Columbia Mourns Child Victims of Bus fire

The number of dead rose after a seven-year-old boy died on Monday.

They were returning from an event at an evangelical Christian church near the city of Fundacion, about 750km (465 miles) north of the capital, Bogota.

Prosecutors said they would charge the driver and the church leader who chartered the bus with manslaughter.

Forensic tests are still under way to identify the bodies of the victims

They said the driver, 56-year-old Jaime Gutierrez, did not have a driving licence.

Moreover, the bus had not passed the necessary technical inspection and lacked mandatory insurance, officials said.
Deadly spark
Prosecutors alleged church leader Manuel Salvador Ibarra was aware of these facts, and would therefore also be charged with manslaughter on 33 counts.

The driver, who had fled the scene of the accident, handed himself in to police after local people threw rocks at his home. Police arrested Mr Ibarra shortly afterwards.

An 11-year-old survivor said the fire started when the driver got out of the bus to refuel it from a jerry can.

The fire spread so quickly, one surviving girl recalled being unable to pull out her two brothers from the blaze

Prosecutors said a spark ignited the fuel. Eyewitnesses reported that the fire spread within seconds.

"We couldn't do anything but hold our heads and watch the children burn, Jose Guette told AFP news agency.
'Backward country'
Forensic experts continue their efforts to identify the victims, many of whom were burned beyond recognition.

The victims ranged in age from toddlers to 12 years. Two of the driver's children are reportedly among those killed.

The mayor of Fundacion has declared three days of mourning

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos travelled to Fundacion on Sunday evening to speak to the victims' relatives.

Mr Santos, who is running for re-election in presidential polls on Sunday, promised to improve the safety of Colombia's public transport.

"This is a tragedy which shouldn't have happened," he told the grieving families.

Leftist presidential candidate Clara Rojas said the accident showed the "backwardness" of the country.

"It's not just the irresponsibility of the driver, but the lack of rigour and presence of the authorities," she said that allowed the accident to happen.

Confab Wants Churches, Mosques to Pay Tax

Delegates to the ongoing National Conference on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted that religious bodies in the country should pay tax to the government.

If the recommendation is passed into law by the National Assembly, it means that churches and mosques in the country will begin to pay tax to the coffers of the government.

The decision to make religious bodies pay taxes came up when a delegate representing civil organisations, Mallam Naseer Kura, during his contribution on the report of the Committee on Religion, said that religious leaders were making much money and should be taxed.

Kura complained that pastors were making too much money at the expense of the people and that many of them owned private jets and universities.

He said with the amount of money that the religious leaders made, they should be made to pay tax to the government.

Also in his contribution, a delegate representing the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Mr. Isaac Ighure, frowned at the situation where he said pastors and heads of churches made too much money not to pay tax.

He stressed that religious bodies should be made to pay taxes and that the elite must stop abusing the poor in the society, saying “some people buy private jets when people in their churches are suffering and living in abject poverty, they should be made to pay taxes.”

When the matter was put to vote, the delegates in unison voted ‘yes’ in support of the motion that religious bodies should pay taxes.

The conference also passed the recommendation that government should discontinue the sponsorship of official government delegations on any pilgrimage.

Not only that, it said that government at all levels, should not utilise public funds to sponsor religious pilgrimages for any category of citizens and government functionaries.

The delegates however rejected the amendments made by some delegates that Fridays should be made a work-free day in the country.

They also voted against another amendments that would make religious bodies and organisations not to be at major highways and areas populated by residential buildings.

The delegates also voted that people who changed religion in the country should not be molested and that they should not be persecuted by their communities and families.,

Sola Akanmode moved the motion for the scrapping of the pilgrimage welfare boards, which was supported by Chief Charles Edosown (SAN).

But Charles Ibiang moved a counter motion, which was seconded by Saidu Dansadau, that the body should stay.

They argued that the pilgrims welfare boards were not meant for government sponsored pilgrims, but to cater for the welfare of those embarking on pilgrimages.

