Urban blight and religious uprising in Northern Nigeria

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In recent years a number of urban centres in the predominantly Muslim parts of northern Nigeria have experienced religious uprisings. These revolts have led to enormous loss of life, destruction of property estimated in millions of Naira and to the rendering of thousands of people homeless. Between 1980 and 1985, five such eruptions have been witnessed, namely, at: Yan-Awaki, Kano in December 1980; Bulumkuttu, Maiduguri in October 1982; Rigasa, Kaduna in November 1982; Doubeli, Yola in February 1984; and at Herwa Gana/Pantami, Gombe in April and May 1985 (Fig. 1). These series of revolts were christened Maitatsine uprisings after Muhammadu Marwa Maitatsine, the religious fanatic who led the first revolt in Kano and who was presumed to be the spiritual leader of an Islamic millenarian cult with substantial following all over northern Nigeria and in neighbouring West and Central African countries. A number of pertinent questions have been raised in connection with the Maitatsine phenomenon. Who was Muhammadu Maitatsine? Who were his followers? How was he able to recruit, train and arm these insurgents? What is the religious basis of the rebellion? Why did the revolt erupt in the urban centres in northern Nigeria and nowhere else? How did the social conditions in these cities aid the growth of the Maitatsine movement? What part did the physical conditions in these cities play in facilitating these uprisings? In each case of uprising the government set up a commission of inquiry for the purpose of: (a) determining the immediate and remote causes of the disturbance; (b) assessing the extent of damage done to human life and property as a result of the uprising; (c) examining the nature of the revolt, background of the insurgents and their aims and objectives; (d) recommending to the government, short term and long term action to be taken to prevent future occurrence of similar revolts. The finding of two of the commissions of inquiry have since been published (Aniagolu, 1981; El Bedawy, 1982) and the government has issued white papers to implement some of their recommendations. In respect of the remaining revolts, copious information is available to the public through newspapers and radio reports of the proceedings of the panels of inquiry. However, the findings and recommendations of the panels still remain “classified information”. Nevertheless it is obvious that little or no attempt was made to investigate the