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ABSTRACT
Conflict and security scholars have identified ethnic and religious conflicts as one of the main causes of insecurity in Nigeria the African most populous country. One of the states in which these twin conflicts have been occurring is Kano state that incidentally is also the most populous state in the country. Hausa/Fulani ethnic group whose religion is Islam dominates the state that has a current estimated population of over ten million. However, owing to its background as the commercial nerve centre of the northern region, the state has attracted substantially Christian immigrants from the southern parts of the country. Unfortunately, the relationship between the host Muslim Hausa/Fulani and their Christian immigrants especially the Igbos over the years have been characterized by series of conflicts arising from ethnic and religious acrimonies. Against this backdrop, this paper examines the role of Kano Emirate Council in the management of these conflicts. The study is based on a qualitative research method with secondary data obtained through review of related published materials. Finding of the study revealed that, Kano Emirate Council plays significant role in managing ethnic and religious conflicts in the state on informal basis. On the backdrop of this finding, this paper concludes that management of Kano state security which is often threatened by ethno-religious conflicts can be improved with the reintegration of the Emirate Council into the security management framework.
Keywords: Conflict, Ethnic, Emirate Council, Kano, Managing conflict, Religious
INTRODUCTION
According to conflict and security scholars, ethnic and religious conflict is one of the main causes of insecurity challenges in Nigeria. This is because major political and economic issues in the country are usually contested along the ethnic and religious divides. To this extent, most Nigerians appear to prefer identifying their selves by their ethnic or religious affiliations and to some extent along regionalism instead of seeing themselves as Nigerians (Smyth and Robinson 2001). Nigeria with a current population estimated to be close to 200 million is a multi-ethnic and religious country. Although, the country has over 300 different ethnic groupings, the dominant ones are the Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba. Majority of the ethnic groups that constitute the population of the country are Muslims and Christians while the rest belong to traditional and other forms...