* Bombs at churches last Christmas Day killed dozens
* Islamists Boko Haram trying to spark religious conflict
* Security increased throughout largely Muslim north
By Joe Brock
MADALLA, Nigeria, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Kneeling over a dusty
grave on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital, 16-year old Hope
Ehiawaguan says a prayer, lays down flowers and tearfully tells
her brother she loves him.
He was one of 44 killed on Christmas Day last year when a
member of Islamist sect Boko Haram rammed a car packed with
explosives into the gates of St Theresa’s Church in Madalla, a
satellite town 25 miles from the centre of Abuja.
Boko Haram has killed hundreds in its campaign to impose
sharia law in northern Nigeria and is the biggest threat to
stability in Africa’s top oil exporter.
Two other churches were bombed that day and on Christmas Eve
2010 over 40 people were killed in similar attacks.
This Christmas, the police and military are expecting more
trouble in the north. They’ve ordered security to be tightened,
people’s movement restricted and churches to be guarded.
But such is the commitment to religion in a country with
Africa’s largest Christian population that millions of people
will pack out thousands of churches in the coming days. It is
impossible to protect everyone, security experts say.
“I feel safe,” Ehiawaguan says with uncertainty, when asked
if she will come to church on Dec. 25 this year.
“Not because of security here … because we have a greater
security in heaven,” she says, wiping away her tears.
The blast in Madalla killed several people on the street and
pulled down the church roof, condemning many of those trapped
inside the burning building, including a 7-month old boy.
A plaque listing the names of the members of the church who
were killed has been placed above their graves. The twisted
metal of the cars destroyed in the blast is still there.
“I only pray to God to give them a heart,” Ehiawaguan says,
when asked about her brother’s killers.
Security experts believe Boko Haram is targeting worshippers
to spark a religious conflict in a country of 160 million people
split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.
SECTARIAN THREAT
The sect has also targeted Mosques in the past and
assassinated Imams who have questioned its insurgency. In the
group’s stronghold in the northeast, where most of its attacks
occur, Muslims are equally at threat as Christians.
The fear for many is that more Christmas Day attacks could
spark the sort of tit-for-tat sectarian violence between the
mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south, which has
claimed thousands of lives in the past decade.
“We have always insisted that Christians should not
retaliate,” said Sam Kraakevik Kujiyat, chairman of the
Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State, one of the
areas worst hit by inter-religious violence in recent years.
“But there is fear … we know not everyone who says he is a
Christian acts like one.”
Churches were emptier than usual on Sunday in northern
cities of Kano and Kaduna, local residents said.
Despite bolstered security in cities across the north, dual
suicide bombers attacked the offices of mobile phone operators
India’s Airtel and South Africa’s MTN in
Nigeria’s second-largest city Kano on Saturday.
The bombers died but no civilians were killed.
No one took responsibility for the attacks but Boko Haram
has targeted phone firms before because they say the companies
help the security forces catch their members.
At least 2,800 people have died in fighting in the largely
Muslim north since Boko Haram launched an uprising against the
government in 2009, watchdog Human Rights Watch says.
Boko Haram has showed since its insurgency intensified more
than two years ago that it can find weaknesses in defences.
“One faction of Boko Haram has made several attempts to
provoke violence between Christians and Muslims,” said Peter
Sharwood Smith, Nigeria head of security firm Drum Cussac.
“Unfortunately, I think it is very possible we may see
attacks of this type (Church bombings) again.”
Boko Haram is not the only threat in northern Nigeria.
Islamist Group called Ansaru, known to have ties with Boko
Haram, has risen in prominence in recent weeks. It claimed an
attack on a major police barracks in Abuja last month, where it
said hundreds of prisoners were released.
The group said on Saturday that it was behind the kidnapping
of a French national last week and it has been labelled a
“terrorist group” by Britain.
