THE POLITICIZATION OF RELIGION IN NORTHERN NIGERIA AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE NIGERIA FEDERALISM
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Rev. Fr. Mathew Hassan Kukah, a Northern Christian from Kaduna State and former General Secretary of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria expressed rude chock on the politicization of religion in Northern Nigeria where yon have Christians and animists, although in the minority he said:
What worries me about this whole issue of Sharia in Northern Nigeria is that politicians now preach it instead of the council of ulamaa1.
He cautioned however that such politicians were playing with a under-box which he contended was tantamount to a dangerous game with grave consequences not only on the Northern part of the country but the entire nation.
Rev. F. R. Kukah argued further (hat. the issue of religions politics and the conflict it engender was not a battle between Christians and Muslims but a conflict generated by certain political figures to score their political goals.
In his book, Religious, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria, the legacy of the Sokoto Jihad, religion as a factor in the Northern hegemony and the political implications of" the Sharia question among other lie contended that the issue of religion in Northern Nigerian is to maximize its age-long method of political intrigues and manipulation with a view to displacing (lie challenges within and without the North to interest.
He said:
In view of new political developments over which they had no control, the ruling class sought means to negotiate its way by using religion as a means of retaining its claims to being (lie legatees of" the Kaduna and defender of Islam and the North.
Reaching to the furore generated due to the introduction of the Sharia legal system from a positive prism, Sani Mustapha says that the essence was for the upliftment of humanity and also for the eradication of corruption, bigotry and indepedences.
However, Adeleye agues that the Jihad of Usman dan Fodio (195-1-1817), the Fulani scholar who founded the Sokoto caliphate has been the local point of the history of Islam in-Nigeria, but the undue emphasis on the centrality and dominance has a source of consternation among other Muslims, Christians and scholar in what made up the former northern Nigeria.
The Protagonists have argued that a monolithic view of Islam in the Northern states has been the reflection from the outsiders' mirror of ignorance and secondly that the greatest threat to political, social and spiritual stability in the northern slates lies, not, with non-Muslims, but with the ideological contractions among the new elite within the area.
Alhaji Isa Kalta in an interview summed up the issue of religious, politics or politicization of religion thus:
When politics came, in view of what. Was happening the whole country, we were all conscripted into politics (o fight for the North and to defend her interests against South domination.
The implication of Kaita's standpoint is that. The politicization of in the North was a unifying force to unite the North and position it for political struggle with the south.
It was in the light of 'the above that Alhaji Ribadu, then Vice President of Northern peoples Congress (NPC) warned that "(here will he bloodshed if anyone tries to divided the North”
Sir Kaishim Ibrahim (former premier of North East Nigeria) saw the Sardauna's new Jihad as being more political than religions while Paul Unongo a non-Muslim and political activist (from the middle Hell Region) of thus period argued that whatever may have been (lie gains of the conversions, they were no! north (lie resentment they caused in Northern Nigeria among its diverse peoples.
Sheikh Abubakar Gummi, (irand Khadi of Northern Nigeria contended that although the issue of politicizing religion in the name of unitifying the North through Sharia is a good Omen but that tin' issue had sowed seeds of division in an erstwhile brittle party.
In his book A Dangerous Awakening: The Politicization of Religion in Nigeria, Iheanyi M. Enwerem described the issue with the words of William Shakespear in Macbeth when lie wrote: "Methought I heard n voice cry 'sleep no more', Macbeth does murder sleep'-the innocent sleep" (Macbeth, Act II, Scene II).
The implication of Enweren quotation of the work of Shakespeare is that the introduction of an emotive issue like religion into Nigeria politics he it in a part of the federation or in the entirely of (lie federation was comparable to murdering sleep or causing the trouble dial will not make the nation to know peace like other nations in the same fate like Indonesia, Checkhnya, Egypt. Algeria, to mention but a few.
Rev. Fr. Kukah again in his book, Religion Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria, argued that people say many things about the separatibility of religion and politics, lie said:
There is a lot said today about separation of religion from politics. But this should not make us forget the fact that. for most. of human history, politics and religion have gone hand in hand.
He further said that the frightening dimension of the present situation is because of (lie complexities and the inadequacy of simplistic solutions and end up by saying that the "religious question" has become a part of the larger" national question.
