Identity Power And Conflict Inter Ethnic Perspective Of Northern Nigeria Religious Violence

Violence in major cities of Northern Nigeria has been recurring since the nation's 1960 independence. Although many scholars have analyzed the violence through different perspectives and several solutions applied, violence have continued to prevail within the region. The ability to manage a conflict depends to a larger extend on the indepthness of its analysis. This book is not like any other written about this issue. It is a research study conducted under the guidance of USA Review Board and highly experienced academic scholars of Conflict Analysis and Resolution. It was categorized as the most comprehensive report on the conflict. Extensive literature review, related conflict theories and concepts were applied for proper analysis. The goal for this publication is to shed limelight to this perspective for possible solution to a conflict that has lingered for more than 40 years with genocidal deaths and massive loss of properties.

Why does religion become a fault line of communal violence in some pluralistic countries and not others? Under what conditions will religious identity - as opposed to other salient ethnic cleavages - become the spark that ignites communal violence? Contemporary world politics since 9/11 is increasingly marked by intra-state communal clashes in which religious identity is the main fault line. Yet, violence erupts only in some religiously pluralistic countries, and only in some parts of those countries. This study argues that prominent theories in the study of civil conflict cannot adequately account for the variation in subnational identity-based violence. Examining this variation in the context of Nigeria's pluralistic north-central region, this book finds support for a new theory of power-sharing. It finds that communities are less likely to fall prey to a divisive narrative of religious difference where local leaders informally agreed to abide by an inclusive, local government power-sharing arrangement.

In view of the explosion of violent conflicts in many parts of the world and the hasty, but prevailing, assumption that ethnicity is the source of these conflicts, this book is encompassed to highlight, describe and examine how ethnicity is politicized in many of these current conflicts. By deploying the instrumentalist approach and the theory of identity and difference in ethnicity, the author identifies the actors involved and depicts how religion is exploited as an instrument of division by reflecting it on the Nigerian situation, exploring the examples of the Jos conflicts and the Warri Crisis within a twenty years period, 1990 to 2010.

A comprehensive study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, notably its causes, consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. Violence in Nigeria is the most comprehensive study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, notably its causes, consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. After an analysis of the links between religionand politics, the book elaborates on all the major cases of violence in the 1980s and 90s, including the Maitatsine, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, and Katsina riots. Zones of religious tensions are identified, as well as general characteristics of violence in Nigeria; and issues in inter and intra-religious relations, relious organizations, and the states, and the main actors in the conflicts are explored in great detail. A product of extensive primary research, Violence in Nigeria makes a contribution to contemporary social and political history that no previous study has attempted, and it is written to appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books dealing with the history of Nigeria, its people, their religion and politics.

Since 1982, Nigeria has experienced more than ten large scale ethnic or religious riots in its major cities. These violent clashes have wreaked economic, political, and social havoc; caused an enormous number of deaths and injuries; and posed serious obstacles to Nigeria's sociopolitical development as well as retarded efforts at nation-building. The papers collected in this book serve as a critical part of an overall objective to develop and promote mechanisms for the understanding and resolution of ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria. Both academic and community leaders address various aspects of these conflicts, and Uwazie offers several thoughtful options for their successful resolution. Inter-Ethnic and Religious Conflict Resolution in Nigeria will interest students of African history and current affairs, scholars of anthropology and ethnicity studies, and those involved in international relations and peace studies.

Analyses Muslim-Muslim divisions within northern Nigeria, which are as important for understanding the violence in the region as those between Muslim and Christian (for which, see the companion volume, Creed and Grievance), with consequences for long-term peacemaking. Nigerian society has long been perceived as divided along religious lines, between Muslims and Christians, but alongside this there is an equally important polarization within the Muslim population in beliefs, rituals and sectarian allegiance. This book highlights the crucial issue of intra-Muslim pluralism and conflict in Nigeria. Conflicting interpretations of texts and contexts have led to fragmentation within northern Nigerian Islam, and differentIslamic sects have often resorted to violence against each other in pursuit of 'the right path'. The doctrinal justification of violence was first perfected against other Muslim groups, before being extended to non-Muslims: conflict between Muslim groups therefore preceded the violence between Muslims and Christians. It will be impossible to manage the relationship between the latter, without addressing the schisms within the Muslim community itself. Nigeria: Premium Times Books Abdul Raufu Mustapha is Associate Professor in African Politics, University of Oxford. His publications include (co-edited with Lindsey Whitfield) Turning Points in African Democracy (James Currey, 2009). Forthcoming: Creed & Grievance: Muslims, Christians & Society in Northern Nigeria edited by Abdul Raufu Mustapha and David Ehrhardt.

This publication seeks to challenge established thinking about the causes of violence in Northern Nigeria. It explores immediate and long-term effects of that violence through reflection, study, and survey of previous research. The fundamental argument within is that ethnic, political and religious violence has affected Christian perspectives and core values and thus has hampered efforts towards just peacemaking.

A study of links between interethnic conflict and processes of reconciliation in the ethnically charged setting of Kano, northern Nigeria. It shows how Igbos renegotiated a position for themselves in the new political environment of Kano following the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-70.