What is it really about?

While estimates cannot always be verified, more than 10,000 have died in Christian- Muslim violence nationwide since 1999. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, the Anglican archbishop of Kaduna, said northern Nigeria has been embroiled in religious conflicts for more than 15 years.

Others blame land disputes. “Farmers and herders are divided along ethnic as well as religious lines,” The New York Times explained last week. “The farmers call themselves natives of the land, and they are overwhelmingly Christian. The herders are ethnic Fulani who range across the region in search of pasture for their herds, and they are overwhelmingly Muslim.”

But Sam Kujiyat of the Kaduna state chapter of the CAN told CT the conflict has a religious foundation.