Kano – Naija Gospel Radio

Hold CAN Responsible for Absconded Pilgrim, NCPC says

The Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC) has stated that the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Kano State Chapter, Rev. Adeolu Adeyemo, be held responsible for one Samuel Taiye who absconded in Israel.

The Executive Secretary of NCPC, Rev. Tor Uja, stated this when the Director-General of Leadership Newspapers of Nigeria, Abdul Gombe, paid him a visit in his office on Wednesday.

Uja noted that Taiye is from Osun State but resides in Kano state, with his wife, four children and attends the Apostolic Church in Kano state.

According to him, “The NCPC team has its doubt on Taiye because of the type of document he presented.

“The Pastor of his church called to plead on his behalf and later the CAN state’s chairman put a call through to the commission to recommend Taiye and guaranteed that he will take responsibility if Taye should abscond.

“I have called them this morning to provide Taiye, his wife and four children; they are presently under the custody of the Department of State Security, Kano.

“The state chairman must take responsibility and make sure Taiye comes with the last flight back to Nigeria.”

He stated that this would serve as deterrent to other intending absconders and their guarantors.

Follow us on Twitter

Threats of Massacre Terrorize Christians in Kano State

When the 50-year-old church elder and leader of Samaila village in Kano State, heard gunshots shortly before midnight, he rushed out of his house to try to find security agents.

It was a natural reaction for Mai’angwa Samaila, given recent Islamist attacks in northern Nigeria. What the elder for the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) did not know was that the armed Islamic extremists, having killed two Christians in front of their Catholic church building, were coming for him next.

Not finding him at home that night (Aug. 15), they instead kidnapped his wife, Safiya Samaila, 45. They then kidnapped two other women, 20-year-old Yaha Gabriel and Hauwa Bebi, 18, both members of the St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Samaila, in Tudun Wada Local Government Area (LGA).

Such kidnappings, along with threats of massacres by Islamic extremists, are continuing with the approval of some state officials in a concerted effort to eliminate Christianity, church leaders said.

Mai’angwa Samaila told Morning Star News how the killing of Yohanna Audu, 45, and Audu’s son, 18-year-old Micah Yohanna Audu, and the kidnappings were carried out. The gunmen first went to St. Michael’s Catholic Church, where Yohanna Audu, a church member whose house is beside the Catholic building, went outside.

“He went to find out who were the men on the premises of the church at that time of the night when they shot him, and he died instantly,” Samaila said. “His son, who heard the sound of the gunshot, ran out to find out what had happened since his dad had just gone to the church; he too was shot and killed.”

The armed Muslim extremists then went through the village to kidnap the three women, starting with his wife.

“As the shooting and capturing of the women was going on, some residents in our village rushed to the Catholic church and rang the church’s bell, alerting others on the attack on the village,” he said. “This forced the armed Muslim men to beat a retreat. This saved so many lives that would have perished during the attack.”

As the gunmen retreated, they shot at those who had run to the church building, Samaila said.

“The three women kidnapped were taken away,” he said. “I frantically called on heads of security agencies in our area, the police and army, but I was told that they were unable to come to our aid because their vehicles had no fuel or were in bad working condition.”

The gunmen contacted him and others the following day, demanding 10 million naira (US$27,510) for the release of the women, he said.

“We pleaded with them to release the women, but they refused,” he said. “They threatened to kill the women unless we paid the ransom. We had no other option than to tax ourselves and pay the money.”

The gunmen accepted 3 million naira (US$8,253) and released the women a week later, on Aug. 22, Samaila said. He and others recovered them in the Falgore Forest.

“We believe that Christian communities here are being persecuted because of our faith,” he said. “The government is aware about such invasions of Christian communities but has not done anything to put an end to the menace. The sad thing is that it is only Christians that are being killed or kidnapped in our area, as there was never any Muslim community attacked or a Muslim kidnapped.”

Decade after Church Burnings in Kano, Officials Forbid Rebuilding

A decade after Muslims attacked and displaced Christians in a town in, Kano state Nigeria, officials have forbidden church buildings to be rebuilt there, sources said.

Eight church buildings destroyed in late September 2007 in predominantly Muslim Tudun Wada Dankadai, Kano state, are still in ruins, a Morning Star News correspondent observed earlier this month.

The buildings of St. Mary’s Catholic, Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Baptist, Assemblies of God, Charismatic Renewal, Mountain of Fire and Miracle and Deeper Christian Life Bible churches, along with that of another church, have not been rebuilt because local Muslims have refused to allow it, Joseph Opeyemi Ibinkule, a 42-year-old a Christian resident of Tudun Wada Dankadai, told Morning Star News.

“Christians who have braved it and returned after the attacks in 2007 have no worship buildings up to today,” Ibinkule said. “The reason is that the government of Kano state has banned us from rebuilding our churches.”

No pastor lives in the town, he said, and only a few come to lead services to a smattering of church members in the hostile environment.

“These are the ECWA pastor and the Catholic priest,” he said. “Both of live in the city of Kano and only come to conduct services under trees for their members.”

Kano state officials declined to comment to Morning Star News.

Ibinkunle said the 2007 assault, in which at least nine Christians were killed, was ignited by Muslim students accusing high school Christians of blasphemy.

“The Muslim students attacked Christian students, and soon they were joined by Muslims in this town,” he said. “All eight churches were destroyed, Christians were displaced, and many Christians were also killed. I personally saw three corpses of members of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church who were killed by the Muslim attackers.”

The attack was premeditated, and then it led to further spontaneous violence, he said. Church buildings were burned, and houses and shops of Christians were looted and charred, he added.

Advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported in 2007 that the violence began after Muslim students stormed into a room shared by two Christian students at the Government Secondary School in Tudun Wada and began to assault them.

“When the Christian students asked what they had done wrong, their assailants initially told them to ‘mind their own business,’” CSW reported. “However, once the school principal arrived at the scene, the Christians were accused of drawing a picture of Muhammad on a mosque wall and of planning an assault on Muslim students.”

Local authorities appeared to limit access to the area to obscure inquiry into the extent of the casualties, according to CSW. Tudun Wada’s chief of police sealed the area off, and local authorities transported Christians out of the area and removed all corpses. Those trying to help victims were denied access, CSW reported.

Three Mountain of Fire pastors in Kano City were temporarily detained when they attempted to evacuate members of their denomination, according to CSW.

“As a result of this enforced isolation of the area, the exact number of fatalities is difficult to determine,” CSW reported. “However, sources suspect that the toll is far higher than originally stated. One policeman was overheard complaining of being ‘fed up of packing corpses.’”

The son of an Apostolic Church pastor, Ibinkunle said he has been worshipping under a tree with the members of the ECWA congregation since the 2007 attack.