Potential of Islamic Principles in Addressing the Menace of Political Thuggery in Igala Land

Abstract

There is no gaingsaying that Nigeria is one of the most blessed countries in the world. Apart from the nation’s large population and rich culture, the country is blessed with natural resources such as rich farm land, petroleum, coal, limestone, gold, zink amongst many others. It is equally arguable that Nigeria is one of the developing nations of the world that have been struggling with developmental and economic challenges such as poor infrastructures, poverty and unemployment leading to existence of social and violent conflicts in the country. The reason for these challenges is not hard to explain. Nigeria has been bedevilled with bad leadership over the decades. The country lacks leaders that have the potentials and willness to manage the nation’s huge resources for the betterment of the country. In other words, the political classes in Nigeria have used different means such as thuggery among others to mismanage the nation’s political system and huge resources. These challenges have over the years have had serious negative impacts on the development of the country. However, many means have been used to discuss the aforementioned challenges. Yet, the problem seems to be on the increase. Thus, this work intends to investigate the roles and potentials of Islamic preaching in addressing the menace of thuggery in the country using Kogi State as a paradigm. To this end, the work employs survey design of the quantitative research methodology to gather and analyse data on the aforementioned issues. The result revealed among other things that issues of thuggery has impacted negatively on the development of Nigeria and Kogi State in particular. Thus, recommendations were made based on the findings.