S. A. Idahosa and , J.O. Agbabowa, "Nigerian Federation: A myth or A Reality” N. R. F. Olared” Nigerian Political System:
Input, Output and environment traced the problem of the National Question especially the religions question to the British colonialists unilateral decision to unite the North and Southern protectorates today. Administered them differently undermining their diverse ethnic backgrounds, religious, religious inclinations, cultural activities arid historical genealogies. As good as their analysis is, it falls short of the fact that there exist oilier nation-stales with the same characteristics that. have been able to maintain secularism without any problem of religion coming to the national force.
Enwerem (1995) argued that the problem of the politicization of religion in Northern Nigeria in particular and the entire nation is that, it goes with intolerance and violence making both Northerners who are Christians, and those who are Muslims and non-Muslims from other parts of the country to feel unsaved in their country and denied of political and economic empowerment. lie stressed that the spirit of. unity in diversity was a characteristic of African traditional beliefs with (lie philosophy of tolerance - a live and let live principle11.
Religion therefore from (lie perspective of Enwerem has always been important to (lie people of Nigeria and has been playing important role in their lives prior to the advent of the foreign religions, Islam and Christianity. In support of the standpoint, preacher of the politicization of religion or religious politics should not forget their origin and roots especially the tolerance that characterized our traditional beliefs and the unity in diversity.
It, is in line with the Observation of Enwerem that, Obaro Ikime (1986) says:
Among Nigeria's multiganous peoples religion was inextricably mixed with government, the ritual performed by the Yoruba and Benin Obas, the Sarakuna of Hausa land, the Okpara, Obi or Eze of the Igbo, the Amakosuwei of Amayanabo of the Urhobo and Isoko etc. were an essential ingredient in the maintenance of political order and .stability and promotion of the peoples moral code.
It can lie deciphered from the above that religion was on effective machinery in the hands of the traditional institutions to promote uncial harmony and social engineering not divisions and social discontent as it is with religions politics.
Ibrahim Soluman says that the basis of the Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio was the establishment of an Islamic state based on the Sharia. He agued that the Jihad was however meant:
... To make the word of Allah supreme, to bring unbelief and tyranny lo naught, to bring dignity and honor lo Muslims and to save them from (lie humiliation of having to live under the influence of an unislamic power.
From the argument of Suleman, it is discovered that the root cause of politicization of religion is traceable to Usman Dan Fodio. This is because even in places were Islam was already well established (like the Kanem-Bornu Empire) were dethroned by Dan Fodio's Jihad and new leaders/rulers who were puppeis or stooges to the emerging Sokoto Caliphate wore used to replace them. The policitization of religion in Northern Nigeria was carried on to its zenith in contemporary
Nigeria by the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello in a hid to position the entire North as a political force in the political power configuration in Nigeria after independence. It can therefore be summed up dial time was the beginning of the politicization of religion in Nigeria politics.
However, it is important to note that presently in Nigeria, those who introduced Sharia in their various states are not Islamic zealous like Dan Fodio or Bello and what is therefore missing in their sermon is the fight against corruption, unbelief and tyranny, Abutudu argues that Northern political elites rise religion in polities to show their relevance in Nigeria politics and ipso facto use it to score political goals that are not in the interest of the teaming masses of their people hut. for the minority few4. Abutudu's assertion buttresses the Roberto Micchels Iron law of Oligarchy.
Suleman Kumo in his, The Organisation and Procedure of Sharia Courts in Northern Nigeria, a states that introduction of sharia to the political arena was deliberate. In (lie Islamic political theory, the state is subordinate to the Sharia and it. is Sharia which lays the general norms and functions of the state and all (lie public instructions of the state.
Kumo argues that in lie face of the new political arrangement (programme), the ruling class in Northern Nigeria knew that they were threatened by the new democracy (1s1 Republic and subsequent Republics too). They had no foothold on any solid base for political competition as a block with the cost of the country. In view of this bankruptcy, it became clear (hat Islam would offer the only alternative for the protection of their class interests. So they held on to the issue of the Sharia as their only weapon for mobilization in the North.
All of these are on thesis of democracy and the nation's federalism and ipso facto a violation of the extent constitution (1954, 1960 and others that came later). It means that the politicization of religion in Northern Nigeria as it is threatens the corporate existence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in general and that of the North in particular.
