Nigeria: Muslim pupils kill teacher over Koran

[NewEte]

Nigeria: Muslim pupils kill teacher over Koran

By Ardo Hazzad

Muslim pupils at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria beat a teacher to death on Wednesday after accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police and witnesses said.

Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was invigilating an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the school in Gombe state when the incident occurred. The students attacked her outside the school compound after the exam and killed her, witnesses said.

It was not clear exactly what Olusase had done that angered the students.

Police confirmed the killing and said their intervention had prevented the incident from turning into a riot.

"We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students. We are investigating the report," Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said.

At least five people were killed and several churches burned down in February 2006 in the neighbouring state of Bauchi by Muslims infuriated that a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class.

Word got out into the streets that the teacher had desecrated the Koran, infuriating Muslims who went on the rampage.

At least 15,000 people have died in religious, communal and political violence in Africa's most populous country since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 30 years of almost unbroken military rule.

© 2007 Reuters

[NewEte]

When it gets to a point where high school students starting lynching or killing their teachers over religion, it becomes apparent that we have real serious issues in Nigeria. These issues would never go away until brought out in the open, thoroughly addressed and concrete steps taken to prevent such things from occurring again in future. Under no circumstance should a student assault a teacher, but in this case, the students go as far as killing the teacher. Isn't this an example of barbarism coupled with total lack of tolerance and respect for human life?

On the other incident that occurred as recently as February, a riot broke out and left 5 people dead, and several churches burnt, all because a teacher attempted to confiscate a copy of the koran from an un-attentive student. If class was in session, why would a student be engaging in other activities when he/she is required to focus his/her full attention on the learning process? The teacher was well within her right to confiscate any material that served as a distraction in class. If this student was so uninterested or could not follow simple rules, he could have simply stayed out of the classroom or boycotted school completely. It is beyond me as to how a simple matter like that escalates to a riot.

The sad thing however, is the kid's gloves with which these serious incidents are treated. In the north, there is no consequence for senseless murder especially when religion is in the mix.  The most we hear is that an investigation is in progress and thereafter, the matter dies. There is no consequence for reckless behavior in the north when it comes to religiously motivated killings. This is why this madness continues unchecked. If the members of the national assembly had any sense at all, by now, religious killings would have classified as a hate crime punishable by the death penalty. When a few example are made of sick people whose fanatical zealousness becomes a risk to civil society, maybe others would be deterred from further unprovoked violence. 

[alkanawi]

that was an utterly disgusting,despicable and indefensible act.I was shocked when i read the news and we should condemn it totally.It all goes to show the state of lawlessness to which we have sunk.Killing innocent people under any guise is unacceptable.
However there is a deeper underlying malaise in our societies that bring to the fore such barbaric behaviours.One of such attitudes is the utter contempt and disdain our christian brothers hold anything islam or muslim.
For example the lady in the Thisday saga was ridiculing and making fun of what a sizable percentage of nigerians hold dear,and yet people find it hard to understand their reaction.The other guy in Kano was defecating on the Koran and people are still bemused at the peoples reaction.Christians with the tacit approval of Dariye were committing genocide for over three years in Plateu resulting in over 50,000 refugees in Bauchi state,and yet people are at a loss in understanding the backlash in Kano.
I  have not come across a single incident of a muslim desecrating the Holy Bible or Jesus or even the numerous fetish objects scattered around muslim dominated areas of nigeria,but the sad thing is that such gesture is not reciprocated.
We should respect each other please and those people should be brought to book promptly

[_Waziri_]

That's it. What worries me most is the manner of reporting of incidences like these. Every fairly informed person about Islam, knows how wrong and un Islamic it is for one to take laws into their hands. But rather than reporters to indicate that even if impliedly, they refuse. Again they do only this for Islam.

On the other hand readers of these kind of reporting also do not want to ask themselves a question as to why is it that a non-Muslim must want to desecrate the Qur'an in the face of the Muslims? Is that non-Muslim less fanatical and intolerant than the Muslim who got provoked by such actions? Islam is an issue based way of living that grew up out of serious debates in its theology and jurisprudence. Nothing is wrong to be said about the message of Islam in as much as it is made issue based. But when one shifts the focus of his hatred to desecration of the sacred personality of the Prophet of Islam, killing the messenger as opposed to killing the message, or open desecration of the Qur'an, then it appears to all that the person is not interested in engaging the Muslims in a sound intellectual karate. Or do we suppose that Muslims should and must condone everything in the name of peace?

