JOS, NIGERIA // "Welcome to our beautiful, troubled Jos," Esther Ibanga said wistfully. Sitting in her plush office in this central Nigerian city, the evangelical Christian minister gazed out at the mango trees and rocky escarpments dotting the arid plateau, the view made hazy by the last of the dry, dusty trade winds that blow in from the Sahara each year.
Her description could not be more fitting. Two decades ago, Jos was a cosmopolitan city, home to Muslims and Christians as well as to ethnic Hausa traders from the north and ethnic Igbo businessmen from the East.
After Nigeria gained independence in the early 1960s, missionaries from many corners of the globe and representing Christian denominations of every sort set up their headquarters here. Foreigners working in other Nigerian cities also thronged here for holidays, attracted to its pleasant climate.
Today, Jos is a paralysed and segregated city, where Christians and Muslims are divided into near ghettoes and motorcycle taxi drivers are frequently killed when they venture into the wrong neighbourhood.
With each wave of violence that has swept over Jos, attitudes have hardened further and larger numbers of people have died, in more brutal ways each time. Since 2001, Human Rights Watch estimates that nearly 4,000 men, women and children have been killed with machetes, AK-47s and bombs, or burnt alive.
As in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, there are many divides among the 152 million people of Nigeria: ethnic, tribal, economic, political and religious. However, during periods of escalating tension - as in the case of presidential elections tomorrow when much power and patronage are at stake - it is religion, as well as ethnicity, that become the affiliations around which Nigerians rally with most zeal.
Also, it must be added, with the most calamitous results, when fears for the prosperity, even for the survival, of one's ethnic group or religion are fomented and manipulated for political ends. Such has often been the case in Jos.
The failure of Nigerian leaders to address intercommunal violence is one of many factors preventing the resolution of the conflict in Jos, said Ignatius Kaigama, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Jos.
Archbishop Kaigama said he is in the minority among both Christian and Muslim religious leaders who have refrained from stoking the crisis through the extreme rhetoric they feel is merited by the fear of being dominated by the other.
In January 2010, Archbishop Kaigama went on local radio to deny a statement made on air by the Jos police commissioner that a Catholic church had been bombed by Muslims. By the time he debunked the story, Christians had already entered Muslim neighbourhoods to begin vicious "retaliatory" attacks.
Each successive killing or attack on a holy place - or rumours of such - reverberate through mosques and churches, regularly bringing tensions in Jos to a breaking point on Fridays and Sundays.
"Talking as a Christian, the problems we have been experiencing are almost beyond man," Rev Ibanga said. "It's getting to a point where these problems need divine intervention."
Jos is rampant with rumours explaining who is running guns, who is paying youth to kill, how the attacks became increasingly well-organised, and when the next explosion will happen.
Last week, a Hausa Muslim motorcycle taxi driver went missing, recounted Mohammed Lawal Ishaq, the head of a Muslim affairs council at the Jaama'atu Nasril Islam mosque in northern Jos. A few days ago, the young man's corpse was found in a well.
Mr Ishaq, a lawyer, said that the public message delivered by imams at the mosque is that despite the horrific violence his community has suffered, the youths who want to respond must remain peaceful.
"It's difficult because the youth react," said Mr Ishaq. His council, however, is overtly political, a self-appointed group of men who like leaders of other religious and ethnic groups in Nigeria carry out a time-honoured practice: directing members of their community how to vote.
With a secure bloc of voters behind him, Mr Ishaq says his council is currently "in negotiations" with two gubernatorial candidates who have pledged to offer more support to the Muslim community than has the current governor, who is widely criticised by the Hausa Muslim community and by moderate Christians for pursuing an exclusionary agenda against Muslims in the state.
"I'm very conscious of the fact that all of the citizens in my state are my responsibility," said the governor, Jonah Jang, in an interview with The National.
Governor Jang's interpretation of the constitution and of the history of his state draws a clear line between the "indigene" - mainly Christian people in the central region of Nigeria known as the Plateau - and "settlers" - Hausa Muslims from northern Nigeria and nomadic Fulani cattle herders who migrated or were forced to come to the region to work in tin mines during the period of British colonial rule.
Many of these migrants brought their culture, traditions and language to the area. Today, Hausa is the lingua franca in Jos, and many of the markets are dominated by Hausa traders.
Christian fears of Muslim domination, or another jihad like the 19th-century conquest by Usman Dan Fodio, seem to personally drive Gov Jang, who became an evangelical Christian after he retired from the air force as a one-star general in the early 1990s.
"They still think they can get [the Plateau region] back to Islamicise it," he said, referring to the "failure" of Dan Fodio's jihad to conquer the Plateau.
