On 24 April last, 2 Catholic priests and 17 parishioners were brutally murdered in the village of Mbalom in Nigeria’s Benue State by rampaging gunmen. The massacre was the latest in a series of violent attacks on Christians in the West African nation. Following that attack the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria released a statement in which they invited the President “to choose the path of honour and consider stepping aside to save the nation from complete collapse”. Nigerian Cardinal His Eminence John Onaiyekan lamented the fact that, notwithstanding the Bishops’ request a month ago to the government to take action following brutal attacks on Christians in the country’s Benue State, nothing has been done.
As reported by Vatican news, the statement said, “Along with millions of Nigerians we have expressed our lack of confidence in the security agencies which the President deliberately placed in the hands of the adherents of only one religion.” His Eminence Cardinal of Abuja, John Onaiyekan remarked that “The bishops had hoped that “after we had cried and had buried the 2 priests and 17 people killed at Mass, that government would now think seriously the way that they are doing things; that we would see government arrest some of the murderers and bring them to account; and that the architecture of security in Nigeria – the people in charge of the army, the security agencies – something would be done to change them so that other people would be able to do the work. But nothing has changed.”
They(Bishops) expressed their grief for the innocent victims of “a wicked and inhuman gang of rampaging and murderous terrorists who have turned the vast lands of the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria into a massive graveyard” and accused the federal government and its security agencies of being responsible for insecurity. General elections to elect the President and the National Assembly are scheduled for 16 February 2019.
