As Violence Rages On, Nigeria’s Christians And Muslims Find Unity Through Soccer
JOS, Nigeria — On a surprisingly breezy day in August, at Jos’ Rwang Pam Township Stadium in north-central Nigeria, two soccer teams — each comprised of eight Muslims and eight Christians — faced off as a mixed crowd cheered.
Only months earlier, in June 2025, 52 people had been killed in yet another ethnoreligious massacre in nearby Bokkos. Some of the players on the field had lost relatives in that attack. Yet they chose kicking a ball over revenge.
In Plateau State, intercommunal violence continues to escalate, heightening insecurity, especially for mixed-faith families. Once known for coexistence between Christians and Muslims, Plateau — sitting between Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south and mostly Muslim north — has become a flashpoint for sectarian tension. Each new attack deepens the divisions.
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But on the soccer field, the story can be different.
This match is part of the Face of Peace Global initiative, a nonprofit founded in 2019 by Salis Muhammed. Its Music Plus Football program deliberately forms mixed teams to break down boundaries that split Jos along religious lines after the 2001 crisis, which by 2024 had claimed more than 4,000 lives. Today, seven teams with over 200 youths from violence-prone communities bear names like “Forgiveness,” “Patience” and “Reconciliation”.
The roots of division
In September 2001, Jos was shaken by six days of brutal intercommunal violence between Christian and Muslim communities — an eruption that shattered decades of relative peace. Hundreds, possibly over a thousand, were killed, and tens of thousands displaced as homes, schools, mosques, churches, and markets were destroyed.
While religion appeared to be the dividing line, deep-rooted political, ethnic and economic grievances — especially the contested status of “indigenes” versus “non-indigenes” — fueled the conflict.
By some estimates, about 75 percent of Jos’ residents are Christian. But the city’s mixed heritage made it especially vulnerable to cycles of revenge.
Years later, violence persisted. In 2024 and 2025, organized attacks ravaged mainly Christian communities in Mangu and Bokkos. In June 2025, a mob set a university bus carrying Muslim travelers ablaze, killing 12.
For Japhet Ajang, the hatred began in 2008. That year, Christian and Muslim gangs burned down worship centers, homes, and shops after disputed local elections in Plateau. His father was shot twice during the clashes in Jos Jarawa and Dutse Uku. He survived, but the trauma lingered.
“The incident made me hate Muslims,” Japhet admitted. “I had Muslim friends, but over time, the friendship died. My best friend Kabiru was a Muslim, and even that became strained.”
Then in 2019, Face of Peace Global entered these same volatile neighborhoods. Founder Salis Muhammed, himself a Muslim, began crossing what he called “imaginary boundaries,” using sports as a peacebuilding tool. Japhet was chosen to represent his community.
“Walking into Dutse Uku for the first time to play was scary,” the 27-year-old recalled. “But when I started training with Muslims, something changed.” He played so well that he was later invited to matches in Muslim-dominated areas. “Now I talk with Kabiru daily — he plays professionally for Sporting FC in Lagos. I even stroll into Dutse Uku to visit my Muslim friends without fear.”
For Suleiman Abubakar, a former fighter during the Dutse Uku clashes, the transformation was just as profound. “Before, I saw Japhet as an enemy,” he said. “Now, he is my brother. We used to fight each other. Now, we fight together — for peace.”
Others, like Danjuma Ibrahim Sambo, carry even older scars. He was a child in 2001 when the Congo-Russia community in Jos erupted in bloodshed. “Our house was burned down,” he recalled. “My grandmother couldn’t flee and died inside.” That loss bred years of resentment toward Muslims.
But in 2013, Danjuma joined one of Muhammed’s tournaments and was surprised to find himself in a mixed-faith team. “I realized they were not who I thought they were,” he said. Today, he runs a private soccer club, the Junior Plateau Lions, which includes Muslim players. “I hope some of them play internationally one day,” he said with pride.
Making enemies one’s friends
“There are seven teams, each with 16 players equally split between both religions,” said Muhammed, the program’s founder. “They’re named after values like Love, Reconciliation, Humanity and Forgiveness.”
The youths come from neighborhoods like Rikkos, Farin Gada, Ungwan Jarawa, Sabon Layi, Gangare, and Nasarawa — all known flashpoints. So far, about 200 have benefited from the initiative, with new communities like Jos South and Tudun Wada requesting to join. The idea, he added, is to encourage continued play outside the program.
Three major tournaments — 14 games each, home and away — have taken place so far, with music playing during most games. By the time teams reach the big stadium, friendships have already taken root during local neighborhood matches once considered too dangerous to host.
Each team has two coaches, one Muslim and one Christian. Bature Magaji and Ajik Dauda Atang, for example, train youths from Nasarawa and Rikkos. “We work as a family,” Magaji said. “After each tournament, we visit players in their communities to see how they’re doing.”
The initiative has gained recognition from the Plateau State Peacebuilding Agency (PPBA). “What Music Plus Football is doing is important because it promotes social cohesion among people who were once enemies,” said Kenneth Dakup, Head of Communication at the PPBA. “Spectators come from different communities. Over time, this helps build relationships.”
The agency provides both financial and logistical support. But despite the progress, violence persists in and around Jos. The initiative struggles to hold annual tournaments due to limited funding, though smaller matches continue weekly.
Still, hope endures.
Lengdung Tungchamma, a peace advocate and co-founder of Jenta Reads Community Initiative, said the project fosters crucial understanding between groups.
“Music Plus Football brings people together,” he said. “Understanding may not always lead to love, but it can lead to peace.”
He recalled the story of a Muslim cleric who once hid Christian neighbors in a mosque during an attack. “He did that because he knew them personally,” Tungchamma said. “When people interact, they see each other’s humanity.”
Not everyone believes soccer can heal deep wounds. Bizuum Yadok, a lecturer at the Federal University of Education in Pankshin, cautions that the joy soccer brings is “short-lived and ephemeral.”
“Peace tournaments have been held for over twenty years, yet tensions remain,” he said. “The real solution is justice, equitable distribution of resources, and a functional security system. Soccer and cultural festivals alone cannot do it.”
Joseph Dadung, a chief superintendent with Nigeria’s Civil Defense Corps, agrees that sport cannot end the crisis but acknowledges its power to build trust.
“Sports foster peace by creating neutral spaces where people meet as equals,” he said. “It can also spark other community initiatives.”
Healing on and off the field
For parents like Murna Ajang, Japhet’s mother, the impact of soccer runs deeper than she imagined.
“It became a transformative experience that shaped who he is today,” she said. “Being part of that tight-knit group gave him a sense of belonging — a family away from home, where camaraderie triumphed over conflict. Whenever he stepped onto the pitch, all the anger melted away. He came home refreshed and centered.”
Across Jos, such stories are becoming more common. Amid cycles of fear and reprisal, a generation of young Nigerians is quietly learning that forgiveness can be played out — not in courts or conference rooms, but on grass fields where rivals once shed blood.
As dusk falls over Rwang Pam Township Stadium, the cheers rise again. On this patch of ground, at least for 90 minutes, peace has the final word.
This article is published in collaboration with Egab.
Nathaniel Bivan is a solutions and conflict journalist whose reporting has taken him to terror zones in Kaduna, Plateau, Niger and Borno states of northern Nigeria. Until 2021, he was Arts Editor for Daily Trust, one of his country’s most influential newspapers. He was also Features Editor for HumAngle Media, arguably one of Africa’s fastest growing newsrooms, where he reported about the violent conflict plaguing the region. He has mentored journalists under the Solutions Journalism Africa Initiative and mostly contributes for The Christian Science Monitor among other newsrooms.