Although Gov Jang asserts that the crisis is not purely religious, he has been accused of perpetuating sectarian strife by denying Muslims from the Hausa and Fulani ethnic groups rights that the Nigerian constitution guarantees them as citizens. His administration has allegedly denied positions in his government, treatment at public hospitals, and places in secondary schools for Muslim children.
Although the governor denies practising anti-Muslim discrimination, his government has repeatedly refused to grant its Hausa and Fulani residents "indigene" certificates, which are required in order to gain access to health care, state education, and other services.
Besides the governor, others appear to have an institutional stake in the conflict.
"Too many people are making too much money off of it," said a long-time resident of Jos, who detailed the ways in which the government, the military, and religious authorities benefit financially and otherwise from the ongoing insecurity.
To Hadjiya Khadija Gambo Hawaya, a Hausa Muslim women's leader, the use of religious differences to explain the conflict in Jos is a canard.
"This is madness," she said. "We must coexist peacefully ... the real problem is bad governance."
Some here recall a more peaceful time.
"Before, the Christians came [to celebrate with the Muslims] on salah and the Muslims came on Christmas," said Gumbo Adamu, a man from one of the "indigene" ethnic groups on the Plateau who is Muslim, making him a target for attacks from both communities.
Mr Adamu works on a farm outside of Jos that is next to a formerly mixed village that was attacked by armed Christians last year. The remaining residents say that all the Muslim houses were burnt and not a single Muslim person resides in the village.
"The pastors and the imams are causing this crisis," said Mr Adamu. "When this crisis is over we'll prosecute all of them."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Watford 2 (Sarr 50', Deeney 54' pen)
Manchester United 0
Results:
6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 2,000m - Winner: Powderhouse, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)
7.05pm: Handicap Dh165,000 2,200m - Winner: Heraldic, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.40pm: Conditions Dh240,000 1,600m - Winner: Walking Thunder, Connor Beasley, Ahmed bin Harmash
8.15pm: Handicap Dh190,000 2,000m - Winner: Key Bid, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
8.50pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 1,200m - Winner: Drafted, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
9.25pm: Handicap Dh170,000 1,600m - Winner: Cachao, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
10pm: Handicap Dh190,000 1,400m - Winner: Rodaini, Connor Beasley, Ahmed bin Harmash
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)
Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
The biog
Family: wife, four children, 11 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren
Reads: Newspapers, historical, religious books and biographies
Education: High school in Thatta, a city now in Pakistan
Regrets: Not completing college in Karachi when universities were shut down following protests by freedom fighters for the British to quit India
Happiness: Work on creative ideas, you will also need ideals to make people happy
The specs: 2018 BMW R nineT Scrambler
Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
Torque 116Nm @ 6,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.3L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
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Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
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Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Day 5, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day When Dilruwan Perera dismissed Yasir Shah to end Pakistan’s limp resistance, the Sri Lankans charged around the field with the fevered delirium of a side not used to winning. Trouble was, they had not. The delivery was deemed a no ball. Sri Lanka had a nervy wait, but it was merely a stay of execution for the beleaguered hosts.
Stat of the day – 5 Pakistan have lost all 10 wickets on the fifth day of a Test five times since the start of 2016. It is an alarming departure for a side who had apparently erased regular collapses from their resume. “The only thing I can say, it’s not a mitigating excuse at all, but that’s a young batting line up, obviously trying to find their way,” said Mickey Arthur, Pakistan’s coach.
The verdict Test matches in the UAE are known for speeding up on the last two days, but this was extreme. The first two innings of this Test took 11 sessions to complete. The remaining two were done in less than four. The nature of Pakistan’s capitulation at the end showed just how difficult the transition is going to be in the post Misbah-ul-Haq era.
Specs
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Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
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On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Profile of Foodics
Founders: Ahmad AlZaini and Mosab AlOthmani
Based: Riyadh
Sector: Software
Employees: 150
Amount raised: $8m through seed and Series A - Series B raise ongoing
Funders: Raed Advanced Investment Co, Al-Riyadh Al Walid Investment Co, 500 Falcons, SWM Investment, AlShoaibah SPV, Faith Capital, Technology Investments Co, Savour Holding, Future Resources, Derayah Custody Co.
Favourite things
Luxury: Enjoys window shopping for high-end bags and jewellery
Discount: She works in luxury retail, but is careful about spending, waits for sales, festivals and only buys on discount
University: The only person in her family to go to college, Jiang secured a bachelor’s degree in business management in China
Masters: Studying part-time for a master’s degree in international business marketing in Dubai
Vacation: Heads back home to see family in China
Community work: Member of the Chinese Business Women’s Association of the UAE to encourage other women entrepreneurs
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
