The Christian Association of Nigeria,
Niger state chapter, has asked for compensation to be paid to St. Philips
Catholic Church, Baki-uku in Suleja local government area of the state, for the
destruction of part of the church building and its musical instruments by
Muslim youths a week ago.
CAN also asked the state government to take
up the salary bills of those injured in the Friday attack.
The State CAN chairman, Reverend Mathias
Echioda, who made the demands in Minna at the weekend while reacting to the
incident, said Christians in the state would no longer fold their hands and
watch some miscreants destroy ‘our property in the name of religious
fanaticism’.
“The fact that Christianity has always been
known as a peace-loving and peace-promoting faith should however not be taken
for weakness and thus be tempted to press us to the wall – no person or
religion has monopoly of violence, and we are not fools!
“Needless to say that the devastation be
adequately compensated, so that the church will immediately resume her worship
services.
“Let this be a warning that Christians shall
not fold their hands and watch their property being destroyed, we shall protect
and defend our fundamental and constitutional rights. After all, Niger State
and Nigeria belong to all of us.
“We must therefore learn to tolerate and
appreciate our obvious differences. And Government should put structures in
place through the Bureau for Religious Affairs to discourage messages of hatred
at our places of worship and from our public domain.”
He commended the security operatives in
Suleja and the traditional institution there for promptly intervening in the
crisis, saying their action stopped the situation from degenerating.
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