This had made many sections of the country to call for caution and a restructure of the lopsided federal structure. The political leaders arose from a meeting in Asaba, on Friday, 5 2000 during the Sharia debacle in the year 2000 in a communiqué said:
... That the 1999 constitution provide for the secularly of the Nigerian nation. The south-south zone believes this arrangement will enable all Nigerians pursue the goals of mutual co-existence as well as religious and ethnic tolerance, that many of the problems the country is facing today as a result of the departure from the practice of true federalism. We therefore stress the need for strict adherence to the principles of zone is committed to (he peace, unity and corporate existence of the Nigerian state, provided that these are anchored on social and economic justice, equity and faithful practice of the principles of true federalism.
Quoting from J.S. Colcman's grand work of Nigerian Nationalism, Okoia traces the history of Christianity and the Islamic religion in Nigeria and argues that the political intention of some nationalists during colonial period led to successful evangelization and subsequent led to cleavages within communities by "ideologically and institutionally alienating converts from their communal life”.
J.S. Coleman argued that in the light of the action of the new converts, religion which is supposed to be an integrative force became a divisive force. It is (his divisive tendency one may argue that the politicians of Northern Nigeria cashed in the coast political victories. This fox-like character is comparable to the 'Devils' Theory of war or the military industrial-complcx theory’.
The government should ensure that no religious groups pays absolute loyalty to their religious leaders to the detriment of the slate and should not allow the working week, the social habits such as pilgrimages and burial ceremonies to follow the dictates of religion to the point where they lie concluded by saying that government should not allow religious organizations to and also suggested that the government should be neutral in religious matter and keep a close watch on the activities of all religious organizations to make sure that they do not endanger the security and general peace of the nation-state.
He said that the threat to the nation's federalism too is traceable to the colonial masters. It is against this background that lie said:
For instance, in 1948 at a budget session in Nigeria legislative council, Mallam Abubakar Tafawa Balewa said, "many Nigerians deceive themselves by thinking that Nigeria is one... we in the North regard Southerners pouring into the North as invader.
The "Gaskiya Ta Fikwabo", a vernacular Hausa News paper also expressed the same fear when it wrote:
... Southerners will take the places of the Europeans in the North... in all the different departments of government; it is the Southerner who has the power.
Since the Northern elite saw Christianity as the religion of the Southerners, they decided to use the Islamic religion in the North as a political power force. Herein lies the political efficacy of the politicization of religion in Northern Nigeria with utter disregard to the principle of federalism, the need for unity in diversity and flagrant disregard to the provisions of the constitution. This portends danger for the country.
S.A. Idahosa identified ethnicism and regionalism as the main issues in Nigerian politics. In this light he referred to one of the paradoxes identified by Margaret Peil about Nigerian politics. He argues that the reasons for appeal to religious and primordial sentiments. He said Nigerian politician find it difficult to win votes by universalistic appeals to ideology. Therefore, appeals to primordial factors such as religion, sectionalism and ethnicity provide a short cut to electoral victory. The above assertion of Idahosa can be used to explain the issue of the introduction of the Sharia legal systems by politicians from the north instead of the council of ulamaa or ulamaa that is koranically empowered to do so.
Idahosa contended that in Nigeria, the issue of ethnicity, religion, political party formation and the workings of Nigeria's federalisms are inextricably tied and had influenced and will continue to influence the nation's politics.
One lesson that can be drawn here is that the political leadership should evolve a management mechanism to mediate these conflicting agendas to allow7 Nigeria reap the fruits of nationhood.
J.S. Coleman while tracing this problem to the Europeans observed:
British adopted a deliberate policy to preserve the Muslim North in its pristine Islamic purely excluding Christian missionaries and limiting Western education, by denying Northern leaders representation in the central Nigerian legislative council during the period 1923-1947 and by minimizing the contact between the Northern people and the sophisticated and nationally-minded Southerners temporary resident in the North. All these aspects of British policy, and others, tended to perpetuate the individuality and separateness of the North.