Do non-Muslims have nothing to contribute to the desired peacefulness of our community? Should non-Muslim be doing whatever they deem right without respect to the feelings and sentiments of those around them?

[NewEte]

Nope, non Muslims should not seek to provoke Muslims or people of any other religion. The incident that Alkanawi described about the man that defecated in the Koran is quite puzzling to me however. I mean did the man take a copy of the Koran and place on the ground in broad daylight and desecrate it openly for everyone to see in a predominantly Muslim community? If he in fact did that, people should have reasoned at least that he was not with his faculties intact. But that is no excuse for the riot that followed thereafter where innocent people were slaughtered with barbaric disregard. If one person offends Muslims, why drag in other innocent bystanders and wreck havoc in the community. Believe me, these repeat violence where human lives are lost repeatedly, where property worth millions are destroyed, where peaceful and lawful coexistence is always threatened, all of these things have far reaching consequencies.

In this particular case where this teacher was lynched, what was the crime? Did she desecrate anything? Then there was the other time that some Danish Tabloid printed so unflattering cartoons about the Prophet. The whole thing started in Denmark and had nothing to do with Nigeria, but Muslims in Nigeria were already creating an incident that threatened lives of innocent people. The truth is folks, people need to be re-educated about religious tolerance and it begins in the pulpit and especially in the Mosques. People need to grow up and have a life rather than always be easily provoked at the slightest commentary they find distasteful.

So in all, no excuses should be made, and we should not rationalize violence. We should condemn it strongly and not offer excuses for the perpetrators of it be they Muslims, Animist, Buddhist, Christians, Pagans, Hindus, or Atheists.

[Dave McEwan Hill]

Well said, New Ete.

[alkanawi]

I think we are all agreed that violence,killing,and the destruction of property is not the answer to our hurt feelings.However the sad reality is that riots do happen and the important thing is to find ways to prevent the spark that ignites such acts.This is where we need to educate our people on the need to respect other religions and their adherents.But still that does not stop us from pointing out where we feel others have not treated us with respect.
Muslims always feel that there is a double standard in play when issues involve them.For example one can not express a different opinion from the accepted one concerning the holocaust without being jailed in some countries,but it is okay to disparage what the muslims hold sacred all in the name of freedom of expression.Again no price is too much when imposing a way a life alien to a people,i'm talking about democracy,killing hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq.So it is alright to kill in the name of democracy but not to protect your religion with your life.
Again the Danish cartoons was not directed towards Danish muslims but against the Muslim prophet whom all muslims, from Alaska to Afghanistan, revere and respect.So that might help you understand muslims' reaction world wide.
Again forumites should forgive me, but i find Nigerian christians some of the most intolerant and disrespectful people(Lionger is an exception).I was on a BBC blog and some of the most venomous,condescending,patronizing and at times downright disdainful contributions against muslims were from people bearing Nigerian names.
Please let us respect each other and those criminals should be brought to book pronto

[HUSNAA]

Take a leaf from Dave........Well said Alkanawi.

Hear hear why dont we talk about how Jean Pierre Bemba is holed up in some embassy in the Congo?
Fighting has broken out again between Bemba's rebel faction and govt forces. The rebel forces are still disgruntled over Bemba's losing the election to incumbent Kabila So they refused to lay down their arms even after Bemba conceded defeat. Now some serious fighting has broken out in the last two days and there have been mortal casualties.  The rebel forces are so disdainful of any peace initiatives; Kabila won in a fair election, yet these ppl are still going around  killing and killing and killing. Now how tolerant how peaceful and how human is that I ask? Could we focus on this Or do we just forget that other ppl are somewhere committing worse, but because they are not muslims or  not in the name of Islam, they  are not news worthy material and they cant evoke the sort of sentiments muslims generally evoke?  Let's be a bit more objective and less sentimentally biased when it comes to violence. It seems to me that everyone is intolerant when he/she thinks has a grievance and it seems to cut accross all sectors of society, ethinicity religion and whatever.
I mean imagine, a fifteen yr old stabbed in east london some days ago.  What did he do to die? nothing, possibly other than happen to be black.   Al K tell us more about it.....

