Egodi Uchendu

Abstract

The belief system of the people influences the way they think, feel and see things in relations to people of other religions. Unfortunately, Nigeria is a country that is continuously weighed-down by religious burdens. Sustainable religious-peace across Nigeria have been aborted times without number due to the recurrent cases of religious conflicts. As this religious conflict lingers and rears its ugly head in different parts of the country, it continues to direct and influence the perception of the worldview of Nigerians. The paper showed that the imperial hands of the colonialists could be found in the foundation of religious conflict in Nigeria. It went on to reveal that many Igbo people believe that wherever there is religious conflict in Nigeria, the business of the Igbo men suffers greatly. The work again showed how religious conflicts in Nigeria have affected the perception of the Muslims in Igbo land. It concluded by recommending peace building through inter-religious socialization and reshaping of the people’s perception by the nation’s peace guarantors.

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*Ani Kelechi J. is an unemployed Masters Degree Student in the Department of History, University of Maiduguri, Borno State. He has a P.G.D. in Education and a Second Class Upper Degree in History and International Relations.

Introduction

Islam was founded by Prophet Mohammed (SAW). He received his call to Prophet-hood in the course of his frequent withdrawals to pray in Mount Hirah. Consequently, he began to teach his followers the tenets of the religion and the faith began to grow across the globe. It entered Kanem Borno Empire through the activities of the Arab merchants and by the time the nineteenth century jihad took place, the religion speedily spread to many parts of the Northern Nigeria and gradually it penetrated into the Southern part of the country especially the Eastern region of the country.

However, it is worthy to note that “Islam is literary a whole way of life encompassing virtually everything and cannot be separated into spiritual and mundane”1. It is “a culture that transcends geo-political boundaries”2. Ismail R. al-Faruqi has noted that tawhid is the “essence and core of Islam and the first determining principle of Islam, its culture and civilization”. He went on to state that it is so because “tawhid is that which gives Islamic civilization it’s identify, which binds all its constituents together and makes of them an integral, organic body.”3 Hence, notwithstanding the location of the Igbo Muslims, they are still part of the Islamic Ummah.

While majority of the Muslim Ummah practice sound religious ideologies, the few extremists amongst them have often ignited the flame of religious conflicts across the country. For the Muslim fanatics, the whole system of nation-states and their administration are simply un-Islamic and should be pulled-down and replaced with what they would call an ‘Islamic State’4. The activities of this small percentage of Islamic fundamentalists in Nigeria always stepped-into any little potential conflict situation to unleash religious mayhem on Nigerians and the country at large. The wind of religious conflicts in Nigeria has been more recurrent in the North which is mainly dominated by the Hausa Muslims but its influence is felt in the Eastern region of the country in form of misperceptions.

This work shows that the post independence colonial conflicts in Nigeria has its root on the activities of the colonial masters which sowed the seed of discord amongst the different ethnic and religious groups that make up what we know today as Nigeria. Again, it outlined the examples of some years when religious conflict took place in the country starting from the 1980s. Consequently the work went on to show that constant religious violence in Nigeria which is often triggered by the extremist position of few Muslims has affected the socio-cultural, economic and psychological perception of Moslems in Igbo land.

Conceptual Framework

This work is centred on the psycho-cultural theory of conflict. The theory shows that psychological, religious and other cultural contradictions are the basis of conflict. Faleti5 argued that psycho-cultural conflicts take long to resolve. In this kind of conflict, passion for the protection of one’s identity, religion and culture overwhelms reason and inflames conflict behaviour. It is a theory which shows that conflict is generated by the quest to protect one’s identity. Faleti6 showed that “identity is an unshakeable sense of self worth, which makes life meaningful and includes the feeling that one is physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually safe”. Northrup7 showed that events which threaten to remove the feeling of ‘safety’ that are tied to different forms of identity usually lead to defensive reactions aimed at avoiding such spiritual and/or physical exposures. It is in the cause of such defensive and offensive reactions based on the protection of faith, that religious onslaughts are carried-out in Nigeria, which creates socio-cultural, economic and psychological implications for the adherents of the faiths involved in the conflict.