The development predicated on the philosophy of Indirect Kule which now made the South develop more than the North because of the Christianity that go with liberalism in contradistinction to the conservative autocratic system in the North that is based on Islamic religion. Tills scenario has made the North to be less developed and hence they decided to hold on to political power in the name of using religion as a political weapon. This has been summed up in concepts like North-South dichotomy or divide, need for power shift and many of tiers. K.L. Watts sees federalism as a political system characterized by two sub-systems, one of central government and the other of state governments, in which the component government are co-ordinate in the sense that neither is politically subordinate to the oilier, but which interact wit it, each other at many points both cooperatively arid competitively. The point to note here is that although it is desirable that each level of government should be relatively autonomous in its sphere of competence, here is the need for inter-governmental cooperation as well as the inevitability of competition. By this very fact, one can say Nigeria is a federation.
Besides, for the federation to survive, no unit must be powerful enough (economically and/or politically) to control the federal government alone, or dominate the other units put together. This "rule" against domination was obeyed in its breach rather its observance in the era that preceded the opening in the floodgate of the creation of states in Nigeria. In the first Republic, Idahosa and Aghahowa argue (precisely before May 27, 1967) the structure of the federation was such that the Northern Region was in a position (at least politically and geographically too) to control the federal government alone, ipso factor, dominate the other units put together.
They further argued that prior to 1963, were in the Midwest
Region was created from the erstwhile Western Region, the lopsidedness in the structure of the federation titled in favour of the Northern Region which was stronger than the Eastern and Western Regions put together in terms of land mass, population size (an index of political power under a democratic dispensation) and even economic resources, 'this position of the North is again traceable to the colonial masters. What the North then succeeded in doing is to use that advantaged position to perpetuate itself in power which is a violation of the formulation of the K.C. where and others about federalism. One weapon the North uses to achieve the political goal is religious and ethnic sentiments.
A cursory look at the masses of the North will reveal that (tie political elites have been able to translate the political power to tangible concept divided that the people would be proud of. It is in this line that Karl Max says that religious is the opium of the masses, and Robert Milchels says "who says political parties organizations says oppression of the governed by the electors”.
All of these do not speak well of the Nigerian federalism and democracy. The political leadership of Nigeria should rescue the situation before it is too late.
2.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The issue of elites in Nigerian politics is one that has attracted scholarly work by not only political scientists, but also by other fields of academic endeavours in the social sciences. The religious elites are the leaders who share the same beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. They are respected, as oracles of their religion and loyalty to these religious leaders are usually the highest amongst elites groups.
The elites see the political system as nothing but determined by the aspiration and preferences by the aspiration and preferences of the minority (elites). They see movement of non-elites to elite positions should be slow, gradual and continuous in other to maintain stability and avoid chaos and revolution. This elite theory also believes that the apathetic influence on active elites. They, the elites influence the decision of the masses and not the other may round based on public opinion. It is these groups of people that also use the mass-media and other methods of influencing public opinion to blind-fold the masses to believing that their leaders are for them. The Hausa and Fulani are two ethnic groups that have lived in Northern part of Nigeria. Their government has a well organized fiscal system and a highly trained and leaned judiciary, administering Mohammedan law with ability and integrity. The Fulanis in the late eighteenth century, through the Jihad (holy wars) of Usinan Dan Fodio established many kingdoms which Sokoto caliphate was the greatest. They had emirates, which was administered by an Emir who was seen as the administrative, judicial and religious leaders.
2.2 ANALYSIS OF ELITES IN NIGERIAN POLITICS
It has been concretely established that the Nigerian society like any other capitalist society is class divided. This characteristics class structure is not without some negative implication for the Nigerian masses. Haven viewed the elite class made up of those people who possess the means of production; those who occupy traditional offices and titles:
The top members of the provisional Ruling Council, religious leaders, e.t.c. it is pertinent to now see the effects of that class in the Nigerian society using their privileged position to gain political power and the pitfalls of these actions to the democratic process. The Nigerian elite class, in order to maintain their political and preler only marginal changes, not radical innovation. They also prefer modifications rather than replacement, only when there is a threat to the political subsystem, that, change is introduced. Even when reforms are instigated, these must also protect the maintenance of the elite's place. The democratic institutions and processes of elections and parties for the most part, are only for symbolic value or importance. What the elites actually do is that they act as links between the masses and the political system In-getting them busy on the day of election as well as with their affiliated political party. It is the elite that influence the decisions of the masses, not the other way round. Those who believe that the decision of government reflect the demands of the masses, is a myth, rather than reality. They are only interested in feathering their own nest and that of their families. They have been about the greatest problem in the political development of Nigeria using their educational, socio-economical, religious and traditional status, to gain political power for their selfish class interest.
