The violence associated with the demonstrations against the blasphemous Danish cartoons led to the loss of several lives and the burning of many churches in Maiduguri last weekend. Tragically, reprisals have also occurred in several cities and towns in Eastern Nigeria, with another harvest of deaths and destruction of properties.

It was truly regrettable that a blasphemous attack on the person of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in a small country in Europe, which has been rightly condemned by the Nigerian Council for Islamic Affairs (NCIA) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), would become the reason for an orgy of violence, killings and the massive destruction of properties all over Nigeria. We have no doubts in our minds at Daily Trust that what has happened in the past one week is one tragedy too many; it is therefore unacceptable and must be condemned by all Nigerians.

It is unacceptable that a demonstration to protest blasphemy was then allowed to lead to the killing of innocent Christians and the destruction of churches in Maiduguri. What we ask, is the responsibility of the law-abiding Christians in the city of Maiduguri for the cartoons that were irresponsibly commissioned, published and syndicated by newspapers in Europe? At the same time, how can we accept the reprisals on innocent Muslims and Northerners in Eastern Nigeria?

Clearly, it has become very important to place these recurrent killings, counter-killings and wanton destruction of properties within a context of the current political situation in Nigeria. The Nigerian state has become increasingly unable to find a solution to various problems associated with the development process; this incapacity has its roots in the years of military dictatorship when the state was wilfully privatised and became the instrument of the personal greed of the military dictators, especially from the mid-1980s.

Unfortunately, the return to civil rule has also deepened the frustration in our different communities, because the political elite has been unable to meet the yearnings of the mass of the Nigerian people. As part of the desperation associated with political rivalry, leading members of the political elite have often hinged their conquest of the political space on manipulation of ethnic and religious differences in society.

It is instructive to note that Borno State, where the violence occurred from, is a hot bed of rivalries within the ruling All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) and between the ANPP and the PDP. While these internecine fights are related to the struggle for supremacy in the politics of the 2007 elections in that state, there is the added problem of the open support for the third term agenda of President Obasanjo by the governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sherriff. Taken together, these factors must have contributed significantly to the crises that engulfed Maiduguri last week, leading to the tragic loss of lives and the unfortunate reprisals in Eastern Nigeria.

The Nigerian state must become more responsible in the manner that the issues of development are tackled; a genuine effort must be deployed to ensure that development is people-centred so that the background grievances rooted in poverty can be frontally tackled. We must also be more responsive to our diversities in ethnic and religious terms, by upholding and defending the rights of each and all to legitimately exist within the bounds of lawful pursuits.

We join all right-thinking individuals and groups who have condemned the killings that commenced last week in Maiduguri, and the reprisals in the Eastern part of Nigeria. The perpetrators and sponsors of these tragic events must be brought to book. It is important to underline the fact that we cannot achieve meaningful development in an atmosphere of insecurity and killings. These killings and reprisals are unacceptable and must be stopped forthwith.