ANALYSIS OF RELIGION AND POLITICAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA
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ANALYSIS OF RELIGION AND POLITICAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA
CHAPITRE ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of The Study
Violent conflict is a major problem in any human community, and it is usually predicted. While history demonstrates that conflict is a common and often beneficial component of human connections, and that it can occur inside and among individuals and organisations, violent conflict is rarely helpful.
In the case of Nigeria, one of the many sorts of violent conflicts that have plagued the country’s sociopolitical history is one that is based on, or is centrally involved in, religious disputes. Such’religious clashes’ are common, primarily between the Christian and Muslim populations in the country’s north.
These battles have resulted in the loss of lives and property, and they have severely strained the country’s Christian-Muslim bond. Furthermore, as Onabanjo (2011) observes, wars and crises have hampered genuine national integration more than fifty years after Nigeria’s independence, creating severe worries about the nation’s unity.
Several conversations and attempts have been undertaken in this vein to resolve Nigeria’s numerous challenges. This research aims to help in this regard. A conflict can be understood in a variety of ways. According to Barker et al. (1987), the potential for conflict exists anytime and wherever people come into touch.
When people form groups to pursue a common purpose, the likelihood of conflict rises dramatically. Conflicts can arise at multiple levels, including family, friends, and coworkers. Conflict has also been viewed as a strategy and an attempt to force authority when and when comprehension and logic fail.
Religion can and has been used as a tool for societal cohesion in many civilisations. However, it has also functioned as a motivator for violence, resulting in its designation as a ‘double-edged sword’ in some writings (Maregere 2011:17-23; Obasi 2009). Religious fanatics have attempted to legitimise violence in the name of God since time immemorial.
Terrorist attacks, for example, are frequently defended as ‘holy warfare’ in today’s world. Religion has been at the core of most violent confrontations around the world over the last two decades, garnering prominence as one of the primary security concerns confronting the world in the aftermath of the Cold War (Juergensmeyer 2000:6; Abu-Nimer 2000).
According to a study done in Spain, civilizations split along religious lines are more prone to serious and chronic conflict than societies separated along political, territorial, and ethnic lines (Reynal-Querol 2002).
Perhaps this reality explains why religious violence is at the top of Nigeria’s security pyramid. Religiously motivated violence has afflicted the country more than any other security concern, as we will discover in this piece.
There are numerous causative explanations of religious conflicts in Nigeria, but much of the work in this subject focuses on the underlying sociopolitical, economic, and governance variables that precipitate not only religious conflicts,
but also violent conflicts in general. As a starting point, this article gives an analytical investigation into the immediate and obvious elements that have sparked religious tensions in the country.
Specifically, this essay highlights the immediate and visible sources of religious violence in Nigeria and assesses the management techniques used by the Nigerian state to contain it throughout time. It finishes by recommending acceptable ways for dealing with religious violence to Nigeria’s diverse religious communities as well as the Nigerian state.
As previously said, religion can play important roles in communal cohesion; but, it is frequently used to further political and other entrenched interests at the expense of peace and social harmony.
As a result, the purpose of this paper is to critically critique the negative deployment of religion as a tool for societal disharmony. It is unclear whatever goals are to be reached in religious conflicts.
According to Gofwen (2004), political goals are primary; religious disputes, in his opinion, are a special type of conflict between groups that disagree ideologically along religious lines within a pluralistic society, each seeking for political relevance. Takaya (1992) emphasises the political significance of religions in a similar spirit.
Religions are emotional and parochial socializers. They specialise in establishing one-faith exclusive brotherhood communities; religion becomes politics at some time and is the most powerful and long-lasting political association.
Furthermore, when in political competition with individuals of other faiths, religious creeds inspire and demand the deepest emotional and physical allegiance from their believers.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Political marginalisation, ethnicity, and religious politics have all been key impediments to Nigerian political growth. Though many argue that it is not democratic in nature, its implementation in the Nigerian context has been questioned,
and others argue that it does not allow for the greatest minds to be elected. The researcher seeks to analyse the understanding of religion and political crisis in Nigeria against this context.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study’s major goal is to examine the impact of religion on Nigeria’s political conflicts. However, in order to complete the study successfully, the researcher intends to meet the following sub-objectives;
i) Determine the impact of religion on Nigerian politics.
ii) Determine the relationship between religion and Nigeria’s political crisis.
iii) To assess the impact of religious politics on national unity.
iv) Determine the link between ethnic politics and religious politics.
1.4 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The researcher developed the following research hypotheses to ensure the study’s success.
Religious politics have little impact on Nigerian democracy.
H1: Religious politics in Nigeria have a huge impact on democracy.
H0: There is no major association between religion and Nigeria’s political crisis.
H2: Religion and democratic politics have a substantial relationship.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
It is expected that when the study is completed, the findings will be of great importance to political party leaders in their choice of candidature or flag bearer during any general elections. The study will also be of great importance to political office holders in their choice of appointment into their carbinate.
The study will also be very useful to academics who plan to conduct research on similar themes because it will act as a guide. Finally, the research will be very useful to academics, lecturers, teachers, students, and the general public.
1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study includes an investigation of religion and political crises in Nigeria; however, some variables in the study’s cause limited the scope of the study;
a) RESEARCH MATERIAL AVAILABILITY: The researcher’s research material is insufficient, restricting the scope of the investigation.
b) TIME: The study’s time frame does not allow for broader coverage because the researcher must balance other academic activities and examinations with the study.
c) Organisational confidentiality: restricted Access to the chosen auditing firm makes obtaining all necessary and required information about the activity challenging.
1.7 DEFINITION OF TERMS
PARTY POLITICAL
A political party is a group of people who band together to run for office and control the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes with the goal of advancing the common good or furthering the interests of their supporters.
While there is considerable international uniformity in the way political parties are recognised and operate, there are often major variances.
Consolidation
Democratic consolidation refers to the process by which a new democracy matures to the point where it is unlikely to revert to authoritarianism in the absence of an external shock.
The notion is controversial since it is unclear what happens to emerging democracies that assures their continuance beyond the things that simply make it’more likely’ that they will continue as democracies. Clientelism and formalised but infrequent elections plague unconsolidated republics.
Politics
Politics is the process of making decisions that affect all members of a certain community. More specifically, it relates to acquiring and exercising positions of organised government over a human community, notably a state.
Politics is also the study or practice of the allocation of power and resources within a given community (a typically hierarchically organised population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities.
Marginalisation
Insignificant or peripheral treatment of a person, organisation, or notion. The process of pushing something or someone to the outskirts of a group and assigning it less importance. This is primarily a sociological phenomenon in which a minority or sub-group is excluded and their wants or wishes are disregarded.
Religion
Religion is a cultural system of behaviours and rituals, worldviews, sacred texts, holy locations, ethics, and societal organisation that connects humans to what an anthropologist[who?] has referred to as “an order of existence.”
Different faiths may or may not have diverse components, such as “divine”, “sacred things” believe in a “supernatural being or supernatural beings”[5] or “some sort of ultimacy and transcendence that will provide norms and power for the rest of life.”
1.8 ORGANISATION OF THE STUDY
This research paper is divided into five chapters for easy comprehension.
The first chapter is concerned with the introduction, which includes the (overview of the study), issue statement, objectives of the investigation, research question, importance of the study, research methodology, definition of words, and historical backdrop of the study.
The second chapter highlights the theoretical framework on which the study is based, as well as a survey of related literature. The third chapter discusses the study’s research strategy and methodology.
The fourth chapter focuses on data gathering, analysis, and presenting of findings. The study’s summary, conclusion, and suggestions are presented in Chapter 5.
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