I am certain that many Nigerians, especially non-Muslim Nigerians, have often wondered, as I have myself, what explains the extraordinary zealotry, radicalism and militancy found amongst Hausa-Fulani Muslims in Northern Nigeria? After all, they are neither the only Muslims nor the most pious Muslims in Africa. So, what accounts for that phenomenon among Hausa-Fulani Muslims in Northern Nigeria?
Before I get into that complicated subject matter, I wish to register the disclaimer that I am not anti-Muslim. And I certainly do not believe in or condone stereotyping of any group of people—nationally, ethnically or religiously. It bothers me when people stereotype Igbos, because I am Igbo; and it bothers me when people stereotype Nigerians, because I am Nigerian; and I know that Igbos, other Nigerians and what have you, vary amongst themselves as much as flowers vary in the wild. Besides, I have many Muslim friends—Hausa, Fulani as well as from other parts of Africa, if not the world; who are first class minds, men and women of noble character, who neither brook nor participate in the violation of anyone’s human, civil, political and/or legal rights. I, therefore, try as much as possible to avoid stereotyping nationalities, ethnic or religious groups.
However, a historical and empirically demonstrable social pattern is not a stereotype. Unlike stereotypes which are based on a smidgen of truth and a barrel-full of spindle-yarns; historical or social patterns are backed up by independently verifiable facts and figures. To that extent, my inquiry and analysis derives from a fact-based social pattern of religious zealotry, radicalism and militancy in Nigeria by Hausa-Fulani Muslims, compared to other parts of Black Africa, with the exception of Somalia. And as I argue in this piece, what explains the Northern Nigerian phenomena, to a large extent, explains the Somali phenomena as well.
Since the Amalgamation of the Southern and Northern so-called “Protectorates” of Nigeria by colonial Britain in 1914, there has been over thirty major incidents of ethno-religious riots/pogroms in Nigeria. [See Summary Table below] Every one of those riots have been initiated and carried out by Muslims in Northern Nigeria, against non-Hausa-Fulani ethnic groups and/or Christians, especially against Igbos. I challenge any scholar or investigative journalist, to provide examples of ethno-religious riots that have been instigated and carried out by Christians, more especially by Igbos, in Northern Nigeria or elsewhere in Nigeria. The staple has been reactions to what Northern Muslims have done.
Clearly, then, from the data shown in the table below, it is historically incontrovertible that there is a discernable social pattern of ethno-religious violence directed against non-Muslims, that episodically expresses itself amongst Northern Nigerian Muslims. And based on that empirical evidence, one is not dealing with a stereotype; one is dealing with a socio-historical pattern over an extended period of time: approximately 72 years.
What, then, explains that socio-historical pattern? The conventional wisdom is allusion to the 19th century jihad led by the journeyman Islamic scholar, teacher and cleric: Usman Dan Fodio (1804 – 1808), along with his two sons; who waged a successful war of conquest against the rulers of the seven Hausa (bakwai) city-states of: Gobir, Zamfara, Katsina, Daura, Zazzau (Zaria), Rano and Kano. Having subdued them militarily, Usman Dan Fodio established his headquarters in Sokoto, hence the name: Sokoto Caliphate. And this was the state of politico-religious governance in what later became Northern Nigeria, when the colonizing British “pacified” Hausaland between 1903 and 1908. The explanation goes, then, that the contemporary pattern of ethno-religious zealotry, radicalism and militancy found amongst Northern Nigerian Hausa-Fulani Muslims, which periodically expresses itself in communal violence against non-Muslims, harkens to and draws inspiration from the history of its fanatical birth in that region of Nigeria. And in the Igbo language, there is a saying that: “agwo ga mu ife di ogonogo” – ‘A snake will give birth to something long.’
However, that explanation is only partially true. After all, it is also true that an analogous jihad which took place in the same vicinity of the West African savannah, in what is today modern Senegal, led by Amadou Bamba, who waged a similar jihad in a country in which, although the majority ethnic group is Wolof, has a sizeable Fulani population and is about 97% Muslim. Yet, Senegal has been and remains one of the most peaceful and stable democracies in Africa, if not the world. In fact, Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Mouride brotherhood in 1883, which has its capital in Touba, Senegal; a place famed for having the largest mosque in sub-Sahara Africa; pursued a two-pronged jihad: among his people—the Wolof, the Fulani and others—he preached peaceful, non-violent self-improvement (a practice he described as: “the jihad of greater struggle” – “which is not fought through weapons but through learning and the fear of God;” and on the other hand, he waged unrelenting resistance against French colonialism.
So, while I take the point that a historical legacy of congenital violence was part and parcel of Usman Dan Fodio’s jihad in Northern Nigeria; and I equally take the point that there are those who see themselves as restoring the credentials of their Islamic faith, by periodically doing battle against non-Muslims—so-called infidels, as well as against alleged Muslim “slackers;” I am not persuaded that the recidivist zealotry, radicalism and violence expressed amongst Northern Nigerian Muslims, is attributable only to its revolutionary rebirth in Northern Nigeria at the point of a sword. Something else is at work. After all, Northern Nigerian Muslims are not the only Muslims in Nigeria. It is estimated that 40% to 50% of Yorubas are Muslims. Yet, as far as I know, there has never been ethno-religious violence perpetrated against any non-Muslim group in Nigeria by the Yoruba, or any intra-religious fracas occurring between different Islamic sects or between Christians and Muslims amongst Yorubas.
