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Nigeria: Bishops say government too weak to stop Islamists


Archbishop Kaigama

Archbishop Kaigama

Nigeria's most senior bishops have lambasted the government, saying it is too weak to deal with the growing threat from Islamists waging a campaign of terror against Christians.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, and Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja both denounced the government's response to the growing threat from Islamist groups, saying Christians were increasingly at risk of attack. They were speaking after at least 21 people were killed and more than 20 others were injured on Sunday, 29 April, in coordinated attacks targeting Sunday services at a university campus in Kano, and a chapel in Maiduguri belonging to the Church of Christ in Nigeria.

The violence is the latest in a series of attacks on Sunday worshippers but, in a sign that the situation has worsened, Christians at Bayero University chapel were gunned down by Islamists as they tried to escape the scene. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Speaking from Nigeria in interviews with Aid to the Church in Need, both bishops said they had lost patience with the government's efforts to stem the crisis caused by Boko Haram and other militant groups.

Archbishop John Onaiyekan said: "At first we were ready to be patient with the government when it was saying that this kind of Islamic terrorism is new. They have had adequate time to learn how to deal with this situation, gathering intelligence about those directly involved and bring them to book.

"It has become clear that we have a weak government that has put together a whole lot of compromises that means that the action that should be taking place is not taking place."

The Archbishop said the government was too divided "to muster the political will" to deal with the crisis.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Kaigama said: "The rampant attacks show that government security is not working. The government is not able to cope with the security situation and we feel quite apprehensive as a result."

"Why the government cannot identify the people involved baffles the imagination. We pay tax money and we have a right to know what is being done about the problem."

Archbishop Kaigama, whose northern diocese of Jos has been among those worst affected by Islamist violence, said: "Those young people killed at the university represented the hope of our country. It defies all logic. They were people trying to build a better country.

Islamist group Boko Haram, which has clamed responsibility for a number of attacks, is said to have killed at least 450 people this year alone in violence targeting not just churches but government and police buildings and markets.

In one of the worst attacks, 44 people were killed and more than 80 were injured on Christmas Day last year when a suicide bomber targeted St Theresa's Catholic Church, Madalla, outside the capital, Nigeria.

Last month, a Boko Haram spokesman reportedly said the Islamist terrorist group had declared "a war on Christians" aimed at "eradicating" them from parts of the country.

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