The Fundamental Challenges; Neo-Crusade Between Muslims and Christians Re; The Crumbling of Nigerian “Christians Genocide” Narrative, By Umar Ardo – Part 7

By Olusegun R. Babalola

This DR. Umar Ardo’s disconcerting article, that cannot be thoroughly addressed in a single article, was brought to by notice by a Nigerian nationalist and federalist, Madu Bright O. Alwell. He noted; “We respectfully seeking a detailed response …” This has led 8-part response: The Nigerian Proxy Clash of Civilizations, Dr. Umar Ardo’s Role in the Proxy Clash of Civilization, Dr. Umar Ardo as Civilizational Strategist of Moral Violence, Understanding DR. Umar Ardo in the Age of Civilizationalism, DR. Umar Ardo’s Moral Violence and Kafkaesque Natural Justice Pretentions, Natural  Justice Rightly Understood; Case for Dialogue Between 2-Civilizations, The Fundamental Challenges; Neo-Crusade Between Muslims and Christians; and Nigeria @ Crossroads & the Way Forward. The general purpose is civic self-understanding of our problematic challenges towards a peaceful resolution and if possible, conversion.

The fundamental problem is the complex transmogrification of the civilizational binary of the Afro-Islamic (AIC-without a wall between religion and the State) and Indigenous-African civilizations (IAC-with a wall between religion and the State) is into “neo-Crusade” between political Islam and Christianity over the malfunctioning prebendal pyramid as a result of pan-tribalism, prebendalism and prebendal pan-tribalism which are further secured by the non-constitutionalizing of the indigenous politics.

Dr. Ardo is thus, right that “Nigeria’s crisis is not a holy war against Christians, but a collective failure that demands collective honesty” and “that Nigeria’s catastrophe cannot be reduced to a single identity story without distorting reality and worsening the problem!” Though, Dr. Ardo deplores this “neo-Crusade”, his interventions appear to reduce civilizational differences into fragmented ethnic diversity, without paying careful attention to the core differences based on the ways-of-life that has led to a proxy clash of civilization, which he himself is engaged in.

Reduction of Civilizational Binary to Religious Binary

In Nigerian constitutionalism (how the constitution is made to work), the binaries of AIC and IAC which should enrich the constitution are dangerously replaced by the “neo-Crusade” binary of Christians and Muslims. This is why a former U.S. Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, warned in a written testimony ahead of the above stated joint-hearing of Subcommittees, on Feb. 4, 2026, that Nigeria is at the center of “Early warning signs of a Muslim-on-Christian war.”  Brownback have understood Nigeria wrongly. Ardo is also right that “What is collapsing before us” is “not merely a claim about Nigeria, but a way of understanding Nigeria – ie. a mode of explanation that privileges affect over analysis, identity over structure and propaganda over reality.”

This dis-honesty of misdiagnosing the fundamental problems and prescribing the wrong cure is the reduction of the clash between our 2-Civilizations into mere “neo-Crusade” over a broken and rotten prebendal system, leading to further fears and distrusts, denying constructive engagements and dialogue between the 2-Civilizations. There are several examples. Unfortunately.

Ardo’s Contradiction and the Ideological Movement for Full Sharia Implementation

The first is an expose of Ardo’s contraction. Whilst he states that “Nigeria’s violence – chaotic, decentralized, economically motivated and often criminal rather than ideological – defies this frame. Bandits kidnap for ransom, not conversion. Insurgents kill Muslims and Christians with equal brutality;” he had admitted in his Aug. 30, 2021 article “Fulanis’ Fears of Restructuring,” that “religious extremists are mainly in the North” raise “armed revolts, killings and destructions against the country in the name of religion …” It is not a coincidence that non-state actors, JAS/Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and other extremist groups such as the bandits (which are loosely organized criminals, and less ideologically driven as Boko Haram) have in common with the 12 Sharia States the ideology of full and un-moderated Sharia-Law where people of other faiths are second-class citizens? And does this fact not exacerbate Christian-Muslim divides?