2.3 HISTORICAL FOUNDATION OF RELIGION IN NIGERIAN POLITICS
Before the advent of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria, what was in vogue was the African Traditional Religion (ATR) characterized by the religious value of the wisdom that comes with age-'gerontocratic' pattern of relationship, which characterized traditional social intercourse. Traditional society's close attentiveness to both the physical and spiritual, the visible and the invisible reality of this life-attentiveness, which has meaning in people's concern for and pursuit of material interest, they are however not obvious of the fact that they need to have their material pursuits grounded on spiritual certitude. The ATR was also possessive of the religious value of tolerance and an abhorrence of fanaticism. Thus, the Supreme God in the African religion's world view is conceived to be as accommodating of other powers as he is ecumenical.
It is this religious belief in the ecumenical character of God, together with his flexibility, that helps us make sense of the welcoming and accommodating character-a spirit of unity on diversify-prevalent in Africa's traditional religion, 'the imperative is traditional African commitment to the philosophy of tolerance-a live and let live principle.
The traditional world of Nigerians had a culture-intact with tire arrival of Islam which came through the Islamic North African countries between 1000 AD and 1100AD, although its progress was very slow. With time, however, this religion spread to most of present day Northern Nigeria, including its administrative institutions. 13ul as widespread as the religion appeared to be in those areas the generality of the people did not rush to renounce their traditional religion. People kept their traditional religion while, for pragmatic reasons, they accepted Islam in their concern for 'peaceful co-existence and assured social harmony' with the conquerors.
Islam's most rapid and extensive advance in Nigeria was from 1804 to 1810. This was the period of the Jihad (holy war) when Shiekh Uthman Dan Fodio and his followers unleashed a reform movement aimed at bringing the stale and its populace the purity of Islamic religiosity in accordance with the Qadiriyya version of the Muslim faith. Dan Fodio's message coincided with the people's lived experience of oppression, exploitation arid injustice in the hands of the ruling Hausa families of the time. Most of these had removed themselves far from the religious, political and socio-economic imperatives of the Islamic faith they claimed to believe in.
With victory, and in light of the religious objectives that necessitated (lie Jihad, it was only to be expected that Usman Dan Fodio would impose on the conquered societies an administration in consonance with his version of Islam, 'this he did with Sokoto as his capital and the Hausa language as the lingua franca. Dan Fodio, and more especially his children,' firmly imposed in the conquered territories and Islamic theocratic state and the application of the Sharia law-ill all its ramifications. One thing that can be said with certainty is that after the death of Dan Fodio, whatever ideals for which the Jihad was to Light began to lose their intensity.
Christianity was the next alien religion to come to Nigeria. Its emergence had been traced to the mid-19th century and the Christian zeal of the liberated Africans, former slaves, who had been Christianized during their stay in Europe and the Americas. Those slaves who could trace their roots in Nigeria immigrated back to their homeland and became the 'nursery' for missionary penetration in Nigeria. Other authors traced Christianity in Nigeria to the Roman Catholic Mission en route the Delta areas in the South between the 15th and 16th centuries, the areas of Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Borno in northern Nigeria between the 17th and 18th centuries.
All we can say with absolute certainty is that it was not until the first decade of the 20th century that. The Christian religion successfully penetrated the entire South of the country and also reached the Islamic North. In fact, it was the intrusion of colonialism and the restrictive policies imposed on Christian missions in Northern Nigeria by the generally anti-Christian colonial administrators that halted the missions, in their campaign to Christianize the entire country.
Due to the fact that the North was predominantly a Muslim society and the South predominantly Christians the country was by implication delineated into zones of influence, namely, the Islamic North and the Christian South, with little or no contact between them.
Suffice it to say that this marked the beginning of religious politics in Nigeria as each region struggle to maintain power and influence in their zones with religious instrumentalities.
