Biafran Separatism in Post-War Nigeria: Religious Identity, Intergroup Threats, and the (In)compatibility of Christianity and Islam

Abstract The Republic of Biafra was created out of Nigeria on May 30, 1967. Consisting mainly of Igbo Christians, Biafra officially ceased to exist on January 15, 1970, following a 30-month war. Most studies of the contemporary demand among some Igbo people for Biafra’s restoration do not examine its religious dimension, and the minimal research on its religious drivers has paid less attention to the Igbo Christian identity, despite the significant position of Christianity in Igboland and Eastern Nigeria more broadly. Data obtained from July to October 2020 through 21 key informant interviews and 229 questionnaire respondents from Nigeria indicates that the present-day support for Biafra’s restoration is partially motivated by Christian identity, perceived realistic and symbolic threats from Islam and northern Nigerian Muslims, and a notion that Christianity and Islam are incompatible. To address separatism in Nigeria, a strategic response should take its religious drivers into account.