They also said that though they supported that government should not use public funds to sponsor individuals for pilgrimages, there was the need to have a body that would see to the welfare of those that would want to travel on pilgrimage.

Delegates voted on this and the deputy chairman of the conference, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi ruled that those who supported the scraping won.

But a former Minister of Defence, Dr. Bello Aliru, said there was no clear winner on the issue. He said because of that, delegates should be allowed to go for division.

Akinyemi agreed, but many delegates disagreed and expressed displeasure over the turn of events.

They said since the matter had been decided, it was wrong for the issue to be raised again as done by the former acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Seleaka Rebels Kill 11 in CAR Church Attack

At least 11 people have been killed in an attack on a church in the Central African Republic.
Eyewitnesses said members of the Seleka militia group threw grenades before shooting indiscriminately at the Church of Fatima in the capital Bangui.
The mostly Muslim Seleka rebels have been involved in heavy fighting with mainly Christian fighters in the anti-balaka militia since March 2013.
The conflict has displaced about 25% of CAR’s 4.6 million population.
The attack on the church followed hours of fighting in the PK5 neighborhood of Bangui.
Eyewitnesses said those inside the Catholic church were seeking shelter from the clashes.
Rev Freddy Mboula told the Associated Press (AP) that he was in the church when shooting was heard outside.
“There were screams and after 30 minutes of gunfire there were bodies everywhere” he said.
The priest of the church, Jonas Bekas, told Reuters that the death toll would probably rise because there were so many wounded.
“It would have been much worse if the anti-balaka militia had not come to defend us” he said.

IBB Started Religious Crises in Nigeria- Confab Delegate

Dr. Maryam Abdullahi, a delegate representing Civil Society Organisation, CSO, at the on-going National Conference, Tuesday, accused former military President, Ibrahim Babangida of starting religious crises in Nigeria.Dr Abdullahi said the former military ruler pushed Nigeria into membership of the Organisation of Islamic Conference, OIC, without the consent of the people he was ruling, a development, she said started religious crises in the country.She insisted that the relationship between Christians and Muslims deteriorated when Nigeria was admitted as a full member of Organisation of the Islamic Conference.Abdullahi, specifically said Babangida, who pushed for Nigeria’s full membership of OIC, did that to manipulate religion in order to perpetuate himself in the office, insisting that this was the beginning of mistrust between adherents of the two faith because of mutual suspicion of possible Islamization of Nigeria.Abdullahi spoke while making her contribution to the debate on the report of the conference Committee on Religion, during plenary.The delegate who spoke to the applause of her colleagues, said: “The relationship between Christians and Muslims deteriorated when Nigeria was admitted as full member of Organisation of the Islamic Conference.“This made Christians to start resisting any move that would portray Nigeria as an Islamic state.“Consequent to this, there is the prevailing mistrust and disharmony between the adherents of the two religions in the country.“Mr. Chairman, the then Head of State, that pushed for the admission of Nigeria into OIC did not do that in consultation with the Muslims. He did that in order to manipulate religion as a political tool to perpetuate himself in office and now Nigeria is the worst for it,” she said.She, however, cautioned against viewing every political policy from religious perspective, explaining that OIC an economic forum not only for Islamic states but also for countries that have Muslims minority.Dr Abdullahi appealed to the conference to allay the fears of Nigerians that nobody would Islamize or Christianize Nigeria and urged political class to stop manipulating religion and ethnicity in order to achieve a political goal.She called for strengthening of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council in order to promote inter-religious peace and stability, while also calling for inter-religious dialogue in Nigeria.But the recommendations by the Committee on Religion that governments at all levels shall not utilize public funds to sponsor any religious pilgrimages for any category of citizens and government functionaries generated heated arguments among delegates.Similarly, the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission to be jointly chaired by a Muslim and a Christian, generated heated debate among the delegates.While some delegates applauded the report, others condemned the two recommendations, describing them as unnecessary.The immediate past Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i, in her contribution, commended the work of the committee and supported the recommendation that government should stop sponsorship of delegations on any pilgrimages.But she disapproved the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission, arguing that Nigeria already had too many commissions and that there were bodies on ground, especially the National Human Rights Commission to deal with such issues as stipulated in the committee’s recommendation.Also contributing, another delegate, Mr. Atedo Peterside, said he endorsed over 90 percent of the report in view of the excellent work done by the committee but disagreed on the recommendation for establishment of a National Religious Equity Commission.He argued that establishing the commission was like what he described as “using a single evidence to arrive at different results.”Mr Peterside drew the attention of the delegates to the situation in France where he said religious organisations came together to address some of the problems they faced instead of bringing the government into it.“I have strong reservations in this. We should not allow government to get into religion under any guise. Countries that don’t take religion so seriously make far progress than those, who embrace religion.“As beautiful as this report is, we should be careful. This is the kind of item for which it is very clear that fundamental rights are the issues. Those rights should be handled by religious NGOs and we should not elevate religion above fundamental human rights,”he added

