A series of bomb and gun attacks in the north-eastern Nigerian town of Damaturu has killed at least 63 people, the Red Cross says.
Witnesses said the bombs hit several targets, including churches and the headquarters of the Yobe state police.
Many people are reported to have fled the town after a night of violence.
The Church at its second Synod in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, also expressed concern over the fact that the reports of panels set up to investigate major crisis in the country have not been released to the public.
This may have also contributed to the reuption of more violence.
Delivering the Bishop’s Charge at the Synod, the Bishop of the Diocese of Egba West, Anglican Communion, Rev. Samuel Ogundeji, deplored the spate of violence and other forms insecurity in the land. He named Boko Haram, post election killings, bloodletting in Jos, the beleaguered Plateau State State capital and other parts of the city, as well as other forms of insecurity rocking parts of the country.
What is your opinion on the Federal Government directive that the Minister of Defence should take over security in Jos?
I think it is a better step in the right direction that the Minister of Defence should take over because the way we see the whole thing, it seems that the security in Plateau State has collapsed. And this is the failure of the Inspector-General of Police. The police is to protect lives and secure the lives and property of people but since all these days, these killings have continued and we wonder when it would stop and so, I think, we have lost confidence in the police. I think, therefore, the IG (Inspector-General of Police) should be retired with immediate effect because this was what happened when there was kidnapping in the East….
The central Nigerian city of Jos was the site of violent Christian-Muslim clashes as Ramadan drew to a close last week.
Fighting Aug. 29 left some 20 dead and some 50 wounded; the next day, another 10 were killed. And dozens of cars, homes and businesses were destroyed and set on fire.
Although the particulars of the incidents are unknown, according to the local media, including the daily The Vanguard, pandemonium broke out after a dispute between groups of young Christians and Muslims. “There was a disagreement between a group of Muslims who were heading toward a particular area, and another group of young Christians who went to pray in the same area. A discussion over who owned the area broke out,” Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos told the Fides agency. He added, however, that he did not have all the details.
Clashes broke out between Christians and Muslims in tense central Nigeria on Monday, with witnesses reporting a number of deaths as well as vehicles and at least two shops set ablaze.
The head of a search-and-rescue team for the Muslim community in the city of Jos, where the clashes occurred, reported nine dead and 106 people wounded, but there was no official confirmation.
Information commissioner for Plateau state Yiljap Abraham said “there are casualties, but the police will give that later.”
At least 18 people have been killed in an apparent suicide car bombing at the United Nations headquarters in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The powerful blast destroyed the lower floors of the building. Dozens have been injured, some critically.
A spokesman for the Islamist group Boko Haram told the BBC in a phone call that it had carried out the attack.
A shadowy Islamist insurgency that has haunted northern Nigeria ”” surviving repeated, bloody efforts to eliminate it ”” appears to be branching out and collaborating with Al Qaeda’s affiliates, alarming Western officials and analysts who had previously viewed the militants here as a largely isolated, if deadly, menace.
Just two years ago, the Islamist group stalking police officers in this bustling city seemed on the verge of extinction. In a heavy-handed assault, Nigerian soldiers shelled its headquarters and killed its leader, leaving a grisly tableau of charred ruins, hundreds dead and outmatched members of the group, known as Boko Haram, struggling to fight back, sometimes with little more than bows and arrows.
Now, insurgents strike at the Nigerian military, the police and opponents of Islamic law in near-daily assaults and bombings, using improvised explosive devices that can be detonated remotely and bear the hallmarks of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Western officials and analysts say. Beyond the immediate devastation, the fear is that extremists bent on jihad are spreading their reach across the continent and planting roots in a major, Western-allied state that had not been seen as a hotbed of global terrorism.
Nigerian financial regulators nationalized three banks Friday night in the course of an ever-widening probe of corruption allegations and mismanagement of fiscal institutions in the oil-rich nation.
Authorities took over Afribank PLC, Bank PHB and Spring Bank PLC after markets closed in Africa’s most populous nation, quickly renaming the institutions Mainstreet Bank Ltd., Keystone Bank Ltd. and Enterprise Bank Ltd., the country’s finance ministry said.
Archbishop Akinola called on the Church of Nigeria and “all other well-meaning Nigerians to wake up and appreciate the situation.”
“Well-meaning Nigerians must resist all of this by all lawful means and the National Assembly must see the whole thing as an affront” to the Nigerian constitution “which states unambiguously that no particular religion shall be adopted as state religion.”
“Government must take decisive action and promptly cancel everything about the proposed Sharia banking,” the archbishop said, imploring Christians to “rise to defend our faith which is currently on trial” from pro-Muslim government policies and violent Islamist terror attacks.
The Church’s commitment to human rights rooted in the Biblical founding of human dignity is amplified in God’s covenant promises and supremely revealed in the incarnation of Jesus as the true image of God. Our understanding of human rights must be measured by the Bible’s revelation of human worth.
