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Religious extremism and the Nigerian state

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Nigeria is a multi-religious nation with  diverse people practicing three main religions-Islam, Christianity and the traditional African religion as a way of worship. Unfortunately, religion today in Nigeria has become a tool or weapon for formenting trouble as a result of the views of narrow-minded people who in the name of carrying out their religious obligation, have resorted to violence which contradicts both the religious and cultural principles which the society is known for. HOSEA NYAMLONG writes.

 

THE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, it defines religious extremism as a longstanding phenomenon that manifest in different forms. It is a concept which has been viewed as a high sense of ideological commitment that is expressed through certain actions that shows deep loyalty to a belief system, it includes practices characterize and define rituals and customs of many religious groups.

Some of the characteristic features of religious extremism include isolation, evangelizing to non members, maliciousness, criminalization and elimination of recalcitrant persons or those considered to be enemies or pagans.

Although non-members consider the behavioural patterns or actions of a religious group as extremist, religious extremism has been seen as the quest to enlarge the space of religious doctrine.

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani education advocator and the winner of the Noble Peace Prize said that, “religious extremism is a behavior, an attitude or belief outside the norm of religious belief, practices. Often, this extremism can manifest itself in the form of violence or the creation of smaller groups, cults.

Religious extremism is present in all religions. Ikenna Umeanolue and Kanayo Nwadialor alluded to the fact that, religious extremism is a global issue that raises questions and tension in many countries. In Nigeria, it is a known fact that religion has been abused in many ways, especially among those who consider themselves as custodians and defenders of religious values and faith.

Apparently, the trend of violence in Nigeria today requires urgent and thorough measures to curb the activities of the extremists who use religion as a shield either for political or economic agenda to manipulate  their gullible followers in order to impose their ideology on them.

Silber and Bhatt from the researchgate have both described religious extremism as “process of being extreme which begins with an openness to a new thought (eg in religion), that lends to  process the world views, change the adoption of extreme belief and norms which also enhanced indoctrination process operated by an extreme organization.”

Again, religious extremism can therefore be as an ultimate end in the expression of violence by the actors. To this end, religious extremism in Nigeria has led to violent conflicts resulting in destruction of lives and property with varying degree of physical and psychological damages to the citizens across the conflict regions of the country.

Religious extremism is the major derivation of terrorism in  contemporary Nigeria today which has led to upsurge of violent religious movement that has in recent times gradually metamorphosed into all forms of terrorism thereby, causing intolerance and crises within the geo-political  spectrum of the nation this has given birth to the Boko Haram insurgency and whose primary objective is to establish an Islamic state and strict Islamic Sharia law in Nigeria while its secondary mission is the wider imposition of Islamic rule beyond Nigeria.

Since 2009, Nigeria has been in the grip of violence by Islamic extremist sects which at least had claimed the lives of over 350,000 people across Northern Nigeria and hundreds of thousand of people displaced from their ancestral homes and more than 310,000 estimated numbers of Nigerian refugees as a result of Boko Haram activities over the years.

According to foreign policy experts, the Boko Haram group’s attacks and kidnapping of citizens including students and pupils seem to have overwhelmed security agencies. The fear now is that Boko Haram operations in the North-East, North-West and North Central could eventually lead to a deep humanitarian crises.

Nigeria’s school children kidnappings have become a key security challenge to the students in various schools within the North-East. It is on record  that 276 school girls from Chibok in Borno  State in 2014 were abducted by Boko Haram which became a motivational factor that led to over one hundred and ten female students from Government Girls Technical College, Dapchi in Yobe State were also abducted by the Boko Haram on February 19, 2018, while on February 17, 2021, twenty seven boys and their teachers from Government Science College in Kagara in Niger State were also kidnapped.

Similarly, over 300 female students from Government Girls Junior Secondary School, Jangebe in Zamfara State were abducted by Boko Haram on February 26, 2021.Therefor another abduction of school pupils and their teachers from Universal Basic Education (UBE), Primary School in Rama, a village in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

Students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, Afaka, Kaduna State were also kidnapped by gunmen while the criminals placed a ransom  tag on over thirty nine students, demanding ransom  including host of other students kidnapped across the country.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly deliberated on the human rights violations, abuses and atrocities committed by Boko Haram group over the years in Nigeria and have called for concerted efforts in dealing with the ugly trend which has subjected women and girls to wide spread and severe forms of abuses, including sexual slavery, sex violence, forced marriages, forced pregnancies and forced conversions. According to the UN, the group justifies the role of women and girls in society. And this could be seen in a video message by the Boko Haram, claiming responsibility for the abduction of Chibok girls, with Shekau declaring that God instructed him to sell them, they are property and “I will carry out his instruction”.

