[T]he day turned bloody in Gwada, where three churches were burnt while about 26 Christians were injured. In Minna, the Niger Baptist Church was the target of the fanatics who injured five Christian youths and damaged more than five cars.

Our correspondents gathered that the incident in Gwada happened as Christian youths from all churches marched round the town, drumming and rejoicing over their ability to see another resurrection day of Jesus Christ.

It was learnt that as the procession continued, some Muslim youths, who apparently had pre-planned their action, appeared and started attacking the Christian youths, injuring some of them.

Police arrested 110 people for theft and causing public disturbances. All pleaded not guilty; the magistrate ordered them held in custody until the next hearing, scheduled for 28 April.

h/t: Associated Baptist Press

Speaking in Kano, while delivering lecture on challenges of shariah implementation, Fagge said, ” the commissioner of police is posted to Kano to protect the state laws. Therefore, as a Muslim, you should remember that you can die or retirement could force you out of office. However, Sharia legal system would remain in the state forever.”

That sounds like a threat.

For good measure, Kano’s Ulama Council also ripped into the police commissioner.

The Council of Ulama in Kano yesterday warned the Commissioner of Police, Muhammad Aminu Yesufu, to stay clear of the way of full implementation of sharia or face the wrath of the people.

The Chairman, Kano Council of Ulama, Sheik Ibrahim Umar Kabo, accused the police of sabotaging the effort of Hisbah to curb “evils” in the state.

Kabo stated that the police boss turned several offers from the Hisbah Board to train the Hisbah corps on the rudiment of maintenance of law and order.

He added that the police boss also rejected other complimentary services rendered by the sharia corps.

Beware sharia corps bearing “complimentary services”.

A Shiite Muslim sect is engaged in gun-running and training of militant youths drawn from 13 states in the predominantly-Muslim northern Nigeria as well as neighbouring Niger Republic at its headquarters in Zaria, northern Kaduna state, the police have alleged.

The allegation, published by the private Guardian newspaper Thursday, was contained in an intelligence report sent to the country’s Inspector-General of Police, Mike Okiro, by the Kaduna state police boss, Tambari Muhammad.

Sheikh Ibrahim Zakyzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, denies everything.

“We should be expecting more crises because there are trainings going on in the bush and the security people know about this.

“There are terrorists and fundamentalists that have invaded this country and if care is not taken, definitely this country may not remain one….We are leaving in a dynamic society. Many of our youths today are becoming educated and that is a potential time bomb because most of them are jobless.

The terrorists in training are said to come from Niger, Chad, and other foreign nations.  Elder Dogo blames them for abetting recent Muslim attacks on Christians in the city of Jos, Plateau state, and in Bauchi state.

In Dogo’s view, a state of emergency should be declared in Bauchi in order to keep the peace. He charges that the Bauchi state government is continuing to ignore thousands of persons forced to flee their homes and live in military camps.

“We are watching to see the action of the Federal Government regarding the carnage and destruction unleashed on helpless and defenceless Christians whose properties were looted and their houses set ablaze by mindless Islamic fundamentalists.

“It is time for us to know whether President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua is the President of Nigerians or the President of Muslims, the action he will take regarding the Bauchi mayhem will determine whether he is a President of all of us.

In related news, Dutch MPs Geert Wilders and Martin Bosma warn that Nigeria is well on its way to an “Islamic takeover”.

h/t for link to Digital Journal: Jihad Watch

Lamenting bitterly, the displaced people said the state government has failed them for not putting necessary measures in place to salvage the situation. They were shouting “we don’t need the food. Government should go with their food. We want to see the governor, Yuguda, who has not visited us since Saturday nor send any government official. We voted him into power but he has rejected us because we are Christians.“

A human rights group has castigated the Bauchi government for failing to fulfill its most fundamental responsibility: protection of lives and property.

[T]he League for Human Rights has condemned the recent violence in Bauchi State, describing the frequent destruction of lives and properties in parts of the country as a failure of governance at various levels of government.

