We Are Brothers in Conflict: Reading Prophet Obadiah Against the Context of Socio-Political and Ethno-Religious Hostility and Violence in Nigeria

Abstract

This article discusses the semblances between the text of Prophet Obadiah and Nigeria within the socio-political, socio-economic, socio-ethnic, and the socio-religious contexts of conflict and hostility of the latter. It puts forward the divine scandal, parental attitude of favouritism, and the careless disposition as well as the manipulative role of the Israelite and Edomites’ progenitors as the foundational root factors for the expression of generational hostility presented in this prophetic book. In contrast, the article holds the British colonial legacy and the Hausa-Fulani political manipulative domination and its self-imposed superiority de facto status accountable as the propelling aggravating factors for the incessant conflicts and hostility in Nigeria. It concludes by proposing the application of divine moral laws by people in governance in order to achieve for the country a just, fair, equitable, and a cohesive Nigerian society of true brotherhood and nationhood.

Keywords

• Brotherhood
• Conflict
• Edom
• Edomites
• Hausa-Fulani
• Hostility