I'. Introduction (A) Background 74 75
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34. o. Nnoli, Ethnic Politics ln Nigeria, Fourth Dimension Publishers, Enugu, 1978 p. 3. MILITARY GOVERNMENTS AND ASSAULTS ON NIGERIA'S 35. M. Mamdani, Politics And Class Formations in Uganda, New York, Monthly, SECULARITY Review, 1976, p, 3. 36. Nnoli, op. eit., p. 3. 0. B. C. NWOLISE 37. Ibid., p. 4. Introduction 38. E. A. Ruch and A. C. Anyanwu, op. cit., p. 12. (a) Background 39. C. Achebe, The Trouble With Nigeria, Fourth Dimension Puhl,sh ·1,, I nu 11, 1985, p. 1. Nigeria today is a nation in crisis. Apart from the problems of political instability, depressed economy with the attendant widespread hunger nit Rev. Dr. A.O. Echekwube is a Senior Lecturer i)l till· Phdn 111 I'. and hardhsip, there is the mounting tension produced more by religious State of the Department of Religious Studio, and Phil11..,11Jlh lk11dd manipulations than by religious intolerance. Nigeria like many other University, Ekpoma, Nigeria. nations of the world is a country with a multiplicity of religions with the outstanding ones being Christianity, Islam, and the African Traditional religion, which have all been in conflict especially since the Organization oflslamic Conference controversy of 1986. In the United States of America, the Supreme Court overruled in June 1985, a statute of the state of Alabama which authorised public schools there "to observe a one-minute silence for meditation or volun• tary prayer". The supreme Court of the United States gave as reasoning behind the decision the point that the statute of Alabama State repre• sented an establishment of religion which action violated the First Amen• dment to the United States Constitution stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"1• Again Turkey in December 1984 jailed 23 members of some religious sects for violating the country's law on pro• selyting because of their door to door preaching and pamphleteering.2 Many Nigerians will wonder at the two actions taken in the USA and Turkey. They will ask how a minute's silence in a classroom of noisy students will endanger the religious liberty of American people. Nigerians who are used to the door-to-door preaching of Jehovah's Witnesses men and women, the blaring of loudspeakers mounted on roof-tops calling Muslim faithful, and daily religious preachings in public buses and taxis will think the government leaders in Turkey are mad for jailing door-to-door pamphleteers. However the point must be made, that the United States of America and Turkey are secular states and it is the duty of the governments to religiously maintain, and promote that secular status, and also protect the religious liberties of the citizens. Such effective maintenance and promotion of the secularity of the nation and protection of the religious liberties of the citizens have not existed in Nigeria partly because govern• ments, especially military governments as this study shows have been party to the assaults on Nigeria's secularity. 74 75 of t~e state and religion, it, unlike secularism, allows religion to render (b) The Concepts of Secularism and Secularity ,, s_en:ices to men and restrain government when it tries to over-step its Before going into analysis of the role ?f milit~ry governments in the limits. Our discussion of secularism is simply meant to enhance a com• erosion of Nigeria's secular status, we wish to_ dis~uss first the concepts prehensive view of the evolution of the concept of secularity which is our of secular secularism and secularity, and highlight the relevance of fo~us. Kambasaya brings out the positive value of secularity when he secularity in a multi-r~ligious society l:Jrn ~igeria. Th~, word "s~~lm·" writes: . comes from the Latin word "seculans which means temporal .' a~? it is taking to mean "of or relating to worldly as opposed ~o sa_cred things , "Secularity" on the other hand, while being described as belief or "having no particular religious affi.nities".3 Secularism 1s a do tnne in secularism, can more appropriately be seen as a state of being that rejects religion. It represents the attitude that religion sl~o~ld_ )~ave ne~0:aI in religious affairs -neither opposing nor promoting no place in civil affairs, and civil rulers should have: no interest 1n 1cl1_g~on. religion. Far from being totally uninterested in religion, it ack• In this situation, the society is said to be secular m statu~ or c >nditi_on. knowledges the existence of religion, appreciates the fact that This condition of being secular is referred to as secularity. S xuluriam members of its "secular community" are at the same time and secularity however have a subtle distinction between them. ad~erents to diverse religious beliefs. As such it respects those be~i~fs while at the same time keeping an eye on religion, so that Secularism began as a movement in society directed away rrnn~ "other religion does not overstep its boundaries to infringe in matters worldliness to this worldliness". It began as a result of tho ~1!uat10n of public interest thereby jeopardizing public peace.a stemming from the medieval period in which religiou. aul~1or11_1~s des• pised human affairs and concentrated on God and the ~llur•.li!o. The Fron:i th~ .'