News Updates on the Nov 28-29th religious violence crisis in Jos

Below are some news pieces following the tragic bloody riots that took place in the city of Jos in Plateau State, Nigeria; claiming the lives of several hundreds – including three young people undergoing their one year, mandatory, national youth service program, and the homes and businesses of tens of thousands of Nigerians – mostly Christians, between the 28th and 29th of November, 2008.

Judicial Commission of Inquiry

The Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang inaugurated a six-man judicial commission of inquiry into the crisis. International jurist and former Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Bola Ajibola was assigned to head the inquiry. According to The Punch, The purpose of the commission was to investigate the remote and immediate causes(s) of the unrest; determine the extent of loss of lives and property; identify the persons or group of persons responsible for the unrest and recommend appropriate sanctions and to make recommendations to avert future occurrences. It is also asked to make any other suitable or relevant recommendations.

One of the means of achieving the aims set out by the Commission is the acceptance and analysis of written memorandums by the members of the public. Since the commission was inaugurated, several accusations and counter-accusations have been levied by both factions. One of such memorandums written by the Hausa Muslims contained an allegation that the Christian faction hired mercenaries. According to an ‘eyewitness’, the mercenaries were huge men, wearing white uniforms. The formidable aspect of these so-called mercenaries was their use of juju(magic). The claim was that their juju was so strong, the men hovered above the ground, reports The Reservoir.

“As ridiculous as that allegation sounds”, quoting from the same article in The Reservoir, “the swiftness and totality of the reprisal attack which took place on Saturday left many residents of Jos speechless. The crisis began on Friday, after the Muslim Prayers with the casualties mostly Christians – Church members and Pastors. That same day(Friday, 28th), a 4pm curfew was imposed on the city so there was hardly any opportunity for the other side to meet and plan a reprisal. Yet that was exactly what took place the next day. The losses on the Hausa Muslim side were astronomical and the whole destruction took about thirty minutes or less.
This gives rise to a number of pertinent questions: Who were the mercenaries and where did they come from? …”.

Unfair Reporting

Also, Christians in northern Nigeria generally complained about inaccuracy and unfairness in the way the incident – which apparently began as some Muslim youths displeased with the outcome of Local Government elections, took to attacking churches and Christian homes – was depicted in many cases both by local and international media. They expressed fears of this inaccurate or insensitive reporting of the riots instigating further Muslim violence against them.

“We are the victims of any Islamic anger. Two years ago, it was the Danish cartoons. Now they are trying to lay it at the feet of the elections. We have become a convenient scapegoat and target for those with grievances about events both home and abroad.” Said Bishop Kwashi of Jos. To international media, he made the plea: “Please, if you have evidence of anywhere where Chris­tians have sparked off a riot or done anything wrong, please be honest in telling it. But if not, stand up for justice …
“We want the support of the Church worldwide to understand that we have never initiated crimes against the Muslim people.”

Again, the Ven. Akintunde Popoola, director of communications for the Church of Nigeria commented, “The Western press should learn from the Danish cartoons saga that articles they publish, whatever the motive might be, can be responsible for the death of many innocent lives hundred of miles away” .

Someone also remarked that you could bet this story would have made the front page in the American media, were it Christians slaughtering Muslims.

Relief efforts

As reported in an article by YARAC that I came across, the office of the Regional Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Lamingo deserved particular praise for their efforts to help the situation: “Constitutionally, we aren’t sure this is their immediate responsibility. But this organ became the first security body to perform the roles of the red cross, the police, the army and that of other humanitarian agencies. The regional office became the home for over 5000 displaced persons. And standing their ground, the so-called rioters were almost invading the camp for more lives. For this we commend the Commandant and his team.” Also commended in the same article are, those Christian and Muslim families that opened their doors to hide, accommodate and nurse the pains and wounds of many that would have been killed, including two Professors in the University of Jos who accommodated over 400 displaced persons each in their quarters. More relief efforts flowed from various governmental and non-governmental agencies including religious organisations to help alleviate the dire condition of the most affected citizens even after the crisis.

Endeavour to find out if or by what means you may be able to help displaced victims today, and do remember them and the churches there in your prayers.

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