, Peace and Conflict, 204.
128 Cf. Muhammad I. Ashafa and James P. Wuye, “Warriors and Brothers,” in David Little (ed), Peace Makers in Action Profiles of Religion in Conflict resolution (New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2007), 247-248. 129 Kukah, Religion Politics in Northern Nigeria, 2.
and the North (Islam) having the upper hand in all political affairs. Although Muslims and Christians continued to live together, it was obvious that Muslims had more political, social and economic opportunities than non-Muslims.130 Hence, the legacy of the colonial
masters continued in a subtle way. There was discrimination against non-Muslims and various restrictions were imposed on Christian missionaries - denial of land to build places of worship, a ban on the circulation of Christian literature, lack of freedom to worship or associate, degrading treatment of traditional rulers who were not Muslims and cultural domination.131 Nigerian historian and ethicicist Abulrazaq Kilani observed that Muslims in
the Niger-Delta region, in the southern part of Nigeria, suffer discrimination and persecution because of their faith: they are not allocated land to build places of worship and have no access to state mediat132
One would imagine that independence from British rule and a change of political power would have enabled Nigeria to unite in trying to find ways to respond to growing ethnic, social, economic and security problems,133 yet that has not been the case. Instead,
religion and ethnicity have taken centre stage to polarise Nigerians, fostered by some politicians. Muhammad Haruna, a political commentator in Northern Nigeria, observed that different religious and ethnic groups lived in relative harmony until the late 1970s, when power-hungry politicians began to use tribal identity, religion and ethnicity as primary weapons to seek political office.134 The result is that Nigerians are divided along
religious and ethnic lines and some political leaders continue to manipulate religious sentiments for their personal interest.135 Religion has become a very sensitive and
opinionated. Whatever happens in terms of policy, decision making as it affects public administration, is perceived and interpreted from a biased religious perspective by both Muslims and Christians. Each religious group feels unfairly treated and politically discriminated against, deepening the tension, mistrust and stereotypes that already exist.136
One spectacular event, which generated much tension between Muslims and Christians, was the visit of Pope John Paul II to the city of Kaduna in Northern Nigeria.
130 Ibid., 6 131 Ibid., 2-8.
132 Abdul Razaq Kilani, “Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations in Niger-Delta (Nigeria),” Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20, no. 1 (2000), 131-133.
133 David J. Francis, Uniting Africa: Building Regional Peace and Security Systems (Aldershort: Ashgate, 2007), 56.
134 Cf. Muhammad Haruna, “People and Politics, Genocide on the Plateau: the Way Out,” Gamji (Nigeria), 2010. http://www.gamji.com/haruna/haruna312.htm
135 Ignatius A. Kaigama, Dialogue of Life: An Urgent Necessity for Nigerian Muslims and Christians (Jos: Fab Educational Books, 2006), 18-19.
February 1982, the Pope said he was visiting in order to meet with people of various religious backgrounds, individuals and faith communities, hoping earnestly that his presence would express his love and esteem for the worthy religious values of the people of Nigeria. However, the political opponents of the President and other religious adversaries perceived the visit as an increase in the power and confidence of the Christian community in Nigeria, particularly in the North. Comments included questions as to how the President, a Muslim, could fraternise with the Pope in such a conspicuous way and claim to be a good Muslim. Meanwhile, some saw this as a sign that Islam was losing out to Christianity; others felt the President was losing a grip and failing to assert himself as an Islamic leader.137 An unprecedented large crowd gathered to welcome the Pope to witness
the ordination of ninety-four deacons to the priesthood from Catholic dioceses around Nigeria. This made Kukah comment that, “If this event and the venue generated a sense of hubris among Catholics in particular and Christians in general, it may have had diverse effect on the meeting planned between the Pope and the Muslim leaders in Kaduna…”138
This planned meeting with the Pope never took place. It was claimed that the Muslim community was unable to agree on who should represent them.139 O’Connor confirms that
it was a great disappointment that the planned meeting of the Pope with Muslim leaders did not take place.140
The meeting would have been an important step in the Roman Catholic Church’s quest for dialogue, but not a single representative of the Muslim leaders honoured the Pope’s invitation.141
While politicians were busy bickering over power, economic growth and other material things, the Pope spoke about living in peace with each other, development, brotherhood and the improvement of the human condition.142
Two months after the visit of the Pontiff, Archbishop Robert Runcie (Archbishop of Canterbury 1980-1991) visited the city of Kano, where he laid the foundation stone for a new church building at Fagge in the Kano metropolis. Although there was no evidence of hostility shown during the Archbishop’s visit, six months later the site of the new church was attacked. The Muslim rioters destroyed the church building, claiming it was too close to a mosque.143 Assessing the situation, the church members alerted the police, whose
immediate response averted the clash. The rioters turned to other churches in the city, set
137
Kukah, Religion Politics in Northern Nigeria, 156. 138 Ibid., 156-157.