Objection to civilizational erasure perceived to have been caused by Western civilization in the 2000s post-modern era eventually motivated the ideology and restoration of pre-colonial Islamic purity – the revival of unmodified Sharia in 12 northern states: Governor Ahmed Sani Yerima’s Zamfara (first in 1999/2000), followed by Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kebbi, Yobe, Kaduna, Niger, and Gombe. This expansion extended Sharia from civil matters to criminal law, reintroducing hudud penalties (amputation and stoning) for Muslims, curtailed under colonial modifications as repugnant practices to natural justice. The general consequence is the disregard for the harmonizing “natural justice.”

Whilst colonial rule integrated Sharia into native courts under British oversight; the revival established Sharia Penal Codes and bodies like Hisbah police for enforcement. Yet, this conflicts with Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution (prohibiting state religion), and the Chapter 2, which Justice Akinola Aguda noted is based on non-justiciable natural justice/law; and the Chapter 4 on justiciable human rights. Whilst the Constitution limits the jurisdiction of Sharia Courts of Appeal primarily to civil proceedings involving Islamic personal law (marriage, inheritance, guardianship), and does not explicitly grant Sharia courts the power to adjudicate capital criminal cases, Sharia State laws classify these as criminal, creating a long-standing legal tension with the Constitution and natural justice. Thus, the unified and secularized legal order promoted by colonial modifications was annulled, heightening religious tensions, exacerbating Christian-Muslim divides and raising human rights concerns, such as discriminatory sentencing.

Case for Ecclesiastical Courts to apply Christian personal law

Secondly, to rival Sharia Courts of Appeal for religious equity, some chapters of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON) have advocated for the establishment of Ecclesiastical Courts to apply Christian personal law (Canon law, like marriage and inheritance) rather than a comprehensive religious penal code. House of Representative, Francis Waive (representing Ughelli Udu) sponsored a similar bill in the National Assembly (2024-25) seeking to establish Ecclesiastical Courts of Appeal. The question here is that if Sharia can be in the constitution, then legal codes representing Christians, also should be. Whilst some argue that this as a Christian religious over-reach. Others argue that it is the most powerful strategy to balance Muslim over-reach.

Problematic Christian Representation of the Indigenous-African Civilization

Thirdly and unfortunately, the Christian placeholding for IAC due to the shared FoRB is practically problematic along two lines. Though the modern Christians and IAC have FoRB in common, the former has mostly hijacked leadership in advocating against systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of FoRB, leading to civilizational erasure of IAC with Christian/Western civilization. Majority of these political, tribal and prebendal Christians as well as their Muslim kins, with no concern for customary jurisprudence or virtues or “natural justice,” (Western or African) have refused to intellectually separate, understand and appreciate the humanist versions of “natural justice” in IAC’s political-philosophy (that in the first place made FoRB possible) from the larger IA knowledge systems which also includes theologies and divination (see Part 6). Rather, like their prebendal Muslims kins, they have not only written off the custodians of IAC as un-believers and idolators, they have also continued to mis-interpret the useful themes of Indigenous-African political-philosophy necessary for the cultivation of virtue. They are interested in civilizational erasure.

In the middle of Feb. 2026, whilst writing these articles, I experienced a direct Muslim attack on the IAC towards civilizational erasure, which further convinced me of the importance of these articles. After designing and constructing the Aafin (palace) Otan Ayegbaju, the agreed projection was to re-construct the market beside it. In all Yoruba cities based on Ule-Ufẹ format, the palace and the market are placed at the center of the city, from where roads, connect the whole city. The market is called Oja-Oba (king’s market) and the monarch is called Oloja (Owner of the market). Philosophically, both represent the importance of complementarity in nature as the market stands for women and palace for men. Otan Ayegbaju was founded centuries ago when the sons of Oduduwa dispersed from Ule-Ufẹ (around 11/12 Century A.D.), but gave some space behind the market to Muslims to build a Mosque less than just 80 years ago. Today the Muslims wants the market removed so that the Mosque could be seen from the road.

