Journalists killed, Christians attacked - Release warns of tinderbox in Nigeria, calls for more security - Release International

International: April 28, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Release International is warning that unless Nigeria steps up security to prevent violence against Christians in Jos, Plateau State, the situation could spiral out of control. Following the murder of three reporters, Christian human rights organisation Release is also calling for journalists to be protected so the truth can be openly reported.

 A reporter from Nigeria’s The Nation daily newspaper was shot dead at his home in Lagos at the weekend, and Christians have been mourning the death of two journalists working for the religious press and five others, who were murdered by suspected Islamist extremists. 

The Christian journalists were on their way to an interview when they were attacked and stabbed to death. According to reports, the killers stole their mobile phones and have been boasting to callers: ‘We killed them - you can do your worst.’ 

The two journalists were working for the Church of Christ in Nigeria newspaper, The Light Bearer.  

Three other journalists have been murdered since 2008. Nigeria’s opposition party, the Action Congress, warns that journalists are ‘becoming an endangered species,’ and fears the security situation is worsening. Hundreds have been killed in religious violence in Jos this year.  

Jos, in Plateau State, sits squarely between Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, and the country’s mainly Christian south. Tensions have been building along religious and tribal fault-lines.  

Ongoing violence in Plateau state has claimed an estimated 50,000 lives since 2001. An influx of jihadists from countries like Chad has helped poison the atmosphere. 

There have also been attacks on Christian communities in the northern Sharia states where Islamic law is in force. Now that violence is spreading south. 

‘Jos is a potential tinderbox,’ says Release International’s CEO Andy Dipper. ‘Unless the government brings the violence under control, there could be an explosion of aggression that would spread throughout divided communities in the land. 

‘Release is also concerned about the killing of journalists. Release has investigated and reported well-planned attacks against Christian communities in the past and exposed them as pre-meditated acts of religious cleansing. 

‘Such attacks are continuing - there must be freedom to report the truth, so pressure can be brought to bear to prevent the violence.’  

The murdered journalists are Edo Ugbagwu, a court reporter with The Nation, and Nathan Dabak and Sunday Gyang Bwede of The Light Bearer. Dabak and Bwede were stabbed to death on April 24 along with a motorcyclist.  

The president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) told news agency Compass Direct that militants had been answering phone calls sent to the mobile phones of the murdered journalists.  

According to Rev Pandang Yamsat, when a friend of Dabak called his mobile, he was told: ‘We have killed all of them - you can do your worst.’

 COCIN is still mourning the death of a pastor and his wife in Bauchi state on April 13. Rev Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his wife Selina, 45, were kidnapped by suspected Islamic militants. Their bodies had been burnt beyond recognition.

 Four other Christians were killed in Jos on Saturday in a revenge attack after the body of a teenage Muslim was discovered. Eight bodies were earlier found in a shallow grave.  

‘It would be a mistake to see the aggression between Muslims and Christians as evenly balanced,’ says Andy Dipper of Release International. ‘Many of the instigators are Muslim extremists who want to drive Christians out from predominantly Muslim areas.  

‘Some Christians we have spoken to say they are being provoked to defend their property, but many more say that as Christ was opposed to violence, they will heed his call to forgive their enemies and to pray for their persecutors.’ 

Through its international network of missions Release serves persecuted Christians in 30 countries around the world, by supporting pastors and Christian prisoners, and their families; supplying Christian literature and Bibles, and working for justice. Release is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections and the Evangelical Alliance.

For further information visit www.releaseinternational.org