Meriam Ibrahim,Christian Sudanese Mother Sentenced to Death for Faith, Expected to Be Freed

A defiant Christian woman in Sudan who was sentenced to death while pregnant for refusing to renounce her faith and converting to Islam, is expected to be released within days.
The BBC reported Saturday that Sudanese officials announced that Meriam Ibrahim, 27, who gave birth to a baby girl in custody this week, is to be freed.
Abdullah Alzareg, an under-secretary at the Foreign Ministry, said Sudan guaranteed religious freedom and vowed to protect the young mother.

Meriam's death sentence was expected to be carried out two years after the birth of her baby along with 100 lashes for marrying Christian U.S. citizen Daniel Wani and practicing Christianity.

An Islamic Sharia Judge had given her the opportunity to avoid the death sentence by renouncing Christ and becoming a Muslim but she defiantly rejected the offer choosing to face death by hanging instead.
"If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I'm not going to change my faith," she said in an earlier report.
"I refuse to change. I am not giving up Christianity just so that I can live. I know I could stay alive by becoming a Muslim and I would be able to look after our family, but I need to be true to myself," she added.
Despite being a Christian himself, her husband Daniel said his wife's resolve was amazing because she didn't even "flinch" when she was sentenced to death.
"My wife is very, very strong. She is stronger than me. When they sentenced her to death I broke down and tears were streaming down my eyes. Our lawyers were passing me tissues. But she stayed strong. She did not flinch when she was sentenced. It was amazing to see, particularly because she is the one facing the death penalty," he had said.
In an interview with The Telegraph after the birth of their daughter this week, Daniel said he was upset about the way his wife was treated when she gave birth at the Omdurman Federal Women's Prison in North Khartoum, Sudan.
"They kept a chain on her legs. She is very unhappy about that," he said.

British PM Condemns Death Sentence in Sudan

David Cameron has urged the Sudanese government to lift the “barbaric” death sentence handed down to a Christian woman accused of abandoning Islam.

A court ruled that Meriam Ibrahim, who was raised by her Christian mother and married a Christian, was Muslim in line with her father – which she rejects.

The PM said he was “appalled” by the treatment of Ms Ibrahim, who gave birth to a daughter in her cell on Wednesday.

UK leaders Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband also condemned her death sentence.

Mr Cameron said the treatment of Ms Ibrahim had “no place in today’s world” and said the UK would “continue to press the government of Sudan to act”.

“Religious freedom is an absolute, fundamental human right.

“I urge the government of Sudan to overturn the sentence and immediately provide appropriate support and medical care for her and her children,” he said.
Even though Ms Ibrahim, 27, was brought up as an Orthodox Christian, a Sudanese judge ruled earlier this month that she should be regarded as Muslim because it had been her father’s faith.

She has refused to renounce her Christianity and has been sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy.

According to Islamic law, Ms Ibrahim can nurse her baby daughter for two years before the sentence is carried out.

