1.1 Background to the Study
Nigeria has witnessed nervous violent communal conflicts since the mid-1960s. These violent ethnic conflicts were first witnessed in Western Nigeria when former party chieftains notably Obafemi Awolowo and Ladoke Akintola, parted ways. This led to a series of crises and clashes, until a state of emergency was declared in the Western region. The Northern Region with Kaduna as head quarters was next. It was the seat of government of the region, and was presided over by Ahmadu Bello the undisputedly most powerful politician in Nigeria in the early mid -sixties. Bello was leader of the ruling Northern peoples Congress, which controlled the federal government then headquartered in Lagos. The first crises in Kaduna followed the assassination of Bello in the coup d’etat of January 15, 1996. The coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu, who though detribalized as a person , was of the IBO ethnic stock which is mostly located in Eastern Nigeria. The IBO leader in Eastern Nigeria was not assinated, however and this created resentment among northerners, primarily Hausa, and the coup failed. It triggered a backlash against IBO by Hausa of Northern Nigeria. This led to the civil war of 1967-1970, essentially between the IBO and the Hausa but with other ethnic groups in the federation fighting on the side of the federal government, which was headed at that time by Yakubu Gowon from Northern Nigeria. After the civil war came relative peace until the 1990s.
Conflict between groups was present from time to time in Kaduna in the 1990s. But the nature and scope of conflict escalated in 2000. Unlike earlier incidents, the eruption of violence in 2000 was driven by the conflict between two incompatible identities: Islamized Hausa identity, associated with a drive to establish Sharia law in place of civil law in the northern states of the country, of which Kaduna was one, and Christian groups generally Known as Southern Kaduna, notably the Kataf. The Hausa being more numerous and having ruled Northern Nigeria for over 100 years through successful jihads and domintion, have had an advantage over the kataf and other ethnic groups. Religion became a mark of Hausa and kataf identities. In the history of Kaduna state’s many conflicts, none compares in the scope with slaughter of 2000. That episode probably changed forever the character of Kaduna as a cosmopolitan city. President Olusegun Obasanjo is reported to have admitted, while visiting Kaduna in 2000 after crises, that the conflict under review was the worst crisis since the civil war, he went in to blame leaders for it (Olajide et al., 2006).
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