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Nigeria's Obasanjo Defends Shari’a, Blames Press for Miss World Riots

"Irresponsible journalism in Nigeria bears responsibility," said Obasanjo

LAGOS, November 26 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo blamed an inflammatory newspaper article that slandered Prophet Muhammad (Peace and prayers be upon him) for the riots that killed more than 200 Nigerian citizens and drove the Miss World beauty contest out of the country.

"Irresponsible journalism in Nigeria bears responsibility. What happened obviously could have happened at any time," he said late Monday, November 25, on CNN, blaming a Nigerian daily for stirring trouble with an article on Miss World.

Riots erupted in Kaduna last week after the newspaper This Day published an offensive Miss World article in which it implied that Prophet Mohammed (Peace and prayers be upon him) would have enjoyed the show.

The government appealed for calm and assured Muslims that those responsible for the article would be brought to book, for exceeding the bounds of responsible journalism, BBC News Online reported.

This Day has retracted the offending article and has published apologies.

The chairman of the group that owns the Lagos-based paper suggested that a computer glitch could have been to blame for the fact that the story went to press in the first place.

Calm returned to Kaduna Monday, but not before 220 people had been killed in clashes between Muslims, Christians and the security services and the Miss World pageant had pulled out of Nigeria for London.

Tense calm prevailed in Kaduna over the past 24 hours

The debacle has been greeted as a national humiliation by many Nigerian commentators, but Obasanjo said he was "sorry that they had to leave Nigeria… They were guests within our gates and we did everything possible to show that we are good hosts and hostesses in Nigeria."

The immediate spark for the fighting in Kaduna and a brief violent protest by Muslims in Abuja Friday were the result of the This Day article, which many Nigerian Muslims found offensive.

Muslim leaders have insisted that they found the very idea of hosting a "parade of nudity" unacceptable, particularly as the beauty queens arrived in Nigeria during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Some observers have blamed the riots on increased tensions between Muslims and Christians who object to 12 northern states reintroducing Shari’a (Islamic Law).

But Obasanjo said that under Nigeria's federal constitution, each state had a right to make its own laws, adding: "Anybody who tried to enforce a unity form of government in this land would destroy it overnight."

Meanwhile, Kaduna was reportedly peaceful overnight, officials and residents said Tuesday, November 26, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It's been quiet since yesterday," said Maktar Sirajo, spokesman for Kaduna State's governor. "Many arrests have been made. The people will be brought to court today."

Kaduna's assistant police commissioner for operations, Samuel Ogunbayode, confirmed that no trouble occurred overnight, and that around 300 suspected rioters were in custody.

"Right now, things have calmed down considerably," Nigerian Red Cross president Emmanuel Ijewere told AFP. "Four people died overnight of their injuries, bringing the total to around 220."

More than 30,000 people fled their homes during the trouble, he said.

"We have found that more people than we first thought were displaced. We have counted 6,006 families, and there are an average of five people per family," he said.

"We hope that today people will begin to return home, as things are a lot calmer," he added.

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