“The North cannot progress politically, socially and economically when there is no peace and when the region has become an abattoir where people’s lives and peace are constantly destroyed,” the group said in a statement.

The Christian Association of Nigeria earlier blamed the bloodshed and destruction on political and religious leaders in Bauchi State who “always manipulate religion at the expense of national unity”.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports on the events leading up to the outbreak of rioting.

The violence erupted after the burning of a mosque in the Railway suburb during the early hours of Saturday 21 February that was blamed on Christians. It is now believed to have been the work of militants seeking a pretext for violence in retaliation for events in November 2008, when rioting Muslims were shot dead for defying a government-imposed curfew in Jos, the capital of Plateau State.

CSW has been informed by local sources that on 13 February, a COCIN (Church of Christ in Nigeria) Church in the Railway suburb of Bauchi Town had requested that worshippers at a nearby newly-erected mosque cease using the church’s premises as a car park. This angered the Muslims, who reportedly threatened to return in large numbers the following weekend “to avenge events in Jos”.

The Bauchi State government says it has no plans to set up an inquiry into the recent mayhem.

“People have under-estimated the magnitude of trafficking,” a worried Professor Ehindero warned the nation in an interview with Next on Sunday, saying that no fewer than five million children in the country are today prone to be trafficked within and outside the country.

Ehindero said “Studies carried out in the Northern Region shows that about 10 million children are exploited by traffickers under the Almajiri system” and that in Kano alone, “we have about three million children, while in Lagos, there are about one million children who are vulnerable to being exploited by traffickers.”

Ehindero’s records are matched by other findings that speak of an alarming growth in the rate of child slavery in Nigeria. The current findings of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, in the United Kingdom, indicate that Nigeria is now only second to China in the trafficking of children into the United Kingdom.

Nigeria and Italy have signed a co-operative agreement to fight international slavery. Nigerian police will work side-by-side with Italian authorities at Italian border points to help identify and apprehend human traffickers and rescue their victims.

Open Doors UK has released a statement with the welcome news that he has finally been freed.

Kibili, a father of six children was arrested after three Muslim men in his home town called him an infidel and accused him of blasphemy against Islam and its prophet.

“Following his arrest Sani was taken to the Shariah court, and after a brief trial, the judge sentenced him to three years in prison without the right to appeal,” the statement said.

It noted that Sani’s case was riddled with irregularities and his lawyer made it clear from the start that his imprisonment was illegal.

Mr Kibili’s lawyer says he discovered indications of a conspiracy in the original trial and that his client was ordered freed due to lack of evidence against him.

Kano is one of twelve Muslim-majority states in northern Nigeria that have implemented Sharia law.

THISDAY learnt that the Plateau State Government has written to challenge the legality of the House of Representatives eight-man ad-hoc committee probing the crisis.

The state government said the committee did not have such constitutional power to do so.
[…]
In its four-paragraph letter entitled, “The Proposed Illegal Probe into the Recent Jos Crisis” addressed to the Chairman of the House ad-hoc committee on the crisis, Hon. Isah Idris Umaru, the state government advised the panel to halt its investigation.

The federal committee immediately rejected the challenge and continued its work.

Meanwhile, the state government’s hearings into the Jos riots have become rather riotous, as the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of conniving with the state electoral commission to manipulate the election result that is said to have been the cause of the rioting.  That claim was angrily denied by the state PDP chairman.  An eyewitness said that the state committee “almost degenerat[ed] into fisticuffs”.

The claim that election shenanigans sparked the mayhem is disputed by evidence that radical Muslim groups planned attacks on Christians well in advance.

Over 400 were killed and thousands driven from their homes in the riots.  Archbishop Peter Akinola, Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, visited the affected area earlier this week.

For five days 200,000 health workers will be stationed at 33,000 schools throughout northern Nigeria to administer oral polio drops and measles vaccines to millions of children under the age of five in a new drive to eradicate the two diseases. The innoculation drive is beign spearheaded by the country’s health ministry, with financial and technical support from UNICEF, the World Health Organization and other partners. But the campaign is proceeding despite vehement protests by radical Islamists.