The second line is the Muslim (moderate and radical) reactions to Christian leadership. The Christian placeholding for FoRB is not expressively automatic, especially in areas like the South-West where Muslim population almost equal the Christian population, and where Muslims contest Christian leadership of IAC. It is such contestation that led to the emergence of President Bola Tinubu. Such also explains the politics of Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) established by Prof. Ishaq Lakin Akintola in 1993. It describes itself as “middle-roader and socio-intellectual jihadits” and advocates for the religious and civil rights of Muslims; establishment of Federal Sharia Courts in Southern Nigeria; recognition of Islamic marriages; demands that Friday should be a work-free day as  Sunday is to Christians; rights for Muslim students to wear hijab in schools; protest compulsory church attendance  for Muslims in Christian private schools; attacks Amotekun (Leopard, the IAC symbol of power and strength and southwest security outfit) as anti-Islam, alleging that the name is taken from the Bible; advocacy for Muslim governors and political offices in the southwest; and interestingly, challenges the “Christian genocide” narrative.

Yet, some of these political Christians and Muslims secretly exploit IAC’s esoteric knowledge, not for the wisdom they possess, but for their selfish struggles for political power. This civilizational erasure by Christians and Muslims within IAC is strategically done to reduce Nigerian politics to a neo-Crusade contest. Thus, whilst these Christian and Muslim elites exploit and denigrate the high ideals IAC as they engage in archaic pan-tribalism and prebendal struggles for power, their AIC colleagues are civilizationally upgrading. This has kept the IAC dis-organized to the advantage of the Muslims among them who seek support from the AIC – further justifying Christian leadership.

Rotational Presidency Between so-called Christian/South and Muslim/North

Lastly, is the regressive rotational presidential system between the so-called Muslim/North and the Christian/South, as a reduction of AIC and IAC respectively, with vice-president coming from the other. Arguably, after Obasanjo’s presidency, prebendal presidents/vice-presidents (political Muslim and Christian), captured by their regional ethnicities and religious affiliations, without the concern for natural justice or customary jurisprudence, have taken turns at ruining whilst running the State.

This religious reductionism is now made manifest by Tinubu’s presidency (Muslim-Muslim candidacy), with a Muslim, Kashim Shettima representing AIC as the vice-president (VP); and Muslim, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (with an ordained Christian minister as a wife and family members /friends who are aboriginal religious/humanists) representing IAC as the president. The first Lady, Remi, who received death threats from an extremist Bauchi-based Muslim cleric in March 2024 because of her faith, supposedly claimed in a viral social media post in March 2025, that the split between El-Rufai and her husband was caused by the latter’s refusal to dump his Christian wife for a Muslim from the North to secure Northern political support. And that ultimate test proves that Tinubu subscribes to the IAC and not the AIC. Yet, “neo-Crusade” advocates like Northern Ethnic Nationality Forum (NENF), Arewa Youth Movement, North Central Youth Council (NCYC), North-East Coalition of APC Support Groups are advising President Tinubu to drop Shettima for a Christian VP towards the 2027 presidential election. (We should not that, this civilizational classification doesn’t mean that a Christian cannot represent the AIC, which would not be the first time in history.)

This partial exploitation of civilizationalism has empowered Tinubu’s regime over the most powerful opposition weakened by rotational arguments between Christian/Southerner and Muslim/Northerner. Whilst the IAC values, interests/fears and power politics are the key to understanding the politics of Nyesom Wike regardless of his absence of finesse; AIC values, interests/fears and power politics also explains the politics of Gumi and El Rufai. Same applies to Atiku Abubakar’s indecision, when he deleted a social media post condemning the May 2022 brutal and extrajudicial murder of Debobra Samuel in Sokoto State for blasphemy, for whatever reasons.

Fortunately, this “neo-Crusade” narrative becomes a distraction, in the light of civilizational lens of “way-of-life” centered on diverse notions of a good life – necessary for creating a shared purpose towards our common manifest destiny. What is however, important here is understanding what has kept the neo-Crusade afloat?

