Tension After Katsina Students Burn Churches Over Exam Questions

Debates are still raging following the burning of two churches in Katsina by students protesting allegedly 'blasphemous' exam questions set by a corps member.

These were the 'blasphemous' questions:


"Mohammed is mentally unbalanced, So you should be ___________ of his behaviour. (a) tolerant (b) unintelligible (c) indefinite (d) illegible


Aminatu was ________ and it was not clear to me what she meant. (a) unknown (b) unintelligible (c) indefinite (d) illegible."

Some irate Muslim youths attacked two churches, St Theresa Catholic Church and Celestial Church of Christ, in Funtua town of Katsina State.

The Reverend Father’s lodge at St Theresa Catholic Church, Katsina Road and properties belonging to the Celestial Church of Christ at Tudun Malamai were set ablze in protest.

Spokesman of Katsina State command of NSCDC, Aliyu Jamilu told the News Issue Magazine that the youth went on rampage over alleged defamation of Prophet Muhammad.

“A corp member serving with a secondary school, in setting exams questions, made some reference to Muhammad and Amina. These youths felt he was trying to defame Prophet Muhammad and so went on rampage,” Jamilu said.

A sample of Facebook comment showed a consensus in condemning the action.

Mike Moses Okaba, "For God sake what is wrong if Mohamed name is mention in an examination... Even the idols worshipers in my village don't go about killing people because they insult their gods. The idol priest allows his god fight for himself. We as Christians will never go about killing non-Christians because they insult or [speak] bad about JESUS..."

Remi Adeoye, "Muhammad and Amina are very common names in the north. If the reference was not to prophet Mohammad then I am sure no disrespect was intended by the [corps member] who obviously used the names because they are popular northern names. But whatever the case may be, it is madness to resort to killing people and burning places of worship because of alleged misconduct of one person. Any person that supports such action is not fit to live among civilized people."

Nasiru Sa'adu Fakai wrote, “The truth is that, we must always try to dig out the reality of events before condemning or supporting it. There is. Nothing in Islam that support the destruction of lives and property, infact, what Islam teaches thru our prophet Muhammad is Love, Peace and Tolerance. Anytime I hear of killings or destruction in the name of Islam, I always conclude that, there are more to it than what the eyes see or the ears hear."

There is still tension in Funtua town even as security agents have been deployed to maintain order.