Section 38(1) of the Constitution makes provision for the citizen’s ‘freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others, and in public or private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.’ Section 39(1), subsequently, provides that ‘every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference’

Section 40 guarantees that ‘every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons.’ These are the granting clauses that give the citizens of Nigeria the constitutional right to engage in religious propagation within the shores of Nigeria among other rights; to associate and to hold opinions or to impart ideas without any hindrance.

It is obvious that, by the constitutional provisions, Nigeria is a multi-Religious Country and virtue of section 10 of the constitution, neither national or state the government is permitted to adopt any religion as State Religion.

CASE STUDY: PLATEAU STATE

In the first half of 2004, hundreds of people were killed in inter-communal fighting between Muslims and Christians in and around the town of Yelwa and the southern part of Plateau State, central Nigeria, bringing the total number of victims of the violence in Plateau State since 2001 to between 2,000 and 3,000.The violence reached a peak between February and May 2004 in the area around the towns of Yelwa and Shendam. There were many attacks during this period, but two stood out in terms of their scale, the number of victims and the level of preparation and organization.

Muslims killed more than seventy-five Christians in Yelwa; at least forty-eight of them were killed inside a church compound. Then on May 2 and 3, large numbers of well-armed Christians surrounded the town of Yelwa and killed some Muslims. Yelwa and many surrounding villages suffered massive destruction, and tens of thousands of people were displaced.

REVENGE

One week later, on May 11 and 12, Muslims in the northern city of Kano several hundred kilometers away from Plateau State took revenge for the Yelwa attack and turned against Christian residents of Kano, killing more than two hundred. A once localized dispute in a specific part of Plateau State had escalated into a religious conflict of national dimensions (HRW, 2005).

The struggle for resources and political power is arguably at the core of the ethno-religious conflict in Jos, Plateau State, North-central Nigeria. It started mainly in 2001 when a riot erupted between Hausa/Fulani, who are mostly Muslims, and ethnic groups such as Berom, Anaguta, and Afizare, who are predominantly Christians.

While other factors like poverty induced ethnic radicalism and religious violence persist, efforts by the two groups to demonstrate that the state’s capital city belongs to them has continued. Both the Hausa/Fulani and the Berom/Anaguta/Afizere attempt to explain their claims to Jos through indigene rights and political representation.

As the tension continued, on Sept. 7, 2001, a Christian woman attempted to bypass a barricade set up in front of Muslim worshippers during a Friday prayer. When some Muslim youths tried to stop her, the misunderstanding escalated into a brawl that stretched throughout Jos (Best, 2007, pp. 66–67).
Over 1,000 people were killed in the conflict that lasted 10 days. Many properties were vandalized, including residences, shops, mosques, and churches.

According to testimonies collected by Human Rights Watch shortly after the riot, Christian and Muslim youths faced each other with homemade weapons.
These included arrows, sticks, machetes, and guns. Fighting took place along
improvised front lines (HRW, 2001, p. 9).
Approximately 50,000 individuals were displaced. The deployment of military forces resulted in the end of the violence, but lack of prosecutions and effective deterrence arguably led to a recurrence in 2002, 2008, 2010 and 2011 in the form of attacks and reprisals.

It is within the context of the multi-religious society that the International Centre for Peace Charities and Human Development (INTERCEP) carries out its interventions in Nigeria.
Int’l Centre for Peace, Charities and Human Development (INTERCEP) and other CSOs/NGOs on the Plateau have continued to make concerted efforts in awareness creation, sensitization and capacity building of Religious/Traditional leaders, youth and women groups, community leaders and security personnel on curtailing hate speech, dangerous speech and fake news which are known triggers for truncating freedom of religion and belief. Bringing together all relevant stakeholders in the peace processes and creating awareness of community members around peace processes. The organization also collaborates and organize trainings as well as engage in early warning and human rights violation, leveraging interfaith peacebuilding and mediation, establishing interfaith community dialogue fora, conflict management, resolution and prevention.

To achieve her mandate INTERCEP has been carrying out various activities to ensure a peaceable and liveable Nigeria
Recently 21, April 2022, we did a presentation on 8 Pillars of Positive Peace which if well understood and implemented by the government we will certainly have a very stable, peaceful and prosperous society.
One of the Pillars is Pillar No 6 which is Acceptance of the Rights of Others – A category designed to include both the formal laws that guarantee basic human rights and freedoms as well as the informal social and cultural norms that relate to behaviours of citizens. These factors can be seen as proxies for tolerance between different ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socio-economic groups within a country. A commitment to human rights and freedom are key characteristics of peaceful countries, a claim supported by very strong correlations with several indexes measuring human rights. Also important are societal attitudes towards fellow citizens, minorities, ethnic groups, genders and foreigners. INDICATORS here include, formal institutions for rights and freedom, informal socio-cultural norms, tolerance between groups.

INTERCEP facilitated Interfaith Meeting With Secondary School Students on drivers of corruption and the need for religious tolerance