INTERCULTURALITY

Peaceful coexistence, no doubt, presupposes stable social relations, shared moral horizons, and a collective sense of belonging. In contemporary Nigeria, however, these conditions have been severely undermined by terrorism, insurgency, and chronic insecurity, ranging from kidnapping to extrajudicial killing, etc. Employing the hermeneutic method of study, therefore, this paper argues that the persistence of violence in Nigeria, particularly in the Northeast, is best understood not merely as a security failure but as a manifestation of liminality, a prolonged state of social, moral, and political in-betweenness. Drawing on philosophical reflections on liminality, violence, and community, the paper examines how terrorism generates suspended social realities in which law, identity, and moral responsibility are destabilised. Within such liminal spaces, peaceful coexistence becomes fragile, if not impossible. The paper further contends that conventional counterterrorism strategies, rooted primarily in militarisation and surveillance, fail to address the deeper ontological and ethical ruptures produced by liminal violence. By foregrounding lived civilian experiences, moral dislocation, and communal fragmentation, the study reimagines peaceful coexistence as a restorative ethical project rather than a purely strategic or coercive one. The paper concludes by suggesting that peace in terror-affected societies requires reconstituting social meaning, communal trust, and moral accountability beyond the logic of force.

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