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CNN Live Saturday
Four Days of Violence in Nigeria Force Miss World Pageant to Move
Aired November 23, 2002 - 18:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Contestants for the Miss World Crown have fled Nigeria, leaving behind four days of bloodletting over the pageant. More than 100 people have died in violence triggered by rage over a newspaper article suggesting that Islam's founding prophet would have approved of the beauty contest.
Lagos bureau chief Jeff Koinange is following the upheaval in Nigeria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The original date for this pageant was November 30. That would have fallen right at the end of the month of Ramadan. But the organizers met, along with the president and with the Muslim community, and they decided to push it a week forward. That's why it went to December 7. So they had agreed in principle.
Yes, there was the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) question, but that was always going to plague this pageant anyway. And then, that piece of irresponsible journalism that happened about a week ago today. If that hadn't happened, maybe that rebel fringe, the ones who were waiting for some catalyst to start a riot, to start rampaging and start killing and maiming, maybe that wouldn't have happened.
But again, hindsight is 20/20. Everyone would have wished that things would have turned out differently.
I spoke to one of the event's organizers. They were actually going to fly the stage in from London. It was coming in tomorrow morning, at an estimated cost of 10 million pounds, the stage alone, and other costs to this event. They were going to spend a lot of money to showcase Nigeria like it had never been showcased before. In fact, some of the contestants were saying, coming to Nigeria, they had never thought they'd see such great people, such a lovely country.
But unfortunately, the last three days, the events of the last three days have completely clouded all that. In fact, we're hearing from very reliable sources that some of the ladies themselves were intending on leaving this place. Whether this pageant was going to take place in Nigeria or not, they were going to leave anyway.
This is a missed opportunity here. Things couldn't have gone worse, and also this country is divided so much along religious lines -- Muslims in the north, Christians in the south -- people have to be a lot more sensitive, and now with these riots in Kaduna, which spilled over into Gabay (ph) and some parts of Kaduna today, Nigerians are going to have to be left here to pick up the pieces, and that is going to take a while to bring peace and stability back and hope it will be sooner rather than later.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
to Move>
Aired November 23, 2002 - 18:20 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Contestants for the Miss World Crown have fled Nigeria, leaving behind four days of bloodletting over the pageant. More than 100 people have died in violence triggered by rage over a newspaper article suggesting that Islam's founding prophet would have approved of the beauty contest.
Lagos bureau chief Jeff Koinange is following the upheaval in Nigeria.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN LAGOS BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): The original date for this pageant was November 30. That would have fallen right at the end of the month of Ramadan. But the organizers met, along with the president and with the Muslim community, and they decided to push it a week forward. That's why it went to December 7. So they had agreed in principle.
Yes, there was the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) question, but that was always going to plague this pageant anyway. And then, that piece of irresponsible journalism that happened about a week ago today. If that hadn't happened, maybe that rebel fringe, the ones who were waiting for some catalyst to start a riot, to start rampaging and start killing and maiming, maybe that wouldn't have happened.
But again, hindsight is 20/20. Everyone would have wished that things would have turned out differently.
I spoke to one of the event's organizers. They were actually going to fly the stage in from London. It was coming in tomorrow morning, at an estimated cost of 10 million pounds, the stage alone, and other costs to this event. They were going to spend a lot of money to showcase Nigeria like it had never been showcased before. In fact, some of the contestants were saying, coming to Nigeria, they had never thought they'd see such great people, such a lovely country.
But unfortunately, the last three days, the events of the last three days have completely clouded all that. In fact, we're hearing from very reliable sources that some of the ladies themselves were intending on leaving this place. Whether this pageant was going to take place in Nigeria or not, they were going to leave anyway.
This is a missed opportunity here. Things couldn't have gone worse, and also this country is divided so much along religious lines -- Muslims in the north, Christians in the south -- people have to be a lot more sensitive, and now with these riots in Kaduna, which spilled over into Gabay (ph) and some parts of Kaduna today, Nigerians are going to have to be left here to pick up the pieces, and that is going to take a while to bring peace and stability back and hope it will be sooner rather than later.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
to Move>
