Author: Haruna Bahago
Publication: Associated Press
Date: November 27, 2002
Archbishop John Olorunfemi: "It
is a Christian duty to protect yourselves"
ABUJA, Nigeria- A Catholic archbishop
said Wednesday that Christians were "tired of turning the other cheek"
to Muslim attacks and blamed the government for deadly sectarian riots
after a newspaper article about the Miss World beauty pageant.
"No group of people should be allowed
to invade the city of Abuja and molest law-abiding citizens," said the
Rev. John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
Onaiyekan spoke at a news conference
called by the Council of Nigerian Churches and accused President Olusegun
Obasanjo's government of failing to protect Christians during the riots.
"We blame the government because
we rely on the government to protect us," he said.
The archbishop said Christians shouldn't
hesitate to defend themselves from further attacks.
"It is a Christian duty to protect
yourselves," he said.
Senior clergy from the Anglican,
Baptist, Lutheran and other churches also criticized the government, arguing
that Christians had taken the brunt of the violence.
More than 200 people were killed
last week by Muslims and Christians in the northern city of Kaduna. The
rioting was triggered by a newspaper article in the Nigerian newspaper
ThisDay that suggested the Muslim prophet Muhammad would have approved
of the Miss World pageant and might have wanted to marry a contestant if
given the opportunity.
The Miss World pageant pulled its
contestants out of Nigeria on Sunday, rescheduling the contest finale to
London on Dec. 7.
The pageant's president, Julia Morley,
said the organization plans to send the winner of the Miss World contest
back to Nigeria for a show of ethnic African fashions. The date hasn't
been set.
Mahamoud Shinkafi, the deputy governor
of the predominantly Muslim state of Zamfara in northern Nigeria on Monday
called on Muslims to kill Isioma Daniel, the woman who wrote the newspaper
article.
Nigerian Information Minister Jerry
Gana told journalists Wednesday that the federal government would overrule
the death order, which he called "unconstitutional."
"Zamfara state is just a state in
Nigeria and they cannot make laws binding on Nigerians. They cannot make
laws binding on the federal government. The federal governments rejects
the declaration in its entirety," Gana said.
He did not say, however, whether
the government would offer protection to the newspaper reporter. She has
reportedly gone into hiding after being interrogated by police last week
Onaiyekan, the Catholic archbishop,
called on the government to arrest and punish all those who called for
the death order if Daniel is killed.
"That is a criminal act," he said.
"When somebody has sentenced a fellow Nigerian to be killed by any other
Muslim anywhere in the world ... that person should be held responsible,"
he said.
