• About Us
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships
TFI Official Merchandise
TFI English
TFI हिन्दी
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
TFIGlobal
TFIGlobal
Right Arm. Round the World. FAST.
No Result
View All Result
  • Indo-Pacific
  • Americas
  • Indian Subcontinent
  • West Asia
  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Premium
  • Indo-Pacific
  • Americas
  • Indian Subcontinent
  • West Asia
  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Premium
TFIGlobal
TFIGlobal
No Result
View All Result

Conflict in Nigeria: When sectarian violence goes out of hand

Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil producers but due to the religious and ethnic conflicts in the country, few Nigerians have benefitted from the country's oil potential.

Akshay Narang by Akshay Narang
December 11, 2021
in Africa
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
Nigeria, Boko Haram
267
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Become a Patron!

The African continent is full of longstanding, intense conflicts that have marred peace, stability and development in the region. The conflict in Nigeria however stands out as the glaring example of what happens when sectarian violence goes out of hand. Nigeria is one of the world’s largest oil producers but due to the religious and ethnic conflicts in the country, few Nigerians have benefitted from the country’s oil potential.

Historically vulnerable to sectarian conflicts, Nigeria is today at the centre of Boko Haram insurgency. Nigeria is no small country and with a population of 192 million people, it is the seventh most populous nation on the planet and the most populous country in Africa. The country never really had a long phase of peaceful progress, and today the Nigerian government is failing to prevent a division of the country on sectarian lines.

Also Read

Students who studied medicine in Ukraine get the biggest shock of their lives in Nigeria

Nigeria calls for slaughtering Christians in broad daylight

Nigeria’s history of conflict and deprivation

Located in West Africa, Nigeria has a long history of colonial and military rule, as well as widespread corruption and mismanagement. Nigeria was able to move towards independence only after the Second World War. It gained independence from the British in 1960, and over the next four decades, it was ruled by two military juntas. Finally, in 1999, a civilian government came to power in the country and the general elections of 2007 witnessed the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power in the country’s history.

Yet, Nigeria continues to face widespread corruption and misgovernance that adds to the misery of ethnic and religious conflicts.

Read More: Mali: The genesis of a West African conflict no “analyst” talks about

History of religious conflict in Nigeria

While military coups, corruption and poor governance have been some major issues in Nigeria, the religious conflict is the biggest problem. The religious conflict in Nigeria is predominantly a result of Christian-Muslim rivalry. While Muslims constitute 53.5 per cent of the country’s total population, Christians form 45.9 percent of its total population. The remaining 0.6 percent of Nigerians profess other religions.

The religious conflict in Nigeria itself dates back to 1953. The communal strife however spiralled uncontrollably only in the 1980s after the then military ruler of the country, General Ibrahim Babangida, enrolled Nigeria in the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). This move ended up wounding Christian sentiments and aggravated religious tensions.

Things went from bad to worse when the country transited into a full-fledged democracy in the year 1999. Sharia law was thrust as the main body of civil and criminal law in Muslim-majority northern Nigeria, which further alienated the Christian community and encouraged exclusivity of the Muslim community in the West African nation.

In fact, the presence of radical, pro-Sharia regimes at the state level has encouraged communal segregation and conflict in Nigeria. Over the past two decades, the religious tensions have often led to clashes between Christians and Muslims claiming thousands of victims from both communities.

Boko Haram insurgency

Since 2009, the sectarian conflict in Nigeria has come to be defined by the Boko Haram Islamist insurgency. The insurgency has already claimed 350,000 lives in Northeast Nigeria and has displaced as many as 3 million people.

Boko Haram as a group remained more or less peaceful during the first seven years of its existence. But in 2009, a wave of killings was attributed to Boko Haram and the Nigerian government was accused of having ignored the fact that the group was arming itself.

Boko Haram is a declared terror group that calls itself “Jama‘atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da‘awati wal-Jihad”, which means Group of the Sunni People for the Calling and Jihad. You can understand it as a “Nigerian Taliban”, presently waging a war against the Nigerian government and looking to overthrow the civilian government with an aim to establish a new regime that complies completely with Islamic law.

Read More: Darfur: The genesis of a bloody conflict no one talks about

In the last decade, Boko Haram turned particularly lethal. Throughout 2014, it conducted near-daily attacks against Christians, security and police forces, the media, schools, politicians and even Muslims who didn’t comply with Boko Haram’s definition of Islam.

