Nine churches and five Christian owned buildings were torched, a police station was damaged and three vehicles were destroyed on Saturday 3 April when violence broke out in the hometown of the Governor of Kaduna State in central Nigeria.

Local sources report the violence erupted in Makarfi town after a local Muslim accused the unnamed son of a recent Christian migrant to the area of having desecrated a Qur'an. Reports state that the young man escaped his assailants with the help of the local police, and was taken into protective custody at the Makarfi Police Divisional Headquarters. However, when a large and angry crowd began to gather outside the building, the police took the young man out through the back door and fled.

The crowd proceeded to attack the police station, smashing windows and destroying two police vehicles and a jeep belonging to the Association of Local Government Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGON). They then went on to set fire to nine churches, two pastoriums, two shops and a Christian home before a mobile police division managed to put an end to the violence.

According to local police, three people were injured during the rampage.

In a special broadcast, the Deputy State Governor of Kaduna, Mr. Stephen Rijo Shekari, appealed for calm but warned that the state government would deal decisively with anyone who tried to capitalise on the situation in order to provoke a wider conflict.

During a briefing to journalists held on Monday 5 April, the State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Mohammed Yesufu, said his men had taken full control of the area, and that peace had returned to the town. He added that the violence had been 'nipped in the bud' by the 'timely intervention' of security operatives.

Commissioner Yesufu also reported that the young Christian who took refuge in the police station is currently in a coma. A widely disseminated but unconfirmed report had described the young Christian as a mentally ill person who had entered an Islamic school and torn up a Qur'an. However, in an apparent contradiction of this report Commissioner Yesufu insisted that the altercation 'had nothing to do with religious problems'.

By Tuesday 6 April five people had been arrested, and police were continuing to take others into custody in connection with the violence.

Commenting on the violence in Makarfi, the Kaduna Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) warned that the state had been 'invaded' by a terrorist group that was hiding behind Islam while causing tension in both Christian and Muslim circles, and urged both the federal and state governments to apprehend members of this group before it was too late.

In a significant development CAN reiterated its commitment to peace and reconciliation in Kaduna but also announced its immediate but temporary withdrawal from such initiatives due to doubts over the 'sincerity and commitment to peace' of their Muslim counterparts.

There appears to be a recent trend of violence against Christians breaking out in central and northern Nigeria as a result of unsubstantiated allegations against a solitary Christian accused of insulting the Qur'an, the prophet Mohammed or Islam in general.

In September 2003 a female Christian student at the Ahmed Bello University in Kaduna State was attacked and seriously injured by Muslim students after she was accused of blaspheming the prophet Mohammed. This sparked off a wider incident during which several other students were also injured.

The following month a Muslim gang razed 11 churches to the ground, destroyed at least 100 Christian homes, displaced thousands of Christians and killed an undisclosed number of them in Kazaure, Jigawa State. The stated reason for the violence was that an unidentified local Christian had blasphemed the prophet Mohammed. However, the Jigawa Chapter of CAN retorted that the blasphemy charge was merely a pretext for continuing an orchestrated campaign against local Christians.

Mervyn Thomas, CSW's Chief Executive, said: 'CSW applauds the decisive action by the Kaduna police force to put an end to the violence in Makarfi. However, we remain concerned that unsubstantiated allegations against one Christian can so easily lead to attacks on entire Christian communities in parts of central and northern Nigeria.

'CSW is saddened that CAN Kaduna felt compelled to withdraw temporarily from peace negotiations, and urge the authorities to take immediate action to address the serious concerns raised by the organisation.

We urge state authorities in these areas to ensure that Christian churches and businesses are adequately compensated for their losses during such episodes of violence, and to strongly condemn and discourage arbitrary violence against people who face unproven allegations of blasphemy.'


NOTES TO EDITORS:
Nigeria has seen an increase in inter-religious violence since several northern states began a call for full Shari'ah Law in 1999. 12 of the 36 Nigerian states have now implemented it, and over 10,000 people have died in religious violence since 2000.

Kaduna State has an equal number of Muslims and Christians and has been the scene of some of the worst episodes of Shari'ah related violence. Over 2000 people died and over 60, 000 were displaced in religious violence between February and May 2000. In September 2002 120 churches in and around Kaduna were burnt down and over 300 people were killed in violence that followed the publication of an article in a Lagos-based newspaper that was deemed to have insulted the prophet Mohammed.



CSW is a human rights charity working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs. We also promote religious liberty for all.