Divided Under God: Nigeria's Sectarian Crisis
Boko Haram's increasingly coordinated attacks, including the Christmas church bombings and the attack on the U.N. building in Abuja, underscore growing tensions in Nigeria.
Photographer Bénédicte Kurzen documents the aftermath of the Christmas Day attack in Madalla, Nigeria, where the Islamist militant group Boko Haram set off a bomb at a Catholic church.
The 2011 general elections exposed Nigeria's deep economic, social and geographical fissures—which led to the worst single outbreak of violence since its independence-era civil war.
After bombing the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria, Boko Haram has gone from being a local nuisance to an international threat.
Pulitzer Center grantee Joe Bavier was featured in a CNN report on Boko Haram's increasingly coordinated terrorist attacks in Nigeria.
Veteran Africa correspondent Joe Bavier explains Boko Haram, the Nigerian terror group responsible for the Christmas Day church bombings.
The government must think hard about how to tackle an Islamist uprising that may have less to do with religion than the rebels claim.
The Christmas Day church bombings demonstrate that Boko Haram, a radical and violent Islamist movement, is gaining momentum among impoverished Muslims in Nigeria.
Nigeria's presidential election in April resulted in massive violence in northern parts of the country by those rejecting the loss by the main presidential challenger, General Muhammadu Buhari.
Despite the hailed success of Nigeria's elections, sectarian and political violence have rocked the country this month. Nigerians now must learn to live together once again.
In Nigeria's Plateau State, tensions run high after hundreds were killed following last week's presidential election, revealing deep rifts between Christians and Muslims of the region.
Post-election violence in Nigeria is increasing. In a familiar scenario repeated since the end of military rule in 1999, political and religious antagonisms sharpen come election season.
The breakdown of election results continues to reveal prominent divisions between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria, and all the while police brutality across Nigeria is exacerbating the situation.
Bomb blasts and sectarian violence are on the rise at polling stations and national elections commission offices in Nigeria in an attempt to disrupt three crucial polls taking place this month.
“They've raised the stress, the cost, the risk,” Pastor James Wuye says. Nigeria's national elections commission has just called off legislative polls halfway through the process.
With a tense presidential race this month, Nigeria is performing a delicate balancing act aimed at warding off a repeat of the religious conflict that nearly destroyed the country at its inception.
Grantee
Joe Bavier has covered West and Central Africa for the past six years, reporting on armed conflict, famine, and political crises. Until December 2009, he served as Reuters correspondent in...
Grantee
Bénédicte Kurzen is based in Johannesburg. She holds a master’s degree with Excellence in Contemporary History from the Sorbonne, Paris. She also studied semiology for one year, and wrote her final...