Effects of Boko Haram Insurgency on Religious Cleavages in Nigeria
Abstract
With their open claims on recorded video/audio clips to Islamize Nigeria with the force of war, Boko Haram attacks on the Nigerian civilian population in places of worship has further exacerbated existing religious cleavage among the adherents of the two major religions — Islam and Christianity — in Nigeria. This is why this article offers critical analysis of patterns of rhetoric between leaders and adherents of the two religious groups, which centers on their viewpoints of the sponsors, agenda and principle targets of the insurgents. Based on Lipset and Rokkan’s (1967) theory of social cleavage, the findings indicate that the kind of rhetoric that Boko Haram attacks spurred among leaders and followers of the two religions has produced the deepest and bitterest opposition among the two religious groups, therefore affected relations..
Keywords: Boko Haram, Group Division, Religion and Social Cleavage Theory.
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