Proclivity To Genocide : Northern Nigeria Ethno-Religious Conflict, 1966 To Present

This book examines the proclivity to genocide in the protracted killings that have continued for decades in the northern Nigeria ethno‑religious conflict, spanning from the 1966 northern Nigeria massacres of thousands of Ibo people up to the present, ongoing killings between extremist Muslims and Christians or non‑Muslims in the region. It explores the ethnic and religious dimensions of the conflict over five phases to investigate genocidal proclivity and the extent to which religion foments and escalates the violence.

The book adopts a conceptual analytic approach by establishing the similarity of genocidal patterns in the northern Nigeria ethno‑religious conflict with genocidal occurrences and massacres in history, particularly twentieth‑century contemporary genocides, for a broader understanding of genocide. Using this reference frame, the study structures a Genocide Proclivity Model for identifying inclinations to genocide and derives a substantive theory with the Strauss and Corbin (1990) approach.

By identifying genocidal intent as underlying the various manifestations and causes of genocide in specific cases, the book demonstrates that genocidal proclivity—or the intent to exterminate the “other” on the basis of religion and/or ethnicity—underlies most of the northern Nigerian episodic, yet protracted, killings. The analytic framework is grounded in identifiable and provable evidence of specific intent to annihilate the “other,” most often involving extremist Muslims’ intent to “cleanse” northern Nigeria of Christians and other non‑Muslims through the exclusionary ideology of imposing Sharia law, and to force assimilation or extermination through massacres of those who refuse to adopt the Muslim ideology.

The study establishes that genocidal inclinations have remained latent because of the intermittent but protracted nature of the killings, lending credence to the concept of genocidal intent and its covertness in situations of intermittent genocide. It uncovers the latency of episodic genocide in the northern Nigeria ethno‑religious conflict, prescribes recommendations, and launches a clarion call for international intervention to stop the genocide.

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