against Muslim militants who they accuse of killing over 200 people last week, BosNewsLife learned Thursday November 28.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted the Catholic Archbishop, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, as saying that Christians were "tired of turning the other cheek," after days of bloodshed that also included the destruction of several churches.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide, with close ties to persecuted churches, said that Christians were singled out by mobs of Muslim youths, who protested against the Miss World contest, which has since been moved to London.
It is believed that Christians are the main targets as they are seen as defending Western values, despite growing anti-American sentiment in the region. Analysts point out that the attacks are also meant to pressure President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is said to be a born-again Christian, and is seeking re-election next year.
RIOTS CONTINUE
The riots, which have spread from Kaduna City, to the capital Abuja, began after an article in the ThisDay newspaper suggested that the Prophet Muhammad would have not been adverse of marrying one of the participants attending the contest.
Muslim leaders in the northern state of Zamfara have meanwhile issued a "fatwa" or religious decree, calling on Muslims to kill the journalist who wrote the article. Fashion writer Isioma Daniel is now reported to have left the country and is believed to be in the United States, after resigning from the ThisDay newspaper.
Zamfara’s Deputy Governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi told religious leaders in the state capital, Gusau that the Fatwa "is binding on all Muslims wherever they are, to consider the killing of the writer as a religious duty", the BBC reported.
CONVERTING TO ISLAM
The speech was rebroadcast on local radio in Zamfara state, which was the first state in Nigeria to introduce Islamic law in January 2000. A Muslim cleric in the capital, Abuja, said that Daniel could only escape the death penalty by converting to Islam.
Hussein Muhammed told the BBC Focus on Africa programme that if he saw her, he would kill her, even if that meant going to prison because Islamic law is more important to him than Nigerian law.
"I would be willing to kill my parents for Mohammed," he said.
However Catholic Archbishop, John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, urged the government to remain determined and arrest the Zamfara officials who had issued the "fatwa".
"CRIMINAL ACT"
"That is a criminal act. When somebody has sentenced a fellow Nigerian to be killed by any other Muslim anywhere in the world… that person should be held responsible," the BBC quoted him as saying.
There is concern among church leaders that it will further increase violence against Christians in the troubled African nation.
"If the government fails to protect us, our people will be left with no option but to defend and protect themselves by whatever means available to them," said the Anglican Archbishop of Abuja, Ola Makinde.
NOT BORN AGAIN
However there seems concern that non born again Christians will use these concerns as a way to attack innocent Muslims civilians in Nigeria. Some groups describing themselves as Christians have reportedly also killed Muslims during the riots.
The most populous African nation of over 110 million people, has seen an increase in interreligious violence since several northern states began to call for what is known as full Shari’ah Law in 1999.
So far over 6,000 people are believed to have died as a direct result of Shari’ah related clashes, including many Christians.
