Nigerians should learn to tolerate one another when it comes to religion.

I don't think Jesus Christ or Muhammad will be happy seeing Nigerians killing
themselves because of their faith in these two personalities.

Last saturday some Islamic fundamentalist killed several people in Maiduguri
and now the Christians in the South are retaliating.

Mosques and Muslims are now being killed on the streets.

Read it here http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=6978&z=10

or read this report here

http://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2006/feb/22/national%20-22-02-2006-001.htm
I pray that God and Government will intervene quickly before it goes out of hands.

I trust Igbo people, they do not tolerate nonsense, E too much for those muslims, though i am not a christian, but i think the Igbo are now applying Moses law,

So whenever the muslim in the north intend to do anything like that (Killing of Christain) they should think about their brothers in the south


for those who care to know my religion i am an African Traditional Religion (ATR)

I[b]nstead of go to that link just read the story here in NL becos i know they will soon delete it from their server[/b]

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Riot spreads to Onitsha, 35 killed
By NWABUEZE OKONKWO, Onitsha, DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, Nnewi, MARIAM ALESHINLOYE, Jos, CHRISTOPHER OJI, GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka and PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi
Wednesday, February 22, 2006



Security formations nationwide were Tuesday put on red alert to check possible spill-over of violent retaliation against killings of Christians in religious riots which began weekend in northern cities of Maiduguri and Katsina.

But it was a measure that came a bit late, as it could not stop reprisals in Onitsha, Anambra State, which claimed over 35 lives, with mosques, homesteads and property of people believed to be of predominantly Islamic northern origin destroyed.

At least about 58 people, believed to be Christians were killed in an outbreak of deadly protest by Muslims in Maiduguri, Borno State, at the weekend, angered by the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish and other European publications.

The toll was notched up by 16 Monday, following another violent demonstration by Muslims in Bauchi, incensed by alleged seizure and desecration of the Holy Quran by a female teacher rebuking her listless pupil in a secondary school.

Properties, including about 40 churches were reportedly burnt by the rampaging rioters, which provoked the Onitsha action.

No fewer than 35 persons were confirmed dead Tuesday by the Nigerian Red Cross Society in the commercial city of Onitsha, in what appeared to be spontaneous reprisal attack on Moslems residing in the commercial city and its environs.

Also, the Red Cross Society rescued over 2,000 injured victims and evacuated them to Onitsha Army Barracks and various police stations, even as mosques scattered in various parts of Onitsha were set ablaze, the same time mini-shops belonging to the Muslims were being looted and destroyed by the mob.
Daily Sun gathered that the incident sparked off at about 11 a.m. from the Bridge-head end of the commercial city when the mob allegedly pounced on the Hausas and started clubbing some of them to death, and at the same time pushing others into the nearby River Niger.

Sources told Daily Sun that the mob was allegedly provoked by the sight of corpses of victims of religious riots in the Northern parts of the country which affected mainly Christians and Igbo indigenes whose bodies were allegedly brought down to Onitsha early morning Tuesday in a luxury bus belonging to prominent transporters from the Eastern part of the country.

Eye-witnesses confirmed that the incident later attracted the presence of anti-riot policemen who arrived the scenes and used teargas to disperse the mob, a situation which led to a stampede and temporary closure of the Onitsha main market and other markets in the adjoining streets.

As at the time of filing this report, it was not yet clear the actual number of lives lost in the mayhem and how many Mosques burnt, but sources hinted that the Central Mosque located at Bida Road, near the main market and other mini-Mosques at Haruna Street, Pam Pam Lane, Sokoto Road and others were already in flames.

All efforts to get in touch with the police Area Commander for Onitsha, Mr. Dennis Anyagafu (ACP), proved abortive as his telephone line rang without response, but the state police public relations officer (PPRO), Mr. Fidelis Agbo (DSP) and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Moses Anegbode, who confirmed the burning down of the Mosques to newsmen over the telephone, said they had not yet obtained detailed information on the mayhem.

The Divisional police officer at Fegge, Mr. Bright Kakada (CSP), could not be reached as he was said to have rushed to the scene on a rescue mission, but the state chairman of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Dr. Peter Emeka Katchy, told newsmen at the police station that he and his team had rescued more than 2,000 victims, just as he personally counted over 35 bodies lying dead in various parts of the city.

Katchy who noted that he was still receiving distress calls from his team scattered all over, said he was also going out to source for food and mattresses for the rescued victims who were seen gathered at the station, while the injured ones were being given first aid treatment by the Red Cross medical team.

