Category: Nigeria

Multiple reports on new attacks on a village near Jos where “suspected Muslim gangs” burned down homes of Christians, and also a report of a bomb injuring three in Jos.

Nigeria: Fresh Crisis Erupts Near Jos
— This Day reports:
— “Plateau State is once again in the news following an attack on a village near Jos by suspected Fulani herdsmen in the early hours of Sunday.”
— “The attackers targeted the homes of some officials in Kura Jenta, a Berom village some 30 kilometers south of Jos.”
— “The officials were said to be former government workers and a brother to a local government chairman of Jos South Local Government Area (LGA).”
— “No life was lost because of the timely intervention of a police patrol. But three houses and six vehicles were torched.”
— “The military authorities said no arrest had been made. It was also gathered that efforts are being made to track down those behind the incident.”
— “One group of attackers was said to have fired indiscriminately from one section while the other group set fire on the two affected compounds. They were, however, overpowered by the Special Task Force (STF) troops.”

Nigeria: New Attacks in Jos on Christians
— New attacks in troubled Nigerian ethnic hotspot
— AFP reports: “Suspected Muslim gangs burned homes in a Christian village near the Nigerian city of Jos, which has been at the centre of tit-for-tat attacks this year which have left hundreds dead, officials said.”
— “The suspected ethnic Fulani attackers targeted homes belonging to three top officials in the ethnic Berom village of Kura Jenta, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Jos, residents said.”
— “‘Apparently the attackers were on a murder mission, they wanted to use the same tactics used in Dogo Nahawa, setting homes ablaze and then waiting for people to come out to be killed,’ a local cleric Raymond Gboum told AFP.”

Nigeria: Explosion Injures 3 in Jos

Nigeria: Jos killings: 20 suspects arraigned
— Punch reports:
— “The trial of suspects involved in the killing of more than 500 people in Dogo Na Hauwa, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State last month began on Thursday at a Federal High Court, Jos.”
— “Ninety suspects were listed for arraignment by the police but only 20 appeared in the court presided over by Justice Stephen Adah.”
— “A mild drama, however, occurred in court when the case involving the 160 suspects arrested after the incident and taken to Abuja was called for mention. Immediately, the Federal Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Alex Adama, sought for an adjournment.”
— “An Abuja High Court had earlier directed that the suspects be transferred to Jos, where the crime was committed, for trial.”

Advocates International Press Release on “Justice for Jos Project” (Adobe Acrobat PDF file)

Text of press release below:

April 1, 2010

CLASFON, the Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria, joins with Advocates International to form an  on-going project -THE JUSTICE FOR JOS PROJECT – to provide humanitarian and legal assistance to the survivors of the unprovoked attacks and monitoring of the criminal investigations and prosecutions to assure justice is provided for these horrible crimes.

“His victims were sleeping when he arrived, he said, and he set their house on fire.” Sure enough, they ran out. “I killed three people,” Mr. Adamu said calmly. He and the other detainees showed no sign that they had been maltreated; some confessed to killings, and others denied them, speaking in front of the police. The police quickly arrested about 200 people in connection with the killings, and many of them were crouching anxiously in rows on a bare concrete floor, outside the police headquarters on Wednesday morning. The police have confiscated 14 machetes, 26 bows, arrows, 3 axes, 4 spears and 44 guns. Victims, many of them women and children, were cut down with knives, short and long; few survived.” – New York Times

WASHINGTON, DC — On March 7, 2010 residents of three communities in the idyllic mountain range city of Jos in Plateau State of Nigeria barely had a chance to be awakened from slumber before they were mercilessly butchered in a brutally executed massacre executed by Muslim Fulani tribesmen. By daybreak a mass burial was conducted for the hundreds of Christian women and children (estimated at about 500) slain in Jos – fondly called “Jesus Our Savior” for the strong Christian heritage and missionary presence in the frontlines of Nigeria’s Muslim/Christian divide.

Following up on its statements of sorrow and concern at that time, Advocates International (AI), along with the Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP), whose member organizations based in 18 countries are working on religious liberty issues around the world, made strong statements today on the killings and violence in Nigeria and launched a global campaign calling for justice and prayer for that nation.

The Statement — formally known as the CYRUS STATEMENT ON THE CRISES IN NORTHERN NIGERIA because it was released following the RLP’s meeting in Larnaka, Cyprus last week — acknowledges some positive elements within Nigeria, including the role that the church is playing, but expresses deep concern about the ways in which the situation is being handled by the government.  In addition, the Statement calls on the worldwide church to pray for the restoration of the  religious liberties of all Nigerians, the provision of needed humanitarian support, and for the institution of much-needed reconciliation efforts.  “Following the recent appalling massacres of Christian men, women and children in villages around Jos, Nigeria it was timely that our partners focus on Nigeria,” stated Mervyn Thomas, CEO of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, UK and Chairman of the Religious Liberty Partnership.

“Together as the RLP, we stand in support of Christians in Nigeria, calling upon the Church worldwide to pray for a restoration of lasting peace in Nigeria,” said Andy Dipper, CEO of Release International.  “Christians in central and northern Nigeria today face unprecedented persecution, with women and children suffering barbaric acts of violence.  In this context the Nigerian Church leadership is actively choosing to isolate those perpetrators of these recent killings by not retaliating, and relying on God to sustain them in their grief.”

Advocates International’s General Counsel, Samuel B. Casey, one of the co-drafters of the Cyprus Statement, said “the perpetrators of this violence must to be brought to justice. If these people continue to kill with impunity, the violence will escalate even further, and will eventually endanger the entire nation.  Therefore, in partnership with CLASFON, the Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria, we are announcing today the formation of our JUSTICE FOR JOS PROJECT.”  AI’s special counsel for this project, Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian lawyer who was born in Jos, said: “In the past decade in which we have lost thousands of lives in religious violence, this is the first time we actually have perpetrators in captivity who have admitted to the crime. In my two decades as a lawyer I have never seen anyone prosecuted and convicted for killing in the name of religion.”

