Religion has long played an important role in Nigerian society, where there is a strong connection between ethnic and religious identity. Islam largely dominates the country's northern region and Christianity is prevalent in the south. Still other small groups practice indigenous beliefs. Throughout the country, these religious identities are considered a key tool of social and political mobility, causing a precarious divide among Nigeria's people.

Religious tensions and violence have taken their toll on Nigeria's stability, despite efforts to institute broad institutional grounds for its two main religious groups -- Islam and Christianity -- to peacefully co-exist. An estimated 10,000 people have died in religious, tribal or political violence since 1999.

In 2000, several largely Muslim states in northern Nigeria formally adopted an Islamic code of law, known as "Sharia," as part of their legal system. The new laws have propelled the country into a worldwide debate over the role of religious law in otherwise secular societies and have become a contested issue in Nigeria. A struggle has ensued to find a workable balance between religious freedom, tolerance and civil order.

Campaign speech by Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Feb. 2003

"One of the basic issues, which create national insecurity, is the lack of appreciation of our national diversity in geographical location, in ethnicity and tribe, in natural endowment and in religion. We must not only appreciate this diversity, we must protect and defend it because in it lies our greatness."

President Olusegun Obasanjo