Jos crisis religious, not political - ECWA president

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Written by Kunle Awosiyan Tuesday, 15 March 2011

The President of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), Reverend Anthony Farinto, has disagreed with Plateau State governor, Mr Jonah Jang, that the recent Jos crisis was political, saying it was a religious problem.

He said this at a news conference in Lagos, at the weekend, calling on government to address the issue as pure religious crisis instead of politicising it.

Farinto said that no politician or political office was ever affected in the crisis where many Christians and Muslims had been killed.

“Churches were burnt. An ECWA church that was standing beside a political party’s office was burnt to ashes. The party house was left untouched. This is purely a religious matter. I don’t agree with the governor,” he said.

He stated that nobody could tell lie about the cause of the crisis because ECWA headquarters was in Jos and witnessed how the religious clash started.

The president, who said that the name of the church had since been changed to Evangelical Church Winning All, explained that the crisis in Jos had united Christians more than before, adding that nobody could change his mind with fabricated lies or rumour unless they killed him.

He also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to work with Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) to screen candidates of political parties before the forthcoming April polls.

According to him, ECWA members would not vote for a particular political party but any candidate of integrity. “Our advice to our members is that they should vote for only men and women of integrity. Time has come when we should not be deceived by party manifestoes,” he said.

http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/18919-jos-crisis-religious-not-political-ecwa-president