But the most powerful push for the conference came from politicians in the largely Christian south, apprehensive that power would return to the Muslim north in 2007 after Obasanjo, himself a southern Christian, completed his second term. Since political independence in 1960, politics has revolved round Nigeria’s major ethnic groups – the Igbo and Yoruba in the south, and the Hausa and Fulani in the north.
但推动会议的最强大力量来自基督教占主导地位的南方，那里的政界人士担心身为南方基督教信徒的奥巴桑乔2007年完成自己的第二个任期后，权力会最终落到被穆斯林势力占据的北方。1960年政治独立后，政权就一直在尼日利亚的主要种族¾南方的伊博和约鲁巴、还有北方的豪萨和富拉尼之间循环往复。