The programme appears to be gaining support among mainstream Muslims after hundreds of children have died from a measles outbreak attributed to widespread parental failure to have children vaccinated.

h/t: EuropeNews

Of even greater concern are reports that appeared to suggest that Christians had killed 300 Muslims over the weekend, whose bodies were deposited at a central mosque. In reality, the men died while obeying orders from a mosque in the Dilimi area, which was using its loudspeakers to instruct all Muslims to defy the authorities, participate in the “jihad”, loot properties for money and then burn them. Local security sources insist the rioters were shot while defying a night-time curfew and launching fresh attacks, including an unsuccessful large-scale assault on police barracks. Commenting on these deaths the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Engineer Salifu said: “It was not Christians who killed them; it was their own unfortunate attitude”. He also articulated local concern that such inaccurate reporting could fuel further violence against Christians elsewhere.
[…]
There is also growing evidence that the weekend’s violence may have been planned in advance. So far 500 Muslim rioters have been arrested, some of whom were dressed in fake police and military uniforms. Two hundred are now known to be citizens of the neighbouring Republic of Niger, while 300 are from the northern Nigerian states of Kano, Katsina and Sokoto. Some of the rioters informed police that they arrived in Jos three days prior to the violence. “They had weapons, many weapons” said another source, “they were ready, very ready”.

The Rt Rev Dr Benjamin Kwashi, Anglican Archbishop of Jos, provides corroborating information.

1. The Governor of Plateau State has stated very clearly that no Muslim was killed in a mosque in Jos. Please pray against the adverse effects of untrue propoganda in the international press.

2. Amonst [sic] the several hundred people arrested are many foreign muslim mercenaries who were well armed. NB These have killed both Christians and Muslims because, being aliens, they do not know who is who.

Archbishop Peter Akinola, Primate of the Church of Nigeria, calls on authorities to identify the instigators and accuses the government of hypocrisy and hiding its head in the sand over ongoing sectarian violence.

The final death toll from past weekend’s attacks has not yet been estimated.  So far, four pastors are known to have been killed and 16 churches destroyed.

Reports indicate that local Muslims dismantled the foundation stones of a new church belonging to the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) in Sabon Kaura on Sunday, 16 November. Bauchi’s Military Commandant, Commissioner of Police and Deputy Governor visited the area on Monday, 17 November to investigate further and a guard was placed around the facility. However, despite the presence of these troops, an Anglican church two kilometres away was then burnt down on Tuesday evening, 18 November.

CSW also outlines ongoing persecution of Christians in Katsina state.

In the Sabon Ungwa area of Katsina Town in Katsina State, a Pentecostal pastor and his congregation are frequently attacked; stones are hurled at the building during the Sunday service, cars are scratched and tyres flattened. On one occasion the pastor sustained a leg injury after being attacked by local youths. A Catholic congregation in the Kankara area of Katsina has also been prevented from completing its church building since 1986, while another church was destroyed there earlier this year without compensation. A charismatic church in Mani, Katsina State, was ordered to cease construction of their new facility, which was then completed by local authorities and turned into a library. In addition, sources report the Kano State House of Assembly has allegedly billed a legal provision forbidding the use of land for the construction of churches, even if the land in question belongs to a Christian.

A 50-year-old Roman Catholic church in Gwoza, Borno state, was required to construct a new gate to its property after an Islamic school was built blocking the original entrance.

Emmanuel Emeka Asiwe, editor of the Arlington, Mass.-based HuhuOnline, was being “questioned over matters of national security,” according to State Security Service (SSS) spokesman Kenechukwu Onyeogu. The SSS took the blogger into custody today after he arrived from the U.S., he said.
[…]
“We are concerned that Nigerian authorities are detaining journalists in an attempt to intimidate foreign-based online journalists from reporting on Nigeria,” said CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists] Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “We call on President Yar’Adua to ensure that the SSS respects due process and stop these actions that undermine Nigeria’s democratic gains and harken back to the era of military rule.”