2.4 POLITICIZATION OF RELIGION IN NIGERIA: THE GENESIS
The historical forces that have shaped colonial Nigeria and continue to shape the politics of contemporary Nigeria, especially its religious formation and religious struggles are grounded in colonial structures. It is useful to recall the disturbing socio-political situation that emerged at the time of Nigeria's independence gave an appearance of the dawn of a united and indivisible nation. But in fact, it was more of a carry-over from the colonial period of the division, fears, and animosities among the various segments of the national polity. At best, independence was a. nationalization of factional groups, each of which saw itself first and foremost as defined through its respective ethno-religious basis, prior to other considerations.
The British colonialists were not against any form of education but were certainly against any form of education of Christians and Muslims alike, which was not geared towards the realization of the colonial state's agenda. In place of both the Islamic and the Christian education systems, the colonial state initiated a secularized system of education.
Measured by the yardstick of the colonial state's policy, the Christian missions were subversive, especially with the regard to the foundation on which colonialism was built. It must not be forgotten that Christian mission centres became breeding grounds for nationalistic sentiments within and even beyond the confines of the churches. The rise of religious nationalism was traceable to the racist attitude of the Christian Europe to Africans. This religious nationalism and cultural nationalism epitomized in the incubation of the National Youth Movement (NYM). Thus, the Christian missions' greatest offence was not that their educational policy was unfavourable to the government's economic interests for Christian's mission advocated capitalism as the economic cure for Africa5. As Paul Staudinger, a German colonial etymologist and expeditionist, puts it:
The main aim. (of the missions should have been) to educate people to be useful members of human society and not... think themselves above the whiteman while in reality they are lower than the pagans as far as moral standards are concerned... To put the blackmail prematurely upon the same level as the Whiteman is nonsense and may have the direct consequences.
Herein lies the subterranean reason for the anti-Christian attitude among the colonial administrators, especially in Northern Nigeria and their preference of Islam to Christianity. For Islam makes the people subservient to their theocratic leadership and ipso facto dampens then-revolutionary tendencies.
With the establishment of indirect policy and secularized education, the colonial system became very strong by the mid-1930s and firmly consolidated in the 1940s. Given the barest minimum of contact between the different parts of the country, especially between the North and the South, it was not surprising that the colonial system spawned in the religious and socio-political life of the country animosity, suspicion and all sorts of divisive practices. For instance, while the Islamic North perceived the Christian South as invaders and inferiors and labeled them with derogatory terms such as nyamilin, the Christian South generally looked down on the average Northern as unintelligent, conservative, a zombie in the hands of British colonialists, and therefore, a clog in Nigeria's progress7.
By the 1940s for instance, the Southern-educated elite had advanced so far due to their education, that they were able to reap the fruits of the 1951 'Nigerianization policy' - thanks to the efforts of the Christian missionaries in the early years of Nigerian history. In the North, because of the strict application of the policy of Indirect Rule by the colonial administration, Christian, missionaries had to concentrate their activities in the non-Muslim areas, even though they were determined to extend similar activities to the Muslim areas whenever the opportunity present itself. As far as the missionaries were concerned, the entire North had become, more or less, a battle ground for souls between Islam and Christianity.
The standard of Christian civilization was undoubtedly a threat to the Northern Emirate an-d consequently the colonial interest too, given that each reinforced the others hegemony. Three developments brought the threat of Christianity nearer home to the Islamic ruling class. First, there was the emergence of a class of educated Northerners, products of the earliest successful Christian missionary efforts, not just in Hausaland itself hut also in the entire North. These individuals were described as "a most respected group in the North (with) many holding positions of responsibility. This included people like Dr. R.A. B. Dikko, the first Medical Doctor from the North and Dr. Ishaya Audu, the first Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, the first and foremost renowned University in the North. This development may have prompted Miller to say prophetically that "the time not far from hence, when educated Christianized (Nigerians) will lead the way... and even encircle the more obstinate and conservative Muslim emirates.
The second development was the emergence, in the forties, of anti-authority politics in the North. This was led by those who had passed through the colonial education system and were in touch with the radical politics in the South. One of these was Sa'adu Zungur, the father of radical politics in Northern Nigeria. Zungur who fraternized with the anti-colonial activities of the National Youth Movement (NYM) while he was a student at the historic Yaba College of Technology in the South. Upon his arrival in the North, he used his revolutionary element acquired from the South to initiate a political discussion circle, which was characteristic of many Northern cities. These discussions gave birth to radical and militant political activists like Mallam Amadu Kano, Abubakar Zukogi and Mallam Lawman Danbazzau who counterposed the Northern oligarchy through the formation of the Northern Element Progressive Union (NEPU) which included talakawas (commoner) as members. This was seen as an aberration especially the challenge of the Northern Islamic conservative establishment.
