Nigeria: Christian Policeman Dead, Two Teenagers Injured
Mar 04 2008
Postings >> Nigeria

A Christian policeman is dead and two teenagers are recovering from serious injuries after Muslim pupils devised a violent plot to force Christians out of their high school.

Unrest at the Government Secondary School-Sumaila in Kano state broke out when a derogatory article in English about the prophet Mohammed appeared on a noticeboard.

A Christian boy was accused and suspended from the school - even though, staff accepted, he could hardly speak English, let alone write in it. Soon afterwards, all 57 Christian students left the school, amid threats of violence.

Tragedy struck when two Christians returned to school to prepare for their final exams - after assurances from the school and police that they would be safe. Ahmadu Inuwa and Isiaku Dogo were set upon by angry Muslim students wielding knives and machetes.

The Muslim students then went on the rampage, setting the local police station on fire and murdering Inspector Jibrin Garba, who was also a Christian.

Rev Murtala Marti Dangora, Kano state secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, told Compass Direct that charging Christian students with blasphemy was becoming a 'common ploy' to force Christians out of state schools. He cited three schools in Kano where similar events had unfolded in the last three years.

Christians in Kano, many of whom are poor, could not afford private education for their children, said Rev Dangora.

This is the second outbreak of violence in the Sumaila area in less than three months. In November, a Christian teacher was killed when a disputed election result in Gani mission triggered inter-religious violence (7x7, 11 December 2008).

• Pray for the family of the murdered policeman and for the injured students.
• Pray that the Nigerian government will do more to override policies in Sharia states which tend to discriminate against Christians.