ABSTRACT
Nigeria is constitutionally a secular state, and political parties are forbidden by the constitution from appealing to religious feeling. But Nigerians are religious people. About half are now Muslim. But while the most northerly States are predominantly Muslim, by no means all Hausa-speaking people are; and half the Yoruba people of the southern and western States are also Muslim. The rest of the people are Christian or adherents of one of the traditional religions. Inside the Islamic and Christian communities can be found some of the familiar divisions. But relations between the two communities as a whole are remarkably cordial.
