Date:                March 29, 2007

Fifteen more churches marked for burning following murder of Christian Teacher.

by Obed Michakpu

GOMBE, Nigeria, March 29 (Compass Direct News) – Two days after the killing of a Christian teacher in this town in northern Nigeria, Muslim extremists set fire to a church building of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) in the Chanchanya section. The Rev. Rukun Gaius, 50, chairman of the Gombe district of the ECWA, told Compass  that a large number of Muslim extremists went to the church on Friday night (March 23) and set it on fire, gutting the sanctuary. “The Muslims came to the church premises at about 11 p.m. to set the church on fire,” Rev. Gaius said. “People around the area and some of our members who saw the church burning rushed there put it out, but by then much damage had already been done to the building.” The 500 members of the church must now “worship and conduct their church programs in the open,” Rev. Gaius said.