Yelwa Massacre
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The Yelwa massacre took place on May 2, 2004, in Yelwa, Nigeria. According to reports more than 630 Muslims were killed by SOME Christians youths. The youths surrounded Yelwa and many were bare- chested; others wore shirts on which they had reportedly pinned white name tags identifying them as members of the Christian Association of Nigeria. Each tag had a number instead of a name: a code, it seemed, for identification. They attacked the town.
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According to Human Rights Watch, 660 Muslims were massacred over the course of the next two days, including patients in the Al-Amin clinic. Twelve Mosques and 300 houses went up in flames. Young girls were marched to a nearby Christian town and forced to eat pork and drink alcohol. Many were raped, and 50 were killed.
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It is true that Fulani herdsmen do not have monopoly of violence in the country. Long before the killer herdsmen there were SOME marauding Christian Youths of Northern Nigeria.
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The point of this post is that violence in the north is not and has never been one sided. As a matter of fact Muslim casualties are usually much higher and underreported. So one group should stop feeling like the sole victims of violence. We are all victims.
Igho Hakeem Ohwojeheri
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