According to a traveller from Lagos who was delayed for hours on the bridge as a result of the clash, “bodies just littered everywhere, especially at the Onitsha end of the bridge where you have the ram/chicken market. The whole market is razed. I counted more than 60 bodies.”
Tension went up in many states in the country with the authorities moving to check the spread of the violence.

About 2000 mobile policemen were quickly drafted to quell the disturbances even as the state government imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on Onitsha. The curfew which took effect Tuesday is to last between the hours of 7p.m and 7a.m. A personally signed statement by the Governor, Dr Chris Ngige, warned that law enforcement agencies have been directed to deal decisively with anyone who flouted the order.

Ngige, who was with the Commander 302 Artillery Regiment Onitsha, Col. Lukas Chollompam Logagwoma and State Director of State Security Service (SSS), Ahmed Saleh noted that reports reaching the government have it that some lives have been lost and properties destroyed, adding that the situation was being taken care of.

Reports from Nnewi, Anambra State said members of the Hausawa community in the town disappeared into thin air with some of them seeking refuge in army barracks for fear of reprisal attack by their Igbo host communities.
Their mosque near DCC and residential places including Hundred Foot Road and Amauko Nnewichi were all deserted but for the heavy presence of armed policemen.

The new Nnewi Area Commander, Mr Godwin O. Obi (ACP) said he ordered police vigilance within the areas to avoid a breakdown of law and order after receiving reports from leaders of the Hausa community that their members were fleeing. Tension still mounts in the town.
Also, normalcy is yet to return to the streets of Bauchi as violent protest which erupted Monday brought commercial activities to a standstill just as the death toll increased to 16 with over 100 people receiving various degrees of injuries.

The Red Cross Society of Nigeria gave the latest figure in an interview with Daily Sun Tuesday.
Troops were deployed to quell the situation, which mostly affected Kofar Wambe along Gombe Road, Jahun, Nassarwa and Kobi with possible fears that there might be reprisal attacks on Muslims in the Christian-dominated area of Yelwa and Tafawa Balewa Local Government of the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Richard Chime met with religious leaders and stakeholders urging them to appeal to their followers not to take laws into their hands in the name of protecting their religions or their political beliefs to avoid an innocent protest being hijacked by hooligans.
Also in Lagos, the state Police Commissioner, (CP) Emmanuel Adebayo placed his men and officers on red alert.

Adebayo ordered the officer in charge of Security and Criminal Investigation Bureau (SCIB), Chief Superintendent of Police, Kenneth Ebrison and the officer in charge of Surveillance, Gabriel Amadi, to get intelligence report on possible plan to foment trouble and nip it in the bud.


source = http://sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2006/feb/22/national%20-22-02-2006-001.htm

Libyans and the Muslim world are now promoting their on version of violence because of the cartoon.

On Friday, a Pakistani Muslim cleric and his followers offered rewards amounting to more than $1 million for anyone who killed the Danish cartoonists who drew the caricatures

Read it here http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=6976&z=10

I strongly condemn any form of killing by anybody.

to charlisco: <<snip>> This is what will cause the conflict to escalate [/b]if you don't know. Soon they will be killing Igbos in the north in their [b]thousands using the killings of hausas in the South as justification.

We must learn to leave in peace with one another.

One of my sisters is married to a muslim for the past 22years.
I can't imagine one of them killing the other because of religion.

one thing i know that it is the hausa muslim that always start this trouble of a thing,
I have lost somebody in the Maduguri riot, so seun what you talking about,

I have all ways think of Nigeria dividing, it is the hausa that keep binding us, let them go their way, period so that conflict arising from religious crisis should come to rest

charlisco: I'm sorry about your loss, but two wrongs do not make a right. Instead, using crime to fight crime leads to escalation of conflict and eventually a war. now you are saying you lost somebody but if the conflict escalates you will lose more people including even yourself.

The Igbos that love Hausas the most are the ones living in Hausaland, and the hausas that love Igbos are the ones living in Igboland. Why should these bridge-builders be the ones to suffer most?

Honestly, I think the Northern people have gone too far this time around. How could they react like idiots to cartoons published in far away Denmark like this? It's just not the best. And to think they killed innocent christians because of what was published by someone who is not a christian is the height of irresponsiblity on their part.

Surely, this is more than religion. It's deeprooted hatred for the Igbos and other southerners living in the Northern Nigeria.

