Is Buhari The Cause Of Nigeria's Problems?
Channel: Plus TV Africa
Date: 2019-09-13

Since its independence in 1960, Nigeria has struggled unsuccessfully to clearly articulate the relationship between religion and the state. Whereas the British colonialists seemingly bequeathed to the new nation-state a secular regime at independence, the internal contradictions, which, paradoxically were propagated by the colonial authority, incubated to pose a challenge to the new state soon thereafter. On the one hand, there was the Muslim north, groomed under the English indirect rule, which accommodated the sharia legal order; on the other hand, there was the Christian/Animist south, mentored under the British-secular regime. Thus the post-independence secular state, which seemed acceptable to the Christian/animist south, was abhorred by the Muslim north. This paradox has remained the Achilles' heel of Nigeria’s corporate existence, as northern Islamists have consistently sought the establishment of an Islamic state to replace the extant secular regime. This article, therefore, seeks to situate the legal and constitutional frontiers of state-religion relations in Nigeria. It is intent on delineating the conceptual boundary between religion and politics while evaluating the impact of the current relationship on national security. The article advocates for a moderate secular regime—by whatever name—that is constitutionally defined and institutionalized.

Source: https://academic.oup.com