Northern Nigerian Christians have said that they fear that a spate of Christmas Day bombings by Islamist militants that killed over two dozen people could lead to a religious war in Africa's most populous country.
The warning was made in a statement by the northern branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), an umbrella organisation comprising various denominations including Catholics, Protestant and pentecostal churches.
But a powerful Muslim traditional ruler, the Sultan of Sokoto Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar, said after meeting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja that it was not a conflict between Muslims and Christians, or between Islam and Christianity.
The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia Islamic law across Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the blasts; the second Christmas in a row it has caused carnage at Christian churches.
Saidu Dogo, Secretary General for the CAN in Nigeria's 19 northern provinces, called on Muslim leaders to control their faithful, saying Christians will be forced to defend themselves against further attacks.
The attacks risk reviving tit-for-tat sectarian violence between the mostly Muslim north and the largely Christian south, which has claimed thousands of lives in the past decade.
Mr Dogo said the CAN was calling on all Christians to continue respecting the law but to defend themselves when needed.
