Conclusion

Abstract

This book has traced the history of religious-motivated violence among Muslims in northern Nigeria to go as far back as the precolonial era and provides sufficient historical information about Muslim-Christian violent conflicts, which has defined the landscape of Christian-Muslim relationship in northern Nigeria since after the Nigerian independence from her colonial masters. Hostility against non-Christians from Christians (albeit through rhetoric and official policies) has existed since the coming of Christian missionaries in the north. Political developments in both the colonial and postcolonial periods have immensely impacted the relationship between Christians and Muslims in northern Nigeria. Therefore, Muslim-Christian relations in the north have oscillated between calmness and violent conflicts from after the independence. With the rise of extremism and fundamentalism in both Islam and Christianity, tension and subsequently violence have escalated, especially since the late 1970s. The exacerbation of conflict and violent exchanges between Muslims and Christians in many northern cities has left in its wake atrocious destruction of life, property, and psychological trauma as well as has polarized Christians and Muslims.