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Ugo Chuks Okolie. (2022). Hate Speech and Ethno-Religious Violence
in Nigeria. Journal Eduvest. Vol 2(3): 463-469
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Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 2 Number 3, March, 2022
p- ISSN 2775-3735- e-ISSN 2775-3727
HATE SPEECH AND ETHNO-RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN
NIGERIA
Ugo Chuks Okolie
Department of Political Science, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Email: ugookolie3@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Hate speech was the start of ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. Recently, no
issue has generated widespread public comment in Nigeria other than the issue
of hate speech and ethnic-religious violence that has rocked the country and its
dire consequences for national integration. Whereas, on the issue of hate
speech, the provisions of the Nigerian constitution and the Nigerian Election Law
are clear but the question is where to draw the line between political statements
and hate speech. Therefore, this study aims to explore the influence of hate
speech on ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. A descriptive method was adopted
for this study and data was collected through a survey of 600 respondents
consisting of Indigenous Leaders, Christian Leaders, Muslim Leaders, Leaders of
civil society groups and Youth Leaders in the South-South, Southwest, Southeast,
Northwest, North-central and Northeastern geopolitical zones of Nigeria. The
collected data were analyzed using correlation and linear regression analysis
with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. This
study found that there is a significant relationship between hate speech and
ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. The study concludes that hate speech in
Nigeria is mostly directed towards political leaders and supporters of their
ethnicity, religion or region.
KEYWORDS
Hate Speech, Ethno-Religious Violence, National Integration
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
INTRODUCTION
Every nation on earth desires national integration. National integration remains one
of the cardinal objectives of every multi-ethnic nation (Egbefo, 2015). Nigeria is a multi-
ethnic country that provides a perfect country-case study for ethno-religious violence
Ugo Chuks Okolie
Hate Speech and Ethno-Religious Violence in Nigeria 464
(Olojo, 2016). Nigeria remains the most populous nation in Africa endowed with rich
natural resources. Despite this, Nigeria is faced with many problems and challenges among
others hate speech and ethno-religious violence seems to top the list. Hate speech and
ethno-religious violence have created instability and remained a constant threat to peaceful
co-existence in the Nigeria society (Onah, Diara, & Uroko, 2017).
Observably, hate speech and ethno-religious violence has rooten deep into the bone
marrows of Nigerians and it has continued unabated. The hatred between the ethnic groups
that make up Nigeria has intensified as the use of hate speech continues unregulated. Since
1960 when the country attained independence, ethno-religious violence has left the country
comatose. Inter-ethnic rivalry, mutual distrust, bigotry, ethnic cynicism and religious
intolerance have invariably and seriously undermined Nigeria’s quest for national
integration due to its leadership pattern and quality (Egbefo, 2015). Political leaders in
Nigeria use hate speech to divide and rule the people already divided along ethnic and
religious lines. To put it simply, political leaders in Nigeria employed hate speeches in
politic and this incites coexisting ethnic and religious groups, thereby generating all forms
of violence especially election related ones (Idike & Eme, 2015).
Nigeria’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious diversities coincide with the North and
South divide, with Muslims and Christians dominating each part respectively. These have
created geo-religious identities; a situation where religion and its concomitant tension
generation enthroned a threat to security of the country (Ukandu, 2011). Historically,
religious extremists have tried to legalize violence behaviour and bloodshed in the name of
God. This is apparent in the violence terrorist attacks that are justified by people who
believe that they are involved in a form of holy warfare. In this context, Juergensmeyer’s
concept of ‘cosmic war’ provides a useful theoretical structure for investigating the
violence that religious extremists indulge in today. This framework refers to the encounter
between the forces of evil and good that highlights religious humility, yet induces violence
(Nwankwo, 2015). Killing in the name of God is therefore one of the major motors of
religious violence today (Juergensmeyer, 2005).
