The Damages Religious Crises Have Done to the North

ICC Note

Due to attacks by Muslim mobs hundreds of Christians have been killed and thousands lost their properties in northern Nigeria .

By Demola Abimboye

10/28/2009 Nigeria (Newswatch)-More than 50 religious crises were recorded in 30 years in the North and they left political, social, economic and psychological losses and pains in their trail

This sad turn of events in Kaduna , the political capital of Northern Nigeria , would anger the founders of this city who did not envisage segregation among its residents. Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late premier of the defunct region and one of the builders of modern Kaduna , would equally turn in his grave because the beautiful capital of the current Kaduna State is now two cities in one. No thanks to past religious crises which have taken considerable toll on the town and the entire region.

Since the creation of 12 states in 1967, the northern part of Nigeria has witnessed several violent clashes between Muslims and Christians. At the Northern Peace Conference held in Kaduna in 2004, Isawa Elaigwu, president of the Jos-based Institute of Social Research , put the number of crises between 1980 and 2004 at 50. The region has recorded many other cases since then.

BEGE Ministries, a non governmental organisation which specialises in Muslim/ Christian community relations in the West African sub-region, estimates that between 1976 and today, Nigeria has lost over 100,000 of its citizens to the crises while billions of Naira worth of properties have been destroyed in the process.

Newswatch investigations across the north showed that the series of crises have taken a terrible toll on the region. Joseph Hayab, secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Kaduna State , said the biggest loss has been psychological. He said there is no longer mutual trust between Muslims and Christians in the north, and people are forced to live together in mutual suspicion, with the security being imposed by combat ready policemen. This, according to him, is not peace.

The horrible damage religious riots have done to Kaduna is unquantifiable. Monday Aigbe, 58, who has lived in Kaduna in the past 40 years, is one person who will never forget what religious crisis could cost an individual. Aigbe told Newswatch last week that he had owned five houses in Tudun Wada part of Kaduna metropolis as well as three personal cars. Today, the former successful businessman is an itinerant telephone handsets repairer. He said it is the only business he can afford to raise capital for. The father of five children was a victim of the 2000 crisis. Rioters burnt his houses and cars.

The repetitive crises have also turned many other towns in Northern Nigeria into segregated communities. In Kano , the story is not different. With the introduction of Sharia and the attendant banning of the sale of alcoholic beverages among several others, the Christian population was forced to relocate almost entirely to Sabon Gari, a densely populated settlement. It is only here that Christians feel safe as they are among their fellow Christians.

Another town that has felt and still feels the impact of religious crises is Jos, the Plateau State capital. Before 2001, Jos was the destination for other Nigerians fleeing from volatile states like Kano , Kaduna , Bauchi and Gombe. Such migrants often rented houses in which they settled their families while they returned to work in the crisis prone states. Others bought land and built houses for themselves. Some moved completely out of those troubled spots and settled permanently in Jos.

Newswatch found that many Christians who owned houses and plots of land in Rikkos have had to abandon them. Those whose houses were not destroyed have sold them, usually at rock-bottom prices to Muslims. Many are still unable to find buyers for their houses and other properties. Also those who fled from Rikkos have sought accommodation in the predominantly Christian areas of the town.

CAN is also of the view that some actions of Governor Murtala Nyako can precipitate crisis in the state. He alleged that the governor has ensured that the teaching of Christian Religious Knowledge, CRK, is discouraged in public schools in the state. He said government was no longer employing CRK teachers. Presently, the ratio of IRK to CRK teachers is about 79:1. Also, he said that all tertiary educational institutions in the state are headed by Fulani Muslims. “You can then appreciate the fact that such anti- Christian programme of the state government can be provocative. You can now see why I said that religious crisis is still possible in Adamawa State but we will try and resist all provocations because crisis does nobody any good,” the CAN secretary said.