ABSTRACT
Introduction With 140 million inhabitants (2006 census), Nigeria is the most populous country of Africa. 1 There are more than 250 ethnic groups with varying distribution across regions. Although the Hausa-Fulani (north), Yorubas (west) and Igbos (east) represent, respectively, 29, 21 and 18 per cent of the majority populations, the Ijaws (10 per cent), Kanuri (4 per cent), Ibibio (3.5 per cent), Tiv (2.5 per cent) and Edo (2.0 per cent) are the main minorities. Close to 50 per cent of the population, located mostly in the north, are Muslim, 40 per cent, mainly in the south, Christian, whilst the remaining 10 per cent are traditional believers. Ethno-regional and religious attributes are usually employed by analysts to portray either the fusion or the confusion between ethnicity, region and religion in both spatial and political spheres (Osaghae 1999; Mustapha 2006).
