From the “Kano Party” Onwards: Revisiting the State Veto on Christian Missionary Evangelisation in British Northern Nigeria

Abstract

European and North American Christian Missionaries came to evangelise in Northern Nigeria at the turn of the 20th century. The Christian Missionaries who evangelised in Northern Nigeria, at the turn of the 20th century, did so under the supervision of British colonial officials. Hence, British officials permitted Christian missionaries to evangelise in certain places and restricted them from working in other locations. Official restrictions on Christians evangelisation in Northern Nigeria created religious spheres in the area. The government creation of religious spheres in the area emanated from tensions between state officials and Christian missionaries. As such, when British officials were ready to take over political control of the territories that became Northern Nigeria Christian missionaries were also preparing to proselytise in the same area. The attention of the two groups of Europeans over the same territories and their population resulted in a clash of interest that generated tensions. British officials, therefore, instituted policies so as to mitigate the tensions. One of the strategies employed by colonial officials was the restriction on Christian proselytisation in the Emirates of Northern Nigeria. An outcome of the policy was the demarcation of non-Muslim areas, such as the Jos Plateau area and its surrounding low lands, the Adamawa high lands and the Benue valley area for Christian evangelization. Despite the demarcation of religious spheres, however, Christian missionaries were later allowed to undertake limited endeavours in the locations that were under Emirate rule. Scholars have examined the events of the Christian missionary enterprise in British Northern Nigeria and presented their perspectives on the encounter. My intension, in this article, is to contribute to the scholarly conversation on the encounter and review the salient perspectives on the subject matter.