The Colonial Foundations and Growth of Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Nigeria

The growth of ethno-religious bigotry in the country has its foundation on the activities of the colonial masters. In 1861, the colonial lords annexed Lagos and continued to penetrate the Sokoto Caliphate. The colonial masters brought Christianity with them and gradually acculturated the ethnic groups that made up the present day country. They antagonized the religious doctrine on ground in the country. Hence, they presented African Traditional Religion as the act of idol worship, while at the same time imposing their Christian tenets on the Caliphate and other parts of what we know today as Nigeria using their strong gunboat.

However, when the colonialists began to implement their gunboat annexation of the North, the Western culture was imposed on the people’s traditional culture. Soon, the British in their quest to engage in maximum exploitation of the nation began to play one religious group against another, through ethnic-politics; as a means to maintain their clandestine ambition. The British continued to sow the seed of discord and disunity among Nigerians using their divide and rule policy. The colonially motivated land and native right ordinance of 1910 which was aimed at separating the northern ethnic groups from the southern counterparts discouraged the movement of southerners to the northern part of the country8.

Akinola9 showed that the polarization of the territories that became Nigeria actually began with the country’s creation and administration as two separate colonies, namely Northern Nigeria and Southern Nigeria. A somewhat romantic interest in the North, especially in the Sokoto Caliphate and its institutions seems to have induced the colonial administrators in the North to treat that colony as if it is special. Thus, every effort was made to advance its territorial and political interests vis-a-vis those of the South10.10

The immediate implication of the ordinance backed by the Muslims’ desire to confine themselves to an environment where their religious practices and obligations would not be influenced by the Christian culture gave birth to the rise of Sabon Gari patterns of settlement in Northern Nigeria. The North was also to become a proto-type “native” state operating its own indigenous institutions, while being protected from all external influences, especially Christian proselytizing and educational enterprises.

Even resident immigrants from Southern Nigeria were to be restricted to the Sabon Gari or foreign quarters11. Albert12 showed that in 1911, Sabon Gari was created in Kano which made it imperative that those coming from the Southern part of Nigeria would settle in that separated part of the city, different from where the Kanawa were settling. Gradually, the culture of establishing Sabon Gari residence area for those coming from Southern Nigeria spread like wild fire in all parts of Northern Nigeria. Albert13 went on to assert that whatever the case may be, the residential segregation of the Kanawa to the Southern Nigerian migrants engendered hostility between members of the two groups.

This hostility was intensified by two main factors; the first is the wide gap in the speed of development amongst most of the Sabon Gari areas when compared to the areas settled by the Kanawa. The second was the doctrinal and normative differences amongst the religion and culture of the two people. Most of the educated southerners that worked for the colonial government found themselves and their family members settling in this newly created settlement setting. They developed their economic potentials by engaging in many forms of small and medium scale enterprises which has been largely neglected by their host. Their business began to grow and flourish thereby generating ill-feelings amongst many of the host population that live in abject poverty. The fact that the settlers in Sabon Gari were prospering in their economic activities made them to pay little or no attention on the cultural and religious practises of their host. Usman and Bako14 while writing on the Yoruba people in Sabon Gari setting of Kano, stated that the “business interaction in Sabon Gari could not allow for a proper understanding of the sound cultural orientation of the Kanawa.

Equally in the Southern Nigeria, the Hausawa people who were initially living amongst the Yoruba people in pre-colonial times were soon resettled into the Sabo areas in line with the colonial policies of ethno-religious divide and rule. Falola15 has shown that in 1928, the Hausawa people who were living happily in the midst of the Yoruba, were ordered by Ooni Ademiluyi Ajagun to relocate to the Sabo quarters which was created for them, in line with the directives of the British resident in Oyo who instructed that the Ooni and Obas should resettle the Hausawa people in one place. Today, most part of the Yoruba land has the Sabo quarters here and there.

