Religious Killings - Implementation Of Sharia In Nigeria

Religious Killings - Implementation Of Sharia In Nigeria  

Prior to the launching of Sharia Legal Code in Northern Nigeria, there have been widespread killings of Igbos and Christians of Eastern extraction domiciled in the Northern part of Nigeria. These killings dates as far back as 1953, dates were submitted in the first petition. The killings were strategies used to intimidate and cow people of other regions resident in the North to accept Islam/Sharia.

•   The continuing cyclical killings, pogroms and genocide committed against the Igbos by Northern Nations for half a Century.

•  Inability or unwillingness of the federal government of Nigeria to protect the lives and property of citizens who happen to be of Igbo Nation and her neighbors who happen to live outside Igboland.

•  Inability or unwillingness of the Nigeria federal government to stop state sponsored religion in the Northern states.

•  Inability and unwillingness of the federal government to stop a parochial religion's penal code from being applied to non-adherents of the religion.

Nigeria isi ametfiberof Organization of Islamic Conference (QIC). This was done without the knowledge of the Christian Igbos. This reveals that the government is neither necessarily secular nor neutral with respect to government- sponsored or sanction of religion. The Nigeria government has maintained silence on the role of another country and her leader, Gaddafi of Libya who had openly provided large sums of money, infrastructure, logistical aid, ideological and legal training and building of higher educational institutions to some Northern states.

* The beheading of Gideon Akaluka at Kano by Muslim fanatics. This Igbo trader who lives in kano was beheaded and his lifeless body paraded throughout the city of Kano, his head was placed on a wooden stick and taken round the city of Kano in triumph by the fanatics.

Mr. Gideon Akaluka was accused of desecrating the Islamic Koran. Presently  Igbos   domiciled   in  Northern   cities   of Kano,   Funtua,   Damboa, Maiduguri, Katsma, Yola, Gombe and many other Northern cities are forced to close their establishments five times daily to observe the Islamic prayers.

*  Zamfara State government of Nigeria was the first to launch and implement Sharia before other states followed suit.

Today the states have introduced policies of discrimination on the educational values. The Igbos resident in Zamfara and other Northern cities are forced to pay Nl0,000 as school fees in public secondary, owned by the states, Which clearly portray Igbos as strangers in the country called Nigeria. See attached publication by National Champion newspapers.

*  The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was founded in 1973 for graduates from different Nigeria Universities. The idea was to post graduates to areas that are different from states or areas of Origin. The intention was to use the initiative to propagate National unity amongst Nigeria youths. 31 years after the inception, the unity o/ the-said project  is yet to be achieved, rather Christian graduates from Igboland and other parts of the East posted to Northern states are forced to observe the Islamic way of live against their will.

*  The secret killing of Christian Igbos resident in the North has continued unabated.

* Our resistance to Sharia is a resistance to the current wave of Arab- Muslim expansionism, which is now a menace that has ravaged the African Continent. The. demand for Biafra is seen by the Nigeria government as a threat to stop the advancing Islamization of Nigeria.

Having watched closely the continued marginalization of Christian Igbos, The Igbo Catholic Bishops comprising, Most Rev. Drs. Anthony Obinna (Owerri) Val Okeke (Onitsha) H. Okeke (Nnewi), Vincent Ezeonyia (Aba) and ten others. See the attached details of the communique, The Leader, January 25,2004.