Author: Obed Minchakpu
Publication: Global News from the
Frontlines
Date: September 20, 2002
URL: http://owl.pbi.ab.ca/library/compassdirect/200209_Sep.htm#cd15
State Government in Northern Nigeria
to Abolish Churches - Social Tension Heats Up as Islamic Officials Extend
Islamic Law
The government of Kano state in
northern Nigeria has decided to continue its policy of church demolition
until only 50 percent of the existing Christian congregations remain in
the state.
Rev. Dr. Joseph Fadipe, Chairman
of the Kano state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said
on August 13 that government officials told them there are too many churches
in the state and that they plan to demolish half of them.
"The government's complaint against
Christians was that there were too many churches in Kano and Muslims in
the city are not happy with the development," Rev. Fadipe said. "They are
demanding that we church leaders give the government approval to reduce
the number of churches by 50 percent.
"We told the government officials
that we can never endorse the demolition of churches. We told them that
we would rather have all churches in the state demolished than to support
the demolition of some."
Christian leaders say the Kano government
has already demolished more than 20 church buildings, following implementation
of Islamic law, or sharia. Church leaders have met with government representatives
on three occasions to discuss the matter, but the meetings ended in deadlock.
Rev. Fadipe said that because the
Nigerian federal government is incapable of protecting religious liberty,
Christians in the state have resolved to take the issue before God. They
devoted one week of fasting and prayer to the matter, from Monday, August
12, to Sunday, August 18.
Opposition to church reduction is
also arising from another quarter. A non-governmental organization known
as "Center for Cultural and Religious Rights" (CECURR) has advised the
government of Kano to stop demolishing more churches to avoid further aggravation
of religious tensions in the state.
CECURR released a press statement
asking why churches are being demolished in the state when the government
of Kano had promised at the inception of sharia that Christians would not
be affected by Islamic law.
"People have the right to choose
their religion and propagate same under national and international statute
books and conventions," the statement said.
Kano is among 12 northern Nigerian
states that adopted the Islamic legal code three years ago. Implementation
of the law has heightened tensions between Muslims and Christians and is
blamed for the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of hundreds
of thousands more.
For example, 500 Christian students
of the Government Girls' Secondary School in the city of Bauchi have been
expelled by the Islamic state government following clashes last May between
the school's Muslim and Christian students. The religious crisis, which
resulted in the deaths of three Christian students and the school's closure,
was ignited when Muslim students attacked their Christian counterparts
over religious disagreements.
Alhaji Abdumalik Mahmoud, Bauchi
state deputy governor, justified the expulsion of the students on technical
grounds, claiming it was intended "to check illegal admission in the school."
Parents of the 500 students, however, say that their daughters were expelled
because they are Christians.
"We wonder why it took the school
authorities and government such a long time to discover that these girls
got admission illegally into the school," said Thomas Yamusa, a father
of one of the expelled Christian students. He pointed out that illegal
admission was never mentioned until religious conflict engulfed the school.
Education is not the only social
arena experiencing conflict. On Sunday, August 18, a group of eight Muslim
militants murdered Benjamin Anekwe, a Christian businessman, at his home
in Burum Burum, a town in Kano state.
Police reports stated that local
Muslim leaders were "grieved" that Anekwe's wife, a Muslim, defied their
wishes by marrying a Christian, so they assigned eight of their followers
to carry out the murder. The assailants stormed the Anekwe home and beat
Benjamin Anekwe to death with iron rods and sticks.
Police have arrested one of the
suspected killers, but at press time, the other seven remained at large.
