The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has warned against treating Christians in the North like cows and goats, which can be slaughtered or killed at will.
The body said the killing of Christians in the northern parts of the country was a sign of what it called “total Islamization” of Nigeria.
The umbrella body of Christians in the country was reacting to the beating to death of a 74-year-old Igbo trader, Bridget Agbahime, by a mob at Wambai market in Kano state about a fortnight ago and the attempted murder of a carpenter, Francis Emmanuel in Kaduna state, by some Islamic fanatics, who attacked him for eating while Muslims were fasting penultimate Tuesday.
Northern governors, Islamic clerics and groups as well as individuals, prominent among them the Sultan of Sokoto and leader of Muslims in the country, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, in separate statements, condemned the attacks and killing of non-Muslims, describing the act as un-Islamic.
But the Southern Nigeria Christian Elders’ Forum and CAN, South-East zone, arising from a meeting yesterday in Enugu, Enugu State, warned that such attacks should be stopped forthwith as nobody or section of the country has the monopoly of violence.
In a communiqué signed by the group’s chairman, Most Rev. David Eberechukwu and issued to journalists, the CAN also called on Muslims in the southern part of the country to counsel their northern counterparts on the dangers of killing Christians in the region because if they don’t desist, the repercussions will engulf the entire country.
The statement read in part: “How can Christians be treated like cows and goats in the Northern part of Nigeria with impunity while we claim that Nigeria is a secular state? This is a sign of total Islamization of Nigeria, which is very dangerous to the corporate existence of the entity called Nigeria.
“The beheading of Mrs. Bridget in Kano and the murder attempt on Emmanuel in Kaduna should be the first and last of such because no one man or section has the monopoly of violence and we must do everything to stop such from recurring.
“That every Nigerian has the right to live anywhere in this country and as well practice his religion in any part of the country.
“That all the Muslims in the South should as a matter of urgency speak to their people in the Northern part to desist because if the killings continue, it will affect everybody both in the North and in the South. If God has brought us together, then let us live in unity”.
