Analysis: Is Nigeria heading for a second Civil War?

– Nigeria is in the midst of ethno-religious crisis that threatens its peaceful co-existence

– But can the country afford another Civil War?

The gruesome clashes among Nigeria’s disparate ethno-religious groups have become a nightmare that haunts the country. They constitute a threat to its peaceful co-existence and can only lead to one predictable end–another war reminiscent of the Civil War. Sadly, the political elite seemed powerless or at best complicit in the face of deadly clashes that have left thousands of people dead or displaced and properties destroyed in recent years.

No tears for Ibinabo The clashes that have gripped the entire nation are the direct consequences of the deep divisions in hitherto peaceful communities. In recent years, it has become a common phenomenon to see two or more warring ethnic groups that have co-existed for centuries suddenly at daggers drawn.

The causes of the disagreements which usually range from differences over land, borders dispute, allocation of natural resources, kinship issues or farmland matters would gradually degenerate into a fratricidal war among groups who had once share a lot in common and even inter-married.

In the years gone by, such disagreements are usually arbitrated at family or traditional institution level. Not anymore, today we have seen how disputes among neighboring ethnic groups will spiral into an all-out war with sophisticated weapons used to inflict the maximum damage of genocidal proportions.

It’s a tragedy. In many cases, the dispute would become a political tool to be used for personal and group agenda by those who seek to profit from the conflicts that have engulfed an entire nation.

The scenarios of attacks are all too familiar. In the middle of the night, marauding ethnic warlords armed with dangerous weapons-machetes, guns, bow and arrow, charms will lay siege on the opposing village or town killing and maiming defenseless people in their sleep. Children are not spared as they are beheaded, pregnant women ripped off their babies.

The atrocities committed by warring ethnic groups in the country are worse than worst genocide in places like Rwanda where an ethnic cleansing between Tutsi and Hutu rebels left close to a million dead within weeks of its outbreak in 1994. In Nigeria, ongoing clashes among ethnic groups continue to wreck human havoc on the polity.

These clashes have left a deep scar on Nigeria psyche and caused deep division among otherwise peaceful communities.

Ethnic and religious issues form part of the most recurring phenomena in Nigeria’s body politics. The issue has permeated the nation’s political land scape since the colonial period and up till the present time.

There seems to be no solution in sight to the accompanying conflicts of ethnic rivalry and religious intolerance. The dominant and minority ethnic groups treat each other with suspicion and the different religious world view clash at the slightest provocation.

Peace and security have eluded this country from the machinations of the British in the amalgamation theory of 1914 where peoples having differences in every aspects of life, were forced together to satisfy British administrative conveniences. What many Nigerians have called the mistake of 1914 has been blamed as the bedrock of ethno-religious conflicts bedeviling this nation.

Rival ethnic groups pitched against each other in a fight for power and resources engage in bloody ethnic cleansing relentlessly.

During the years before Independence, British aware of the dangers, began constitutional changes which culminated in the Richards Constitution which were designed “to promote the unity of Nigeria, to provide adequately within that unity for the diverse elements which make up the country”.

The plethora of constitutional conferences organized after independence which were meant to address the question of an acceptable system of co-existence has been contentious. However, post-Independence military era seemed to have suppressed the discontent of a lopsided nationhood.

But the religious aspect of the debacle continued to resurface with successive military administrations. The military era lasted for most of the country’s post-independence years between 1966-1979 and 1983-1999 repressing these ethno-nationalist tendencies and maintaining the unity of the country.

However, the bottled-up discontents associated with ethno-religion in Nigeria exploded with the return of constitutional democracy in 1999, intently throwing up issues beyond the capacities of the civil government.

This circumstances, invariably threatened the peace, security and survival of the country’s long awaited democracy and its corporate existence. Consequently, government not wanting to be seen as weak, adopted condemnable authoritarian use of massive force to deal with this problem.

But it seemed the more the fire of ethno-religious is being doused, the more inflammable it has become. In Jos since 2001, ethnic clashes over cattle grazing and control of farmlands have pitched the indigenous ethnic Christian Berom people against the the Hausa-Fulani population.

In sustained attacks on communities such as Riyom and Barkin Ladi, entire families have been wiped out in some instances, with attacks occurring daily on homes, in fields and on roads. Farms are looted, homes burnt, grain stores destroyed and crops cut down, depriving survivors of shelter, sustenance and income.

Rival ethnic groups pitched against each other in a fight for power and resources engage in bloody ethnic cleansing relentlessly. During the years before Independence, British aware of the dangers, began constitutional changes which culminated in the Richards Constitution which were designed “to promote the unity of Nigeria, to provide adequately within that unity for the diverse elements which make up the country”.

The plethora of constitutional conferences organized after independence which were meant to address the question of an acceptable system of co-existence has been contentious. However, post-Independence military era seemed to have suppressed the discontent of a lopsided nationhood. But the religious aspect of the debacle continued to resurface with successive military administrations.

The military era lasted for most of the country’s post-independence years between 1966-1979 and 1983-1999 repressing these ethno-nationalist tendencies and maintaining the unity of the country. However, the bottled-up discontents associated with ethno-religion in Nigeria exploded with the return of constitutional democracy in 1999, intently throwing up issues beyond the capacities of the civil government.

This circumstances, invariably threatened the peace, security and survival of the country’s long awaited democracy and its corporate existence. Consequently, government not wanting to be seen as weak, adopted condemnable authoritarian use of massive force to deal with this problem.

But it seemed the more the fire of ethno-religious is being doused, the more inflammable it has become. In Jos since 2001, ethnic clashes over cattle grazing and control of farmlands have pitched the indigenous ethnic Christian Berom people against the the Hausa-Fulani population.

In sustained attacks on communities such as Riyom and Barkin Ladi, entire families have been wiped out in some instances, with attacks occurring daily on homes, in fields and on roads. Farms are looted, homes burnt, grain stores destroyed and crops cut down, depriving survivors of shelter, sustenance and income.