An Assessment of Religious Threats to Security and Survival of Democracy in Nigeria: A Case Study of the Incessant Killings of Igbos in Some Selected Northern States

Abstract

AbstractReligious threats continue to pose a real threat to security and survival of the nascent democracy in Nigeria, especially with the widespread and incessant killings of Igbos in some selected Northern States. Bombs explode regularly, killing huge numbers of people, especially at crowded squares in these states. Igbos who, dominate the Northern commercial landscape, have in their large numbers have been one of the worst hit. And one of the more notorious groups, the Boko Haram, the ultraviolent Islamic militant group that condemns western education, has always accepted responsibility for the killings. Their unwholesome activities which, have been impacting negatively on the various segments of society; creating the psychological basis for arbitrariness are compounded by the intense use of State authority by an effective minority of the Northern extraction to cover up and dismiss these detestable killings and abuses as being only the maturation of long festering extremist impulses that run deep in the social reality of Northern Nigeria, while doing nothing to halt the incessant atrocities against Igbos, as if they are responsible for the decades of failed government and elite delinquency finally ripening into social chaos therein. Thus, the main thrust of this paper is to assess religious threats to security and democracy in Nigeria with special focus on the incessant killings of Igbos. To achieve the purpose of this study, four research hypotheses and two theories, the Strain and differential association theories are used as theoretical framework to guide the study. Literatures related to the variables are reviewed including the adoption of the survey research and the construction of a four-point Likert type questionnaire to elicit information from a total of 290 respondents who constituted the data for the research. To test the hypotheses, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis Statistical technique was employed. The findings show among others that the group, Boko Haram itself, is an effect and not a cause; a symptom of decades of failed government and elite delinquency in Northern Nigeria and queries the rationale why Igbos should be sacrificed to correct the failings of the Northern elite. In addition, the paper also finds out that religious threat is a clog to the corporate existence of Nigeria despite democratization. As a result, this study recommends that the Federal Government should brace up to whatever are the grievances of the Boko Haram with a view to seeing how its members can be persuaded to renounce their warring posture, allow peace to reign in order to save the country's nascent democracy. Finally, the paper concludes that since Nigeria is a pluralist society, the Government through the mass media should enlighten the people on the essence of peaceful co-existence so as to engender national integration and save the country's nascent democracy.