Benue killings: When eminent persons threatened


JOHN NWOKOCHA evaluates the weight of calls on the federal government by eminent persons, like President Donald Trump of the United States of America, to end the protracted sectarian killings in Benue state, and other parts of the country, by suspected herders.
Trump charged Buhari on Benue killings Penultimate Monday, President of the United States, Donald Trump, during a bilateral meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, in Washington DC, charged the Nigerian government to end the apparent recurring sectarian killings in Benue and parts of the country by suspected herders. The US President had called on Buhari to do more to end the ongoing killings linked to herdsmen across Nigeria. During the talks with Buhari, Trump was reported to have said: “Killing of Christians in Nigeria must stop”.
He said if urgent action was not taken by the Nigerian government to end gruesome killings, the United States of America would not fold its arms and watch.
Trump also told Buhari that the protracted killings of Christians in the country was unacceptable and required working very hard to put paid to it, adding that; But, “we will be stopping it”.
Birnin Gwari massacre But President Buhari had hardly settled down in office to consider measures to deal with killings, having returned from his working visit to the US, when gunmen embarked on massacre spree in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna state.
And in one fell swoop about 60 lives were dispatched to their early graves and scores were injured. According to reports most of the victims of the Monday attack were women and children.
I am deeply outraged – Buhari Reacting to the incident, Buhari in a statement signed by Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the president, on media and publicity, said, “I am deeply outraged by this unwarranted, unprovoked and reckless destruction of lives by bandits who belong to the lowest level of civilization. I feel the pains and devastation of the families of the victims, and this administration will do everything possible to ensure we defeat these enemies of humanity”.
President Buhari through the statement assures that security remains a priority for his government, stressing that his administration will not tolerate the persistent killing of innocent people in order to set Nigerians against one another. The statement reads: “These persistent killings are not spontaneous; there are subterranean forces with a sinister agenda to instigate war in the country for selfish purposes,” the president was quoted as saying.
“Although unconventional war is particularly complicated, our security forces are making rigorous efforts to better understand these enemies with a view to decisively checkmating their evil attacks.” Buhari however extended his condolences to the families of the latest victims, the government and the people of Kaduna State over the tragedy. He assured that his government will never abandon them to their fate.
Killings must stop if Nigeria must live – Adeboye Speaking on the Benue killings, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), weekend, warned that if Nigeria must live, the killings around the country must stop.
Blueprint recalls that Adeboye said this during his sermon at the RCCG’s May Holy Ghost Service at the Redemption Camp, and call on the congregation of thousands of people to join him in praying for the end of killings in the country. He also said when a bishop of another church asked him who would win the 2019 election, he replied that unless the killings stopped the 2019 elections may not hold because people would be scared to go out to vote. He continued, “When people are not sure about their safety how would they go out in parts of the country where killing is rampant to vote”. He, however, explained that the threat to elections was his personal reasoning and not a prophecy.
Feature Recalling the effect of the killing of 17 people, including two priests in Benue state last month, Adeboye said it threw him into a sad mood, prompting his wife, Pastor Folu Adeboye, to ask him in Germany, where they were holding a programme of the church, why he was not his usual cheerful self. Hear him, “As a leader people from various denominations call Daddy, the 27 people killed were my children who were in a church or returning from a church programme,” he said he told his wife, who had not heard the news then.
“As a father, I naturally became sad over that.” It will be recalled that in March, Pastor Adeboye visited Benue state, where he expressed displeasure with the gruesome killings in the state and other parts of the country. According to him, he wept when he saw the people weeping over the loss of lives and property. “Of course, no man of God will see a mass burial anywhere and not feel the pains of the people affected,” Adeboye said
Killing of two priests, 15 others In April, two priests, Rev Fr. Joseph Gor and Re. Felix Tyolahan and 15 other people were killed in an attack by suspected herdsmen who invaded St. Ignatius Quasi Parish, Ukpor-Mbalom in AyarMbalom community of Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue on a Tuesday morning. No fewer than 100 houses in the community were also razed in the attack.
A week after, about 10 people who were returning from morning mass were murdered by suspected herdsmen in military uniform in Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area , also in Benue state. Unfortunately, the attacks have continued in Benue, Zamfara, Taraba, Kogi and many other parts of the country. Stop the Uprising in the Benue Valley- Onmoke Adding his voice to the condemnations, the National President of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests, Rev. Father Sylvester Onmoke, charged the Buhari-led government to end what he described as uprising in the Benue valley and wanton destruction of lives and property, urgently.
Persecution of Christians is on the rise – Osinbajo Also condemning the dastardly acts the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibajo, described the killings as sacrilegious, saying it is calculated attempt by certain individuals to cause religious war in Nigeria. Osibajo, who spoke at the Inauguration of the Deeper Life Bible Church new auditorium in Gbagada, Lagos, added that it is heinous and sacrilegious for devilish minds to kill in a place of worship. While saying security agencies continue to work to bring the perpetrators to book, he counseled that the body of Christ must not lose focus, but must do more in propagating the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Said the vice president, “Nobody can stop the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord is building His church and the gate of hell cannot prevail against the church”. Urging the church to pray for the nation and the government, Osibajo said that running a government is like a spiritual warfare. He said, “Persecution of Christians is on the rise. The devil is hard at work, stoking religious tension.
I call on all Christians not to be broken even as security agencies are working hard to prevent such occurrences and protect the lives and property of every citizen.” Although virtually all right thinking persons not only in Nigeria but in the world have condemned the despicable killings around the country, the gory act goes on unabatingly, raising many questions as well as public fears over safety of lives.
The protection of lives is a constitutional responsibility of government. However, for too, lives and property in around Benue, Kaduna, Taraba, Zamfara and Nasarawa states, have become nasty and short occasioned by insecurity. And sadly, survivors of the attacks recall many black days in their lives. The intervention of the stronger powers, strategies and intelligence might just be the needful to checkmate the ruthless and daring killers.

 

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