AFRICA/NIGERIA - “Anyone who commits a crime must be brought to justice. No one who commits a crime in the name of religion can expect to go unpunished. This goes for everyone Christians as well as Muslims”

Abuja (Fides Service)- A curfew has been imposed in Onitsha, capital city of the Nigerian state of Anambra where yesterday, 21 February, there were serious riots. “The situation is now quiet, the police are patrolling the streets and the Catholic Bishop has asked people to be calm” say local sources.
Trouble started when the bodies arrived of members of the Ibo tribe originally from Onitsha who were killed in clashes in northern Nigeria (see Fides 20 and 21 February 2006).
Onitsha is a mainly Christian city. And the bodies returned were among those of 30 people killed in violence on 18 February in parts of mainly Muslim northern Nigeria.
The number of people killed or injured in yesterday’s rioting in Onisha is still uncertain. Local Church sources say at least one person was killed. Furious crowds attacked property owned by Muslims and some mosques .
“Anyone who commits a crime must be brought to justice. No one who commits a crime in the name of religion can expect to go unpunished. This goes for everyone Christians as well as Muslims” say local Church sources. “We continue to say that there are criminal elements which take advantage of the situation to steal and destroy property. Sad to say serious incidents like yesterday’s are not rare. There have been others, for various issues”.
Tension in Nigeria is high also because of debated constitutional amendments to allow President Olusegun Obasanjo to run for a third term of office. Obasanjo, a Methodist, represents the interests of the people in the south, mostly Christians. The 12 northern states want a president who will promote their interests. In the background however more than religion there is the question of the division of the nation’s oil profits. Nigeria’s oil fields are in some southern states where local people demand a higher percentage of the profits. At the same time other states of the Nigerian Federation are calling for a better distribution of oil profits.
In the Niger Delta where most of the oil fields lie, 8 employees of an oil company are still hostages of the Niger Delta Emancipation Movement which demands in exchange the release of two members of the Ijaw ethnic group and a larger share in oil profits. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 22/2/2006 righe 39 parole 458)