My History

CHRISTIANITY

One of the most complex features of Nigeria is its ethnicity. Like most other African nations, Nigeria has three; major religions: Christianity, Islam and traditional religions. These negative and positive characters have respectively contributed to the development of human capital. In Jos, the northern Nigeria, it is either the Muslims against the Christians or the Hausa/Fulani against Siyawa. There are various reasons as to why the religious crisis often leads to war in Jos. Whatever the reason, this religious crisis made my family go through many difficulties when living in Jos.

The fact that we are Christians and lived in Jos posed a big problem for my family. Before moving to Jos, we used to live in Lagos which is the commercial capital of Nigeria and our lives were like that of kings and queens. We ate what we wanted, went to places of our own without permission and so on. We were so happy there until one morning when my grandfather received a letter concerning a job he had to finish in Jos. The following week, we moved to Jos and we started facing difficulties that same week. We couldn’t go to church; neither could i put on trousers. Even in school as a Christian, you are not allowed to talk to a fellow Muslim. For example, my grandfather’s colleague who was a Muslim was just having a conversation outside his house with his two other friends complaining about the conflict and how it could be solved. He was beheaded in front of his own house, and the house too was burnt down.

The loss of my grandmother’s first home was also one of the hard difficulties we encountered when we moved to Jos. This made it difficult for us to survive; it was like the world was coming to an end for us. We were thrown out of our own house just because we refused to become Muslims. Getting food to eat was very difficult; to get a loaf of bread, we had to form long queues. One day, my cousin went to get some food for the day, but he decided to get some tubers of yam and some pepper on his way back home. He was stopped by some jihadists and asked if he was a Christian or a Muslim. He said he was a Muslim and he was given a gun to kill his family, with a promise that Allah would reward him in heaven with seven virgins. He refused and was killed, and then we were thrown out of our own house into the rain.

Finally, my grandfather suggested it was best for us to sneak out of Jos in the middle of the night before it was too late. We ran into the bush and camped there for a while until we found our way out to the closest state. Our lives were miserable. Even the government could not help the Jos situation; instead, they were scared themselves! During our struggle to make it to another state, we found some family in the same bush where we were, and we planned it together to get out despite the risk of danger and deaths. Our faith and determination saw us through and it ends abruptly.

The religious divide the once green and peaceful Nigeria into shreds. The Christians and Muslims killed one another because the Muslims wanted the land to be for them alone. Our lives in Jos would always be a memorable one. Even today, the Jos crisis is still going on. Thankfully, my family got back to Lagos safely and we have no problems whatsoever today. We were just fortunate, but some people were not as lucky as us. The different ethnic groups should be welded together and made to pledge loyalty to the nation, rather than stay divided.