The 2001 Jos riots were riots involving Christians and Muslims in Jos, Nigeria, over the appointment of a Muslim politician, Alhaji Muktar Mohammed, as local coordinator of the federal poverty alleviation program. [1] The clashes started on 7 September and lasted nearly two weeks, ending on 17 September. Some 1,000 people were killed during the riots. [2] [3]
Religious and ethnic conflicts have repeatedly occurred in Jos due to the city's geographical placement in Nigeria. Jos, the capital of Plateau State, is located in the middle of the country, which lies between the predominantly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south. Jos was also known for its job opportunities leading people from around Nigeria to move there for employment. The influx of people led to tensions between members of "indigene" (indigenous) ethnic groups and non-indigene ethnic groups (often referred to as "settlers"). [4] [5] In June 2001 the federal government appointed a Hausa Muslim politician, Alhaji Muktar Mohammed, as local coordinator of the federal poverty alleviation program, leading indigene Christians to protest his appointment.[ citation needed ] Tensions turned violent on 7 September 2001, when a Christian woman attempted to cross a barricaded street outside a mosque during Friday prayers. It led to a conflict between her and a group of Muslims. The fight eventually spread to other parts of the city. [1] [6]
Fighting spread through various Jos neighborhoods and to surrounding communities. [6] Property and even human beings were set on fire. Many houses, shops, mosques, and churches were burned or damaged. Torched cars were left along the streets after the clashes. Christian leaders reported that Muslims spontaneously attacked Christians and burned churches, including three churches of the Church of Christ in Nigeria (presently known as, 'Church of Christ in Nations' COCIN), the main Assemblies of God church, and a Jos Apostolic Church. [1] The military was eventually deployed and stopped the violence. [6] Local sources[ who? ] said the military's intervention and enforcement of the curfew helped end the clashes.[ citation needed ]
The 10 days of violence left approximately 1,000 dead. [7] Because of the large number of people killed in the clashes, a mass burial had to be arranged. [1] The riots caused the displacement of at least 50,000 civilians. [6] The authorities arrested several hundred people and set up a commission of inquiry, which identified people who were allegedly involved in the violence, but no one was successfully prosecuted. [3]
The Yelwa massacre was a series of related incidents of religious violence between Muslims and Christians which took place in Yelwa, Nigeria between February and May 2004. These incidents killed over 700 people. The first occurred on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims attacked the Christians of Yelwa, killing more than 78 Christians, including at least 48 who were worshipping inside a church compound. According to some sources, the signal for the attack was a call for Jihad from the local mosque.
Christianity and Islam are the two main religions practiced in Nigeria. The country is home to some of the world's largest Christian and Muslim populations, simultaneously. Reliable recent statistics do not exist; however, Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the northern region, and Christians, who live mostly in the southern region of the country. Indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, have been declining for decades and being replaced by Christianity or Islam. The Christian share of Nigeria's population is also now on the decline, due to a lower fertility rate relative to the Muslim population in the country.
The Middle Belt or Central Nigeria is a term used in human geography to designate a belt region stretching across central Nigeria longitudinally and forming a transition zone between Northern and Southern Nigeria. It is composed of the southern half of the defunct Northern Region of Nigeria, now comprising mostly the North Central and parts of the North East and North West geopolitical zones, and is characterised by its lack of a clear majority ethnic group. It is also the location of Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory.
The 2008 Jos riots were riots involving Christians and Muslims over the result of a local election on 28 and 29 November 2008 in Jos, a city in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria. Two days of rioting left hundreds injured and at least 761 dead. The Nigerian army was deployed and by 30 November order was restored.
The 2009 Boko Haram uprising was a conflict between Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group, and Nigerian security forces.
The 2010 Jos riots were clashes between Muslim and Christian ethnic groups in central Nigeria in and near the city of Jos. The first spate of violence of 2010 started on 17 January in Jos and spread to surrounding communities. Houses, churches, mosques and vehicles were set ablaze, during at least four days of fighting. At least 326 people, and possibly more than a thousand, were killed.
Mohammed Mana was military Administrator of Plateau State between December 1993 and August 1996 during the military regime of General Sani Abacha. He was elected Senator for Adamawa North in 2007 on the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform.
Religion in Gombe State consists of the religious belief practices of people living in Gombe State, as well as their history. According to a 2015 estimate, the population of Gombe State about 65-70% Muslim and 30-35% Christian without accounting for traditionalist practices, other faiths, or irreligion. Sharia is valid for the Muslim population.
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Ignatius Ayau Kaigama is a Nigerian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been the archbishop of Abuja since 9 November 2019. He was the first bishop of Jalingo from 1995 to 2000, archbishop of Jos from 2000 to 2019, and coadjutor in Abuja for 11 months before becoming archbishop there.
The 2000 Kaduna riots were religious riots in Kaduna involving Christians and Muslims over the introduction of sharia law in Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is unclear how many people were killed in the fighting between Muslims and Christians, that lasted with peaceful intervals from 21 February until 23 May 2000; estimates vary from 1,000 to 5,000 deaths.
The Miss World riots were a series of religiously motivated riots in the Nigerian city of Kaduna in November 2002, resulting in the deaths of more than 200 people. The Miss World beauty pageant, which was controversial in Nigeria, was relocated to London after bloody clashes between Muslims and Christians, caused by what some Muslims deemed to be a "blasphemous" article in the Christian newspaper ThisDay about the event. The Miss World riots were part of the Sharia conflict in Nigeria, that started in 1999 when several predominantly Islamic states in Northern Nigeria decided to introduce Sharia law.
Religious violence in Nigeria refers to Christian-Muslim strife in modern Nigeria, which can be traced back to 1953. Today, religious violence in Nigeria is dominated by the Boko Haram insurgency, which aims to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria. Since the turn of the 21st century, 62,000 Nigerian Christians have been killed by the terrorist group Boko Haram, Fulani herdsmen and other groups. The killings have been referred to as a silent genocide.
Esther Ibanga is a Nigerian pastor and founder of the "Women Without Walls Initiative". She won the 32nd Niwano Peace Prize for promoting peace among people of different ethnic groups and religions in Jos, Nigeria.
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The Jos Forum Inter-communal Dialogue Process refers to a peace process undertaken by communities living in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
Herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria are a series of disputes over arable land resources across Nigeria between the mostly-Muslim Fulani herders and the mostly-Christian non-Fulani farmers. The conflicts have been especially prominent in the Middle Belt since the return of democracy in 1999. More recently, they have deteriorated into attacks on farmers by Fulani herdsmen.
The genesis of the 1992 Zangon Kataf crises could at least be traced to the onset of the British imperial regime in the Northern Region of Nigeria, in which the Atyap people began reporting the loss of land to the Hausas. In 1922, it was reported that a large piece of land was acquired by the Emir of Zaria, Dalhatu Uthman Yero, who failed to compensate the indigenous population of the region. In 1966, the land was provided to the Hausa trading settlement in the heart of Mabatado, called "Zangon Kataf", by the emir, Muhammad Usman. The Atyap resided within the district, in the Zaria Province of the Northern Region of, initially, British Nigeria, which became independent Nigeria. It was to remain utilized as a marketplace, where the indigenous Atyap people were banned from trading pork and beer by the settlers.
The 1945 Jos riots were a series of ethnic conflicts which occurred in the city of Jos, located in Plateau State, Nigeria, between ethnic Igbos and Hausa-Fulani.