A Publication of Department of Political Science and International Relations
Journal VOL. 3 NO. 1, July. 2022, ISSN: 2714 - 4054
The Politics of Religious Conflict in Nigeria: The Northern Nigeria in Perspective
Talabi Moyinoluwa Joseph
ABSTRACT
Northern Nigeria has become a boiling point lately where Christians and Muslims kill each other in the name of God. African philosophy survey argue that Nigerian politics has served as an instrument of escalation, generation, and de-escalation of religious-related conflicts in the Northern part of Nigeria. The main focus of this paper is to analyze the nature, causes, character, and dynamics of the different conflicts that took place in some states in northern Nigeria. The secondary data sources were based on primary method. From the analysis, the paper showed that the political and religious leaders had contributed immensely to the escalation of these conflicts, which consequently affected the socio-economic development of northern Nigeria in particular and the nation at large. Therefore, the paper recommends that religious, political, ethnic, and other leaders should stop using religion and ethnicity for their selfish ends to avoid religious conflict to promote unity and national development.
Keywords: Conflict, Ethnicity, Politics, Religion, Violence.