[gogannaka]

I read with embarrassmennt how the Nigerian ambassador is trapped in his house.According tot eh newspaper report the Ambassador was hit by a bomb in his bedroom around 3pm and up till 7.30pm he couldnt be rescued.It is said that he has lost some pints of blood.
Poor soul.I hope he survives.
Nigeria's supposed to have sent troops to save the poor Guy as fast as she can.
Da America ce da tuni da dauke abun ta.

[Dave McEwan Hill]

There has been two teenagers knifed to death in London recently. They were both black but both were attacked by other black teenagers.There is an epidemic of gangs in London at the moment  but it isn't black against white or anything like that. a Lot of it is to do with dealing in drugs.
I have to agree that I found many Christians in Nigeria very intolerant indeed- but I found many Moslems also intolerant. The problem will never be solved if people only see the faults in the other side. 

[_Waziri_]

I was discussing the same issue on another forum with other more reasonable Nigerian Christians. The same response I gave above was the same I wrote to them but after some responses I realised that what they wanted as seemed with Ete here is just total condemnation of the incident. And that we can wait for other occasions where we can make for the case for the sensitivity to sacred religious symbols. I think I reasoned with them. Especially if the person killed is one's relative. I wrote what follows in response to one of them there:

Shoko,

I can see how you are building your argument with all the ifs. Even when I find it difficult faulting your line of reason I must submit that the press and its owners are always not without their own sentiments and prejudices. It is quite easy for many to see this as being another opportunity to further 'black paint' the Islamic faith, the more, by subtle and seemingly unharmful reportage that is carefully coded and packaged. Tony Iredia, Director General of our National Television Authority, held a discussion of this nature, in the recent past, with the anchor man of that popular BBC World programme, Hard Talk, where he expressed same feelings about the reportings of the incidences that greated the publications of some malicious cartoons, some time, last year in Denmark. My concern has always been the picture of the religion that is being painted here not the people who commited the crime which does not presume Muslims to be only good Muslims but rather Islam to remain as ever good as it has always been.

For the response of the Muslims in Gombe, nothing can be further away from my position unless if such Muslim is ignorant with the provisions of laws or is selfish. But the truth remains that the blood of that teacher will continue to hang on the shoulders of the Muslim people of Gombe State, particularly, government officials who may choose to do nothing about it.

Again, Shoko, believe me or not. These kind of crises will not be addressed and solved completely, in Nigeria or world over unless with the promulgation of laws and legistlations that will define what desecration of religious symbols is and permanently prohibit it on and over every religion. Adherents of other faiths may not see it as anything to desecrate the sacred symbols of their faiths and as such they can do it to any other faith. Muslims like Khalil may be able to maintain their calm in the face of it as much as they will not do it to any other faith. But others among Muslims may get physical in the face of any desecration of their faith, since they don't do it to any faith, just as others of another faith have gotten physical with me, on this board, over the expression of my opinion in a way I deemed it fit. And in situations like that no one can tell the extent of loss that will be shared among both the strong and the weak.

After the Danish Cartoons and its attendant multiplier effects, Oganisation of Islamic Countries contemplated and embarked on the process of raising a motion in the United Nation's assembly that will see to what I said above and I am sure the organisation will pursue it to the fullest. Only then I will be able to guarantee all my unequivocal condemnation of the incident as reported above without recourse to pointing out other areas where the victims may have done wrong.

No. Shoko. It has always been easy for me to condemn a person who does wrong no matter my closeness with such a person even in matters of faith. But my concern is the faith, negative image of it as it is projected by the opportunist who lays a hand on an unpleasant story.


Well, Shoko,

Perhaps I got it wrong by mixing my emotions and dualising my logic. I should perhaps have just condemned the action now and saved the issue of sensitivity to religious symbols to another time that will surely come. For that I humbly apologise to all agrieved parties even when I can make bold tell Fjord that truly he can not find any Muslim anywhere who will identify totally with his concept of civilised person. In short, at the risk of sounding immodest, I will say none better than I. But then, excelling in the art of living together requires one to understand ALL can not be ONE. And that compromise is a necessary tool of survival as is between husband and wife, brothers, sisters, friends collegues in business, diplomacy and the most difficult train of CONFLICT RESOLUTION. Having travelled far in this direction, the late Pope John Paul was able to see the truth that secular institutions and their all domineering tendencies through the comprehensive grip they have over modern press have always been the destructive tools used to attack the Christian Faith of the past and the present as much as is being used to attack the Muslim Faith of the present.

[_Waziri_]

Again forumites should forgive me, but i find Nigerian christians some of the most intolerant and disrespectful people(Lionger is an exception).

