Commenting on the deaths the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Engineer Salifu said, “It was not Christians who killed them; it was their own unfortunate attitude."
He added that such inaccurate reporting could fuel further violence against Christians in other parts of the country.
The number of Christians to be killed in the violence has yet to be confirmed but Salifu informed CSW that more than 16 churches are known to have been burnt down and at least four pastors are confirmed to have been killed. They include a pastor belonging to the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) who was shot dead in the suburb of Congo-Russia, and another from the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), who was killed in the Rikkos area.
He said he expected the final death toll to be above 100.
The evidence suggests that the violence was planned in advance, with some of the 500 Muslim rioters so far arrested wearing fake police and military uniforms.
Some 200 rioters are citizens of neighbouring Niger, while 300 are from the northern Nigerian states of Kano, Katsina and Sokoto.
Some of the rioters appeared to travel to Jos specially to take part in the violence, with some informing police that they had arrived in the city three days prior to the outbreak of attacks.
“They had weapons, many weapons” said another source. "They were ready, very ready”.
Commenting on the weekend’s violence, the Most Rev Dr Benjamin Kwashi, Anglican Archbishop of Jos told CSW: “This crisis is a wake up call to state and federal authorities to undertake a serious appraisal of all the previous crises in Jos and elsewhere that have affected the church in northern Nigeria, and to ensure that truth is told, truth is maintained and justice is done.
"We have become a convenient scapegoat and target for those with grievances about events both at home and abroad. The Church in northern Nigeria needs urgent national and international protection. We have suffered this violence for over 20 years and it is now becoming unbearable."
CSW’s Advocacy Director Tina Lambert said: "We are deeply saddened by the horrific violence that has taken place against the Christian Community in Jos state. It is to a grave indictment of the international media that they failed report accurately on such terrible events."
She echoed Archbishop Kwashi’s call for urgent national and international protection for the Christian church in Northern Nigeria.
"We stand with our Christian brothers and sisters in Jos state as they face the aftermath of religiously motivated violence within their community, and we call on the world’s media to ensure they publish accurate and balanced reports of this situation forthwith," she added.