Governments at all levels should not by their actions or inactions, be seen to project or succumb to pressure from any religious, cultural, ethnic or interest groups to enable it have or appear to have dominance over others. A typical example is the promotion of Islamic banking (Sharia-compliant) by the Central Bank of Nigeria over and above other forms of non-interest banking institutions. For a state institution to promote one view sanctioned by one religion violates the rights of others. Instead, the CBN should give general guidelines for non-interest banking for all: whether Christian, Traditional or Islamic.
Political leaders are urgently charged to be cautious not to adopt self centered instrumentality of religion, cultural or ethnic sentiments to propagate their ambition for power and undermine the rights of the electorate.
What is your view on the vexed issue of Islamic banking in Nigeria?
It is a time bomb that is about to explode. This nation is secular in nature. It is a constitutional stipulation that no religion should be adopted as a state religion. The fact remains that Christians cannot claim to be the sole owners of Nigeria. Muslims and African Traditional Religion practitioners cannot equally claim to be owners of Nigeria. If that is the case, foisting or attempting to foist the religious practices of a particular religion on this nation is a time bomb that will explode.
The Bishop of Kubwa Diocese (Anglican Communion), Rt. Reverend Duke Akamisoko, has said that the proposed Islamic Banking is making some people to be apprehensive, saying that the development is overheating the polity.
The cleric, who spoke to journalists at the Pre- Synod press conference in Abuja yesterday, added that World Bank statistics had revealed that 60-70 per cent of citizens of countries like Pakistan, Kuwait, Sudan that had practiced Islamic banking for over 40 years lived below poverty level.
At least 10 people have been killed in a series of attacks blamed on Islamist militants in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, officials have said.
Military commander Gen Jack Nwaogbo said five people were killed when a bomb exploded on Sunday inside a bar frequented by soldiers and policemen.
Gunmen also shot dead four people late on Saturday and one person on Sunday.
The Anglican Synod of Enugu Diocese Sunday joined the growing condemnation of the forum of state governors over their call for removal of fuel subsidy, saying doing so would render useless, the new minimum wage.
Accordingly, the Synod advised the government to among other ways reduce cost of governance as a means of paying the new wage, explaining that cost of running the democracy of the country has continued to increase by the day.
Church leaders in Nigeria have urged the government to act swiftly in combating terror attacks on Christians.
The murder campaign in the North waged by Islamist Boko Haram sect known as the Nigerian Taliban could ignite a sectarian war in the South with Christians seeking revenge against Muslims, the Anglican Bishop of Awka warned.
Last week, the fundamentalist sect bombed a Roman Catholic Church and a police station in Maiduguri, killing eleven people, while on June 7 a Church of Christ in Nigeria pastor the Rev. David Usman and the church secretary were gunned down by members of the cult. Last week’s murder follows a 2009 attack on Mr. Usman’s church by Boko Haram militants, who burned it to the ground and killed several members of the congregation.
The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, has urged Moslem leaders in the country to call their members involved in the killing of Christians in the North to order, warning that Christians could no longer continue to be on the receiving end during riots in any part of Nigeria.
In a speech delivered at the second session of the 28th synod of the Diocese on the Niger, taking place at the Immanuel Church, Onitsha, the Bishop of the Diocese, Rt. Rev. Owen Nwokolo, wondered why Christians should be massacred in the guise of protesting in favour of a political candidate who lost during the recent general elections.
Anglican Archbishop of Jos, Rev. Benjamin Kwashi, has advised Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau to appoint only God-fearing people as commissioners.
Kwashi gave the advice on Sunday in his sermon at the inauguration of Jang and his deputy, Ignatius Longjan, in Jos. He tasked the governor to ensure that he cared for the less privileged during his second term in office. Kwashi also advised Jang to drop some of the commissioners who served in his first term.
“The list of your commissioners would have been ready by now but I advise you to review it.
“Godly people, who feel the plight of the poor, orphans and widows, should be brought on board in your second term to execute your programmes for the people,” Kwashi said.
The synod said the 84 churches were burnt in riots that took place in Kaduna, Niger Adamawa Bauchi and Kano states, but did not give a breakdown of the churches burnt in each state.
A communiqué issued after the third session of the Seventh Synod of the Diocese of Minna Anglican Communion held at St James Anglican Church, Suleja Niger State also bemoaned the death of a number of members of the National Youth Service Corps taking part in their national service during the crises.
Primate of the Anglican Church[Nigeria] , Most Rev. Archbishop Nicholas Okoh Friday in Abuja urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to derail in the task of unmasking the sponsors of the post-election violence that swept across some northern states after the announcement of the 2011 presidential results.
