In the last two years, Catholic priests across the country have borne the brunt of worsening insecurity in the country. While many of them have been kidnapped and released, some have been murdered in cold blood. The frequency at which the killings occur nowadays of these clerics has raised a concern and questions as to why hoodlums target preachers. AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE chronicles some of these abductions and murders in the recent times.
On Wednesday, August 28, David Tanko, a Catholic priest, was gruesomely murdered and burnt by suspected gunmen around Kasuan Haske and Totsee, Takum area council of Taraba State.
The cleric was said to be on his way to Takum for a peace meeting with his fellow clergymen on how to resolve the lingering Tiv/Jukun crisis when he was hacked to death.
Confirming the incident, Shiban Tikari, chairman of the council, who identified the deceased as Reverend Father Tanko, an indigene of Wukari Local Government Area of the state, said the killers had set the deceased car on fire after killing him.
Tanko, until his unfortunate death, was the parish priest in charge of St. Peters Catholic Church Amadu in Taraba State.
His death came weeks after the Catholic Diocese of Enugu in Enugu State was thrown into mourning following the killing of Paul Offu, a Catholic priest while travelling along Ihe-Agbudu Road in Awgu Local Government Area of the state.
Offu was murdered in the evening of Thursday, August 1, 2019 after he was shot and left to die by some hoodlums suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
Offu hailed from Okpatu in Udi LGA of Enugu State and until his death, he was the parish priest of St. James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka.
Ebere Amaraizu, public relations officer of Enugu State Police Command, confirming the killing, assured that the police were doing everything possible to apprehend the killers of the late cleric.
“We are doing everything to unravel the circumstances surrounding the incident that claimed the life of the priest,” he said, adding that it was not right to blame the incident on Fulani herdsmen when the culprits had not been apprehended.
BDSUNDAY can recall that the death of Offu took place few weeks after it was reported that one Ikechukwu Ilo, another Reverend Father, was attacked along Nomeh axis of Nkanu East Local Government Area, on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, by suspected kidnappers, who opened fire on him after he refused to stop his car.
Ilo was reported to have sustained gunshot injuries and was taken to an undisclosed hospital where he was treated of the gunshot wounds.
Pundits believe that the abduction and killing of serving Catholic priests in states like Enugu, Benue and others is gradually becoming a frequent occurrence and a dangerous trend as no month passes without a report on either the social media platforms or traditional media of the kidnapping and subsequent killing of Catholic priests.
In what seems like a conspiracy, BDSUNDAY has discovered that Enugu Catholic Dioceses is gradually becoming the worst hit in the problem of insecurity as many of its priests have been reported dead since the security situation in the country nosedived.
Five months before the death of Offu, Clement Ugwu, a Catholic priest, who was the parish priest of St Mark Catholic Church, Obinofia Ndiuno in Ezeagu Local Government Area of the State, was murdered by gunmen.
Reverend Father Ugwu, whose death was announced on March 20, 2019, was said to have been kidnapped from his Parish in Ezeagu on Wednesday, March 13. One week after he was allegedly kidnapped, his decomposing body was found in a bush in the morning of Wednesday, March 20, 2019.
According to media report, Ugwu was kidnapped around 9:00 pm after the unknown gunmen shot him in his parish house before abducting him.
Callistus Onaga, the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, who spoke shortly after the remains of late Ugwu were laid to rest at the Catholic cemetery in Holy Ghost Cathedral, called on the police to fish out the killers of the priest.
Onaga decried the spate of violent killings around the country, advising that Christians should intensify prayers for the survival of the country.
He regretted that security agencies could neither rescue Ugwu nor apprehend the killers, despite their assurances that the kidnappers would be apprehended, rather, the abductors were allowed ample time to be making withdrawals from the deceased’s account, using his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card.
According to him, “All is not well in Enugu State. We should not continue to pretend about it while our people are killed every day. Enugu State is not secure again. Criminals have shifted to Enugu State.”
Exactly on March 25, 2019, few days after Ugwu’s murder, another priest, John Bako Shekwolo of the Archdiocese of Kaduna in Kaduna State, was also kidnapped.
Few months after, Celestine Ezeh, a reverend father with the Nsukka Diocese in Enugu, was released shortly after being abducted by gunmen. According to Cajetan Iyidiobi, a priest and the diocesan secretary, Ezeh, was given treatment in an undisclosed hospital for the trauma he suffered in the hands of his abductors.
Recall that on July 4, 2018, one Paulinus Udewangu, a revered father of St. Marks Catholic Church, Nsude in Udi Local Government Area was kidnapped while jogging.
Another incident described as terrible by Nigerians was the massacre of two reverend fathers and 17 other parishioners in Ayar-Mbalom village of Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State on April 24, 2018.
BDSUNDAY gathered that the two priests and the 16 parishioners went to St Ignatius Catholic Church to bury their dead, and they were murdered at about 5:00am on April 24, 2018, when gunmen, later identified as herdsmen, who were said to have been lurking in the bushes, swooped on them.
“The attackers made efforts all through the night to attack people in some villages within the surroundings and met stiff resistance,” one of the survivors of the attack, narrated.
These late Revered Fathers were identified as Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha, who were supposed to conduct the funeral mass.
According to eye witness account, the gunmen numbering about 30 suddenly besieged the premises of the church and opened fire on everyone.
“Some of the attackers used machetes on their victims while the others shot sporadically, killing the priests and many other people. A lot of people were injured,” the witness named Samuel, said.
Moses Iorapuu, director of Communications, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, said the gunmen burnt down homes, destroyed food items and embarked on a killing spree. “Nothing and no one was spared.”
Fatai Owoseni, Benue State Commissioner of Police, who confirmed the incident to newsmen, said some bandits suspected to be herdsmen attacked the church in Mbalom community of Gwer East and killed two priests, among others.
“About 16 dead bodies were recovered. That brings the total number of the dead from the incident to 19, if you add the two priests as well as one other corpse which had been brought to Makurdi, the Benue State capital, earlier in the day,” he explained.
In 2017, one Cyriacus Onunkwo, a reverend father of the Orlu Catholic diocese in Imo State, was kidnapped and killed by unknown gunmen. The late Father was kidnapped while returning home from the funeral rites of his father, Celestine Onunkwo.
A recent report by National Catholic Reporter (NCR) quoted Ernest Obodo, an auxiliary bishop of the Enugu Diocese, to have said, “Some of these kidnappers are jobless people and they believe that when they kidnap a priest, they will get ransom,” he said.
“But in our own diocese, there is a rule that no ransom is paid for abducted priests because they are called by God to serve the people. So, if you abduct a priest, nobody will pay you to free him,” he warned.
The Catholic Christian Communities, no doubt, may not be able to go into physical war with the killers of their priests because they believe that God is the ultimate avenger, this is why they may have resorted to prayers for needed intervention in the unfortunate security situation in the country.
They however, believe that government, through the security agencies, owes the citizens including the church, the duty of provide adequate security.
