As BBC Continues to Blatantly Fan The Embers of Religious Discord, Jos, Nigeria Continues To Burn…
I respect the BBC, I really do, I definitely think they are less biased than some of the other Western media, i.e CNN… However, I am continually puzzled at their insistence on reporting events in Nigeria from a Christian vs. Muslim perspective.
For example, take a look at this piece of garbage reporting about the riots in Jos over the course of the weekend:
The mostly Christian-backed governing party, the People’s Democratic Party, was declared to have won the state elections in Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital city.
The result was contested by the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party, which has support from Muslims.
Ok, even a cursory look at BBC’s own website, would have shown that the current President of Nigeria who also happens to be the head of the PDP is a muslim… Meanwhile, the Chairman of the All Nigeria People’s Party, Chief Edwin Ume-ezeoke is a Christian.
If one is to believe the BBC, which unfortunately is the main news source for millions of people outside Nigeria, then the implication is that a muslim leads a Christian party, and a christian leads a Muslim party, and somehow, these individuals had their respective followers assault people of opposing faiths. Confused, so am I, but trust me that is the implication of the BBC report.
PDP and ANPP are secular parties which do contain religious fundamentalists in them, but those elements are the exception rather than the norm when it comes time to set party policies and activities.
What is going on in Jos right now is all about the perceived politics of disenfranchisement, and not religion. Here is a blurb from the Guardian:
According to sources, the crisis began when suspected members of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) learnt that the party was leading in the council polls for Jos North Council with about 58,000 votes but that the People Democratic Party (PDP) had allegedly upturned the result in its favour.
It was alleged that it was that rumour that ignited the youths of Jos North who were ANPP supporters to go on rampage as early as 4 a.m. yesterday, vandalising everything they felt belonged to the government.
How about Thisday:
Eyewitnesses said supporters of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) allegedly became violent following speculations that their candidate, whom they said was leading the PDP candidate, was about to be “declared the loser.”
The ANPP protesters said they were not fighting people but fighting government “because of their action.” The results of the elections were still being collated when the crisis broke out.
Agency reports said youths with machetes hacked to death a policeman and burned tyres in one part of the city. Several mosques and churches were also reported to have been set ablaze.
So Nigerian papers say the strife was as a result of what is being perceived as a stolen election, but the BBC takes that, twists it around, and turns it into a story of Christians vs. Muslims, obviously a story that will garner more interest in the West, but one that sets religious relations back immensely across the board.
Hundreds of people are reported to have been killed in central Nigeria after Christians and Muslims clashed over the result of a local election.
A Muslim charity in the town of Jos says it collected more than 300 bodies, and fatalities are also expected among Christians.
There is no official confirmation yet, and figures are notoriously unreliable in Nigeria, says the BBC’s Alex Last.
Police have imposed a 24-hour curfew and the army is patrolling the streets.
They have been given orders to shoot on sight in an effort to quell hostilities that mark the worst clashes in the restive West African nation since 2004.
For the second straight day on Saturday, angry mobs went through the town burning homes, churches and mosques.
The Nigerian Red Cross says at least 10,000 people have fled their homes.
Contested election
The mostly Christian-backed governing party, the People’s Democratic Party, was declared to have won the state elections in Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital city.
The result was contested by the opposition All Nigeria People’s Party, which has support from Muslims.
Violence started on Thursday night as groups of angry youths burnt tyres on the roads over reports of election rigging.
Bodies from the Muslim Hausa community were brought into the central mosque compound.
The local imam, Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, said more than 300 dead bodies were brought there on Saturday alone.
Those killed in the Christian community would probably be taken to the city morgue, raising the possibility that the total death toll could be much higher.
Police spokesman Bala Kassim said there were “many dead,” but couldn’t cite a firm number.
Despite the overnight curfew, groups in some areas took to the streets again as soon as police patrols had passed by.
Troubled past
In 2001, more than 1,000 people died in religious clashes in the city, situated in Nigeria’s fertile “middle belt” that separates the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south.
And in 2004, a state of emergency was declared in Plateau state after more than 200 Muslims were killed in the town of Yelwa in attacks by Christian militia.
Correspondents say communal violence in Nigeria is complex, but it often boils down to competition for resources such as land between those that see themselves as indigenous versus the more recent settlers.
In Plateau, Christians are regarded as being indigenous and Hausa-speaking Muslims the settlers.
The wonders of western media… I guess next time there is economic beef going down in the UK, Nigerian media should say it is a race war between the white anglo-saxons and their former subjects from the continent or the island…
Yup, how about that…
Posted By Naija Pundit
Unfortunately, however the conflict began, it turned into one where the opposing groups were identified by religion. Christian bands attacked and killed Muslims, and Muslim bands attacked and killed Christians, in both cases burning their homes, shops, and places of worship as well. I didn’t hear that anyone was asked their political affiliation when dragged from cars and beaten. People here are describing the resulting conflict in terms of religious groups although many do agree that it started with politics.
I do agree, though, that the BBC’s articles seem to be quite shallow in terms of analysis, depending on a few, seemingly randomly chosen, spokespeople, and not looking carefully at the events let alone the causes. But then, it’s probably like that for every conflict; “news” is too fast-moving and widespread to allow for analysis, so the same old explanations are dragged out and dropped into the bottom of each “new story” until the focus moves somewhere else.