I have always believed that this country as it is is lopsided. Splitting the country will do us more good than harm. It's time we split up. That's my candid opinion on this matter.

@Seun
I love you, you have calm my mind. let me rest my post 4 some thing, and wait 4 my brother  to join me.

i am begging the muslim in Nigeria, that they should not imitaite those muslim abroad, see now they have promise to give a reasonable amount of money to any one who will be able to kill the cartoonist, Please Nigeria muslim donot apply? try to 4give

Two wrongs certainly do not make one right. However, a change in tactics and approach is often charaacterized as doing wrong.
The Nigerian question and the attendant riots (including those incited by religion) certainly demands more than the preachment of docility.

Until a few years ago, many had thought that violence and killing is domiciled in the northern parts of Nigeria and that the youths of those parts were born with the devil. But the change in response by easterners (and southerners generally) , followed by the rise and rise of bakasi/egbesu/odua boys has ended up drastically reducing the number of people killed in the north by religious charlatans. Otherwise, this cartoon stuff would have become a reason to send thousands of Christians to their untimely death.

After the reprisals (in Sagamu and Aba) that followed the last major violence in kaduna, their sponsors know better. They were the ones urging calm last weekend. They were even constituting themselves into crises management committees.

Lame and graveyard 'peace', that advocates for dumbness while your eyes are being gouged out by an 'adversary' is unrealistic and un-natural.

ijele u are not alone. the issue in nigeria as on said is not about religion but about great haterd of one tribe by another. there has been demonstration for some weeks against this cartoons but no rioter has attacked non rioters except in nigeria. it is a nigerian issue. it is not about islam or christainity. it is a nigerian problem. may be it is time we split the country into 6 or more countries because it is going to get worse. unless the stupid ledership we have begins to think of nigeria.

the issue in nigeria is not hatred for the other tribe or religion but ignorance and illiteracy which has brought about by profound poverty. for the records, no christian has killed any muslims; rather it is hoodlums of unknown origins that are perpetrating the violence in onitsha.

"Christians are now killing Muslims",

Those guys aren't Christians.

Thank you. When it's time to persecute homosexuals a Nigerian opens bible to read the 'word of God'. But when it's time to 'turn the other cheek' and pursue justice the right way he throws away the 'word of God' and carries a cutlass to go and kill an innocent person just because of his tribe.

those guys are not christians they are hoodlums

two wrongs do not make a right.

It does sometimes.  I don't follow adages blindly without considering its implications.

If two wrongs don't make a right, why do we have laws to punish wrong-doers? We should just pat criminals in the back and say "don't do it again". Instead, we punish them. Why?

They say power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Therefore, if Hausas understand that they can kill other Nigerians with impunity, they'd only get more brazen in their resolve to kill more.

On the other hand, knowing that their relatives/businesses/mosques in other parts of the country are not safe, until they put a stop to the senseless killings, Hausas would think twice in future before starting another riot.

As far as I'm concerned, the incident in Onitsha is a reaction to something that happened in the north.  Without the killings in the north, no killing would have occured in the south.  That makes it a fight to put a stop to future insanity in the north.

@owo

Where did you come from?  You're a realist.

i hate hausas regardless of their religion. they have nothing to promote nigeria. they are just like parasite. hey seun which college are u in nigeria?

@ Ijele
Iam a indigine of plateau state, though iam not hausa or muslim am i also one of these barbarians?

Did you know that hausa people are not they only muslims in Nigeria and Igbo peole are not the only christians,
Two wrongs never make a right, And if you believe that, you are pathetic. one of the reasons Nigeria remains scattered

@ oasis
The quote, two wrongs don't make a right does not apply to offenders as jail sentences are only given for correction and to desuade you from engaging in such acts next time.

I wonder why jobless, unurbane illiterates are usually referred to as Muslims, I beg you guys not to associate religion to killings in Onitcha and Maiduguri because immediately the news of the cartoon protest broke, The CAN in the north condemned the depiction of the  prophet with the bomb but these people that are simply jobless and know next to nothing about the religion still went on a killing spree (maybe they have been thirsty for blood since! who knows) and their area boys counterpart in Onitcha too felt it's now time to unleash violence on the muslims in their neighbourhood competing for 'THE BEST BUTCHER' title. Well, I feel in every religion there must be at least two groups of people: The EWURE's and the AGUNTAN's

Hmm, I just had to vote 'Yes'. I mean I support it. The Christians/Igbos killed in the North were innocent, therefore tit-for-tat, the Muslims/Hausas killed in the South should also be innocent. It gives me annoyance anytime I hear that these extremists are killing innocent people in the North.
Helloooo, this is neither the first nor the second time. They have turned Igbos/Christians into goats that they can slaughter anyhow. When I was in Nigeria, I could count about 3 or 4 times I heard news of Christians being slaughtered in the North and I was always angry, I don't know why!
If Christians/Igbos show them the stuff they are made of by slaughtering all of the equally innocent Hausas/Muslims in the South, the Hausas/Muslims would think twice before slaughtering people next time.

