The Continued Silence Of The Nigerian Government On The Massacre Of Catholic Priests And Worshippers

I went to the scene of the killings recently at St. Ignatius Catholic Parish Ukpo Mbalôm, which is sharing boundaries with my parish. After I deposited the corpse of the first priest that was killed, Fr. Joseph Gôr, I went back to the parish, this time in company of the police. I saw as the people were still fleeing the area while their houses were burning. I was told that the commissioner of police had been there with the deputy governor and left a detachment of the Nigerian army and police. I saw the soldiers standing around seemingly looking menacing.

 I felt very angry that a local community could be attacked and killed in this manner. What were the security men standing around for? Why were they not following the trail of the attackers to try and arrest them? Does the police not have a helicopter to hover over the area and track down the killers? As usual, will the security men hang around for a day or two and go back without a word? And then the story will die off. The local vigilante even made effort to follow the trail of the attackers and saw where they had sat to eat the food they stole from shops. But the Nigerian security forces warned them to come back as they might be mistaken for the attackers. If serious efforts are made these attackers could be apprehended. This is not Sambisa forest and the grasses around here are not overgrown since we are in spring time. Therefore it is easy to see people if the police or army made any serious search. But no! they just stand around for a day or two and go back. The attackers will move to another village and continue their massacre.

 After killing two Catholic Priests and 14 Worshippers they moved to Umenger in Guma Local Government in the evening to continue their killing spree. About 35 people were reported dead. They had killed 10 people in Agasha in Guma before moving to Agagbe area in Gwer West. Since the attacks began in January with the burial of 73 there has been no week that has passed without fresh attacks. No arrests are made, no press conference to tell the people the efforts of the security men to arrest the criminals.

Arresting the killers doesn’t seem to be part of the security details of the people we see around, the so-called Ayom a Kpatema. More and more people are fleeing and abandoning their homes while the attackers freely roam the country killing and maiming. It is very difficult to convince anyone that there is another agenda here. The people of Benue have been targeted and it is becoming clear that the architects of this heinous crime might be people who hold power.

When the Federal government withdraws huge sums of money from the foreign reserve account to fight terrorists, is it to buy helicopters for the use of senior security officials? Shouldn’t such equipment be put to use to protect citizens? I think I am living in a failed state. We might as well abort the Nigerian experiment.

Reverend Father Tagesa Akpagher