Fear as Governance: How Security Narratives Reshape Religious Freedom in Nigeria

Abstract

In recent years, security concerns have increasingly shaped legal and political discourse in Nigeria, particularly in response to insurgency, terrorism, and communal violence. While these developments are often justified as necessary for maintaining public order, their broader implications for religious freedom remain underexamined. This article explores how security-driven fear narratives function as a form of governance that reshapes religious freedom beyond formal legal restrictions. Drawing on securitisation theory and interdisciplinary scholarship on law, religion, and governance, the article argues that fear operates through informal mechanisms such as social surveillance, anticipatory self-censorship, and conditional tolerance of religious expression. Using Nigeria as a case study, the analysis demonstrates how both Christian and Muslim communities experience the effects of securitised fear in uneven yet interconnected ways. The article highlights the disjunction between constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and lived religious practice in securitised contexts, underscoring the limits of legal protection where governance operates through informal and discursive means. It concludes by reflecting on the implications of fear-based governance for democratic pluralism and social cohesion in multi-religious societies.