claimed hundreds of lives, according to a report from the U.K-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) human rights watchdog.
CSW reports that the president also suspended Governor Joshua Dariye and the State House of Assembly for six months "at the first instance" and appointed Major General Chris Mohammed Ali as the sole administrator of the troubled Middle Belt state during a televised address to the nation yesterday, in which he invoked Article 305 of the federal constitution.
CSW said: "Many Nigerian Christian organisations feel that the move against Plateau state, an overwhelmingly Christian state, is an indication of a growing government bias against Christians. They feel the government has bowed to the pressure of northern emirs and leaders to clamp down on Plateau State and not to take similar action in Kano and other states where violence has also erupted."
The Plateau Youth Council said in a statement: "We are surprised that only Plateau has been singled out for this treatment in spite of worse situations in some parts of the country. The president made references to the crises in Kano…we therefore expected that the same treatment would have been meted to Kano."
While President Obasanjo has not imposed a state of emergency in any other states, he is reported to have warned the governors of Kano, Delta and Lagos of similar consequences if religious and ethnic violence is not brought under control, CSW said.
The president’s actions come in the wake of a series of violent clashes that culminated in the deaths last week of hundreds of Christians in northern Muslim-dominated Kano, CSW reported.
These clashes were provoked after Christian and animist youths attacked Muslims and their properties in Yelwa, Plateau State on May 2, with estimates of people killed during the violence ranging from 300 to 600, CSW said.
"This was in retaliation for ongoing attacks on Christians, including an attack on a church on February 23 in Yelwa, where 48 Christians were murdered in the building and dozens more outside. According to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) at least 1,500 Christians were killed in the ongoing violence in February, and by March 2, many Christians had been driven from Yelwa and only one church was left standing," CSW said.
Between 300 and 800 Christians are reported to have been killed in Kano during a two-day rampage and over 10,000 are reported to have fled their homes.
"The violence in Plateau and Kano has led to an escalation of religious tensions in other parts of Nigeria also. In the northern state of Bauchi, Christians received threatening letters warning them to leave the state. Kaduna and Gombe are also reported to be tense. However, tension has heightened in predominantly Igbo areas of Nigeria as news has filtered through of the murder of Igbos in Kano. In a two- age statement, the Igbo Community Association (ICA) asked why Christian and non-Christian Igbos in Kano were murdered in retaliation for Christian-Muslim clashes in Plateau state and demanded compensation for Igbo victims," the CSW report said.
Stuart Windsor, National Director of CSW, said: "While we welcome the authorities taking seriously their role of protecting innocent citizens, this must be done impartially. The ongoing violence is causing untold human suffering to both Christians and Muslims and we will continue to work with our partners in Nigeria to try to bring about a lasting peace."
BACKGROUND ON THE CONFLICT FROM CSW
More than 10,000 people have been killed in ethnic and religious violence since the end of military rule in 1999. Nigeria’s combined Christian and animist people are about the same in number as the Muslims and live mostly in the south. 12 of the 36 states of Nigeria have instituted the Shari’ah penal code in defiance of the federal constitution.
In his speech on May 18, President Obasanjo accused Governor Dariye of "gross dereliction of duty, incompetence and insensitivity to the situation on the ground", adding that he undertook the action in order to restore "peace, harmony, security for all, and maintenance of law and order throughout Plateau State".
As federal troops moved to seal up the governor’s official residence in Jos, capital of Plateau State, local Hausa Fulani Muslims are reported to have taken to the streets in celebration. Christians have expressed surprise at the clampdown on Plateau State. They noted the authorities in Kano and the Delta states had not faced similar actions despite experiencing even greater violence than Plateau State. CAN National President, the Most Reverend Peter Akinola, appealed to Christians throughout the country to remain calm and prayerful, adding that CAN would be holding an emergency meeting to look into the constitutionality of the federal government’s actions.
There has been chronic violence in southern Plateau state since July 2002, when Hausa Fulanis attempted to drive the largest Christian tribe, the Tarok, from the Wase area. Some 5,000 were killed, approximately 100,000 people were displaced and at least 88 Christian villages were destroyed in the Wase Local Government Area during an orgy of violence that the State government seemed powerless to stop. During each of these attacks, survivors spoke of the presence of Hausa Fulanis from the neighboring republics of Chad and Niger among their attackers, and remarked that the attackers possessed weaponry superior to that of Nigeria’s armed forces. In a statement commenting on the violence, CAN’s Kano branch, "condemned the brutal attitude of some Muslim policemen who intentionally and indiscriminately shot and killed many Christians in Sabon Gari and other parts of the state". CAN also alleged that in an effort to hide the true number of casualties, the state government had thrown the bodies of victims into a local river and given several others a mass burial.
Attempts by the State government to bring peace to the area have achieved little. On April 27 it was reported that at least 20 people had died in three days of fierce fighting in Shendam. Reports of violence between Muslims from Ibi council and Christians and animists from Langtang south, which left 120 people dead and over 20,000 displaced came on April 30. Six villages are reported to have been completely destroyed in the clashes. Reliable local sources state that Muslims also attacked Christians and animists in Timshat, Karkashi, Timbol, Gidanbua and Rawaya. Then, on May 1 and 2, Christian communities in Tumbi, Kawo and Kurgwi were also attacked. It was after these attacks that Christians and animists launched the now infamous attack on Yelwa in an attempt, as they perceived it, to free the area from tyranny.
CSW is a human rights charity working on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs. They also promote religious liberty for all.
