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V. Inter-Communal Violence in Kaduna State, 1987-2002
Bloody inter-communal clashes and massacres over the past several decades have left thousands
of people dead in Kaduna State. The highest casualties have occurred in the state capital of
Kaduna, including deadly riots in 2000 and 2002, and in the southern part of the state, where
communal violence and mass killings have left thousands dead.
1987 Kafanchan Violence
Longstanding inter-communal tensions in Kafanchan spilled over into violence in March 1987,
when a Christian student association at the Kafanchan College of Education, located on the
outskirts of the town, sponsored a religious “revival.” 258 The visiting evangelist allegedly
misrepresented the teachings of the Quran and the Prophet Mohammed, sparking protests by
Muslim students, which soon escalated into clashes. Several students and staff were injured,
and a mosque on campus was burned during the violence. Two days later, the violence spread to
Kafanchan town when Muslim students allegedly attacked a Christian church service. Mobs of
Christians retaliated, killing Muslims and burning Muslim properties, including several
mosques. 259 News of the violence soon reached the city of Kaduna and northern Kaduna State,
and Hausa-Fulani youth retaliated by burning Christian properties, including churches, hotels,
and beer parlors. 260
A commission of inquiry, set up by the military administrator, found that at least 19 people died in
the violence. 261 Some 152 churches and 5 mosques were also reportedly destroyed. 262 Most of the
dead were Hausa-Fulani killed in Kafanchan, while the vast majority of property damage was
inflicted on Christians in northern Kaduna State.
258 Tensions have simmered between the Hausa-Fulani, who hold the traditional leadership positions in Kafanchan under the Jema’a
Emirate, which traces its history to the 1800s, and various Christian indigene groups who controlled the local government
administration but have also sought to have their own traditional chieftaincies. See Rotgaki I. Gofwen, Religious Conflicts in Northern
Nigeria and Nation Building: The Throes of two Dacades 1980-2000 (Human Rights Monitor, 2004), pp. 83-101; Hussaini Abdu, Clash of
Identities: State, Society and Ethno-Religious Conflicts in Northern Nigeria (Kaduna: DevReach Publishers, 2010), pp. 130-31.
259 See Kaduna State Government, “White Paper on the Report of the Committee to Investigate Causes of Riots and Disturbances in
Kaduna State, 6 th -12 th March, 1987,” pp. 36-39 (“1987 White Paper”); Rotgaki I. Gofwen, Religious Conflicts in Northern Nigeria and
Nation Building, 2004, pp. 83-101; Hussaini Abdu, Clash of Identities, 2010, pp. 131-33.
260 See Kaduna State Government, “1987 White Paper,” pp. 48-55.
261 The commission found that 12 people died in Kafanchan, 6 in Kaduna, and 1 in Zaria. See ibid., pp. 55-56.
262 See Hussaini Abdu, Clash of Identities, 2010, p. 132.
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