Since independence in 1960, Muslims and Christians in Nigeria have often held conflicting views on Nigerian educational policies, laws, the allocation of government projects and social matters. Religious riots have frequently resulted in riots over the years, particularly in the predominantly Moslem north. [
ENDNOTES:
West Africa, (London: West Africa Publishing Company Ltd., 18 January 1988).]

Much of the tension can be attributed to the anti-Western and unorthodox Islamic teachings of Alhaji Muhammadu Marwa, also known as "Maitatsine". ["Nigeria: Maitatsine Machinations", in Africa Confidential, (London: Miramoor Publications, 20 October 1982), p.1.] Alhaji Marwa, believed to have been Chadian, attracted poor immigrants and the unemployed. [ibid.] Followers of the Maitatsine sect, viewed by other Muslims as heretics, started rioting in Maiduguri, capital of Bauchi State, and spread to Kano and Kaduna in 1980. In April 1980, the police used firearms when teargas failed to disperse a Maitatsine gathering in Kano in December 1980, that Muhammadu Marwa was killed while trying to evade arrest. [ibid.] The tension was felt in Kwara, a Middle Belt State in Nigeria, where power is divided between the Christians and Muslims; there had been a controversy over the swing in the educational system away from the missionary to the Islamic curriculum. [ibid.] There were serious religious riots in Gombe, Bauchi State, in April 1985. [Keesing's Records of World Events, (London: Longman, November 1985), p.33958.]

Attached please find excerpts from the following documents:
"A Brief chronology and Explanation of Events Concerning the Maitatsine Sect (also known as Yen Izala) of Nigeria", prepared by the Refugee Status Advisory Committee in Ottawa on 15 January 1987.
Colin Legum, ed., African Contemporary Record Annual Survey and Documents, for 1980-1981 and 1982-1983, New York: Africana Publishing Company, pp.B576-B577, B540-B541.
U.S. State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1987, Washington: U.S. Government Printers, 1988, pp.228-229.