WASHINGTON, March 7, 2011 /
Christian Newswire/ -- In commemoration of the one year anniversary of the Jos massacres, the Institute on Religion and Democracy will co-host a briefing on conflict in Nigeria featuring high-ranking dignitaries and political leaders from the African nation.
Emmanuel Ogebe, special counsel, Justice for Jos project, will release a report on the Jos massacres and the continuing threat of Islamism to Nigeria's Christians, Nigeria's identity as a secular democracy, and to America's national security.
What: Briefing on the Conflict in Nigeria on the one year anniversary of the Jos massacres
Who: Institute on Religion and Democracy, Westminster Institute, Jubilee Campaign USA, Barnabas Fund
Where: Capitol Hill, Room 2237 Rayburn House Office Building
When: Tuesday, March 8, 2011, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Background: On Christmas Day, 2009, Nigerian jihadist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the "underwear bomber," failed to blow up 300 people on Northwest Airlines Flight #253. But within Nigeria jihad has been more aggressive and successful. Inter-religious violence inspired by Islamic supremacism has killed over 50,000 people in the past ten years in Nigeria. One third of Nigerian states have instituted Islamic law as the highest legal authority, opening the door to unchecked persecution of non-Muslims.
The area of Jos, in central Plateau State has been hard hit by attacks on the Christian population. In January 2010, an attack resulted in some 500 Christians and Muslims killed, and almost wiped out the population of a small Christian village outside of Jos. Then in the early morning hours of March 7, 2010, a Muslim mob attacked another Christian community, hacking men, women, and children to death with machetes.
IRD Religious Liberty Director Faith J.H. McDonnell commented:
"It is time for us to understand the connections between the slaughter of innocent Christians in Nigeria and the threat of Islamic supremacism to freedom and democracy in the United States."
Available for Interviews:
Dr. Walid Phares -- Terrorism and jihad expert and author of The Coming Revolution.
Barrister Gregory Lar -- Attorney to the families of those murdered in the March 2010 massacre.
Martha Bodurin -- Nigerian Congresswoman
Edward Pwajok -- Plateau State Attorney General
Emmanuel Ogebe -- Special counsel, Justice for Jos project