On the other hand, the Igbo people established Gariki for the Hausawa people to settle in different parts of Igbo land. This was an attempt in line with the colonial culture of the time to prevent the integration of the Hausawa linguistic and cultural group into the mainstream Igbo society. Linguistically, the word Gariki implies a place where livestock sleeps. Hence, the Gariki settlements in Igbo land could be seen in the light of a setting created for the Hausawa and Fulani cattle merchants to duck their livestock, while waiting for its subsequent purchase by the Igbo livestock traders and consumers. Today, Gariki and Ogbe Hausa (Hausa quarters) are found in almost every state of Igbo land.

Consequently, Nnoli16 has shown that the form of divide and rule administration that was instituted by the British, promoted not only their maximum exploitation of the Nigerian state but also the promotion of ethno-religious and cultural differences. Hamman17 argued that the British colonial policy fuelled and poisoned inter-ethnic relations amongst Nigerians. Thus, before the debut of independence, the colonial government have not only laid the foundation of religious conflict in Nigeria, but it had also created permanent mistrust and suspicion amongst the different people and ethno-religious groups in Nigeria. It was that mistrust and misconceptions that often created the conflict situations, which explodes into religious violence.

Towns that have experienced some of the notable religious conflicts in the post-independence era include; Maitatsine riots in Bulumkutu (1982); Maitatsine riots in Jimeta (1984); Kano(Maitatsine-1980,1982, 1987, 1990, 1995) Maitatsine riots in Gombe (1985,1991); Illorin religious conflict (1986); Jalingo (1992, 2009); Shagamu (1999); Kafanchan (1987); Tafawa Balewa (1991, 1995,2001); Zangon-Kataf (1992); Tiv-Jukun and Tiv-Kuteb (1992-93); Potiskum (1994, 2009) Kuteb-Chamba (1997-1998); Igbirra-Bassa (1986-2000);Moon-Eclipse crisis in Borno (1996); Kaduna (Maitatsine riots in Rigassa 1982, 1992, 2000) Tiv and Others in Nassarawa (2001); Jos (1994,2000, 2001-2003,2008, 2009,2010); Ikulu-Bajju (2001); Yelwa-Shandam (2002,2004); Mangu-Bokkos (1992-1995); Bukuru-Gyero (1997); Maiduguri (2006,2009) Iggah-Oyikwa (2002); Kano(2004); Numan (2004); Azare (2001); Bauchi (2010); Ibadan(2010), Wukari (2010).

Perception of Religious Conflict’s Impact on the Igbo Man and Counter-Reactions

Many of the Igbo people, especially those living in the Northern parts of Nigeria believe that religious conflicts are primarily targeted at them. Ode18 John has done a study which presented the argument on how ethno-religious conflict affects the Igbo man in the Nigerian nation. In his book C.A.N. My Foot: The Reckless Utterance of a Wilful President, he described the sorry plight of the Igbo people in Nigeria; each time ethnicity, power politics and religious frenzy combines to set a part of the country ablaze. He argued that in Nigeria, if a religious conflict starts anywhere, the Igbo man will in one way or the other be made to bear an extra portion of the brunt of the conflict. If he manages to escape alive, his petrol station, his shop and his home will be burnt down or his life and all of them will go. He argued that if a strong wind tears the pages of the Holy Koran apart and carries them away in Kano, Kaduna or Bauchi, it is the Igbo man that has desecrated the holy book. If they manage to escape alive, their petrol stations, their Churches, their shops and their homes will be burnt down or their lives and all of them will go.

In addition, Ode gave many examples to substantiate his argument. In one of them, he documented that on December 26, 1994, Gideon Akaluka, an Igbo trader from Ikeduru in Imo State was treated with the rough edge of the Islamist fanaticism/conflict and that put a sudden end to his life and dreams. On that day, some radicalized Muslims claimed that Akaluka desecrated the Holy Koran, hence they beheaded him and paraded his head on a stake round the streets of Kano as a show of their religious brevity, religious zeal, defence of the Ultimate Being and a possible triumph of their brand of “Almighty Being” over the ‘Satanic’ life of an ‘infidel’. Later, when his headless body had been committed to an unexpected perpetual rest in the grave, it was found that Akaluka, who was in his shop at the time of the incident, had no knowledge of the alleged crime.

