A ‘holy war’ broke out in Kachia town in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State yesterday, as Muslim and Christian youths demolished and burnt churches and mosques in the community.
But the state police command has assured that the situation was under control, and that no life was lost, just as it warned that a 24-hour curfew had been imposed on the area by the state government.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Aminu Lawal, a Superintendent of Police (SP) said: “The situation is under control as our men are fully on ground. No life was lost, but we don’t have the number of worship places that were burnt. We will let you know in due course as we don’t want to give wrong figures.”
According to eyewitness account, trouble started when some youths went to fence a prayer-ground against encroachment, but discovered that a part of the land that was earlier renovated and fenced had been damaged by unknown persons.
The youths, it was gathered, reported the incident to the local government Chairman, Mr. Peter Agaite, who promised to foot the bill of the renovation of the damaged portion, but he was yet to fulfill the promise, when yesterday, the youth saw another damaged done to the prayer ground.
It was at this point, the source stated that the youths, suspected members of a nearby church to be responsible for the damages and demolished the church.
In retaliation, some members of the church allegedly demolished nearby mosques in the area.