SOCIO-CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS OF SHARE-TSARAGI CRISES IN KWARA STATE FOR PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE IN NIGERIA
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Date
2023
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ACU JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES
Abstract
Share and Tsaragi are twin communities in Kwara State, Nigeria that had been living in harmonious coexistence, since the early nineteenth century before a crisis on land and border issues caused a volatile and tense situation between them. It is a general belief that conflict retards the progress and development of a community and whatever affects a part of an entity or a country affects the whole. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to examine the social-cultural implications of the Share- Tsaragi crises as a model for peaceful co-existence in Nigeria. The objectives are to: identify immediate and remote causes of the Share-Tsaragi crises; examine emanating socio-cultural implications of the crises; identify the cultural traits, habits, and beliefs of the Share-Tsaragi communities for the resolution of the crises and explore the resolution of the Share-Tsaragi crises as a model for peaceful co- existence among communities in Nigeria. Historical and Descriptive methods were adopted in the paper while data were gathered from participant observations, questionnaires, and structured interviews. Information was also elicited from textbooks, journals, internet surfing, and periodicals. The major findings of the study were that: the immediate causes of the Share-Tsaragi crises were land and border issues. The implication of the crises includes the destruction of life and properties, and the creation of mutual suspicion thereby negatively affecting existing unity, co- existence, social interaction, economic transactions, intermarriage, cultural exchange, and educational ventures. However, the crises did not affect the religious interactions of the two communities, acquiring and speaking of each other's language, inter-marriage to a certain extent, and obeying elders and constituted authorities, which have led to less severity of the conflicts and by extension the foundation upon which the peaceful resolution of the crises is hinged. Thus, identified factors to restore and entrench positive socio-cultural relations in Share- Tsaragi include religion, language, inter-marriage, and respect for elders. It was
our conviction that these factors are plausible means of restoring positive socio- cultural relations in the two communities and serve as a model for other communities in Nigeria.