Posted on 05/07/2005 5:19:21 PM PDT by underlying
CHURCH FORCED TO MOVE HEADQUARTERS
Two-million-member Church of Christ seeking to avoid religious violence.
April 26 (Compass) -- Devastation caused by religious conflict and the hostile attitude of Muslims toward Christian refugees returning to their villages in the central Nigerian state of Plateau has forced the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) to relocate its regional headquarters from the town of Wase to Kadarko.
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, announced at an April 24 church service in the town of Langtang, Plateau.
In an interview with Compass last year, former President of COCIN, Dr. Alexander Lar, said that six of the churchs pastors were killed in the town of Wase and more than 175 churches in the area had been completely destroyed. (See Compass Direct, Nigerian Church Leaders Skeptical of State of Emergency, July 7, 2004.)
First established in 1904 in Wase through the united efforts of the Anglican and other Protestant churches in Britain, the Church of Christ in Nigeria is one of the dominant churches in northern Nigeria today, with an estimated membership of over two million.
Yamsat said the relocation of the churchs regional office aims to give the churchs 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.
Government Wants Stolen Property Returned to Displaced 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 the security council tour, told local Muslim leaders.
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.
Security council members who accompanied the deputy governor on the tour of the crisis area included a brigade commander of the Nigerian Army, the police commissioner, the director of the State Security Service and comptrollers of customs, immigration and prison services from the state capital of Jos.
Dr. Haruna Abdullahi, the Emir of Wase, and Alhaji Saidu Musa, Chairman of Wase Local Government Council, responded by promising to work toward educating Muslims on the need to allow the displaced Christians to return to their homes.
Official Death Toll Questioned
Meanwhile, Colonel Abubakar Umar, former military governor of the neighboring state of Kaduna, told a press conference on April 4 that 10,000 people have been killed in Muslim-Christian clashes in northern Nigeria.
Col. Umar, a Muslim, blamed the violence on the implementation of the sharia Islamic legal system in 12 northern states beginning in 2001. He said he was compelled to speak out on the issue after Muslim leaders meeting in Kaduna in late March reportedly issued threats to launch a religious war in the country.
A member of the Nigeria National Assembly from Kaduna state denied that casualty figures are as high as Col. Umar claimed.
Agreed there were violent clashes in some states, legislator Uzairu Suleiman Tahir said in a press statement issued on April 8, but available records did not indicate such a large number of lives were lost. Where did he get these figures from?
The 10,000 casualty figure is, in fact, 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. (See Compass Direct, Nigerian University Re-opens Following Christian Students Murder, March 10, 2005.)
The estimate of 84,000 dead appeared in a report released last year by the Plateau state government while emergency rule was in effect.
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.
Church of Christ ping
I wonder how many Imams have been murdered and mosques destroyed in Wase?
I'll bet 10-1 odds the answer is "none"!
Just as the ancient Crusades were in response to centuries of Jihad, Cristians must respond in such a way that the Muslims must emphasize the internal self improvement aspects of jihad, rather than the temporal, murderous, and territorial aspects.
"I come not to bring peace, but a sword"
Brave man - I hope he keeps his head...
Uhm, the word 'c-r-u-s-a-d-e' comes to mind....
The African churches always seem to be in danger. This reminds me in some ways of the early church in lower Mesopotamia.
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