Southern Kaduna attacks test Nigeria’s religious divide

Nigeria

Published on Thursday, 2 February 2017 Back to articles

PIC.5.HERDSMEN AND THEIR COWS ON THE MOVE AT NASARAWA-EGOM ON FRIDAY

(10/7/15).
5300/10/7/2015/CH/NAN

The consistent attacks by suspected Fulani Herdsmen against people in southern Kaduna — a predominantly Christian area in the largely Muslim-based north of Nigeria — are testing the country’s already fragile religious divide. A series of alleged attacks by Fulani Herdsmen in southern Kaduna State has led to the death of approximately 808 people since 2016, according to the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan in Kaduna State. The Church, in a statement made on 30 December, said that 1,447 houses have been destroyed in 53 villages, along with 16 churches. This has fuelled accusations that there is a deliberate attempt to kill Christians from Kaduna, and take over their land.

The Kaduna State Government, led by controversial Governor Nasir El Rufai, has attempted to curb the crisis by imposing a 24-hour curfew on the three most affected Local Government Areas (LGA): Jema’a, Zango-Kataf and Kaura. Despite the 24-hour curfew and the deployment of soldiers, the attacks continue. The Catholic Church accused the soldiers of aiding the Fulani attackers.

The Kaduna crisis is fuelled by a dangerous mixture of economics and religion. It is also partly revenge action, dating back to the attacks on Fulani Herdsmen in 2011, which forced many to relocate from southern Kaduna. These same herdsmen, armed with sophisticated weaponry, are now staging revenge attacks. Blame has gone towards the governor, who once tweeted that anyone who kills a Fulani man should expect revenge attacks. The Catholic Church accused the Rufai of deliberately not acting to stop these attacks on Christians. President Muhammadu Buhari has also been criticised for not condemning the attacks. But the president’s official spokesman, Garba Shehu, said during a TV interview on 28 January that politics is behind the Kaduna crisis. He accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of promoting the crisis, arguing that southern Kaduna is the only PDP-controlled senatorial district in the whole of the North West geopolitical zone.

But with the incessant attacks continuing, the crisis is beginning to test Nigeria’s religious divide. A popular but controversial pastor of Omega Fire Ministries, Johnson Suleiman, was caught (on a video that went viral on social media on 27 January) calling on his church members to kill any Fulani Herdsman that came close to his church. The Department of State Security (DSS) has subsequently called on him for questioning. Christian religious leaders are increasingly calling on southern Kaduna Christians to defend themselves from attacks, because the government has refused to do so. Even the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Samson Ayokunle, accused Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on 28 January of being silent in the face of sectarian violence. CAN claimed that besides the killings in Kaduna, the Jigawa State Government is also demolishing churches. But the vice president responded, stating that he must protect all Nigerians, and not just Christians.

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