Herdsmen Killings: Catholic Bishops stage protest in Nigeria

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has declared Tuesday, May 22, a day of protests for Catholic faithful across Nigeria of herdsmen killings.

The CBCN revealed that the protests would coincide with the burial of the two priests and 17 parishioners killed by herdsmen during a morning mass at Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State.

This was contained in an announcement made by the bishops in the Sunday Bulletin of the church and circulated to all the dioceses of the church in the country on Sunday.

The announcement, entitled “Peaceful Demonstration,” read:  “The CBCN has directed that every Diocese in Nigeria should organise a peaceful demonstration/ rally against the barbaric but intolerable killing of two priests and 17 others by herdsmen last month in Benue State, Date May 22, 2018. Time: 10am, as the funeral of the innocent victims would be going on.

“Details of how this all important solidarity action will take place in our dioceses will be communicated through the parish priests. Every Christian and all men and women of goodwill are hereby called to participate.”

Meanwhile, the Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty, Prof James Ayatse, had expressed that he would soon convene a peace meeting with the Governor of Nasarwa State, Tanko Al-Makura, and Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to find a lasting solution to killings of Tiv people in both Benue and Nasarawa states.

Fulani herdsmen had in the early hours of April 24, 2018, stormed St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Ukpor-mbalom Parish, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue, killing two priests and 17 parishioners.

The attack occurred four days after the murder of 10 persons by herdsmen in neighbouring Guma Local Government Area and the destruction of 300 houses by military personnel in Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area of the state.

In solidarity, the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos has scheduled to hold a requiem mass for the two slain priests on Tuesday, May 22.

It was gathered that the mass would hold at St. Leo Catholic Church, Ikeja, by 10.00 a.m. and immediately after the mass, there will be a peaceful procession from the church to the Lagos State Governor’s Office at Alausa, Ikeja.

Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, Archbishop, Metropolitan See of Lagos, who disclosed this, described the “atrocious terrorist attacks” that witnessed the brutal killings of two Catholic Priests and a number of parishioners as “one of the ugly incidences that call our attention to the insecurity in the country and the failure on the part of the government to ensure the security of lives and properties of its citizens.”