Others would say that the Igbo people and Christians at large would not forget the loss of their properties and loved ones who refused to be converted into the boko haram brand of Islamism during the 2009 activities of the Nigerian Taliban in Maiduguri, Borno State. The inhuman domestic terrorism in Jos, Plateau State in 2010 led to the massive loss of properties for the Igbo men as hoodlums had field days looting their businesses. However, the other side of the coin is that many non Igbo people, even those that could be described as pious Muslims were equally killed in any of these conflicts.

The effect of such negative conflicts was the retaliatory killings in Igbo land due to the uncalled-for religious conflict in the North. There have been conflicts in many communities in Igbo land between the farm-owners and the Fulani nomads, which led to the death of sedentary farmers, due to the increasing anger over the killing of Igbo people during conflicts in the North19. History would not forget easily how hundreds of lives were lost in the conflict that engulfed Aba, Abia state in February 2001 that led to the death of many Hausa Moslems, businessmen, civil servants and other innocent Nigerians. There were equally attacks on Hausa people in some parts of Igbo land in 2006 following the February 18 Maiduguri conflict forcing the State Governors in Eastern Nigeria to station armoured cars at Ogbe Hausa and Gariki areas of Igbo land.

The implication of this religious-based misperception is the increasing reinforcement of the ‘indigene’ -‘settler’ conflict in the country. The religious undertone of this form of conflict manifests its most dangerous part as the flames of destruction, which it ignites that is difficult for individuals and security institution to quench. It equally reveals how Nigerians are continuously setting the proverbial house called Nigeria on fire just to attain their selfish-religious dominance in a country with the greater percentage of the population are sparsely distributed across Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion.

Socio-Cultural and Psychological Perceptions of Moslems in Igbo Land

However, in this part of the work, I wish to deviate from the religious micro-nationalism that exposes the threat meted on the Igbo man from the twin-effect of ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria, as it is more emotional than religious. But the neglected part of the argument is that recurrent religious crisis in the Northern parts of the country has negatively affected the perception and growth of Islam in Eastern Nigeria. “Perception is the way an individual sees a particular phenomenon. It is an individual view-point that can be influenced by other variable”20. Folarin has shown that “perception depends on complex set of variables such as psychological disposition, past experience, cultural expectations and social relationships”21. It is this socio-cultural influenced perception that creates what Lippman called ‘the picture in our heads’.22 Many of the inhabitants of Eastern Nigeria perceive and believe that the Northern faithful of the Islamic religion easily falls on religion to unleash mayhem on the society and that affects how they see Muslims amongst them in communities where there are few adherents of the religion.

There is equally the idea that those who practice the religion tends to be easily radicalized by terror groups. “Apologists of a reformed Islam would however reject that there is any such trouble between ‘Islam and others’ but they cannot and had so far been woefully unable to stop the calls for reforming and modernizing Islam and facing the accusations of terrorism or tendency to violence in Islam”23. These accusations or stereotype of terrorism and tendency to violence in Islam is equally high in the Christian perception of their Muslim neighbours in Igbo land. There is increasing fear that one day, the Muslims in the Eastern region could become easily radicalized and begin to behave like the sons of religious violence in the North. This is a very bad perception and unhealthy stereotype for a religion that connotes peace. Kombol24 wrote that “stereotype has far reaching effects in the wider society,” while others believe that stereotypes are explanations and shared beliefs of a group. Historians are of the opinion that stereotype springs from past events.25 The past events that cause this unholy stereotype on Islamic religion in Igbo land, remain no other thing than, the speed with which religious violence is unleashed on the society in different parts of Northern Nigeria.