In 2015, the terrorist group also pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in March and publicly adopted the name “ISIL-West Africa Province”. The group was also responsible for kidnapping 276 schoolgirls in Borno State, Nigeria, in April 2014, triggering international condemnation.

After 2014 and 2015, the Nigerian military has managed to flush Boko Haram insurgents out of several provinces in northeastern Nigeria with assistance from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. In October, the Nigerian military also claimed to have killed the leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group, Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

However, the group retains control over some regional pockets and continues the trend of launching deadly suicide attacks and abducting civilians, especially women and children. Thousands of lives have been claimed by religious and sectarian conflict in Nigeria, and this is why a country with great growth potential remains deprived and miserable.

Tags: Boko HaramNigeria
ShareTweetSend
Previous Post

Best 16 Situationship Quotes, relationship that isn’t defined

Next Post

Greece may be all set to kick China out of its prized Piraeus port

Also Read

Egypt and Sudan kick China out of the GERD dispute peace talks

Egypt and Sudan kick China out of the GERD dispute peace talks

July 4, 2022
Students who studied medicine in Ukraine get the biggest shock of their lives in Nigeria

Students who studied medicine in Ukraine get the biggest shock of their lives in Nigeria

July 4, 2022
Zimbabwe inflation

Zimbabwe ditches American Dollar and shifts to gold; more African nations to follow the suit

July 1, 2022
Africa China

China is not purchasing products from Africa because it has run out of money

June 29, 2022
Load More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Zimbabwe inflation

Zimbabwe ditches American Dollar and shifts to gold; more African nations to follow the suit

July 1, 2022
Japan has withdrawn a sizeable chunk of its foreign reserves from the US and a domino effect is on the cards   

Japan has withdrawn a sizeable chunk of its foreign reserves from the US and a domino effect is on the cards  

June 20, 2022
Algeria Russia

Algeria sends shockwaves in Europe by announcing an ‘extra premium’ on gas supplies

July 2, 2022
Russia crashes West’s chip infrastructure by turning off Helium and Neon supplies

Russia crashes West’s chip infrastructure by turning off Helium and Neon supplies

June 3, 2022
Russia hits the goldmine in Uganda

Russia hits the goldmine in Uganda

June 26, 2022
Zimbabwe inflation

Zimbabwe ditches American Dollar and shifts to gold; more African nations to follow the suit

China, Kenya, Xi Jinping

China decides to stop investing in Africa because Africans take money and that’s pretty much it

Iran, Gas Supply, erdogan, Russia, Turkey

Iran shuts gas supplies to Turkey after Erdogan’s mindless rant against Russia

Canada

Bill C-67: Trudeau’s new tool has turned Canada into a hell hole for white Canadians

Russia, RUBLE, USA

By pegging gold to the ruble, Russia has just wiped out the dollar’s clout from the world markets

China’s rare earth dominance meets an unexpected disaster from Turkey

China’s rare earth dominance meets an unexpected disaster from Turkey

July 6, 2022
“They acted without my orders,” Zelensky blames top military leadership

“They acted without my orders,” Zelensky blames top military leadership

July 6, 2022
EU sets its bridges to China on fire as Chinese companies lose infrastructure projects en masse

EU sets its bridges to China on fire as Chinese companies lose infrastructure projects en masse

July 6, 2022
China doesn’t need PR agencies when the Trudeau government is already spending millions to whitewash CCP’s genocide

China doesn’t need PR agencies when the Trudeau government is already spending millions to whitewash CCP’s genocide

July 6, 2022
Whenever Xi expected a red-carpet welcome, the world gave him a rude snub

Whenever Xi expected a red-carpet welcome, the world gave him a rude snub

July 6, 2022
Youtube Twitter Facebook
TFIGlobal
  • About us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy

©2022 - TFI MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

No Result
View All Result
  • Indo-Pacific
  • Americas
  • Indian Subcontinent
  • West Asia
  • Europe
  • Africa
  • Premium

©2022 - TFI MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Follow us on Twitter

and never miss an insightful take by the TFIGlobal team

Follow @tfiglobal
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. View our Privacy and Cookie Policy.