The fallacy of "Two wrongs don't make a right" doesn't apply to this case at all. And hey!Vengeance can be very sweet!

You don't have respect for human life at all.

And I forgot to tell those who are preaching tolerance that tolerance is like elasticity, it might last long but it has its limit! No matter how peacful you are, when the other party is being constantly troublesome, a time would come when you stand up and say "Enough is Enough"!!!

Seun or anybody else, you can call me whatever name you like.

The quote, two wrongs don't make a right does not apply to offenders as jail sentences are only given for correction and to desuade you from engaging in such acts next time.

Nope! You're wrong.

What about the death penalty that America has? A lot of people use the two wrongs don't make a right argument against the death penalty, but is death penalty not given for correction and to desuade you from engaging in such acts next time?

Think about it.

Even if the cartoon of  Mohamed is against the Muslim religion, let Mohamed fight for him self. If you fight for your God it means YOUR GOD IS A DEAD GOD. What the Muslims did was really annoying . The Ibo's only took laws into their hands (though not real Christians) may be some of their relative were killed over this diminutive issue of cartoon.

Yes, they took laws into their own hands. But I think they were justified to do so.
I mean how on earth can you repay brutality with mercy? Even God whose mercy is reputed to extend deeper than the oceans does not reward brutality with mercy except if the brute(s) truly repent(s). How much more mere men? The people saying it was wrong to retaliate are just saying so because they know nobody among those who were innocently killed at first and thus have no feelings for them. If you know someone among them, I'm sure you won't be quickly forgiving like that. I know no one among them but I'm just ANGRY! Grrrrrrrrr!

seeni4ever:

i hate hausas regardless of their religion. they have nothing to promote nigeria. they are just like parasite. hey seun which college are u in nigeria?

Thank you for your good words bro.

And I forgot to tell those who are preaching tolerance that tolerance is like elasticity, it might last long but it has its limit! No matter how peacful you are, when the other party is being constantly troublesome, a time would come when you stand up and say "Enough is Enough"!!!

Don't get worked up over Seun.  He has an agenda on this forum.

His agenda is to keep fueling the flame by taking the opposite side.  But in reality, he knows that what you're saying is the absolute fact.

Clearly, nobody in his right minds would favor repeated northern unprovoked attacks, while the victims remain dormant.

Also, does the poll seem bogus to anybody?   It's been 80/20 since it started, yet the discussion shows more like 50/50.  People are split down the middle on this issue.  Is Seun trying to pull the wool over our eyes?  I hope we're getting a true representation of the will of the people here, and not merely an impression somebody wants to put out there.  That would be quite unfortunate if that's the case.

oasis:
What about the death penalty that America has? A lot of people use the two wrongs don't make a right argument against the death penalty, but is death penalty not given for correction and to desuade you from engaging in such acts next time?

Ok, I can see where you are missing it. Let me explain something about death penalty:
- The death penalty is not given to innocent people of the same tribe as a murderer.
- The death penalty is not given to the brothers, sisters, mother or father of a murderer.
- The death penalty is not given to the children or friends of a murderer.

If the Igbos went to Maiduguri to investigate the murder of their brothers, and they got evidence that so and so is the culprit, and they killed those people, then that will be taking laws into their own hands. It would be wrong, and they would still be liable of prosecution as murderers, but we will still be able to understand a little bit.

But the act of killing innocent Hausas who love Igbos so much that they have decided to live in Onitsha is an act of barbaric first degree murder. The perpetrators should be arrested and punished with maximum penalty, and those that are urging them all should also be sternly cautioned (it is wrong to encourage someone to commit a crime).

Very good very good,you can see now that Nigeria is changing before the Igbos will do noting and just cry over the matter,someone just have to pay for the sins of their brothers up North,well done Onitsha,a city that will never fall or stumble