where Muslim militants burned down several churches and a hotel. Barnabas Fund said "youths burnt down three churches and a hotel after one militant youth was remanded in custody for criminal damage to a church in Dutse, North Nigeria." The March 17 incident came after a judge refused bail to the accused, who the organization identified as Al-Haji Ibrahim Adamu.
"Muslims in Jigawa State Northern Nigeria have taken exception to the judicial procedures…" Barnabas Fund added. It said that "many Christian families in Dutse to sought refuge at the state police command headquarters" and that armed police were drafted to patrol the streets and restore peace.
The organization suggested that it was important for believers around the world to pray "for the protection of Christians in Jigawa State" and to pray that "they will react in a Christ-like way to the destruction of the churches."
Its appeal came shortly after the Catholic Church’s Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) expressed its concern about an increase in violence, which also overshadowed local elections over the weekend. The ruling People’s Democratic Party widened its lead in Nigeria’s local elections as more results were published on Tuesday as allegations of rigging and malpractice abounded.
FEARS
"The results have confirmed the fears of the people that this is a selection and not an election," said a statement reportedly signed by Patrick Eyinla, coordinator of the JDPC, which had 10,000 election monitors on the ground.
At least 17 people were killed on election day violence across Africa’s most populous country of more than 120 million people, despite the large-scale deployment of police and troops to maintain order, reported the United Nations’ Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN).
Election results were cancelled in some local council areas in the northern states of Kano, Kaduna, and Borno and in Abia and Cross River in the south. In all these cases the authorities cited actual or threatened security problems, IRIN said. Human rights groups such as Barnabas Fund have expressed concern about religious violence in Africa’s most populous state of up to 120 million people.