The Fundamental Problems

The reduction of the civilizational binary of IAC and AIC into the fictitious “neo-Crusade” binary of Christian/South and Muslim/North, by the power-sharing pan-tribalists and prebendalists (with their Western/colonial handlers), is primarily due to our woeful failure to accommodate and modernize our inherited civilizations/traditions with their living notions of good life/government in our post-colonial state, as all successful modern civilization-states (liberal democratic or not) have done.

As Peter Ekeh taught, the Nigerian state has 2 publics; “the existence of two publics instead of one public, as in the West.” These are the moral “primordial public” evident in our ways-of-life; and the Western colonial/amoral “civic public.” In addition, the “dialectical relationships” between them is un-equal, as the former subjugates the latter, leading on to the genesis of “Many of Africa’s political problems,” especially pan-tribalism.  Historically, our First Republic was destroyed by pan-tribalism, made possible by the “two publics.” According to R. L. Sklar, the specie of “pan-tribalism” which is as a result of modern urbanization and the expression of the primordial sentiment of the new class is different from “communal partnership” found in townships where indigenous values and authorities thrive, especially via customary jurisprudence.

Pan-tribalism

Pan-tribalists, with their deceptive and inchoate creation of artificial post-colonial identities based on fusion, irridentist and exclusive revisions of pre-colonial identities, are never interested in the genuine continuity of traditions/civilizations evident within moral primordial public. These pan-tribal elites are mostly Euro-American educated living in the cities whilst exploiting ethnic/religious identities in their struggles for wealth and power. They were often conscious or unconscious neo-colonial placeholders living in the GRAs, replacing the colonial powers in the decision-making modernist and Western amoral/civic public. The representatives of indigenous polities, who were previously colonial stooges under the Indirect-Rule are now deprived of constitutional inclusion in the local governments since early 50s, though at that time, accommodated in Upper Houses of regional governments during First Republic as stooges of the new colonial/civic public maned mostly by neo-colonial pan-tribalists. The First Republic collapsed and was sacked by military rule largely because of violent tussles between pan-tribalists, without the civilizational stability that can be provided by the moral, polycentric and indigenous local government governance. Same pan-tribalism, a soft type of the exclusive and irredentist fascism, led to the unfortunate 1967-70 Civil-War, when and where the “neo-Crusade” narrative was also exploited for foreign support.

Prebendalism

In the Great Reconstruction of the 70s, the military regime of Murtala Mohammed and Olusegun Obasanjo dumped the parliamentary system for an over-centralized American presidential system. Distracted by the modernization paradigm, modernism (including modern architecture) and what is now called “liberal fundamentalism,” the regime omitted the civilizational aspects too. Unfortunately, to overcome pan-tribalism, the military regime opted for a more “unitary” system against both “pan-tribalists” and “communal partnership.” The dark consequence of this was – prebendalism – a term coined by Richard Joseph in 1987 when studying the Nigerian Second Republic. Prebendalism is where civil servants and elected officials have a sense of entitlement to government revenues, and use such to benefit supporters, ethnic kins and co-religionists. Civilizational meritocracy is therefore sacrificed. In short, prebendalism is about bribing sectional pan-tribalists, who do not care about the profitable continuity of traditions/civilization in modernity towards stability and posterity, to keeping Nigeria one. It has worked till the full emergence of a new gambit in our Fourth republic.

Prebendal Pan-tribalism

This new gambit is prebendal pan-tribalism, that is, the weaponization of violent and aggrieved non-states actors (pan-tribal/religious agitators, or/and pan-tribal/religious separatists), based on real or fictious injustice inflicted on them by the Nigerian state, by pan-tribal elites for sectional and the pan-tribal/religous control of the rotten prebendal pyramid. In this manner, deliberate insecurity caused by aggrieved ethnic or/and religious groups sponsored by their political elite are weapons and proxies in a real-time prebendalist struggles for power and wealth. Unfortunately, which the majority exploit this for power, the smart Fulbe has added civilizational expansionism. And these, have driven Nigeria to crossroads.