In addition, under the current democratic transition, competitive partisan political
activities are being used as avenue through which groups are mobilized, identities rigidly
reinforced, often infused with excessive religiosity, violent youth gangs and militants are
formed and armed, and ethnic tensions and conflicts thereby facilitated. As the elite pursue
zero-sum political engagements, all means, including violent ones, are used to achieve
selfishly and narrowly defined ends (Idike & Okechukwu, 2015). Therefore, the character
of the Nigerian state is responsible for the country’s deepening ethno-religious violence
that are presently threatening the fabric of the country, and which has become a clog in
Nigeria’s attempt to develop her economy (Mohammed, 2013). Hate speech and ethno-
religious violence are rising and the country is daily challenged by these forces. This study
therefore seeks to look at the challenges posed by hate speech and ethno-religious violence
on Nigeria’s match towards national integration. Examined the relationship between hate
speech and ethno-religious violence in Nigeria and highlight what is required to be done,
policy-wise a well as practically, by both the government and all the other stakeholders, so
as to find a way out of the heavy cost of potentially violent ethno-religious and communal
crisis, which characterize present day Nigeria.
In developing countries, the phenomenon of ethnic, religious and political related
violence seems to be recurrent. Numerous studies have been conducted about the pre,
during and post-election violence but little has been devoted in recent time at analyzing the
principal cause of this violence in relation to hate speech. According to Adibe (2015) hate
speech employs discriminatory epithets to insult and stigmatize others on the basis of their
race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or other forms of group membership. Fasakin,
Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 2 Number 3, March 2022
465 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
Oyero, Oyesomi, & Okorie (2017) added that hate speech is often the gateway to
discrimination, harassment and violence as well as a precursor to serious harmful criminal
acts. This supports the assertion of (Ezeibe, 2015) who posits that hate speech is any speech,
gesture, conduct, writing or display which could incite people to violence or prejudicial
action. Essentially, such speeches rob others of their dignity. In Nigeria, the quest for power
and control, and the desire of politicians to win elections at all cost has engendered political
and ethno-religious violence. The problem this paper intends to study therefore includes
the challenges posed by hate speech and ethno-religious violence on Nigeria’s match
towards national integration and to examine the relationship between hate speech and
ethno-religious violence in present day Nigeria. This study specifically identified the
following objectives: 1) to examine the factors that motivates hate speech and ethno-
religious violence in Nigeria, 2) to examine the consequences of hate speech and ethno-
religious violence on national integration, 3) to examine the relationship between hate
speech and ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. Ascertain the extent to which hate speech
impact on ethno-religious violence in Nigeria.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study assessed the impact of hate speech on ethno-religious violence in
Nigeria. The descriptive approach was adopted and data was collected via a survey of 600
respondents comprises of Traditional leaders, Christian Leaders, Muslim leaders, Leaders
of Civil Society groups and Youth leaders randomly selected in each geopolitical zones as
shown below.
Table 1: Population of the Study
Geopoliti
cal Zones
Traditional
Leaders
Christian
Leaders
Civil
Society
Youth
Leaders
Total
South-
South
Delta (20)
Bayelsa(20)
River (20)
Akwa-
Ibom (20)
100
South-
West
Lagos (20)
Osun (20)
Ekiti (20)
Ogun (20)
100
South-
East
Anambra
(20)
Enugu (20)
Abia (20)
Ebonyi (20)
100
North-
West
Kaduna (20)
Kano (20)
Zamfara
(20)
Kebbi (20)
100
North-
Central
Kwara (20)
Kigo (20)
FCT (20)
Niger (20)
100
North-
East
Taraba (20)
Bauchi (20)
Adamawa
(20)
Yobe (20)
100
Total
120
120
120
120
600
Source: Researchers’ Fieldwork (2018)
Sampling Technique
The purposive, non-probabilistic method was adopted to target respondents with
knowledge about the specific issues capture in the study. Sample was drawn from the six
geopolitical zones to elicit views on the relationship between hate speech and ethno-
religious violence in Nigeria.
