Nigerian Muslims fear possibility of civil war

The ethnic and religious profiling of the Muslims community in Nigeria is similar to the tensions that precipitated the West African country’s three year civil war in the 1960s, observers have warned.

As terror attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram have increased, what has resulted is the profiling of Muslims in Nigeria’s southern states, leading analysts to say that the country has been divided along ethnic and and religious lines.

Earlier this year, in the southern Rivers State, around 300 Muslim traders from the north were detained on suspicion of having ties to Boko Haram.

In another southern state, Imo state, 84 Muslims were arrested on suspicion of links to Boko Haram before they were repatriated to the north. The Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the umbrella body of Nigerian Muslims, have since voiced their concern about the increase in religious profiling and its impact on Nigerian unity.

They went on to say, “It could result in a repeat of the events leading to the civil war if the north decides to go for tit-for-tat.” Furthermore, Khalid Aliyu, the secretary-general of the organization, said, “There are more Igbos in the north than there are Muslim Hausas in the south all together.”

Prior to the 1967-70 conflict, the mainly Christian Igbo people in the southeast were profiled and attacked in the north which led to religious, ethnic, and cultural tensions that turned into a civil war. Now it seems that the reverse is the case now, where northerners are profiled and attacked in the south.

“All you need to qualify as Boko Haram in the (southeast) is to wear a beard and put on a kaftan,” some have said. In addition, security analyst Abdullahi Bawa Wase told reporters, “All this is happening against the backdrop of dirty politics in Nigeria ahead of 2015 elections.”

JNI argues that the profiling and arrests are all intended to intimidate the northern Muslims in the south, and were tracking the situation with the options to possibly pursue legal action. They also has warned of potentially dire consequences should this escalate.

Source: The Africa Report