Charles Hammawa heads the Diocese of Jalingo, located in the eastern part of the Nigeria's so-called “Middle Belt.” The population of 2.3 million is about equally divided between Muslims and Christians, 450,000 of whom are Catholic, with 10 percent of the people belonging to traditional religions.

The bishop expressed to the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need Aug. 9 his concern about what he labeled “suspiciously persistent” attacks by well-armed Muslim Fulani herdsmen on Christian farmers. He also dicussed the growing influx of Muslim settlers taking possession of land taken from these farmers.


ACN: Boko Haram appears to be curtailed, and there are fewer attacks by the group. However, you have reported another manifestation of Islamic extremism in the form of these attacks by Fulani herdsmen on Christian farmers.

Bishop Hammawa: That is my suspicion – that jihad is taking a new course. It looks like a problem between herdsmen and farmers. In the past, things would settle down after a clash. But I have seen cases of herdsmen not just letting their cattle graze but taking over the land – and Muslim from the north coming in to settle there. It appears to be a strategy to deliberately populate areas with Muslims and, by the sheer weight of superior numbers, influence political decision-making in the region. It is not the extreme violence of Boko Haram, but another way of capturing Nigeria for Islam. And this crisis has been sustained for the past three years in our region. It’s also suspicious that the herdsmen have access to sophisticated weaponry. There appears to be some financing of the Fulani aggression, which has left numerous dead, destroyed many communities and displaced thousands of people.

ACN: Are Muslims and Christians in competition in the “Middle Belt,” where neither religion has the upper hand?

Bishop Hammawa: Both faiths are committed to gaining new followers. The difference lies in the approach. Christianity uses persuasion through preaching. For Islam, it can be the case of a kind of coercion – the understanding that if you want to get anywhere in government, you have to be a Muslim. For example, the office of traditional rulers is presented as belonging only to Muslims, which prompts some Christians eligible to the throne to convert to Islam.

ACN: In this regard, how do you rate the policies of President Muhammadu Buhari – is he being fair to Christians?

Bishop Hammawa: I have some doubts. He is very cautious and a little bit slow in condemning the Fulani crisis, for example. I wish he would be stronger in making firm statements in this matter and take concrete action in combatting Islamic extremism. My worry is that – although Boko Haram members have been killed or are awaiting trial – the organization is laying low, with members hiding out in various places. Violence could readily flare up again.

ACN: What is the solution, in your view, to putting a real stop to Islamic extremism?

Bishop Hammawa: We keep saying that dialogue must be the solution. But the parties do have to come to the table with a sincere willingness to live in peace. Also, it must be acknowledged that many of the rank-and-file of Boko Haram had been neglected by the Muslim elite in the north for a long time. These youth and adults have not been properly educated, because Western education has been rejected; they have been living in the margins of the society, with only a fundamentalist Islamic formation. They are filled with anger and they have nothing to lose. Meanwhile, the Muslim elite send their children to be educated abroad! No wonder, Boko Haram eventually targeted Muslim leaders as well.

ACN: Do you and your priests use your homilies to address these issues?

Bishop Hammawa: We avoid inflaming hostilities; we preach peace and reconciliation; we urge Christian farmers not to retaliate—at most, we encourage them to defend themselves; but we cannot tell them to go and fight—that would violate the spirit of the Gospel. There definitely is a great fear of persecution among Christians, which brings some of them to compromise or hide their faith. Those who remain steadfast deserve our utmost support.

ACN: Are local authorities, such as the police, of any help?

Bishop Hammawa: Unfortunately, corruption and bribery hamper security efforts. Corruption, of course, is rampant all across Nigeria.

http://taraba.citynewsline.com.ng/news/interview-bishop-says-islamic-aggression-in-nigeria-could-take-different-form

Ok

You can go and die, the head line should be, taraba and not generalizing as you have done, i believe you are reporting to your ibo brother to come and help you fight.

how does a christian farmer look like?

Foolish Op

nicedas:
You can go and die, the head line should be, taraba and not generalizing as you have done, i believe you are reporting to your ibo brother to come and help you fight.

Why are you pissed off exactly?

Because the headline says "North/Middle belt" or because you think I am Igbo- your usual nightmare?

catlova2:
how does a christian farmer look like?

Foolish Op

Selective amnesia is a bad sickness. After reading all (that is if you really did), you selective selected the one that soothe your bias mind. Right.

Know this, it's an interview. Read it slowly and comprehend it... Don't rush to conclude.

As you can see, I pasted even the source. So no word of mine is there.

Peace

makazona:


Selective amnesia is a bad sickness. After reading all (that is if you really did), you selective the one that soothe your bias mind. Right.

Know this, it's an interview. Read it slowly and comprehend it... Don't rush to conclude.

As you can see, I pasted even the source. So no word of mine is there.

Peace

I did not selective the one.

The solution is,i see no where or instance in which the fulani herdsmen are complaining on social media the way other pple do they only complain by killing which i think u too have the ability to do the same, accept in a case of being cowards,u need to act not complain even God said stand up and i will help you. If the fulani take over your community is your fault because the fulani are not up to half the number of men in your community so you better defend your community before they finish u and stop writing or complaining on social media.

Owu dey Bleep everybody badly oh. Op copied and paste something and some ppl are attacking the OP... why? Na him do the interview abi na him dem interview?
Some ppl no get manners.

catlova2:

I did not selective the one.

Gbagaun!

steppin:

Gbagaun!

olodo, i dey imitate d gbagaun wey i quote ni. check well

I pity the people of the middle belt, the kind of ethnic cleansing and jihard going on there is terrible. The worst is that they are suffering in silence with nobody speaking out for them!

BiafraIShere:
I pity the people of the middle belt, the kind of ethnic cleansing and jihard going on there is terrible. The worst is that they are suffering in silence with nobody speaking out for them!

And we have corps members in the deepest parts of those places.

This is unfair to the people of middle belt, quite unfair!