AI sees a unique opportunity to provide a justice monitoring program that will track the trial of Mr. Adamu and others like him who calmly plotted the savage killings and raised resources to do it. Past suspects have slipped through the legal system creating a culture of impunity and incentives for more killers.

The JUSTICE FOR JOS PROJECT will:
•    Provide immediate help for displaced families and survivors as well as create early warning alert    systems in the communities.
•    Work with local businesses and missionaries to create economic empowerment projects to engage Christian and Muslim youth in gainful employment that will keep them out of trouble and build bridges of commonality
•    Monitor the performance of the legal system to ensure all perpetrators are brought to justice.

This Easter, you can be a part of ministry to the persecuted church in very real and practical ways. Just this week 12 more Christian women and children were murdered in their homes in Jos – a strong indication that more terror cells are on the loose in addition to the ones in detention. This underscores the importance of prosecuting the suspects and identifying other conspirators now at large. Says Mr. Ogebe, “We fear that this is a new strategy – sleeper attacks in the dead of the night. Christians are in the majority in Jos so if there is a direct daylight clash, they are more likely to successfully defend themselves. People who are sleeping don’t stand a chance.”

Advocates International is an international organization of attorneys in over 150 nations who seek to do justice with compassion, including through its Task Forces on the Rule of Law And Religious Freedom, dedicated to upholding  rule of law  and  protecting the rights to free expression, religious belief and free exercise and association throughout the world for all people.

The Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) is a collaborative effort of Christian organizations around the world focused on religious liberty.  A listing of RLP members is set forth at the end of the Cyprus Statement.  For more information about the Religious Liberty Partnership or the Cyprus Statement, please contact Brian O’Connell: E-mail:  Brian@REACTServices.com;  Phone: +1-425-218-4718

==============================

Contact: Emmanuel Ogebe or Sam Casey
Phone: 703-894-1084, 703-624-4092 (Mobile)
sbcasey@advocatesinternational.org
eiogebe@advocatesinternational.org

==============================

See additional R.E.A.L. reports on Nigeria

Nigeria: A Nigeria ‘Taliban’ leader tells of a desire to fight the U.S.
— LA Times: “The rebel group in Nigeria’s Muslim north engaged in deadly clashes with security forces last year. It has gone underground and wants to shift its focus away from domestic targets, one of its leaders”
— “Reporting from Maiduguri, Nigeria – Nigeria’s “Taliban,” named for its heroes in a far-off land, could provide willing recruits for attacks on American targets, one of the group’s leaders boasted in a rare interview that had the trappings of a spy novel.”
— “With equal parts bluster and chilling resolve, the slight 30-year-old explained why the militant Islamic group that set up its own “Afghanistan” base in northern Nigeria wants to shift its focus from domestic targets.”
— “‘The U.S. is the major target because it’s the major aggressor against Muslims throughout the world,’ said the young man, who wore a bottle-green caftan and gave his name only as Musa. ‘America is the main aggressor, and I believe all these attacks against America are divine worship.'”
— “He gazed straight ahead as he spoke, never meeting the eyes of his interviewer.”
— “‘They are fighting Islam and we will also fight them, if we get the chance,’ he said.”
— “The Nigerian Taliban has been regarded as a bit player in the jostling field of extremism, unlikely to pose a threat to Europe and the Americas. This West African nation, however, came under renewed scrutiny after a young Nigerian man was arrested on suspicion of attempting to detonate explosives concealed in his underpants on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day.”

Nigeria: Federal Government Charges Suspects of January Jos Crises With Terrorism

— Daily Trust reports:

— “Jos — The Federal Government has charged 32 persons over the January 2010 Jos crisis and the raid in Dogo Nahauwa and Rasat villages with terrorism.The charges filed through the Assistant Chief State Counsel, Barrister E.E Akissa, before the Federal High Court in Jos last Friday said 17 persons were charged over the recent villages raid while 15 suspects were charged over the January crisis.”

— “Barrister Akissa filed three different cases, FHC/J/30c/2010, FHC/J/14c/2010 and FHC/ J/17/2010 against the 17 suspects, who he claimed were from Bauchi and Plateau States. He also charged them on a three count charge of terrorism, including conspiracy, which is punishable under Section 518 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap.38 and Section 15(2) of the EFCC Laws, 2004 and Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

— “He said the suspects armed with dangerous weapons, charms and Indian hemp wraps intimidated the resident of Dogo Nahauwa and Rasat villages. On the January crisis, which started in Dutse Uku in Nassarawa Gwom area, Counsel to the Federal Government alleged in a suit charge number FHC/J/28c/2010 that Shafiu Dan Malam, 48 and six others all of Dutse uku in Nassarawa Gwom area of Plateau State conspired and carried out terrorist acts while armed with dangerous weapons which is contrary to Section 518 of the Criminal Code Act Cap. C38, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004. On the second count, the counsel alleged that on January 19, while armed with dangerous weapons, they committed several terrorist acts.”

— “Barrister Akissa also said Mr Yakubu Isah and seven others who were charged on the first count had on January 19 conspired and agreed to cause breach of peace which is a punishable offence under Section 518(6).”

— “He said they moved about with arms like knives, cutlasses, sticks, spears, bows and arrows and that their action caused terror to many persons which is an offence contrary to Section 15(2) of the EFCC act 2004 and punishable under the same law.”

— “Presiding judge, Justice Stephen Adah, is expected to fix a date for mention.”