Again, the most popular aspect of the perception is the argument by businessmen that when some people want to loot the economic wealth of others, they would ignite ethno-religious conflict in the North in other to create an opportunity to steal people’s resources. They even go to the level of creating unnecessary stereotype upon the adherents of the Islamic religion in Eastern Nigeria. Many Christians would simply not want to buy anything from both the Muslim Igbo men and their Hausa counter-parts partly because of their fanatical religious position and partly because of the anger over the destruction of the businesses of Igbo men during religious crisis in the North. On the other hand, the Igbo Muslims perceive their Hausa brethren as honest due to their idea that business interests (riba) are determined by Allah (SWT). In Islam, “interest is generally understood to mean any return for the use of money”26. There is equally the increasing societal belief that rich Igbo Muslims joined the faith in other to use it as an avenue to dupe the rich Moslem Alhaji from the Northern part of the country. Such people are called Ndi Oyiri in Nkanu land meaning people who have failed and are trying to use religion to cover-it up.

In the socio-cultural aspects, the male Muslims that fell in love with Christian ladies are denied the chance of such marriage because of their Islamic religious faith, by some members of one kindred but the same members of the kindred do not ban a Christian lady from marrying a Traditionalist. Again, the Muslims are not invited to some traditional programs that they are meant to attend under the false excuse that there would be alcoholic drinks there, while in other cases when they try to fulfil their traditional responsibilities especially in burial ceremonies, one would easily see a villagers coming to tempt them by giving them palm wine to drink. At times it is done ignorantly while in other cases it is done to generate social satire and ridicule. This is heavily obtainable in environments where there are a few number of Muslims however, even in the communities like Afikpo, Okposi and Oguta etc where there are large population of Muslims, they tends to avoid rituals that go with libations.

This negative stereotype is reinforced by many Igbo people who live(d) under the same stereotype in different parts of Northern Nigeria, where they are called nyamiri an Hausa nickname for the Igbo, coined from nyem miri or give me water27. The Igbo are equally “described as blood-cuddling grabbers, adventurous and hardworking. Sometimes the Igbo are satirized as mean, cunning, unreliable and nauseatingly arrogant”28. Today, some of the people that have returned with such stereotype in turn describe the Hausa as people who always squats. They go further to call all Muslims in Igbo land Ndi Uka Alakuba (the disciples of Allah Ah Kubar Church) and Ndi na-ebu Ishi Ani (those who hits their heads on the ground).

These stereotypes are merely cognitive constructs29. Cognition is a general term that we give to mental activities such as remembering, forming concepts, using language or attending to things.30 It involves looking at how information that has been received through the senses are perceived, interpreted, understood, how they are represented or coded in our minds and how they are stored and retrieved for use in the future31. Psychologists are of the opinion that stereotypes are formed partly, through the process of categorization and out-group homogeneity.32

Conclusion

Steele33 showed that perception and stereotype-threat are far reaching and affects persons or groups about whom there exist negative stereotype, especially when circumstances makes them think that they would be judged by the negative stereotype. Many Muslims in Igbo land experience varying levels of socio-cultural and economic stereotype-threat, depending on their community, culture and percentage of Muslim adherents in the area. It is these forms of stereotypes, which is in vogue in different parts of the country that is fuelling the embers of religious violence and chauvinism in every facet of the Nigerian life. Today, the growth of religion, which should naturally spring up from the inalienable rights of man to worship God, is now suffering under the burden of stereotype in parts of the country.

Ani34 has agitated for the learning of inter-religious socialization as a peace education subject for lifelong education that would promote peace in the country. While shaping, which is the use of judicious selective reinforcement to bring some desirable changes has been advocated35, I would recommend reshaping as a way of correcting this wrong perception in the society. Promotion of faith-based peace-building by all the peace guarantors36 would promote sustainable religious peace across the country. The peace guarantors which include the government, civil society groups, traditional and religious institutions, private sector and business community and the media needs to work towards reducing the increasing misperceptions and stereotypes that reinforces religious conflicts while aborting national peace. There is need for our brothers and sisters in all corners of the country who fan the embers of religious violence in many parts of Nigeria to know that it is affecting the rights and perception of other Nigerians in different parts of the country to worship their God freely.

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