e-sRC

CHAPTER ONE:
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria can be divided into two broad periods. They are preindependence
ethno-religious conflicts, that is the period before 1st October, 1960; and postindependence
ethno-religious conflicts, that is the period after 30th September, 1960. This work
is concerned only with the post independence ethno-religious conflicts. This choice is informed
by the practical impossibility of covering the pre-independence ethno-religious conflicts within
the scope of this work. This is because there is a dearth of literature on the specifics of preindependence
ethno-religious conflicts in the country. The first ethno-religious crisis in Nigeria
after independence emanated (no doubt) from the widespread communal crisis of 1966 resulting
from violent military coup d’état which eventually led to the Nigerian civil war of 1967 to 1970.
After the war, Nigeria enjoyed relative calm, free from communal crisis throughout the 1970s.
The only notable civil disturbances come from university students who from time to time took to
the streets across the country in protest against government education policies such as increase of
school fees.
The Kano religious disturbance of 1980, dubbed The Maitatsine Conflict, is perhaps the
first major ethno-religious conflict in modern Nigerian history. This was soon followed by
another religious conflict in 1982 within the same Kano metropolis. Thereafter, periodic conflicts
occurred here and there throughout the 1980s, from skirmishes in rural areas over farmland to
communal disturbances in urban areas over traditional chieftaincy matters. The floodgates of
major ethno-religious communal violence burst opened in 1987 with the Kafanchan ethnoxx
religious disturbances. This was followed by the 1991 Tafawa Balewa ethno-religious conflict,
the Zangon Kataf and the Tiv-Jukun flashes of on-and-off periodic disturbances that refused to
end. Most of the ethno-religious conflicts were confined to the northern part of the country.
However, there were recorded conflicts, mostly ethnic in nature that simmered across the south
such as the Ijaw-Itsekiri, the Umuleri-Aguleri and Ife-Modakeke conflicts.
Most of these conflicts were caused by internal and external factors. The family, the
traditional institutions of chiefs, emirs, igwes and obas etc., the religious institutions, the police,
the judiciary, unity Schools, National Youth Service Corps, tribal organizations and associations,
the media and government are all institutions which ought to prevent or mitigate the occurrence
of ethno-religious conflicts. Yet Nigeria is being plagued by ethno-religious conflicts that keep
recurring with unprecedented frequency raising questions about the role of these institutions.
This work shall examine these institutions.
The Nigerian constitution as the legal basis for the existence of the Nigerian state ought
also to prevent or at least mitigate ethno-religious conflicts in the country. That ethno-religious
conflicts occur the way they do in Nigeria calls for an assessment of the performance of the
Nigerian constitution as an instrument for unity, and the prevention and mitigation of ethnoreligious
conflicts in the country; likewise the operators of the Constitution. This work shall
examine the provisions of the Constitution1 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that relate to, or
have bearing on ethno-religious conflict, as well as their implementation to ascertain why the
constitution is not serving as a wall of defense against ethno-religious conflicts in the country.
1 CFRN 1999
xxi
1.2 Conceptual Definitions of Relevant Key Terms
1.2.1 Conflict
The word conflict is a common everyday used word, generally understood to mean
disagreement, difference of opinion or struggle.2 Conflict also connotes violence, armed fighting
and war.3 Conflict can be violent or non-violent. A non-violent conflict is described as
competition, and in common language, violence, or the lack of violence, differentiates conflict
from competition. A conflict may move through different stages; from a non-violent conflict in
its initial stage, into a violent conflict.
Conflict occurs at all levels of life, including personal, group, organizational, and
international conflicts (between nations). For the purpose of this research, the term “conflict”
wherever used means “group conflict” in which the aim of the parties to the conflict is to gain
certain objectives and to simultaneously neutralize, injure or eliminate rivals.