NIGERIA
The attacks on Christians

AT OUR EXPENSE
The attacks of Boko Haram have instilled fear in the churches, and a jihad announced by text messages is reaping scores of victims, while the government seems helpless. What is happening in this key country of the African continent? A journey to explore the reasons of a conflict that is not just religious.

by Luca Fiore

“I have been in Nigeria for 27 years, but the situation has never been so grave.” Sister Caterina Dolci, a missionary in the village of Kona in the north of the country, speaks with a firm voice, but does not hide her fear. It should have been the most beautiful day of the year but, instead, the morning of December 25th, outside the churches of Jos, Madalla, and Gadaka, time stopped. The shock of the explosions pounded through the air, and when the dust settled, the street was strewn with cadavers and the skeletons of cars. It was the offensive of the Islamic fundamentalists of Boko Haram, the Nigerian “Taliban.” Before the Christians even had time to bury their dead, the ultimatum arrived: “Leave the north within three days or you are dead.” More violence, and more deaths followed. The evening of January 20th, Boko Haram men in camouflage uniforms opened fire and killed 178 people. The next night, terrorist bombs struck two other churches. In decades of conflict in this country torn in two between the Muslim north and the Christian south, it has never been so bad.

Petroleum and poverty. “The prevailing feeling is fear,” continues Sister Caterina, who dedicates herself to a nursery school in Kona with 500 children. “They tell us not to leave our homes. It is dangerous to gather, and it is better not to go to crowded places. The schools are closed. At night, motorcycles are banned, because they are the preferred vehicles in the Boko Haram raids. The churches are patrolled by the police.” The people cannot fall asleep because of the fear, and many stay awake to be ready to defend themselves from night attacks. “Some keep poisoned arrows or other makeshift weapons at hand. We have seen often in the past that the Muslims in this area know that by attacking Christians they will provoke reprisals, and thus they will have the excuse to strike again.”
Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Jos appeals to Christians not to yield to the logic of violence, but admits that they are forced to live in terror. “Boko Haram attacks at any moment, in any place and with any means.... The government seems incapable of guaranteeing safety. And yet it should do everything to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”
The division between the 12 Muslim states of the north and the 24 Christian states of the south has deepened. In many cases, sharia has been adopted as fundamental law of the state, reducing non-Muslims to second-class citizens. This has been a blow to the possibility of peaceful coexistence, a defeat for religious freedom, and a wound for Nigerian Christians. At their expense, however, a much broader game is being played, beyond tribal struggles and religious conflicts, because Nigeria is a strategic country not only for the equilibrium of Africa, but also for the international chessboard.
“It is one of the most important African countries,” explains Aldo Pigoli, Professor of History of African Nations at the Catholic University of Milan. “It is the country with the highest population and is the second economic power in the continent, but estimates say that by 2020 its GDP will exceed even that of South Africa. The country is also a fundamental key for the development and stability of the region. Nigeria has one of the most organized armies in Africa and has played an important role in peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. With its wells in the south, it is the highest African producer of petroleum and the fifth provider of crude oil to the United States.”
Petroleum has become one of the main bones of contention in the battle for power between the north and the south. This business passes over the heads of the population and goes to enrich the usual players. It is the classic African paradox: the country exports petroleum to the United States for 30 billion dollars, while the common people live on just two dollars a day. “The stability of Nigeria should be at heart of all the major international actors,” continues Pigoli, “for the United States because of the petroleum, China because of business, and Europe which, should the country implode, would be faced with a migratory influx toward the Mediterranean.”

The collapse of trust. The watershed of the crisis was last April’s presidential election, the first truly peaceful vote since the end of the military dictatorship in 1999. The winner was the exiting President, the Christian Goodluck Jonathan, who came to power after the death of his Muslim predecessor, whom he served as Vice President. His adversary, the Muslim Muhammadu Buhari, did not accept the defeat, and the result was a long series of protests in the north. Many Muslim leaders cannot conceive of the fact that the President of the Nigerian federation should be a Christian, and on the local level they do not recognize his authority. For his part, Jonathan has not been able to gain popularity in the south, either, because he does not seem able to guarantee the safety of the Christians and because he tried to remove subsidies for the purchase of gasoline, which would have doubled the price paid by consumers. Jonathan claims that the money saved with the elimination of the subsidies was to be re-invested in the re-launch of the development of the country, in infrastructure, education, and support for the economy. “But the challenge is for the wealth produced by the petroleum to produce well-being also for the population,” explains Pigoli. “The fundamentalist groups will have no difficulty as long as the people see no improvement in their own economic situation.”
Just after the Boko Haram ultimatum, the Christians did not yield to the temptation to flee to the south. But after the second wave of attacks, fear has taken the upper hand and the exodus has begun. “The problem is that the Muslims originally from the north, but who live in the south, are also preparing to return,” says Archbishop Kaigama. “It is a very dangerous development. The government must act decisively to stop the violence and rebuild a climate of trust.”

Islamic spring. “Here in Boka and in nearby Jalingo, the relationships with Muslims have always been cordial,” explains Sister Caterina. “But after what happened, it has become difficult to trust. The attacks were the work of a few, but the climate has worsened. My village is Christian, but the Muslims have succeeded in building a small mosque right in the heart of the center. For some time now, the Muslim community has had a plan of conquest: they buy the land, offer money to those who convert, and the young men try to marry Christian girls. I am convinced that most of the Muslims are simple people who do not want conflict with the Christians. But Boko Haram is the most violent expression of an increasingly common way of thinking.” It may seem strange, but one of the factors that has reinforced the position of the fundamentalists in the country has been the Arab Spring. Massimo Introvigne, former representative of OSCE for the battle against racism, xenophobia, and discrimination against Christians and followers of other religions, is convinced of this. “For black Africa, it is decisive that figures like Gaddafi, Mubarak, and Ben Ali have lost power. They were points of reference because they were linked to the modernizing vision of Islam and the Arab world. Their fall marked the political failure of those who believe that Islam must look to modernity, that is, to the West. The Nigerians, too, have witnessed the defeat of their Muslim leaders who looked to Gaddafi and Mubarak. Now that the government is in the hands of the Christians, one understands why the fundamentalists of Boko Haram have no difficulty in recruiting followers.”
In Jalingo, a Muslim leader was arrested by the police for having weapons in his car, but nobody believes he will stay in jail for long. On January 11th, the Christians of the village of Boka received disturbing text messages: “At midnight today the jihad will begin.” The next day nothing happened. It is the stratagem of tension. There was no need to announce the beginning of something that has already started.