pupils at a secondary school for allegedly desecrating the Koran. Police in Gombe state said Olusase was "lynched" by her students while conducting an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the school in Gombe city.
The students had apparently accused her of desecrating the Koran, though it was not clear what she had done. "We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students. We are investigating the report," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi told reporters.
Police officials said their intervention had prevented the incident from turning into a riot. Authorities temporarily closed schools in Gombe city amid fears of more violence in the region, BosNewsLife monitored.
NO ISOLATED INCIDENT
The killing was not an isolated incident. At least five people were killed and several churches burned down in February 2006 in the neighboring state of Bauchi by Muslims infuriated that
a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who
was reading it during class.
At least 15,000 people have died in religious, communal and political violence in Africa’s
most populous country since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 30 years of almost unbroken military rule, analysts say.
Christian leaders have complained of renewed pressure on Christians in northern Nigeria, which they say includes the kidnapping of Christian children and attempts to occupy church buildings.
PENTECOSAL CHURCH THREATENED
The Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria,
said this week that a "Shiite sect" was trying to take over its property.
An Islamic group called Izala built a mosque near the denomination’s Kokeri parish and took
the church to court to force it relocate and take over its property, Pastor Abisona Michael told Compass Direct News, a Christian news agency.
He said the court, filled with Muslim judges, was expected to "seize the property" and give it to the Muslims. "Such cases are very common in northern Nigeria , and the church is helpless about it," he was quoted as saying. Local officials were not available for comment, citing the pending court case. (With BosNewsLife reporting and reports from Nigeria).