Sadly, many young girls were married off to fighters and the older women are forced as cooks and cleaners, numerous women and girls reportedly giving birth in extremely difficult conditions, while some of the women die in the process.

It is worrisome that children aged between 6 to 15 years who had been abducted were forced to use guns and armoured vehicles to attack their own families to demonstrate their loyalty to Boko Haram.

Meanwhile, Boko Haram has been reported to have targeted civilians as soft targets which are supposed to be protected under international law including schools, mosques, churches, prisons, hospitals and markets but have been destroyed including contaminating water installations, dams, rivers etc.

In Nigeria, in most villages recaptured by the Nigerian military force, it has been observed that all social amenities and infrastructure have reportedly been destroyed. The education authorities in various states in the country reported that over 338 schools have been damaged or destroyed to date.

The destruction of property by Boko Haram is a systematic way of looting homes during attacks. These practices were adopted by the group as a fighting tactics to gain control over territory and to also prevent escapes from returning to their ancestral land. It has equally been reported that after attacks in some villages in the North-East, some of the Boko Haram fighters have appropriated and taken over homes and they stole their possessions and food, example in Baga, Borno State.

On the other hand, it is important to note that religion is the belief in God and worship through a devotion that inculcates fear of God, peace, love and good moral life in people in the society. The fear of God and peace are necessary conditions that provide the well being of the citizens and their environment that is free from any form of violence. Religious extremism is a new threat to Nigeria and the world at large. The place of religion in Nigeria cannot be underestimated because religion is an integral part of peace, unity, moral reformation and social change. This is regardless to the fact that religion has been misused by some individuals, groups of people in the society.

In view of the perennial religious tension between the two dominant religion in Nigeria today, Christianity and Islam, there has been a sustained culture of mutual suspicion and unhealthy rivalry between them that has brought about religious violence largely to the detriment of socio-economic, political development of the country.

The Nigerian Constitution as amended, Section 38 (1) and 10 which has guaranteed freedom of religion and prohibits the declaration of state religion which has done little to attenuate the frequency of religious conflicts as state patronage and veneration of the two dominant regious groups.

Government in her efforts to stop the activities of the religious extremist, like Boko Haram in the country, but on a daily bases, attacks are being meted on innocent citizens of Nigeria which has been persistent.

Perhaps it is now apt for government at all levels to set up religious committees made up of religious leaders and intellectuals from the major religious groups in the country with representation from the federal, state and local government that would serve as regulatory body to all religious activities in the country. Government should encourage the teaching of genuine dialogue at all levels of education and spiritual leaders should teach people with sincerity that they should always tolerate and respect others religion.

Religious leaders should also learn to tolerate and respect others’ faith and accept them as part of the reality of life while security measures should be improved in order to maintain a safe and secure Nigeria where lives and property of citizens and their well being can be enhanced.

Improvement of education and religious awareness would help to reduce the number of illiterate people in our society, so government should establish special units, organs that would maintain an equal rights to all ethnic groups, religions that solution of disagreements that may arise within and religious or ethnic group. The unlimited states institute of peace affirmed that religious leaders should strive to counter extremist violence should adopt that government should be very proactive to nip in the bud before religious violence erupts.

It is also advisable and expedient for government to note that it should not rely on the use of military force to proffer solutions to violent extremism; rather religious leaders have the important role to play in preventing radicalization and violent extremism at the early stages. It would be proper to engage religious leaders at the beginning, indentifying the root causes of problems that have religious connotation.

Government should understand that religious leaders can use education, information in many ways to counter violent extremism among members by promoting peace and tolerance through a corrective interpretations, formal and informal religious preaching’s.

Helping religious leaders to leverage various means to educate its members through means of mass media to amplify voices and counter narrative and to also encourage critical thinking among people. Government should respect the complexity within each religious community, in this context and to recognize the strategy to combat violent extremism from its roots.

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