International Journal of Political Science (IJPS) Volume 5, Issue 2, 2019, PP 20-29 ISSN 2454-9452 http://dx.doi.org/10.20431/2454-9452.0502004 www.arcjournals.org International Journal of Political Science (IJPS) Page| 20 Public Spaces, Citizenship Right and Religion Conflicts in Nigeria Ola ABEGUNDE 1* , Olayide I. OLADEJI 1 , Samuel Babatola AYITI 2 1 Department of Political Science, Faculty of the Social Sciences, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria 2 PhD Researcher, Department of Political Science, Faculty of the Social Sciences, Ekiti State University, Ado- Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria 1. INTRODUCTION Religion, ethnic, boundary and communal conflicts over resources remain a reoccurring destabilizing factor of politics in Nigeria. Since the restoration of democracy in 1999, Nigeria has witnessed domestic instability arising from ethno-religious, religion fanatism, inter and intra communal conflicts, herdsmen/farmers crises and many more with different degree of intensity and attendant casualties. Some of these crises like the Niger Delta militancy and the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East part of the country have challenged the very existence of the Nigerian state with devastating implications for the development and survival of democracy in the most populous country in Africa. Some of these escalated crises started from elementary level like denial of rights, domination of minority by the majority ethnic groups, exploitation of resources without adequate compensations, denials of access to equal opportunities in terms of educations, jobs and infrastructural facilities. In the specific case of Kisi, a town in Oyo State Nigeria, the domination of Islamic religion over the traditional Egungun worshippers, especially the denial the usage of public spaces (roads, public schools‟ fields, etc) for the celebration of their religious rites of peaceful gathering and/or procession round the town. This type of discriminatory tendency, especially at the local levels, has been seen as a major and potential source of conflict. 1 For instance, discrimination on the basis of religion superiority is quiet problematic because it is directly tied to individual or group access to constitutional rights of conscience and association as citizens. Thus, the discriminatory tendencies over the years have led to buildup of accumulated grievances and tension among the Egungun worshippers in Kisi and the constant violence was just a trigger of long years of anger, frustration and animosity. The crises usually lead to death, disruption of economic activities and destruction of properties worth millions of Naira. Nigeria is prone to conflicts owing to Abstract: The Nigerian history is laced with obstinate conflicts mostly constructed around differences in political, cultural, ethnic and religious identities. There has been an upsurge in such conflicts since May 29 1999. While much of the conflicts revolve around struggles for the political control, others are hegemonic religion contests that are usually driven by fanaticism and involve claims or denial of the rights to use public spaces for religious purposes. The contestation is wide spread and involves Christianity, Islam and Traditional Religion Worshipers. The paper focuses on religion conflicts involving Muslims and Egungun (Masquerade) Worshipers in Kisi, Irepo Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria. The study utilized descriptive approach to examine the implications of religious fanaticism for citizenship and conflicts in Nigeria. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The study revealed that in Kisi, some „Muslim fanatics‟ see and treat public spaces as the exclusive preserve of their religion and thus block the Egungun worshipers from using them for their annual festivals. The forceful resistance usually results to conflicts with severe consequences. The paper recommends continuous inter-faith peace dialogue and intensification of formal and informal civic education on religious tolerance in Nigeria. Keywords: Citizenship, Conflicts, Human Right, Religion Fanaticism. *Corresponding Author: Ola ABEGUNDE, Department of Political Science, Faculty of the Social Sciences, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria