Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Nigeria

Analysis of the challenges of holiness and heathenality on organisational stability in Nigerias fourth republic (1999-2011) INTRODUCTION Background to the Study Basically, Nigeria is a plural society and heterogeneous in virtually all the facial expression of vitality. The custom and tradition of Nigerians is so diverse to the extent that Nigeria as a acres is now confronted with the caper of trust and heathenity to contendds their semi semi governmental stability. The origin and bill of ethnic competitiveness (societal wars and violence) goat be traced from eternal (internal) adduce rival to external (physical).And its root name is not very far from source competition and decision making over economic resources and different heavy human pointor, alike position. The implementation process has always involved to a greater extent than one or dickens persons. In general concept, the author of this civilise traces troth back to the first and early Patriarchal of h uman chronicle and ever since then, there has been an increase (in respective(a) dimensions) of Conflict in the formula of human world. Some be personal (internal) conflict, family, community, and concourse, intellectual, state, national and international in nature, to mention but few.In conforming to this idea, Badawi (2006) in his statement titled manhood Apart stated thus, indeed the greatest discord today is among the posterity of Abraham. These be the wad of the book, the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who had in fact sh ared a common beginning in the religion of Abraham. In shedding to a greater extent(prenominal) light in the above statement, Badawi statement goes far beyond religion, rather, he was tracing one of the earliest source of conflict which Badawi mentioned the off-springs of the said Abraham.Even ahead Abraham, there had been conflict, so it is as doddering as human storey down to the Abrahamic period, to ancient kingdoms, Dukes, and K ings. In about 88 B. C. , King Mithria meets VI of Pontus invaded papistic territory in Asiatic Minor. He advised Asian debtors to kill their Roman creditors. Happy to reduce their credit card bills, the Asians massacred 80,000 Romans. Ethno-political conflicts require greatly shaped our present world and of course get under ones skin its morphological phenomenon, (William Easterly, 2001). For instances, the conflict we now call Israeli and Palestinian war, has been an ever-lengthening sort.The Assyrian, Babylonian war, by King Nebuchadnezzar of the hanging Garden in account, the Persia war, Alexander the Great (the Macedonian mad man in history), the German war of Adolfs Hitler, the Roman wars, narrowing all these down, we came to the horn of African continent which seem to be an epidemic field of conflicts of diverse kinds till date. The giant-lion of African continent, just like the origin of conflict is said to pee stated very old in human history, tear down so in the gu inea pig of Nigeria, which can be traced to the colonial period of history. Conflict takes different sizes and shapes with diverse reasons and purposes.Majority of the conflicts takes while before their escalation and at such, could gestate been transformed right at their single early stages. The history of ethnicity and ethnic conflicts in Nigeria is also traced back to the colonial transgressions that forced the ethnic groups of the northern and southern provinces to become an entity called Nigeria in 1914. In the case of Nigeria situation, disturbing history of colonialism, this generated hatred and conflict among different ethnic groups. The task of addressing this seed of conflict planted by the British has been a complex one.After weakening the former diverse kingdoms, Emperors, etc now called Nigeria and reordering the groups government, the colonial powers failed in nation building and providing for the peoples basic needs. Hence, unemployment, poverty increase, and du e to these, conflict over scarce resources ensue. The Southern and Union protectorates were also being consolidated into a nation. Thereafter, the merging of different colonies into one field called Nigeria was forcefully through without the peoples consent. This was a major seed of conflict that is still troubling Nigeria today.This obligate is cogitate on the historical incidents of ethnic conflicts in within Nigeria societies, the cause of the conflicts and perhaps, the government actions towards ethnic conflict in the farming. In conclusion, this paper give explore into decision-making (by the elects and those in authority) process has contributed immensely in generating the syndromes of conflict in the said state. The Nigerian political situation has witnessed more breaking of heads, than numeration them. In fact, even when it has been convenient for heads to be counted, the outcome has always been the breaking of heads instead.Conflict in Nigeria is so intense becaus e of lack of democratic behaviour. The head of the exclusiveistic in the democratic context signifies citizenship. So when heads are broken in the Nigerian political community, the issue in respect of broken heads is citizenship. If conflict in Nigeria means the absence of democratic behaviour, it follows, therefore, that conflict in Nigeria is twine with the absence of democratic governance. Gurr (2000) has also shown that the incidence of conflicts at the global train declined in recent years with the deepening of democratization.Nation-states where conflicts persist are those where what obtains is the democratisation of disempowerment (Ake 1996). Beyond the veneer of elections, the state remains ambushed, privatised, repressive and un general. The people who were tantalised by the prospect of a democratic revolution that would terminate decades of alienation and need soak up been short changed and given a choice less state (Mkandawire 1999). The credibility gap which foste red the De-linkage of the people from the state, and ignited social forces to struggle for democracy, is not being bridged (Rothchild 1995 58).African peoples out of clear rational calculations sans atavistic attachments have saturnine their backs on the state and given their allegiance to sub-national social formations such as the community, the sub nationality or ethnic groups (Ake 2000 114). It is against this backdrop that the proliferation and exacerbation of violent ethno- phantasmal conflicts in Nigeria in the post-transition period can be appreciated. This article adopts an analytical mannikin that holds that The interface between ethnicity and democratisation is found in absence of efficient citizenship and good governance in