wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Nigeria: WCC urges government to ensure safety of all

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World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 04/08/2009 16:34:41

ENSURE SAFETY OF ALL CITIZENS, WCC URGES NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr
Samuel Kobia urged the Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to
"ensure the safety of all citizens" as well as seeing that "all
perpetrators [of] acts of violence and human rights violations
are brought to justice".

In a letter to the President dated 4 August, Kobia was referring
to the recent outbreak of inter-communal violence in Maiduguri
and other areas of northern Nigeria, following clashes between a
militant Islamist group and security forces.

"We condemn and deplore such wanton acts of violence", Kobia
wrote in another letter to the Christian Association of Nigeria.
Some 800 people were killed, including "more than 50 Christians",
while "at least 13 churches […] have been destroyed".

Regretting that "inter-communal violence has already claimed the
lives of more than 12,000 Nigerians during the past decade",
Kobia stated in his letter to the Nigerian president that "the
reasons for this violence are rooted in politics rather than
religion".

Among the factors that "push the country towards violence and
insecurity" he listed: "Widespread poverty, corruption, poor
governance and political instability", as well as "abuses by the
security forces, including extra-judicial killings and torture".

Commending some "promising" governmental initiatives regarding
police reform and the investigation of a 2008 incident of
inter-communal violence, Kobia pointed out: "these initiatives
have yet to make a tangible impact on the lives of ordinary
Nigerians who are constantly facing blatant violations of their
human and fundamental rights".

Nigeria is almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims
with the northern population being mainly followers of Islam and
Christians being more numerous in the south.

Full text of the letter to the Nigerian president:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7032

Full text of the solidarity message to the churches:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=7031

WCC member churches in Nigeria:

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria.html

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical
fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings
together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches
representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110
countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic
Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.