Nigeria’s Christians borrow Boko Haram tactics, destroy traditional African religious shrines & art

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Sixteenth and 17th century artefacts made in Benin: Fundamentalist Christians and Boko Haram share a common hostility to ancient African art. (Photo/AFP).

More than 500 traditional-worship sites have been burned down, and worshippers have handed over art worth $500m to pastors.

SAMUEL Nwankwo drove past a mob in the southeastern Nigerian town of Umuoji unaware that it was heading to attack his home.
As the chief priest of a traditional religion in the area, he’d become a target of a crowd of Christian youths who left a revival meeting where several preachers condemned the veneration of ancestral gods. They were bent on eradicating all symbols of such worship in the town of about 30,000 people.
“They ransacked the Udume Abor shrine where we worshiped, then went to my house where they took religious objects and burned them,” Nwankwo, a 45-year-old former Christian pastor, said in an interview. “The entire house would have burned if neighbors didn’t put out the fire.”

Syrian Militants Surrender in Droves to Daraa Governorate

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Over 450 Syrian militants and 250 criminals wanted by government have laid down their arms and return to peaceful life in the south-west of war-torn country.


Roughly seven hundred armed militants and criminals surrendered themselves to the local authorities in the Syrian Daraa Governorate that is situated next to the border with Jordan in the last two days, national Syrian Arab News Agency Sana reported.
Hundreds of militants and other law offenders decided to hand themselves over to authorities under the terms of a national reconciliation program.