The third development that clearly aroused the fear of the ruling class was the emergence of political ambition among the indigenous Northern Christians. Incidentally, about the same time as the members of NEPU were denouncing the ruling class, Dr. R.A.B. Dikko, a Fulani Christian, had founded a political organization, Jamiyar Mutanen Arewa (Association of Northern People, JMA). It was bad enough that Muslim commoners nursed political ambition; what was even worse was that Christians living in a Islamic society revealed similar ambition, given the Islamic abhorrence of non-Muslim rulership over Muslims. This particular development was perhaps most worrisome to the Islamic ruling class, especially when one recalls that by this time, in the North, the numerical strength of indigenous Christians was growing rather than decreasing.
Concerned about this ugly scenario in the light of the Christian character, the Islamic ruling class determined to counter them as revealed in the words of the foremost Northern politician and premier after visiting Lagos in 1949 that. The North has "to lake politics seriously. A two-prongedstrategy was adopted. First, the ruling class had to project a credible image of it to the people. This was done by blaming the impoverishment and backwardness of the North on the Southern Christians especially those domiciled in the North and not on the British.
The second strategy was to dislodge, displace and dislocate the NEPU politicians as well as stifle whatever political ambition the Christians might have. Tins strategy was carried out on two levels-religious and political. The religious level involved a depiction of the NEPU politicians as hypocritical Muslims in so far as they fraternized with unbelievers and innovators and sought worldly benefits from them. The political level involved a portrayal of the Christians as unbelievers (kafirai) who, in the specific situation of the Islamic North, were ' Southerners' at heart but dressed in Northern 'sheep's' clothing. In this connection, the Islamic ruling class aided by the British colonial officers, hijacked Dikko's political organization and transformed it into a political party, the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC).
This move was necessary lest Dikko, being a Christian, was to translate his political ambition into something un-Under the full control of the Islamic ruling class, the NPC had to be transformed into a religious party, at least covertly and Dikko, the founder was relegated and marginalized. The leadership went to Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, a descendant of LJthman Dan Fodio and Premier of Northern Nigeria with the Sultan of Sokoto as the patron.
With the NPC fully under the control of the Islamic ruing class, the 1950s-was to consolidate the party for national politics and move towards capturing power at the centre. Meanwhile, the party was confronted with the challenges arising not only from the encroachment into Northern, space by the Southern-based political parties, but also from political assertiveness by the highly politicized non-Muslim indigenous communities in the North. The party later assumed the tool of ecumenism and also endeavoured to live up to its motto of One North, One People'. The party stalwarts and big-wings or chieftains had to tone down their political heron and use government resources to win over representatives of the various ethnic and religious groups in the North who were in the leadership of the party. Tills was how indigenous Northern Christians like George Ohikere, Jolly Tanko Yusuf, Rev. David Lot, Peter Achimugu were brought into the fold of the NPC. Soon the party became the political nursery for most of the Northern Nigerians elites.
The colonial state had to groom these elite to champion the cause of its Northern system and it hoped to model independent Nigeria accordingly. By 1958, two years prior to the country's independence, the 'system' was still:
...behind the protective wall of the colonial government as an Islamic society, singularly unaffected by change in the rest of the world, (where) Islamic law of the Maliki school is administered, purdah is observed by women and Western innovations are in some quarters regarded with disfavour"
That the NPC was able to assume the leadership of the country's first post-colonial government demonstrated quite clearly the ingenuity of the Anglo-Hausa-Fulani hegemony. Meanwhile, the stage was set and the signal given, for the politicization of religion in post-colonial Nigeria.
All of these set the stage for the kind of politics discernible in contemporary post-colonial Nigeria. The issue of religion took a political dimension because each religion liked to have its members in positions of power, even if they were only nominal adherents of that religion. Through their adherents, each religion; Islam and Christianity-wanted to have its world view occupying the commanding position in the economic and socio-political scheme. Hence, the winning of coverts became crucial, imperative and germane; or to put it in Marxist parlance, the class struggle acquired a religious garb.
