Jos, Maiduguri violence political, say Sultan, CAN

Leaders of Christianity and Islam, Nigeria’s two dominant religious groups, were yesterday united in condemning the perpetrators of the Christmas’ eve bomb blasts in Jos, Plateau State and burning of churches and killing of worshippers in Maiduguri, Borno State.

They said the violence was politically motivated but with religious colouration. The masterminds, they added, “want to make Nigeria ungovernable at all cost.”

At a joint press conference in Lagos yesterday, the Sultan of Sokoto and President General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Mohammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayodele Joseph Oritsejafor, who reacted to the twin incidents, warned that “the seemingly unending killings and violence in Jos must stop immediately.”

The religious leaders, who met under the platform of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), which both they are co-chairmen, charged the appropriate authorities to check the trend and bring the perpetrators to book.