GLOBAL
JIHAD
Again! 10 Christians slaughtered
over alleged Muhammad cartoon
61 injured, 9 churches burned, hundreds displaced after rumored
'insult' to Islam
Posted: October 5, 2007
7:53 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Remains of burned Baptist church (Courtesy Compass Direct)
Rampaging Muslims have killed 10 Christians, injured 61 others,
destroyed nine churches and displaced more than 500 people in
northern Nigeria, according to eyewitnesses all because Muslim
high school students claimed a Christian student had drawn a
cartoon of Islams prophet, Muhammad, on the wall of the schools
mosque.
The rampage occurred Sept. 28 in the town of Tudun Wada Dankadai,
in Nigeria's northern state of Kano.
According to Compass Direct News, which specializes in reporting on
Christian persecution worldwide, there are 1,500 students at the
high school, called Government College-Tudun Wada Dankadai, of
which only 14 are Christians, and only seven of those actually live
on campus. The Christian students at the school insist no one ever
saw the alleged cartoon, and furthermore that no one in the tiny
minority group of Christians would have dared such a feat,
especially during Ramadan.
"How can we take such a risk when we know that we are a minority
and cannot stand [against] them?" Christian student Shehu Bawa told
Compass. "This is a lie created to have a reason to attack
us."
Eighteen-year-old student Iliya Adamu told Compass he was getting
ready to go to class when a group of Muslim students stormed into
his dorm and began to beat him.
(Story continues below)
"I was surprised that they were beating me without telling what I
did," Adamu said. "I asked to know what was happening, and they
claimed that one Christian student had gone to their mosque to draw
a cartoon of Muhammad. In spite of my denying the act, they kept
beating me."
Seeing the Muslim mob beating a Christian classmate named Sule
Laazaru, Adamu ran to the principal's office for refuge, soon to
be joined by the remaining Christian students there, according to
the report.
Despite the attempts by the Muslim teachers to stop the rampage,
Muslim students began throwing stones at the Christian students
through the window of the principal's office, wounding student
Ayuba Wada in the head.
"I was inside the office of our principal, with the others, when
suddenly the Muslim students began throwing stones at us," Wada
told Compass. "It was through this way that my head was broken. I
was bleeding, and no help came as the situation became more
riotous."
Eventually, the rampaging Muslim students broke into the
principal's office, but the principal's arrival saved Wada's life,
while the other Christians holed up there managed to escape the
mob.
One of the Christian students, Shehu Bawa, told Compass his arrival
on campus that morning was punctuated by shouts of "Allahu Akbar"
(Allah is Great) "all over the school." In fact, he said, "The
Muslim students were now attacking every Christian student on
sight. Four of us ran into the office of the vice principal, but
when it was finally broken into by the Muslim students, we ran out
and escaped."
What about the alleged cartoon of Muhammad, rumors of which
instigated the attacks?
"We suspect that either one of the Muslim students in the school
did this to create an excuse for us to be attacked, or that a
Muslim fanatic from the town might have done this to spark off a
fight among Muslims and Christians," said Bawa. "How could we have
done this when Muslim students are always around the mosque day and
night because of the Ramadan?"
The rampage spreads far and wide
After attacking the few Christian students in their school, the
rampaging Muslim students poured into the streets of Tudun Wada,
joined now by other Muslims. For the next four hours, reports
Compass, the growing mob burned down Christian churches, vandalized
Christian property and murdered innocents.
Among the churches burned were: St. Marys Catholic Church; St.
Georges Anglican Church; Evangelical Church of West Africa;
Assemblies of God Church; First Baptist Church; a Pentecostal
church called the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church; an African
independent church, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church; and two other
Pentecostal churches, The Chosen Bible Church and Deeper Life Bible
Church.
Children of murdered Christian (Courtesy Compass Direct)
The 10 Christians murdered included: Augustine Odoh and his younger
brother Cosmos Odoh, both members of St. Marys Catholic Church.
Another Catholic, Joseph Eze, was also killed. When Compass filed
its initial report, the corpses of the three Catholics were lying
at the City Hospital in Kano city. Seven other Christians murdered
were buried in a common grave Wednesday, but government workers did
not allow relatives or church leaders to identify the
corpses.
The dozens of injured are being treated at the Assumpta Clinic,
Nomansland in Sabon Gari area of Kano city.
According to Musa Ahmadu Haruna, the priest of St. Georges
Anglican Church, Tudun Wada Dankadai, whose church was burned, no
Christian student in the school could have drawn an image of
Muhammad.
"None of these students is capable of drawing a cartoon on a
mosque," he told Compass Direct. "That is a frame-up to find a
reason to attack us."
Another pastor, Rabiu Danbawa of the Evangelical Church of West
Africa, said that upon hearing of the waves of attacks on
Christians, he moved toward the town's center to see for himself
what was transpiring.
"I stood as they set fire on our churches one by one," he told
Compas Direct. "There was nothing I could do," he said, adding, "I
did not know the fate of my wife and my children." When he went to
the local police station for help, Danbawa found the police turning
away Christians who had run there to escape the attack. "We were
told to leave, as our safety could not be guaranteed," he said, in
tears, according to Compass Direct. "Women and children all
scampered to the bush, only to be attacked by the Muslims who had
already hid themselves in the bush awaiting their Christian
prey."
It wasn't until several days later that Danbawa found his wife and
children safe.
Accoroding to reports from Compass, Danbawa and his family are now
refugees in Dogon Kawo village, along with other Christian victims.
None have food or shelter, he said.
Even Christian policemen were not immune, with about 30 officers
and their families being attacked and their homes looted and set on
fire.
Last week's massacre comes in respose to a call in July by the
Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar III, to Muslims in northern Nigeria to
rise against Christianity. Kano's state government has led the way
in northern Nigeria for the implementation of sharia Islamic
law.
Mark Lipdo, director of the Stefanos Foundation, which ministers to
persecuted Christians in Nigeria, told Compass he's shocked that
the Nigerian government has done nothing to help the injured and
displaced.
"It is surprising that an overwhelming thing like this that has
displaced thousands of Christians is not known to the Nigerian
government," he said, noting that the government initially
downplayed the mass rampage. "The government must act to check such
unprovoked attacks against Christians."
And Haruna of St. Georges Anglican Church said, "We are living
under persecution in Kano state, and yet, we are being told that we
are under a democratic government. Do Muslims really want us to
co-exist together as a nation? I doubt so."
As WND reported in May, Christians in Nigeria, who make up about
half the population, fears the imposition of Islamic law throughout
that nation.
Indeed, as WND has reported, Muslim rioters in Nigeria in 2006 were
incensed over cartoons of Muhammad published in Denmark, and more
than 130 Christians in the Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Onitsha
were slaughtered.
The reports documented six children burned to ashes in front of
their father, according to Voice of the Martyrs.
WND also has reported nearly 1,000 homes of Christians and many
churches have been destroyed in these regions.
"If you go around villages, you will see people missing one hand or
one foot," explained Rev. Obiora Ike. "Do you think that's the
result of an illness? That is the result of sharia law."
More than 10,000 Christians have been martyred in the region since
the Islamic law was imposed in the region in 1999, and Voice of the
Martyrs has helped surviving family members through its Families of
Martyrs Fund with Care Packs, Village Outreach packs and words of
encouragement to believers who stand for their faith "amidst
volatile, uncertain conditions."