The Anglican head was speaking at the First Session of the Eight Synod of the Abuja Diocese.
Bishop Danbinta spoke on Thursday in a sermon at the opening of the first session of the 10th Synod of Remo Anglican Diocese….[He] disclosed that it was becoming increasingly difficult for Christians to openly carry the Bible in some areas in the North.
Although he did not mention such places, the Kaduna-born bishop said he had had nasty experiences of hostility against adherents of the Christian faith in Kano and Zamfara states, where he is currently a bishop.
“Those of you who are Christians in the South here do not know what it really means to be Christians. In the North, we live daily preparing to be killed for the sake of Jesus Christ. And we suffer a lot for Christ sake….”
The team leader at the centre for Gospel Health and Development in Jos, Nigeria, has warned that blankets, mattresses and medical care are urgently needed for victims of post election violence in Jos.
Ven. Noel Bewarang, who is also steering group member of the Anglican Communion’s Anglican Alliance, undertook a needs assessment on Easter Monday at the camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) at Jos East local government area. He found about 3,000 people, mostly Christians, who had been attacked in Toro, Tilden Fulani and Magaman Gumau in Bauchi state.
Soldiers patrolled the streets in Nigeria’s mostly Muslim north and aid workers began to assess the toll from deadly rioting against President Goodluck Jonathan’s election victory.
The Red Cross said many people were killed, hundreds injured and thousands displaced in protests across northern Nigeria on Monday by supporters of Jonathan’s northern rival, former army ruler Muhammadu Buhari, who say the election result was rigged.
Churches, homes and shops were razed.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has appealed for an end to “unnecessary and avoidable” post-election violence across the north of the country.
Incumbent Mr Jonathan has been declared winner in the presidential poll, with the electoral commission saying he received about 57% of the vote.
Rioting spread across the Muslim north – the opposition’s powerbase – as the outcome became clear.
Tens of millions of Nigerians have taken part in Africa’s biggest presidential election, amid hopes of the most credible poll in two decades.
Votes are already being counted in parts of the country, with official results expected on Monday.
Voting is reported to have generally gone smoothly, despite some reports of fraud and incidents of violence.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s main challenger is Muhammadu Buhari, an ex-military leader popular in the north.
The Archbishop of the province of Jos, Dr Benjamin Kwashi, said that “solidarity” with Christians in Nigeria, who have been subjected to violence in recent years, “is missing” from the wider Anglican CommunÂion.
Speaking in London on Thursday of last week, during his two-week visit to the UK, Dr Kwashi said that the Primate of Nigeria, the Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, had “shown deep interest and concern over the situation in Jos”. The Primate had “not only visited but . . . made rehabilitation possible for some of the displaced and suffering people.
“Unfortunately, you can’t say the same thing for the rest of the Anglican Communion,” Dr Kwashi went on. “We do get letters and encourageÂment, which is wonderful . . . but the solidarity is missing.”
For the Rev. Cannon Felix Orji, pastor of St. Francis on the Hill on El Paso’s Westside, the news that he had been elected bishop for the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, or CANA, came as a big surprise.
He didn’t even know he was a candidate.
The last time he learned he was a candidate for bishop, he removed his name from consideration.
“I’ve not been a contender for the position,” Orji told El Paso Inc. “My interest in ministry is to serve the church and to preach the gospel, not to become a big shot. I’ve not really been interested in being a bishop.
“However, this time they did not want to talk to me because they didn’t want me to wriggle out of it again. But I’m delighted.”
Amid sectarian violence by Muslims, Christians and security forces in this capital city of Plateau state, a flash point for ethnic and religious conflict in Nigeria, scores of Christians were estimated to have been killed in the past month.
Christmas Eve bombings by Islamic extremists have touched off tit-for-tat violence that has killed more than 200 people in Plateau state, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). A Jan. 27 report by HRW said the Christmas bombings in Jos left at least 107 dead.
In the predominantly Christian Barkin Ladi Government Area on the outskirts of Jos, Muslim assailants led by a police officer from Abuja on Jan. 27 killed 14 Christians, according to a military spokesman, and the next day Muslim youths stabbed two students at the University of Jos on the assumption that they were Christians.
Members of Diocese of Umuahia (Anglican Communion) have embarked on a weeklong prayer to seek for God’s intervention in the state as the 2011 general elections approach.
The Dean of the Anglican Church in Nigeria said the attitude of sit down and look is not going to work urging everybody to be involved. In his opinion, members of the national assembly should be able to contribute their quota in serving this country sacrificially, and plough back from the huge sum of money they are earning for the development of this nation.
He urged them to use their constituency allowance for the utilisation of the purpose for which it is earmarked. He made a prophetic declaration concerning this country that it is well with her.
He however urged the president to intensify efforts at sorting out the problem of electricity adding that once that is sorted out every other thing would be put in place.