‘Biafra is made in heaven’: exploring the religious framing of the neo-Biafra secessionist movement in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

There is a burgeoning literature on the religion-social movement connection. However, these literatures have on the one hand been geographically biased as most of the focus has been on the global north, and on the other hand, conceptually and theoretically inconclusive as much of the scholarly attention has been on the mobilization role of religion in social movements. As a contribution towards filling this gap, the present study examined the religious framing of the neo-Biafra separatist agitations in Nigeria. Using content and thematic analytical methods, the study analysed eight speeches delivered by the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu. With the findings showing an overwhelming frequency of religious concepts and the leader’s attempt to blend the socio-political and the religious aspirations of the Igbo people, the study demonstrates that religion is increasingly being appropriated to sustain the current Biafra separatist movement in Nigeria. Implications of the findings for research and policy are discussed.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply grateful to Dr. Michael Ugwueze of the Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, for his contributions to the improvement of the manuscript. The valuable reviewers’ comments which guided the improvement of the manuscript are also deeply appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIAbjcxlR2k&t=4s. This video is not part of the analysed eight audios/videos/speeches because while some of the analysed ones do not have provisions for comments/reactions from viewers/listeners, the ones that have provisions for comments did not receive any comment or reaction.

2 See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXZOtqU2Iis

3 The first arrest of Nnamdi Kanu was in 2015. He spent more than a year in prison before he was granted bail on medical grounds in 2017.