post-transition societies.In the circumstance that democracy does not go beyond the conduct of multiparty elections to include improvement in the quality of life of the people, there is frustration, and people who already feel alienated from the sta te are vulnerable and likely to be mobilised around counter-elites who exploit extant popular alienation from the state by whipping up sectarian sentiments. This has been the case in Nigeria and several multi-ethnic states of Africa (Osaghae 1994).Although the foregoing theoretical discussion has tensioned on ethnicity, the term ethno-religious is adopted because some of the recent violent conflicts to be examined were triggered by religious issues. The relevance of religion is also underlined by the fact that in Nigeria ethnic boundaries tend to coincide with religion, with the exception of the Yoruba ethnic group (Ibrahim 1999). The Nigeria state was amalgamated in the year 1914 by lord lugard. The sundry(a) geographical areas or territory which was amalgamated to form Nigeria by the colonialist comprises of heterogeneous cleavages, clans, towns even there were kingdoms and hiefdoms with diverse culture, language, religion, norms set, customs and political structures etc. The focus of the research monogram is to examine the role of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria nascent democracy. In Nigeria especially, religion plays a very vital and influential role in the society that has manifested itself as a potent force in the political bristlement of the Nigerian state from pre-independence to post-independence. Hardly can the Nigerian state be talked about without reference to religion (Kukah, 1994 Falola, 1990 Kenny, 2006 International IDEA, 2000 Suberu, 2009).However, religion in Nigeria, at different levels, is mostly mentioned in negative legal injury. Or rather, historical events linked to religion tilts more towards its negative than its positive contribution to the Nigerian state. The Jihad, the civil war propaganda, the Sharia law controversy, the tensions provoked by the Nigerian accession to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the incessant religious crises that have engulfed the Northern part mainly indicate that religion cannot be ig nored or wished away in the Nigerian political development. Several religious crises have occurred in Nigeria.They have been documented as academic dissertations for some of them. This while of wager does not intend to start the discourse on religious violence anew but only recognizes the fact that as a recurrent phenomenon it is worth being explored save. Thus Boko Haram menace which gained global cognition and even press support ranging from July 2009 till date is a the rally focus of this lead together with former(a) riots which has engulfed the Nigeria state from 1999 till date which most Nigeria educated elite believed that religion and ethnicity were the basic causes.The educated elite have conducted series of research on what the causes of this violent riots maybe. Most have concluded that it can be traced and linked to the failure of governance in Nigeria. 1. 2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS The mistake of 1914 has polarised the Nigeria society together with its citizens in whi ch loyalty to the State is a mirage instead people pay loyalty to their various families and ethnic groups the effect of this can be traced to 1967 civil-war which disintegrate the country or in the political system which almost lead to secession of the country with the easterner believed to be the aggrieved ethnic in the war.Similarly Nigeria has a long history of religious crisis which has touch the political unbalance of Nigeria. The maintasine riot of 1980 can be said to be the first major religious riot in Nigerian history, claiming about 800 lives. The Boko Haram insurgence in the northern part of the country which has been directed mainly against the Christians, they have suffered a plentitude both physically, psychologically, economically, spiritually and even politically in the far North which has led political writers and pundits to affirm that Boko Haram conflict has its roots in Religion.The thrust of this work go forth be to examine the underlying reasons behind poli tical instability in Nigeria using religion and ethnicity as a paradigm. 1. 3 SCOPE OF THE resume. The study provide cover the upholds of religion and ethnicity towards the stabilization or in- stabilization of the Nigeria political system it will cover how religion and ethnicity have impacted on the political stability of Nigeria. Furthermore the study will emphasize more on the role the government is playing in stabilizing the un-stabilized country. 1. 4OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The following can be regarded as the aims and objective of the study 1.To complete the inwardness of religion, ethnicity, political stability, and political instability 2. To know how religion and ethnicity have negatively impacted on Nigerian political development 3. To develop possible solutions and panaceas to the problems of religions and ethnicity to Nigerian political in-stability 1. 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1 What meaning does religion, ethnicity and political instability carries 2 How has religion an d ethnicity impacted on the political stability of Nigeria 3 what are the possible solutions to the problem of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria political system 1. JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY Many a develop countries of the world are currently experiencing the problems which ethnicity and religion have caused. The ethnic problem which led to the apartheid era in South Africa is also the same ethnicity and religion problem which has almost disintegrated the Nigerian State. Recalling back to what happen during the civil war in the late sixties and early seventies which led to the mental hospital of the national youth service corp. by the then military chairwoman General Yakubu Gowon which aim at integrating back the almost disintegrated country.Books, Journals, Magazines, Pamphlets, and lot of researches have been written and carried out respectively on the issue of ethnicity and religion, and its impact on the Nigeria political stability. This research work will serve as an additional material to the issue on ethnicity and religion to political instability in Nigeria, this work will focus more on ethnicity and religion and its impact on Nigerian government activity 1. 7RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology will be ground on secondary data collections ranging from books, Journals intelligence activitypapers, News Magazines, Pamphlets and even the Internet.In conducting any research basically there are two methodologies employed by researchers which are the primary and the secondary methods. This research work will be basically conducted using the secondary methodology as earlier mentioned. 1. 8DEFINITION OF TERMS Ethnicity According to the oxford advance learners lexicon ethnicity can simply mean the fact of belonging to a particular race from the dictionary meaning we can deduced the fact that Humans believed in race and they have passion for race which leads to humans ethnocentrism i. e. highly ethnocentric in nature.Ethnicity has a strategic inter action of persons and other actors, who have different beliefs, attitudes, values and goals as they decide particular conflict the distribution of resources and general issues of political rules within a context of norms, candidates and institutions. Any of the rule, expectation and institutions may be reversed, maintained or inverted by the individual who win the right to control them, in the course of those political negotiations that are sometimes called cooperation, and sometimes called war, and are usually somewhere between the two.In another(prenominal) sense, ethnic identity are political resources just like specie or vote. Instrumentalist like Micheal Banton and Micheal Hecthtar, deliberate that ethnic identity are not inherent in group or socio-formation of people. They see ethnic identity as socio-capital brought to bear on the political negotiation carry over by different groups and at different times. Hutchinson and Smith also argue that ethnic identity are an import ant resource that political elect employ in securing the support of the masses as a schema for gaining a desired good.These goods and or goals are measured in terms of wealth, power, and status and joining or national communities helps to secure these ends either by influencing the state, or in certain situations, through secession. Religion religion on its own part can be regarded as the belief in the existence of beau ideal or gods and the activity that are connected in the worship of them. Religion can also be stress further by meaning one of the system of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular God or gods.For example the Jewish religion, Christianity Islam and other world religion. Furthermore in the classical and ancient ages religion has achieved a lot in their politics for example the doctrine of Islam was used in many Arab nations has their constitution even up till the present age. The Ancient Romans, also, during the time of Constantine acce pted Christianity as a religion and a mode of life which also affected their political terrain.Religion in the 21 century is now used narrowly towards Christianity and Islam even though other religion still exist but the former two religion have elevated to prominence that other religion are now beneath them. For instance about policy-making stability can depict the mean of a system of politics in which the government of that State is experiencing a durable government and placid existence in the State or in otherworlds a legitimately accepted government by the people. Democratically governed States are believed to be stable.In the global sense every political entity must be control democratically without internal conquest or external aggression. Any country of the world that is free from the aforementioned point are regarded as stable political system in other words internal oppression has cause a lot of havoc to many democracies of the world which has infringed on their stabil ity as noted by Ojo 2002. Descent Rule These covers a larger set of cases that we commonly understand to be ethnic than the rules that ethnic groups must have a myth of common ancestry or common origin.But it excludes several cases in which individuals routinely consider themselves, and are considered as members, of a group that we classify as ethnic even when their parents were not coded as members of this group. Take for example the folk Yoruba when it was invented in Nigeria in the 19th century. At this time period, the parents of those who were classified advertisement as Yoruba were not themselves classified as Yoruba for the reason that this category did not exist during their lifetimes.According to Descent Rule, then, the category Yoruba in the nineteenth century would not be coded as ethnic. But the category Yoruba is universally coded as an ethnic category by all relative political scientists, without making a distinction between time periods. As another example, consid er the category Backward Caste in India, which include as members individuals who possessed a given set of last name and/or ancestral occupations. The category was introduced by the Indian Central brass in 1990.Within a few years, 52% of the Indian population classified itself and was classified as backward. Yet the parents of those who termed themselves Backward Caste were not coded by themselves or by others as Backward Caste because, as in the case of the first generation of Yorubas, this category did not exist during their lifetimes commonwealth According to Abraham Lincoln he defines democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people.In this wise democracy connotes a system of government in which all the people in a country will have the outright say on the government of their country although in a representative manner meaning that they will elect representatives that will represent their interest in the government. Advanced countries if the world wh ere democracy is effective completely they have national identity as opposed to the create world where they have ethnic identity.Advanced democracies always believe in secularism in which every religion is accepted and embraced not a system in which part will have cognisance to a religion and the other will believe in other religion causing ripe tension in such states like Nigeria. Federalism Elasar (cited in Akande, 19961) the formation of European union (EU) which simply begun as a trading partnership for burn and steel is now moving towards a more integrated political union founded upon federal regulation of governance.The African union (AU) which is the conspiracy of African counties where a central government intended to be created with manduction or division of power among the federating unit, even the world highest organization be united Nation have in some little degree, evolved the principle of federalism. Federalism is a system of government which embraces unity i n diversity. Federalism as a system of government is one in which there will be central and regional governments each one autonomous of each other.