How to end religious conflicts – Bishop Kantiyok
By DESMOND MGBOH, Kano
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bishop Yohanna Kantiyok Jaja is the newly transferred Bishop of the Methodist Church in Kano State. Those who have followed his career, right from his days in Kaduna and Plateau states in their most trying religious crises, count on him as a respected peace builder, an outspoken clergy and a strong evangelist of truth. It is no surprising that the bishop has since indicated interest to help end religious conflicts in Kano state.
Sir, you may wish to tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Right. Rev. Yoyanna. Kantiyok Jaja, the Bishop of the Methodist church, Kano Diocese. I was formerly in Jos, Plateau State. Jos Diocese and the Kano Diocese of the Methodist Church both started the same year, in 2002 and I happened to be the first Bishop of Jos. I was born in 1955 in Zango-Kataf, in Southern Kaduna area of Kaduna State. I was a former Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Zango Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State. I was also a former Vice Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Plateau State.

You have just been transferred as the new Methodist Bishop of Kano Diocese, comprising several states in the north – Kano, Zamfara, Borno, Kastina, and others. What is your mission, what do you plan to make out of this assignment, given the enormous challenges before you and before the christain communities in these states?

As a missionary, my mission is to glorify God in all ramifications. The missionaries that first brought religion to us, they came with a vision, which is to educate us, to give us assistance in terms of healthcare and enlighten us on the teachings of God. You know, you cannot preach to somebody who is illiterate – he may not understand you. You cannot also preach to somebody who is sick. So, the missionaries came with those two basic visions: education and health.

We are where we are today, as Christians, based on what the missionaries gave to us. Looking at the country today, it is true that the government, be it federal or state, cannot sufficiently provide the right quality of education to all of us. In terms of health, government alone cannot meet all the health need for all Nigerians. So, the church has a role to play, a serious role to play in the education of the society. In the past, the government took over all our schools, but today, the government is returning them. The best schools are the mission schools and the government officials are sending their kids back to the mission schools.

Hence, our mission is to see how we would support government in terms of education, how we would support government in terms of health care for the generality of Nigerians. My challenge would be to enhance the health care system of Nigerians in Kano State and in all the states under my Diocese, with the support of my church and to push the frontiers of education further in these states.
Incidentally, Jos, your former point of calling used to be stressed up by religious problem until very lately. How did the Christians finally manage to establish a relative peace with their Muslim brothers in the state?

The last crisis in Jos, Plateau State, like most crises in other places, sometimes if you look at it closely, they would say it is religious. But frankly speaking, you can quote me on this; it is all political, political competition for relevance and prominence by people who will hurriedly say it is religious. They would just blame it on religion. And the only solution to it all is dialogue. Let me take you back to the days when I was in Kaduna State.

In the heat of their own problem, I was one of the executive members of the Inter -religious harmony group, set up by the state government and the secret of our eventual success then, was dialogue. If we fight and fight and fight, it would not settle the problems. When you look at the predictions of the Bible; the Bible talks about end time. Jesus predicted that the end time would come, that during the end time, we would all hear rumours of war, He talked about nations rising against nations, kingdom against kingdom, These are end times, but with prayers, all these things would pass away.

Your arrival in Kano coincidentally occurred just about the same time when the relation between Christians and Moslems in the state was rather low, given the demolition of the Christian ECWA Church in Gingiyu area of the capital. How can these kind of problems be resolved?

Honestly speaking, by the time this thing was happening (demolition of Church), I was in Maiduguri, Borno State. I have not gotten the full detail of what truly transpired, either from the state CAN Chairman or from the state government. In fact, since I came to town, I have not been able to see the governor, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau or the Emir of Kano, His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ado Bayero. I cannot therefore speak on what exactly led to the demolition of this church.

Recently, the CAN Chairman in the State, Bishop Nyam was beaten up, his car vandalized by angry Christians youths who accuse him of having sold out. Isn’t that surprising that Christian youths are attacking their leadership?
Honestly, I cannot comment on that because I was not there.