.-1-bove, t_he rc_levan~e o[ secularity for_ a nation especially humane thinkers of the Renaissance time took to sccularu-m with. c!D• a multi-reltgious nation hke N1gena can be perceived clearly. It will phasis on humanism. This meant that leaders should sho_w pr~>pcr m• enable the gov~rnment enforce national la'Ys on ~eligious freedom freely, terest in human affairs and pursue the fulfilment of man 111 ll11~. world fir~ly, and fatrly; and ensure that public policies, programmes, and and not just focusing only on divine matters. W~ must om] !,,tvll~C the act10ns of government are not dictated by any particular religion's regu• point that secularism "has been m progress during th un111 l:O~trse lation~ or doctrine. ~ecularity does not mean that people should not of modern history, and has often been viewed as ?otnp • •, • anti~re• worship God/Allah m churcr.es, mosques, or shrines, or that people ligious"," whether Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or Ta~1sm tr. i-:cculansm should not behave morally. In Nigeria's context, it is useful in the sense is based on the "principles of natural morality ~1~? ind ·p 11tl~i1H fr~~ that since t~e_re are ~any religi~n~, n?ne on~ ?f which can not be imposed vealed religion or suparnaturalism" .5 Its first ten~t 1~ Irocdo m 11I thought on all the citizens without precip1tatmg rehgwus war and national dis• which most christians have accepted today unlike the stri)i1 ' opposition integr~tion, t~e best way out is t~ l?revent government from adopting it faced from cnristians when secularism wa J:romlllgnt •ti :~bout the or bemg affi.h~t~d to any_ one r~hg10n,_ thus enabling the government year 1846 by George Holyoake in England. Thi~ frcod_o,n ol. thought regulate all rehg10ns as an impartial ump1re and conduct national policies and programmes without introducing a religious element. ' implied the right to hold different opinions on. all sub~· ·IN ol tl:ought including the "foundations of moral obligation, I h _ox1sl.~11c of ~od, (c) Is Nigeria a Secular State? the immortality of the soul, the authority oi_ conscron · and others. From the above discussions on secularism, a secular state can be However, it is important to note that secularism does ~ol ·nmb_at the referr:d_ to as a ~ountry which does not conduct its affairs on the basis pretensions of religions; and does not say there 1s ~o God_. l l ~urns at of a divme doctn~e, but on secular principles as laid down in its laws fi d' "that material condition in which it. .hall be impossibl '_for man at least. The question as to whether Nigeria is a secular state arises here ti ~~~eprived or to be poor"; and maintains that "Lh~ro i~ I ~ght_ and fo: t"'.o _reasons mainly. The first reason is that we have to show that guidance in secular truth, whose conditions and san ·\ ions exist inde• Nigena is a secula~ state before we can talk of assaults against her secular pendently, act independently and act for ever">. status. Secondly, m the heat of religious controversy some people in the past have said that Nigeria is not a secular stat;. To answer the We are aware of the distinction made by some writers and tl:inkers question, we wish to r~cit~ some references. First, let us examine the between secularism and secularity to the extent ~hat tho former 1 seen fu~da~ental l~ws of N1gena. The 1960 Independence Constitution of in pejorative terms while the latter is seen in. pos1~1vo terms. or example, Nigena provid~d m Chapte!· _three, se:ction 23 (1) for freedoms of White interpretes secularism in terms of ''worldliness", or '_'an e_xclusive thou~~t, conscience and re~1g1on, an_d p_rohibited enforced religious concentration on the things of this world"·! Ou:r co!1~em in this paper ~duca~10n. The 1963 Repubhcan constitut10n repeated these provisions is secularity which is a positive value, for while prescnbmg the separation m section 24. 76 77 It was on the basis of such constitutional provisions that Sir Abubakar 1!1 his public lecture titled "Law is an Instrument of National Unity" Tafawa Balewa refused to register Nigeria as a member of the World delivered at Benin on 24 April 1987 as part of tl.e Public Service Forum l' Muslim League at the request of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Lec~ure series, Dr.