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            Critics Say Provocative Preaching Fuels Nigerian Clashes

   by Heather Murdock

   Amid reports of deadly sectarian clashes in Nigeria's volatile "Middle
   Belt" region, which roughly divides the mostly Christian south from the
   predominantly Muslim north, civil society groups are accusing religious
   leaders of perpetuating violence by putting politics before preaching.

   While details about the recent bloodshed are still emerging, Plateau
   State Police Commissioner Chris Olakpe says dozens were killed when
   gunmen attacked four villages Thursday in a remote, "almost
   inaccessible" region where economic interests cleave along ethnic
   lines. Competition for resources, Olakpe says, often culminates in
   clashes between Muslim and Christian communities, and that this week's
   violence was almost certainly sectarian in nature.

   Sulaimen Shinkafi, who heads African Youth for Conflict Resolution and
   Prevention, says while economics may be at the root of the fighting,
   religious ideology is often exploited as a means to perpetuate it.

   "[Religious leaders] are diverting the teachings, objectives of Islam,
   objectives of Christianity, into political objectives," he said,
   accusing religious leaders of accepting cash payments from politicians
   to admonish followers to vote along religious lines.

   "Most of them are curious to get money. They are all for money," he
   said of both Christian and Muslim leaders, adding that galvanizing
   religious groups behind politicians also reinforces the idea that
   Christians and Muslims are by nature at odds with each other.

   For Emmanuel Bonet of the Civil Society on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, which
   is based in Kaduna, a Middle Belt city where sectarian violence has
   killed nearly 1,000 people in the past two years, the country's leading
   religious umbrella groups are to blame. Jama'atu Nasril Islam and the
   Christian Association of Nigeria, both fail to regulate the clerics who
   routinely encourage vengeance.

   Claims of unfairness
   Some religious leaders, however, reject the criticism, saying it is
   unfair to suggest that a handful of rogue sheikhs and pastors are able
   to undo the considerable amount peace-building work carried out by
   their offices.

   Michael Haruna, an elder in the Christian Association of Nigeria's
   Kaduna branch, says churches and mosques alone cannot unravel decades
   of sectarian clashes, as government institutions are responsible for
   punishing those who commit the atrocities.

   "We are talking about norms and values," he said. "If you deviate from
   the norms of our religion, it is God that will punish you. The
   religious leader has no right. They cannot punish you. If you commit a
   crime the only person that can punish you is the government."

   Khalid Aliyu Abubakar, secretary general of Jama'atu Nasril Islam, says
   his organization is looking into the problem and will be meeting before
   Ramadan begins next month to seek solutions.

   "There may be occasion where some people may be advancing one political
   philosophy or the other, or one tribal agenda or the other, or one
   interest or the other," he said. "These parochial interests should be
   set aside. The focal point should be to let people know the right thing
   to do."

   A volatile region
   Perhaps the country's most complex security challenge, sectarian
   violence in Nigeria's Middle Belt has claimed 14,000 victims since
   1999, according to U.S.-based Human Rights Watch. In recent years the
   problem has been aggravated by Boko Haram, a northeast-based group that
   preaches a harsh form of Islamic law and often targets churches.

   Last year nearly 100 people were killed when young Christian men took
   to the streets in retaliation against the bombing of three churches in
   Kaduna.

   Ibrahima Yakubu contributed to this report from Kaduna; Ardo Hazzad
   contributed from Bauchi.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/amid-sectarian-clashes-charges-of-pol
   iticized-preaching-in-nigeria/1691568.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/amid-sectarian-clashes-charges-of-politicized-preaching-in-nigeria/1691568.html