An alleged mispronunciation taken to be blasphemous in Nigeria’s
north sparked a riot by Muslim youths Thursday, leaving four people dead as
well as a church and shops burnt, police and residents said.
“What happened in (the town of) Bichi was
misinformation,” Kano state police chief Ibrahim Idris told reporters. “Rumours
went round that someone blasphemed the Prophet and there was a breakdown of law
and order.”
Residents reported four people dead along with the church
and Christian-owned shops burnt.
The riot came on the same day that former British prime
minister Tony Blair and the incoming spiritual head of the world’s Anglicans
Justin Welby launched an initiative in the Nigerian capital Abuja aimed at
Muslim-Christian reconciliation.
According to Idris, a Christian tailor mispronounced the
name of a dress while chatting with his Muslim neighbour in Hausa, the major
language spoken in the north, changing the meaning to ‘the Prophet has come to
the market’.
Idris however denied anyone was killed, though residents
spoke of the deaths. Bichi is located some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from Kano,
the largest city in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north.
“Four Igbos were killed in the attacks. One of them was
thrown into a ditch near my house,” one resident said, referring to a mainly
Christian ethnic group.
“Scores of shops owned by Christians and a church were
burnt by a large mob of Muslim youth who set bonfires on the road and disrupted
traffic.”
Another resident said he saw four dead bodies “hacked
with machetes by the rioters”. Religious and ethnic tensions in the country
regularly lead to outbreaks of violence.
AFP
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