TRACKING THE TREND OF RELIGIOUS TERRORISM AROUND THE WORLD, VISÀ-VIS THE NIGERIAN CASE
Keywords:
Christianity, Islam, Nigeria, Religious TerrorismAbstract
Religious terrorism around the world mostly perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists appears to follow a particular pattern — from powerful organized attacks to attacks by lone maniacs as the organized group weakens. This study, a qualitative inquiry into the situation of religious terrorism elsewhere around the world, vis-à-vis Nigeria, aims to decipher the likelihood of a replication of the same trend in Nigeria. The study demonstrates that religious terror groups are mostly fractious and have devised means of selling their ideologies and cause to individuals and small groups who carry on attacks in furtherance of their cause. Hence the study also suggests that the same trend could play out in Nigeria in no distant time. There is the need, therefore, to be forearmed in preparation for such a development. Theologically, Christianity on the other hand, stands for nonviolence even though there are scriptures in the Old Testament, practically defunct in present times, that literally commands violence that can be equated to terrorism. However, to contend with such a situation if and when it happens in Nigeria, some cautious steps are called for, such as increased intelligence gathering, the dismantling of Islamophobia, arms control and disarmament, media censorship, intensive sensitization of the public, rekindled and reinforced message of peace and pacifism by Islamic and Christian clerics alike, sanitization of military agencies, arrest and scrutiny of individuals with terrorist tendency and good governance.
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