139 Ibid.
140 See O’Connor, From the Niger to the Sahara, 177. 141 Ibid.
142 Cf. Kukah, Religion Politics in Northern Nigeria, 158. 143 Ibid.
control, eight churches had been burnt and several people injured.144
Religion has been heavily politicised in Nigeria. Since independence, regional, ethnic and religious tensions have marred progress in the country. Although adherents of Christianity and Islam form the majority in Nigeria, neither religion has been able to overcome the obstacles of the political class which continues to manipulate religious sentiments in setting one group against the other.145 In 1986 the Federal Government of
Nigeria’s secret registration as a fully-fledged member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), changed from an observer status, was perceived by Christians as a plot to finally turn Nigeria into an Islamic state.146 The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria
reacted thus:
The fact that secrecy and rumour eventually gave way to belated official admission that Nigeria has joined the OIC cannot but disappoint us. With the majority of Nigerians, we have come to expect openness and free debate to form this government. The lack of previous debate on such a sensitive matter, either in public or in government is a blow to the trust and the hope that freedom loving Nigerians have been led to expect from the present administration.147
The sharia debate of 1978 is an example of the use of religion in politics. The Federal Government set up a committee to draft a constitution for the country. Some members of the committee sought vehemently to incorporate a clause establishing a Federal Sharia Court of Appeal. This generated heated arguments and fierce debate between Muslims and Christians, with both sides using religion as a tool for mobilisation.148 However, the
consequent introduction of the Islamic sharia legal system in most of the northern states in the 2000’s, without considering the significant population of non-Muslims in these states, only strengthened the doubt, mistrust and suspicion between the two faith communities.149
Generally, the relationship between Muslims and Christians, especially in the last three decades, has been marred by mistrust, tension, mutual suspicion and physical violence which have left many people injured, some killed and properties destroyed. The real causes of tension and violence may be deep-rooted social, political, ethnic and
144 Ibid., 158.
145 Cf. Kaigama, Dialogue of Life, 19.
146 Nathaniel I. Ndiokwere, The African Church Today and Tomorrow, Prospects and Challenges, vol. 1 (Onitsha-Nigeria: Effective Key Publishers, 1994), 91-94. 147 Ibid., 95.
148 Kukah, religion and Politica in Northen Nigeria, 118; Peter Bauna Tanko “Sharia: Implications for Christians,” in Joseph Salihu (ed), Interreligious Dialogue and The Sharia Question (Kano: Jaleyemi Group, 2005), 30.
149 See Klaus Hock, “Christian-Muslim relationship in the African Context,” The International Journal for the Study of Christian Church 3, no. 2 (2003), 52.
broad with myriads of meanings that can be opinionated and bigoted with inclusive as well as exclusive predisposition. At the same time, religion understood as part and parcel of political life can have divisive and violent tendencies; for instance, the political adoption of religious language that promote religious ideologies, reinforces ethnic rivalries, prejudice and discrimination especially on religious grounds. This however, highlights the paradoxical nature of religion as sentiment that can be expressed in the worship of the divine and on the other hand, can be adopted as a political means with various consequences.
The challenge as theologian William T. Cavanaugh indicates is the seeming distinction often made between so-called religious violence and violence that are secular or political.150
He asks can religion independently cause violence? At what point is the distinguishing line drawn between that which is religious, secular and or political? Moreover, if religion builds community so does politics and ethnicity. Besides, given the fact that religion, politics and the secular are closely intertwined, what are the criteria for separating these realities of human existence?151 Cavanaugh maintains that, religion is an inescapable
universal human feature, and thus violence as such, does not result from the fact that people are religious. The conditions that lead to conflict are matters of ideological, social, political or ethnic identities, to which sentiments of religion can add an eccentric precarious and violent twist.152 For instance, the elevation of political or ethnic misunderstanding into a full blown conflict, or the use of religious sentiments in the quest for political power by discrediting others based on their religious affiliation. And the example of Northern Nigeria where some conflicts are ethnic or resource based, with the difference being that one ethnic group may be predominantly Muslim and the other Christian. Religion however, by itself does not simply cause violence, even though there is no doubt that under certain circumstances particular religious action or interpretation contribute to violence which gives religion the unique propensity to exacerbate violence.153
The 2008 riot in Jos was apparently a political dispute about local government elections which eventually became a violent clash between Muslims and Christians.154 This
further brings to fore the complex nature of conflict and the obvious difficulty in categorising conflicts. The Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, observed that
150 Cf. William T. Cavanaugh, The Myth of religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 15.
151 Ibid., 28. 152 Ibid., 36.
153 Ibid., 36 and 55.
community that is targeted, not because they are places of worship.155 But why is it that
religion has continued to generate such controversy and violence? What are the hidden causes for such reactions? The next section examines the manipulation of religion in politics.