Ugo Chuks Okolie
Hate Speech and Ethno-Religious Violence in Nigeria 466
Reliability and Validity of the Instrument
Structure questionnaire were designed to elicit needed information. The reliability
was established through a trial test conducted on 100 respondents in South-South who also
took part in the study. Cronbach Alpha method was used to establish the internal
consistency of the instrument as shown in the table below.
Table 2: Reliability Statistics of Variable
Scale
Number of Items
Cronbach’s Alpha
Hate speech
12
0.817
Ethno-religious violence
15
0.792
The results yielded a coefficient of 0.817 and 0.792, which satisfied the general
recommended level of 0.70 for the research indicators (Cronbach, 1951). Experts also
judged the face and content validity of the questionnaire as adequate. Hence, researchers
satisfied both reliability and validity of the scale.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
A. Distribution of Questionnaire and Response Rate
This study examined the relationship between hate speech and ethno-religious
violence in Nigeria. To achieve this, six hundred (600) questionnaires were administered
across the six (6) geopolitical zones. Of the six hundred questionnaires distributed out of
which three hundred and ninety eight (398) questionnaires representing 66.3% were
retrieved as shown in the table below.
Table 3: Distribution of Questionnaire and Response Rate
S/N
Geopolitical
Zone
Questionnaires
Distributed
Questionnaire
Retrieved
Percentage %
1
South-South
100
83
13.8
2
South-West
100
71
11.8
3
South-East
100
78
13.0
4
North-West
100
46
7.7
5
North-Central
100
51
8.5
6
North-East
100
69
11.5
Total
600
398
66.3
Source: Researchers’ fieldwork (2018)
Table 4: Respondents Responses on Whether Hate Speech is the Precursor to Ethno-
Religious Violence in Nigeria
Category
Percentage (%)
Strongly agreed
57.5
Agreed
33.8
Neither agreed nor disagree
8.7
Source: Field Survey (2018)
The table 4 above shows that hate speech is the precursor to ethno-religious
violence in Nigeria. Out of the total respondents, it was observed that 57.5% strongly
agreed and 33.8% agreed while only 8.7% of the respondents neither agreed nor disagreed.
Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 2 Number 3, March 2022
467 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
Table 5: Correlation Matrix
Variables
Hate Speech
Ethno-Religious
Violence
Hate Speech
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-Tailed)
N
1
.865**
.000
398
Ethno-Religious
Violence
Pearson Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
.865**
.000
398
**Correlation is significant at 0.01 Level (2-tailed). Source Field survey (2018)
Source: Field Survey(2018)
Table 8 above shows the correlation between hate speech and ethno-religious
violence in Nigeria. There exists a significant positive high correlation between hate speech
and ethno-religious violence (r =.865, n=398, p, <0.01). This implies that hate speech has
a strong and positive relationship with ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. This is widely
supported by the previous findings of Okafor (2007); (Adebayo, 2010); (Joseph & Rothfuß,
2012); Nwankwo (2015); Fasakin et al. (2017); and Rasaq et al. 2017).
B. Regression Analysis
Table 6: Model Summary
b
Model
R
R Square
Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
1
.0813
a
.782
.710
.374
a. Predictors: (Constant), hate speech
b. Dependent variable: ethno religious violence
Source: Field survey (2018)
Table 7: ANOVA
a
Model
Sum of
square
Df
Mean
F
Sig
1
Regression
Residual
Total
3.745
4.671
8.362
1
183
184
3.823
0.38
23.533
.000
a. Dependent variable: ethno-religious violence
b. Predictors: (constant) hate speech
Source: Field survey (2018)
The simple linear regression shows (R
2
) value of 0.782 which reveals that hate speech
independently accounts for 78.2% of the variation in ethno-religious violence in Nigeria.
