Abstract
Located within a broad appraisal of Nigeria’s nascent democracy, this paper examined the roots and triggers of radical Islam and religious extremism in Northern Nigeria. It also investigated its implication in the region through the lenses of religion and politics. Since 1804, a tradition of jihadist Islam in the north, introduced by Sheikh Uthman dan Fodio, has shaped not only the politics of the region but has festered into modern-day insurgency. This radicalism enthroned an intolerant, anti-Western and violent Islamic ideology used against minorities within and against other religions, ethno-regional groups, and political blocs in Nigeria. What exactly are the triggers of religious violence in today’s Northern Nigeria? Furthermore, if any, what are the implications for this region? Drawing on archival materials and secondary sources, findings reveal deep-seated, anti-southern sentiments in the north, complicated by religious, cultural, and economic suspicions, whipped up at political intersections. Evidence also indicates significant leadership failures. This internal complexity holds back Northern Nigeria’s overall economic and social modernisation pace. This paper recommends state-sponsored awareness campaigns that emphasise diversity, integration and unity. To overcome insurgency, politics must deliver dividends of democracy to all. Governance must become a means to economic ends and not an end in itself.
Highlights
Northern Nigeria is resource-rich but politically volatile and economically depressed (Hoffmann 2013)
This review looked at the nexus of religion and politics in northern Nigeria
We argue that the ethnoreligious crisis that erupted shortly after 1999 is symptomatic of the character and politics of the Nigerian state
Summary
Northern Nigeria is resource-rich but politically volatile and economically depressed (Hoffmann 2013). Extremist groups and militant insurgents have caused immense destruction of lives and properties across the region. Boko Haram—an Islamic fundamentalist group formed in 2009—has transmuted into the most devastating threat to national security in Nigeria. According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (2018), Boko Haram insurgency has claimed the lives of over a million people, displacing nearly 3.3 million inhabitants of the Lake Chad Basin, and dislocating over 2.5 million persons across north-eastern Nigeria. The connectedness of today’s globalised world has allowed local extremists groups such as Boko Haram to graft themselves into universalised debates on Muslim resistance to Western hegemony (Crisis Group 2016). Conflict-induced food insecurity, limited access to basic amenities, a fragile economy and environmental challenges threaten the stability of the region and its people, and challenge the integrity of the Nigerian state
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