Primates anger over inaction: CEN 12.05.08 p

The Primate of the Church of Nigeria has condemned his government’s inaction in the wake of the anti-Christian pogrom in the Central Plateau state last week that has left hundreds dead.
The government had been “playing the ostrich,” Archbishop Peter Akinola said, and had avoided facing up to the sectarian divisions plaguing the country.

“We know these people who are bent on destroying the nation and for goodness sake they should be brought to justice,” Archbishop Akinola said, in a report printed on the website of the Church of Nigeria. Past promises of government action to “bring to book the perpetrators of this evil” had gone unfulfilled.

“So if government has had the courage to bring justice to those who engage in the evil, it would have served as a deterrent to others. I call on this government to stop playing the ostrich and stop being hypocritical,” Archbishop Akinola said.

On Nov 28 the Archbishop Ben Kwashi of Jos sent an email via his cell phone warning of an outbreak of anti-Christian violence. “Please flash all intercessors to pray for us in Jos, we are being attacked by Muslims. Churches have been burnt, no exact figures of casualties yet. We need prayer to stay the hand the hand of bloodshed, destruction, violence and death. Pray for instant return to peace and order. The crisis began around 2am after local elections in Jos, why Christians must pay for this I do not know,” he wrote.

Initial reports indicate the violence began following a disputed local election in which supporters of the opposition All Nigeria Peoples Party accused the governing People’s Democratic Party of fraud. Fighting erupted prompting the Plateau State governor to issue a “shoot-on-sight” order to police and declare a 24-hour curfew in the worst-affected areas.

Wire service bulletins from the central Nigerian city reported hundreds of Christians and Muslims dead, with accounts of over 200 bodies taken to one mosque alone. However, subsequent reports from Archbishop Kwashi reported a different complexion to the violence.

“The Governor of Plateau State has stated very clearly that no Muslim was killed in a mosque in Jos,” he said, adding that “amongst the several hundred people arrested are many foreign Muslim mercenaries who were well armed.”

These mercenaries had allegedly “killed both Christians and Muslims because, being aliens, they do not know who is who.”

While the government appeared to have restored order to the city, on Dec 2 Archbishop Kwashi’s office reported “the situation is therefore easing in one sense but there is still the very real possibility of further violence. Please pray that God will wash away anger, rage, retaliation and lust for bloodshed.”