Thousands joined a protest in Edo State against the killing of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and the government’s failure to act against the perpetrators. Source: The Tablet.
The Auchi Diocese broadcast footage on social media of the demonstration at the city’s Jattu junction, showing protesters brandishing placards reading, “We want to go to church without attacks”, “Stop attacking the Catholic Church – Stop killing our priests” and “No to ransom payment”.
“We can no longer go to our farms because of insecurity,” said a speaker, addressing the crowd. “The killing of our priests and our reverend Sisters must stop.” A woman shouted in response: “We are crying to the world to help us.”
The protest on March 27 blocking the busy city junction followed an online protest two days earlier and a day of mourning for “our fallen heroes” on March 26, commemorating Christian farmers, market women and clergy killed in the region in recent years. These included Fr Christopher Odia, a priest of the diocese kidnapped and murdered in June 2022.
The day of mourning also saw the burial of Peter Andrew, a seminarian killed on March 3, where Auchi Bishop Gabriel Ghieakhomo Dunia insisted the Church would continue to grow despite the attacks.
“We are not afraid. We are not going to walk away from our land. We will stay here,” he said. “This place will be more secure in times to come. They cannot terrify us into abandoning our land.”
In its most recent statistics, the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria reported that 145 priests were kidnapped across the country over the past 10 years, and 11 of them murdered.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Catholic-inspired NGO, published a report in 2023 on “Martyred Christians in Nigeria” which said 52,250 had been killed since 2009. During the same period, 18,000 churches and 2200 schools were destroyed.
FULL STORY
Protesters ‘cry to the world’ for end to attacks on Nigerian Christians (By Ngala Killian Chimtom, Patrick Hudson, The Tablet)