Her Christian marriage, in 2011, has also been annulled and she has been sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery because her marriage is not valid under Islamic law.

Sudan has a majority Muslim population and Islamic law has been in force there since the 1980s.

UK probes Islamic preacher for hailing Chibok abduction

 

 

 A United Kingdom-based Islamic preacher, Mizanur Rahman, is being investigated by police after a video showed him praising Boko Haram for kidnapping over 200 schoolgirls.

The 31-year-old of Palmers Green, north London, claimed in the video-recording posted online that killing non-Muslims was ‘not necessarily a bad thing.’

The sect had abducted the pupils from Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State since April 14.

A report by a UK tabloid, Daily Mail, said Rahman also praised the terror group for its activities.

He said in the video, “People want to make it out as though history began on the day these girls were taken from – sorry I should say these women – were taken from this high school in Nigeria.

“They didn’t do to these girls what the Nigerian government had been doing to the Muslims all these years. They didn’t rape anybody. They didn’t torture. They didn’t murder any of these girls.”

The preacher was quoted to have described the terrorist group as being “full of good messages,” including its support for al-Qaeda.

Rahman, said to be a follower of a firebrand preacher, Anjem Choudary, was convicted in 2007 for a murder-related case and bagged a six-year jail sentence. He was released from prison in 2010.

Choudary, who set up the banned Al Muhajiroun organisation with exiled Omar Bakri Muhammad, however, said Rahman was a ‘good friend’ who had given a measured response to the crisis.

He said, “I believe if you look at what he was saying it was very measured. You just have to look at the atrocities that, especially in 2011 and 2012, that were carried out against the women and child of Al Mujahideen by the Nigerian government.

“That story has not been told, and this is retaliation for that. The Americans are only interested in Nigeria because of its oil reserves. Otherwise, they would not be bothered.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said, “We are aware of the video and we are assessing its contents. We are not prepared to discuss this further.”

Christ Embassy Denies Oyakhilomes'"Break-up

Authorities of Christ Embassy International have denied reports of break-up between the Senior Pastor of the church, Chris Oyakhilome, and his wife, Anita.

The church described online media reports that the marriage had crashed as “make-up stories.”

In a post on a Facebook account opened by Anita’s supporters, ‘Where is Rev. Anita Oyakhilome?’ the senior pastor was quoted as saying there was an ongoing domestic issue with Anita.

The recipient of a call made to the official contact line of the church, who identified herself simply as Pastor Mercy, said the report was false.

She said, “It is not true; it is a rumour. All these things are make-up stories.”

A post on the Facebook page purported to be the summary of Pastor Chris’ speech with United Kingdom-based pastors and deacons of Christ Embassy at the Bermondsey branch of the church on May 16, 2014, stated that, “I am here for your concerns about the ongoing domestic issue with my wife and I know it affects you directly, being the ones under her leadership.”

He allegedly asked the pastors not disposed to the developments in the church to quit. According to report quoting him, “You don’t join a woman to fight her husband.”

“Bitterness is prolonged and accumulated anger. My wife is always angry and bitter,” he was quoted as saying.

Oyakhilome also allegedly said, “Some pastors’ wives think when they marry a pastor, they are equal to the pastor. My wife thinks so. As a matter of fact, Rev. Tom was her pastor before I married her and Rev. Ray and Evang. Owase were her leaders long before I married her. How come she thinks she’s senior to them now?

“I already started Christ Embassy before I married her. I didn’t marry her and said we should start Christ Embassy. I was already ‘pastoring.’ I already set my sail and knew my direction before I married her. I only said ‘come and help me.’

“Be careful of the friends you keep. My wife keeps friends who bring out the worst in her and help her see the worst in people, instead of keeping friends that will help her vision, especially as the wife of a global pastor like me.”

Another member of the church dismissed the reports as speculations. She said it could only be confirmed by an official press release by the leadership of the church.

“There are issues, yes, but the Facebook post is an absolute fallacy,” the member, who pleaded anonymity, said.

Culled from Punch Newspaper