SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE Discuss the relationship between religion and politics in traditional Nigeria. 3.5 Countdown to Organized Religion in Contemporary Nigeria You should always remember that before her independence, two organized foreign religions arrived in Nigeria Christianity and Islam. History tells us that from 1960 onward almost every Nigerian elite claimed allegiance to either Christianity or Islam. 3.5.1 State-Religion Relationship The intrusion of Christianity and Islam into an independent Nigeria put the country in a complex situation. The supreme law under which the country operated was the Nigerian independence constitution of 1960 as amended by the 1963 Republican constitution. It was very clear from these documents that Nigeria was a secular state, that is, the affairs of state must not be mixed with religion. Religious belief and worship were to remain strictly personal. Unfortunately this could not hold fora longtime. For instance, Nigeria’s second Republic was inaugurated amidst certain fears, especially the fear of religious wars. Nigeria became the battlefield of Christianity and Islam.
