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Browsing Faculty of Humanities by Author "Faseke Oladipo, Babajimi"
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Item THE ARAB SPRING AND ITS AFTERMATH(Babcock University Press, 2014) Faseke Oladipo, BabajimiItem THE MYTH OF RELIGIOUS WAR: THE VATICAN INVOLVEMENT AND NIGERIA’S DEFENSIVE DIPLOMACY DURING THE BIAFRAN WAR, 1967-1970(KDJAS: Kenneth Dike Journal of African Studies, 2020) Faseke Oladipo, BabajimiThe Nigerian civil war was caused by a number of factors ranging from politics to colonial legacies, as well as the fragile trust existing among the major regional and ethnic groups. All of these reached a crescendo after the coup and counter coup in 1966. The fact that the secessionist region was made up of predominantly Igbo Catholic Christians as opposed to the Muslim Hausa dominated Nigerian Sate also exacerbated the conflict. Indeed, the Biafrans made the most of this factor in selling the propaganda that the war was religious and that the Catholic Igbos were being persecuted by reason of their faith; a claim that won the sympathy of some foreign actors, including the Vatican. While the allegation of a religious war was unfounded, it calls into question how a non-material factor like religion could be so potent as to be a major determinant in influencing international actors. It was not until the religious element was decisively squashed that the Vatican involvement in the war waned, thus reinforcing the strength of faith in diplomacy. It is against this backdrop that the essay investigates the extent to which the Vatican bought Biafra’s religious war propaganda, how this influenced its participation, and the extent to which the Nigerian Military Government (FMG), as a diplomatic tactic, discredited the Pope and Vatican’s interpretation of the war as religious.Item Nigeria and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation: A Discourse in Identity, Faith and Development, 1969–2016(religions, 2019-03-05) Faseke Oladipo, BabajimiNigeria is both a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, with Islam and Christianity being the dominant religions. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is therefore an institution that the Muslim segment of the country can readily identify with. However, there is the question of the secular posture of the country, which Christians within the polity use as an excuse to distance the country from an institution they perceive to be exclusively for Muslims. However, despite being an organization that emerged from Muslim solidarity, the OIC transcends faith to provide economic and political opportunities for member nations. The fact that Islam remains a rallying point within the OIC, however, made Nigeria’s relationship with the organization tenuous for the most part. It is against this backdrop that the paper traces the origins and evolution of Nigeria’s involvement with the OIC, identifying its cost and benefits. The essay argues that Nigeria will be the better for it if both the Christian and Muslim segments of the population embrace the OIC as a whole or are unanimous in discarding it. The divisive tendency that Nigeria’s membership breeds, however, will be detrimental to the nation’s unity and development.Item Quaker mission in the Nigerian civil war and Ephraim Isaac’s mediation in the Ethiopian civil war: lessons in religious peacebuilding(JOURNAL OF RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY IN SOCIAL WORK: SOCIAL THOUGHT, 2019-10-15) Faseke Oladipo, BabajimiTraditional peacekeeping discourse has ignored the role of religious bodies (or individuals) in conflict resolution, preferring to focus on the activities of skilled diplomats and negotiators. History suggests, however, that not only have religious bodies been engaged in peacebuilding efforts, they have produced some of the most rewarding successes. It is in this connection that the paper examines two notable case studies: the Quaker Mission during the Nigerian Civil War and Ephraim Isaac’s mediation effort during the Eritrea/Ethiopia conflict. Using both primary and secondary sources, a historical and comparative methodology is adopted. It argues that while the case studies differ in many respects, there is a convergence in methods which yielded positive results. The essay concludes that whether acting as a foreign mediator (as in the case of the Nigerian Civil War) or an indigenous one (as in the case of Ethiopia), the religious “tag” they carry gave them an added advantage in the mediatory role they performed. This is more so the case since these bodies demonstrated the spirit of nonpartisanship, empathy, integrity and credibility; all of which are necessities for achieving success in religious peacebuilding.Item RELIGION, ETHNICITY AND POLITICAL IDENTITY IN NIGERIA BEFORE 1960(ACU JOURNAL HUMANITIES, 2020-06) Faseke Oladipo, BabajimiNigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country and policies and public opinion are sometimes influenced by this reality. This details is further accentuated by the fact that the northern part of the country and the southern regions appear to favor different religions and-by extension-worldview therefore, sometimes conflict on national issues.