These arrests appear intended to terrorise online journalists after embarrassing photos of President Yar’Adua’s son were posted at Sahara Reporters.

Authorities confiscated Mr Elendu’s passport so, although no longer in custody, he cannot return to his home and family in Michigan.  He risks immediate re-arrest if he resumes blogging.

Authorities said he was under investigation for “sponsoring a guerilla news agency”.

Domestic and international publicity forced his release on 29 October, but he is not free yet.

Unfortunately, although he is now receiving medical attention, Elendu is not actually free. His passport was not returned to him and therefore he is not free to return to his family in Michigan. Although he is no longer in detention, Elendu remains detained in Nigeria by the Nigerian government because without his travel documents, he does not have the right to leave Nigeria and return tohis residence in Michigan.

This technicality – free from SSS detention, but not free to return to his home – further suggests that the Nigerian government is not interested in respecting Elendu’s human rights.

Nigerian Curiosity reports that Elendu’s experience is not unique.

Foreign journalists have been arrested by the SSS in recent months because the government objected with their work. Nigerian citizens have been detained for no reason and lost their lives in SSS detention.

The blogburst is aimed at encouraging the Nigerian government to hand back Elendu’s passport so he can return to his home and family.

Join the Free Nigerian Blogger Jonathan Elendu Facebook group.

Elendu has been held in solitary confinement by the State Security Service (SSS) for over nine days and without charge.

He was arrested at the Abuja International Airport on arrival from the U.S. last week.

According to the National Coordinator of HURIWA, [Emmanuel] Onwubike, “Elendu’s counsel, Ugo Muoma, informed us that although no contact has been established with the blogger since his arrest nine days ago, he was however reliably informed that Elendu was being kept in inhuman conditions and tortured to either disclose the sources of the several embarrassing news reports on prominent political leaders in Nigeria.

“He was also being reportedly pressured into framing up some others.”

Apparently afraid of poisoning, Elendu is said to have gone without food and water for the past nine days, and has vowed to continue the hunger strike until he is released.

In a separate statement, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties also expressed outrage about Elendu’s condition and called for his immediate and unconditional release.

Under Nigerian law, suspects must be charged within 24 hours of arrest.

h/t: Nigerian Curiosity

Nigerian newspaper P.M. News has information from unnamed sources:

[T]he publisher of an online news agency, Mr. Jonathan Elendu, was arrested for sponsoring a guerilla news agency.

It was gathered that the United States-based online publisher, who was arrested on Saturday, on arrival in Nigeria, was allegedly linked to Saharareporters, an online Nigerian news agency.

Our source revealed that Saharareporters, which is known for alleged subversive reports against the federal government and important personalities in the country, was allegedly the brain child of Elendu. It was further learnt that when Elendu was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, as soon as he arrived via a KLM Airline around 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, he was immediately whisked away to the SSS headquarters, Asokoro, Abuja.

Another Nigerian blogger insists that Elendu is, in fact, not associated with Sahara Reporters and, in any case, an ambush arrest and week-long incommunicado detention are unwarranted.

[A]ssociation with Sahara Reporters on its own should not be cause for arrest, detention and the infringement of Constitutional and Human Rights. There was no need to ambush and arrest Elendu at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport. The SSS could simply have paid Elendu a visit at his residence and interviewed him there, after all he has not been declared a criminal and should not be treated as one simply for sharing ideas contrary to those of the status quo. […] If Elendu or anyone at Sahara Reporters has defamed anyone, then they should be sued in a court of law, not detained in an SSS cell or the like.

The SSS now say Elendu is being investigated “for matters related to sedition”, but gave no indication if or when he will be formally charged before a judge. His lawyer says he has yet to be permitted to speak with his client.

h/t: Global Voices Advocacy