Is the Violence in Nigeria Religious or Political?

The general media narrative is that the violence is religious but scholars have long indicated that this view is not very accurate. Nigerian religious leaders are now calling out politicians for having a hand in the latest flare up of violence. No doubt there are religious elements in the violence - the suspicion between Christians and Muslims; however, to say that the violence is religious rather than political makes a facile and problematic distinction between politics and religion. It is similar to arguing whether the genocide in Rwanda was ethnic or political. These distinctions can hardly be made given that religious leaders and politicians both utilize religion and ethnicity to boost their political ambitions. The sooner the general media tendency to describe causes of violence in some African countries as either religious or ethnic, seeing them rather as mostly political, the better.