KANU’S IGWEBUIKE ONTOLOGY AND THE ISSUE OF RELIGIOPOLITICAL CRISIS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The relationship that does exist between politics and religion is intimate. More so, the relationship is complex because of the intricacies inherent in the politicization of religion. With emphasis on Nigeria today, there are two dominant religious groups in Nigeria, Islam and Christianity. Islam and Christianity are not recognized here to the trivialization of the position of traditional religion. The integration of politics and religion in Nigerian political history is believed to be one major problem behind the current religious violence and political instability troubling the country. This research is aimed at looking into the chaos that has been caused by religion in Nigeria’s sociopolitical system and has employed the Igwebuike Philosophy with the view of addressing the issues of conflict between the two major religions in Nigeria. Igwebuike principle of solidarity and complementarity will be adopted for this purpose. For the purpose of this thesis, the hermeneutic and phenomenological methods of inquiry will be employed. This thesis, therefore, exposes the misplacement of values by the Nigerian people as they tend to place religion and politics as a single entity, rather than practicing them independently. Nonetheless, religion and politics are complimentary and can be practiced without steps.