I believe Lionger to be one of our success stories on this site. There are ofcourse others like him you were not able to meet, perharps, due to their tight schedules now, like Mallamt, the American friend of ours, Jack Fulcher and a certain Usman11, who came to this site with every feeling and expression nagative about Muslims but later  changed. I suppose Ete too is begining to reform as is evident in his recent postings as on this thread. I pray he will continue this way that you will be able to put him on the rank of Lionger next time you draw this kind of line, that " Israel may regain her former happiness".

[alkanawi]

"The day Governor Abdukadir Kure formally presented you to the PDP as the new candidate, you were specifically directed that for your administration to succeed, you must implement the Shariah law. Knowing you to be, not only educated but a socialite, will you obey this commandment and do we expect a different kind of Shariah, may be the political, and what is the fate of women in the state under the legal code?"

Question to a gubernatorial candidate by The independent:www.independentngonline.com/?c=185&a=23397

Just want to show a microcosm, if you will, of the attitude of the typical southern christian to his northern muslim brothers.I hasten to add that though it might look like stereotyping,it is actually a phenomena observed and experienced over a long period.Some try to be subtle about it while others are brash and dont give a ***** about hurting people's feelings.

The innuendo in that thinly disguised question is the belief that sharia, and by extension islam, is incompatible with education and being sociable.Put another way, you only demand to live by the dictates of your beliefs if you are either an illiterate ignoramus or a reclusive antisocial being.
The last part about state of women under sharia is also part of the lazy or mischievious brand of journalism practiced by our people.For example what stops him from going around the state and getting first hand info from the so called "oppressed women"? And sadly our poor cousins form their opinions from such (deliberate?)misguided attacks masked as news.

Now  those who are familiar with the north (Dave?)would tell you that there are indigeneous christian as well as spirit worshippers in the north.Perhaps among the more famous are the Bamaiyi family right in the heart of sokoto empire.Even the deputy governor of Gombe state, where the incident happened,is a christian.But by a strange twist of coincidence, almost all the riots and disturbances are allegedly sparked by actions done by christians from the south.

I dont know i'm  perplexed
   

[Dave McEwan Hill]

No behaviour by any ignoramus, no matter how offensive, justifies rioting and the attacking of completely innocent people and I'm surprised that anyone on this site would seek to make any excuse for it.
I understand Islam is a religion of peace. Those who rampage about in many places in the world rioting, burning and killing innocent people under the convenient excuse of some insult to Islam or the Koran are a disgrace to Islam and are thugs - no more, no less.

[alkanawi]

No behaviour by any ignoramus, no matter how offensive, justifies rioting and the attacking of completely innocent people and I'm surprised that anyone on this site would seek to make any excuse for it.
I understand Islam is a religion of peace. Those who rampage about in many places in the world rioting,burning and killing innocent people under the convenient excuse of some insult to Islam or the Koran are a disgrace to Islam and are thugs - no more, no less.

Spot on Dave


However i'm at a loss as to who is trying to justify what happened seeing the total condemnation by members of the forum.We are all trying to discuss and go to the root matter of such incidences.For clarity's sake let me refreshen us

I think we are all agreed that violence,killing,and the destruction of property is not the answer to our hurt feelings.However the sad reality is that riots do happen and the important thing is to find ways to prevent the spark that ignites such acts.
Please let us respect each other and those criminals should be brought to book pronto

If the members of the national assembly had any sense at all, by now, religious killings would have classified as a hate crime punishable by the death penalty. When a few example are made of sick people whose fanatical zealousness becomes a risk to civil society, maybe others would be deterred from further unprovoked violence. 

that was an utterly disgusting,despicable and indefensible act.I was shocked when i read the news and we should condemn it totally.It all goes to show the state of lawlessness to which we have sunk.Killing innocent people under any guise is unacceptable.
We should respect each other please and those people should be brought to book promptly

So in all, no excuses should be made, and we should not rationalize violence. We should condemn it strongly and not offer excuses for the perpetrators of it be they Muslims, Animist, Buddhist, Christians, Pagans, Hindus, or Atheists.

For the response of the Muslims in Gombe, nothing can be further away from my position unless if such Muslim is ignorant with the provisions of laws or is selfish. But the truth remains that the blood of that teacher will continue to hang on the shoulders of the Muslim people of Gombe State, particularly, government officials who may choose to do nothing about it.
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