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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:When God says yes - who can say no? Religion as a factor in political discourse in Nigeria since the 1960s
Authors:Adigwe, Hypolite A.
Grau, IngeborgISNI
Year:2007
Periodical:Stichproben - Vienna Journal of African Studies
Volume:7
Issue:13
Pages:79-110
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:Christianity
politics
leadership
Islam
External link:https://stichproben.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_stichproben/Artikel/Nummer13/Nr13_Adigwe_Grau.pdf
Abstract:This article analyses postcolonial developments in Nigeria and their contribution to the awakening political awareness of Christians, which led to the increased involvement of the Christian laity in politics. It begins with a short overview of the history of what is today known as Nigeria and the colonial encounter with the British, which led to a substantial loss of authenticity in leadership, especially in the South of the country. While in the North the incorporation of the political-religious Muslim leaders of the Northern oligarchy and the precolonial Emirate system into the colonial administration laid the ground for the supply of authenticity to their political leaders by Islam, the effect of the British administrative system of Indirect Rule in the South was quite different. There, in contrast to the North, two types of political leaders can be distinguished - colonial chiefs and new political leaders, most of them educated in mission schools. Due to the religious plurality existing in the South - Islam, Christianity and African traditional religions - political leaders in the South distanced their political programmes from their religious background. The article draws on public discourses referring to the sharia debate and on examples from the Nigerian press to illustrate the increasing interplay of religion and politics. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and German. [Journal abstract]
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