The F. statistics of 23.533 reveals that the model is statistically significant at 0.05
significant levels. To this end, the study concludes that ethno-religious violence in Nigeria
is a function of hate speeches.
C. Discussion
The effects of political activities in Nigeria have shown that hate speech has
become more vivid in the successive democratic dispensation that the previous ones
thereby keeping the citizens more divided. Nigeria’s background of intolerance provides
ample grounds for the use of hate speech. Directly, it was hate speech and indirectly it was
ethnic and religious intolerance that led to the surge in electoral violence in Nigeria from
Ugo Chuks Okolie
Hate Speech and Ethno-Religious Violence in Nigeria 468
2011 to 2020. Many lives have been loss and properties worth billions destroyed leaving
people destitute and homeless. This has affected sustainable human development and
national integration. The use of ethnicity, religious and politics should rather unite us as
Nigerians in order to promote peace, harmonious peaceful coexistence and unity. Based on
the empirical and theoretical findings of this study, the following recommendations were
made: political actors that engage in the use of hate speeches during electioneering should
be punished according to the electoral laws of the country. Stringent punitive measures
should be meted to media outlets, especially the native language radio stations that use hate
speech to fan the ember of ethnic division or outlets that publish or broadcast hate speeches
as a form of deterrent for the growth of democracy in Nigeria.
Religion should be used to promote peace not abused. Adherents of different
religions should imbibe the moral teachings of religions such as love for one another,
honesty, tolerance, unity, justice, and sanctity of human life. This foster peaceful
coexistence. The media as the watchdog of society should take up the responsibility by
bringing to the forefront the fiercely devastating effect of hate speech. Also, political actors
should be told in clear and unambiguous terms that hate speech does not win election; good
governance and good manifesto do.
Convocation of regular national dialogue is recommended here because this will
facilitate the mobilization of those who are divided along ethnic, cultural, economic, and
religious lines in the task of national unity and nation building. Corruption in all forms must
be eradicated and the imposition of political leaders by political godfathers must be
discouraged. This will help to entrench leadership integrity, values, tolerance, selflessness,
and accountability. Once the leadership is a reflection of the wishes of the people, then the
dream of national integration and nation building is largely achieved.
The use of traditional institutions and religious leaders as peace-makers with the
adoption of a strategy of openness and sincerity is the key to peaceful ethno-religious, co-
habitation and national prosperity. The provision of employment for the country’s teeming
youths is highly recommended. This is because, if these youths are gainfully employed, it
becomes difficult for anybody to recruit them and use them to cause ethno-religious
problems and other disintegrative activities.
The issue of Christian-Muslim dialogue should be taken seriously by parties
involved. During such dialogue, the issue of freedom of worship as stipulated in the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should be emphasized. This bring a lasting
peace in the country. The National Orientation Agency, in collaboration, with civil society
groups, political parties and traditional or community leaders should embark on a campaign
against the use of hate speech in Nigeria.
Political leaders should aim at operating a true federalism, cultivate a suitable
political culture, out-grow ethnic rancor and stop blaming ethnicity for any social policy
that affect any group unintentionally. There is a need for governments, ethno-regional, and
religious groups to adopt preventive diplomacy and early weaning system as mechanisms
for attaining peace. To attain this objective, courses pertaining to conflict, and conflict
management should be included in the curriculum of all tiers of education where Nigeria
diversities should be emphasized.
Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies
Volume 2 Number 3, March 2022
469 http://eduvest.greenvest.co.id
CONCLUSION
The study has showed through its findings that hate speech have a strong and
positive impact on ethno-religious violence in Nigeria. Also, the relationship between hate
speech and ethno-religious violence in Nigeria’s fourth republic was confirmed. Based on
the empirical and theoretical findings of this study, we conclude that hate speech is the
precursor of ethno-religious violence in Nigeria and that the problem posed by ethnic and
religious violence is a threat to Nigerians corporate existence and its desire to engender
national integration.
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