of the denomination’s pastors were killed last year and more than 175 churches in the surrounding area were destroyed in Muslim violence, Christian news agency Compass said late Wednesday, April 27.
"The decision to relocate our regional office and the church in Wase town was made by our church council following the complete destruction of all our churches in Wase town and the killing and displacement of the church members in the area," Dr. Pandang Yamsat, President of the Church of Christ, was quoted as saying at a Sunday church service in the town of Langtang, Plateau.
First established in 1904, the denomination is seen as one of the dominant Christian churches in northern Nigeria today, with an estimated membership of over two million.
EVANGELISM PLANNED
Yamsat reportedly said that the relocation of the church’s regional office aims to give the
church’s leadership "time to strategize on how best to carry on evangelism in the town of Wase amid a hostile attitude of local Muslims towards Christians."
Due to concerns about Muslims preventing displaced Christians from returning to Wase and nearby villages, the Plateau State government sent members of the State Security Council to the area on March 14 to warn residents of the consequences of inciting more religious conflict, reported Compass Direct, which investigates the plight of persecuted Christians.
“The Plateau State Government is concerned that although Christians displaced from Wase town and surrounding villages were willing to return to these town and villages, they are being prevented by Muslims in the area who had illegally taken over their houses and farmlands as spoils of war,” Michael BotMang, Deputy Governor of Plateau who headed a security council tour, reportedly told local Muslim leaders.
GOVERNMENT CONCERNED
"This situation is unacceptable to the government of Plateau state and it violates our peace initiatives. All Muslims who have illegally taken over houses and farmlands of the Christians, who fled their homes during the four years the religious conflicts here lasted, should vacate them immediately or face the wrath of the law.”
About 10,000 people have been killed in recent Muslim-Christian clashes in northern Nigeria since 2001, according to official estimates. Compass Direct said the 10,000 casualty figure as "conservative" compared to other estimates. In March, COCIN leaders reported that over the past four years, inter-religious violence has claimed 84,000 in Plateau state alone.
The confusing disparity in statistics, sources say, is due to the difficulty of verifying reported
casualty figures and the tendency of government and religious leaders to distort information in order to serve partisan interests. (With reports from Compass Direct)
