This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
In November 2002, Nigeria was preparing to host the Miss World beauty pageant in Abuja, a source of national pride for organizers and considerable controversy among Nigerian Muslims, who objected to the contest on religious grounds. A newspaper column published in the days before the event, commenting on the controversy, included a remark about the Prophet Muhammad that many Muslim readers took as deeply insulting.
Muslim demonstrators in Kaduna organized a protest against the article on November 21. As in 2000, witnesses told Human Rights Watch that what began as a peaceful demonstration was hijacked by people intent on violence, and rioting between Muslim and Christian residents spread through the city over the following three days. Nigerian police and military units, deployed to restore order, were themselves documented committing extrajudicial killings of civilians during the unrest.
By the time the violence subsided, roughly 250 people were dead and between 20,000 and 30,000 residents had been displaced. The pageant itself was relocated from Nigeria to London before it was held. Human Rights Watch found that, as with the 2000 riots, no one, including members of the security forces responsible for killings during the unrest, had been held accountable by the time of its 2003 report.