Nigerian

Political
Culture

Nigerian Fragmentation
Religion
Ethnicity
Territory

Religion
Muslim

Christians

Other Religions (ex. Yoruba Religion)

10%

40%

50%

Ethnicity

Hausa
Fulani(29%
)

Yoruba(21
%)

Approxima
tely 350
Ethnic
Groups

Ijaw(10%)

Igbo(18%)

Nigeria
Called Patchwork Country
North is poor (with half the South's average income)
isolated, traditional, Muslim, and discontent. With
much lower literacy, few skilled people, and
endemic terrorism
Northerns always sought to be its rulers.
North never like being ruled by Christians, British or
Southern Nigerians
Islam has been the chief religion of northern Nigeria.
Some Nigerian clerics are strict on religious
education

 Made sharia state law

The fundamentalist Islamic Movement of Nigeria dubbed
the Black Taliban has Al Qaeda and Iranian ties.
One growing militant sect demanding sharia law Boko
Haram(western education is sinful) responsible for 10,000
deaths, has created a virtual civil war in North Nigeria.
In 2013 President Jonathan declared a state of emergency in
3 states in Nigerias northeast corner.
Boko Haram and its violent offshoot Ansaru get arms,
explosives, and training in Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM).
Bitter Biafra war of 1967-1969 Igbo of Northern Nigeria tried
to breakaway with their own country Biafra.
The conflict on eastern Congo, took an estimated 1.7 million
lives combined with Rwanda-Congo death toll 2.5 million is
the worlds highest wartime killings since World War II

Angry youths in Kano, in Muslim northern Nigeria,

protest election of a Christian president, Goodluck
Jonathan, in 2011. Boko Haram, a terrorist Islamic
group in the region, carries out riots, killings, and
suicide bombings throughout Nigeria.

The Igbo and Biafra

British explorers and colonial officials noted that Igbo
lacked the cities and culture of the Yoruba of the
southwest or the Hausa-Fulani of the North.
Igbo lived in scattered villages in the rainforest and
Niger Delta.
Igbo harbored a competitive and hustling culture.
Igbo merchants dominated much of commercial life
of northern Nigeria
Observers called them Jews of Nigeria
Response to the fraudulent elections of October
1965, in January 1966, a group of military officers ,
mainly Igbo, attempted a coup.

 Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa , a

northern muslim was assassinated.
General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, an Igbo took over.
In July 1966 another coup under Colonel Yakubu
gowon overtrow Ironsi, who was killed.
In October 1966, murderous riots against Igbo
merchants and their families in the north killed
some 20,000.
On May 30 1967 Ojukwu proclaimed the Republic
of Biafra.
Biafra was about oil.
Biafra fighters collapsed in December 1969.
Gowon brought back the eastern states into Nigeria
witch he had divided into 12 states.

 Oil boom in 1970s

In 1975 Gowon was overthrown . A coup led by led
by Murtala Ramat Mohammed who was himself
assassinated in 1976.
Biafra serves as a reminder how ethnically fragile
Nigeria is and how risky it is to be a Nigerian head
of state.

Trouble with Nigeria

2/3 of Nigerians are literate.
Nigeria, in the theory of Samuel Huntington is a
cleft.( in Huntingtons theory, a country split by
two civilizations.)
Displays intercivilization disunity
Muslims especially tends to break away from such
countries.
The overlap of religion with politics. though, can
easily produce breakaway movements.

Cross-Cutting Cleavages
One of the most puzzles of a highly pluralistic or
multiethnic societies is why they held together.
Why do they not break down in civil strife?
Explanation offered by the German sociologist
Georg Simmel is that successful pluralistic
societies develop Cross-cutting cleavages.(
multiple splits in society that make group
loyalties overlap) ex. The cleavages of Germanspeaking or French-speaking
When cleavages do not cross-cut but instead are
cumulative, dangerous divisions grow.

Patterns of Interaction
Nigeria is a weak state but is not yet a failed
state.
Some classify Nigeria as a fragile state.
Nigeria has a central government and has a
strong incentive for most of Nigerias elites.
Crime is astronomical in Nigeria, the worlds
worst country in kidnapping.
For many crime is a good job, the only one you
can get.

The Praetorian Tendency

Praetorianism- tendency for military takeovers.
Praetorianism usually means military takeover,
the case in Nigeria.
Most coups involved little fighting, because the
government has no mass support.

List of Nigerias Military

Coup
Year

Ousted

Installed

1966(Jan.)

Balewa (Hausa) killed

Ironsi (Igbo)

1966(July)

Ironsi killed

Gowon (Anga)

1975

Gowon deposed

Mohammed (Hausa)

1976

Mohammed killed

Obasanjo (Yoruba)

1983

Shagari (Fulani)
deposed

Buhari (Hausa)

1985

Buhari deposed

Babangida(Gwari)

1993

Babangida deposed

Abacha (Hausa)