One basic point which clearly emerges from the literature on the post-colonial society is the centrality of the state and its managers in the society's political economy. At independence, (lie indigenous elite (the managers) administered the post-colonial state, within the dictate of institutionalized practices which were rooted, not only in the colonial legacy but also in the capitalist production process initially implanted in the post-colonial societies by the metropolis.
First, Nigeria found itself in the capitalist world economy, which simultaneously generated a corresponding cadre of Muslim as well as Christian office-holders-cum-bureaucrats.
Second, the more widely educated Christian Southerners dominated the civil service and the economic arm of the state. It was only logical that this would be the case, given the fact. that they were mostly the ones with the necessary kind of literacy-meaning Western education-to vie successfully for such positions. The select class of Western-educated Islamized Northern elite dominated the political arm of the state-thanks to the legacy of the colonial stale, especially its uneven demarcation of the country's regional boundaries, which largely ensured the successful capture of power at the centre by the leading Northern-based political party, the NPC. Many of the elites in the Western-educated South felt humiliated to be under the neo-colonial oriented leadership of the North. The Northern elite for their part felt it unfair that the South should hold dominance over the civil service.
Thirdly, and this was perhaps a more disturbing phenomenon at the beginning of independence. Nigeria was divided by and under the domination of two major religions Islam and Christianity-reach in constant struggle for power with the oilier. Lurking behind this struggle use regional and ethnic interests.
2.6 THE STRATEGY OF THE NORTH
The basic difference between the politics of the North and that of the South is simply that the northern politician is proactive, more strategic and calculating with a stronger, system history of interest in power-politics and its true essence. The Northern power elites are behaving as if it cannot survive out of the corridors of power at the centre, as if indeed, it is horn to rule. When they are confronted with matters of political power and control, the North suddenly becomes monolithic, with its centre in either the North-West or the North East, that is between the Caliphate and whatever is left of the Kanem Bornu Empire. It is a most convenient tool for strengthening the North-South divide. Whereas the North is categorized as a united political block with a definable common interest, the South is fragmented and vulnerable. The import therefore is that the North is in a position to exploit this fragmentation for its own purposes.
The North is not necessarily hungry for powder but it has often found itself at an advantage because Southern leaders are unable to resolve their differences. The Northern elites have common interests of North.
REFERENCE
1. Adigwe, Nigeria Joins OLC: Implication for Nigeria, Onitsha, 1986 p 14.
2. Bala Usman, The Manipulation of Religion in Nigeria, Kaduna, Vanguard Publisher 1987 p23.
3. Balogun, Religious Understandings and Corporation In Nigeria Ilorin, University Press 1978 p44.
4. Ibrahim Sulaman, The Islamic State and the Challenges of History London, Mansel 1987 p30.
5. Ioheanyi M. Enwerem, A Dangerous Awekening: The Politicization of Religion in Nigeria, IFRA, Ibadan, 1995.
6. Matthew Hassan Kukah, Religion, Politics and Power Northern Nigeria, Spectrum Books, Ibadan, 1994 p34.
7. Obaro Ikime, religion and Ethnicity as a means Maintaining the Status Quo in Nigeria politics, A lecture Delivered to the 19th Religious Studies Conference University of Ibadan, Ibadan, March 28, 1985 p3.
8. R.F. Ola, The Nigerian Political Systems: the Out p and Environment, The Department of Political Science and Public Administration University of Benin, p2.
9. Suleman Kumo, The Organisation and Procedure Sharia Courts in Northern Nigeria, Ph.D Thesis SOA
10. Matthew Hassan Kukah, Religion, Politics and Power Northern Nigeria, Spectrum Books, Ibadan, 1994 p34.
11. Obaro Ikime, Religion and Ethnicity as a Means Maintaining, the Status Quo in Nigeria Politics, A lecture Delivered to the 19th Religious Studies Conference University of Ibadan, Ibadan, March 28, 1985 p3.
12. R.F. Ola, The Nigerian Political Systems: and Environment, The Department of Political Science and Public Administration University of Benin, 1990 p20.
13. Suleman Kumo, The Organisation and Procedure Sharia Courts in Northern Nigeria. Ph.D Thesis SOA
14. The Comet Newspaper, July, 11, 2000 pi, 2 and This Day Newspaper. July 16, 2000 p. 12, 13.