Nigeria: Catholic community leaders killed; archbishop appeals for action from government

Archbishop Ndagoso

The head of the Catholic church of Saint Augustine in the Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State in central Nigeria was killed on 20 January. Augustine Avertse, leader of the Catholic community died together with his father, Akaa'am Avertse, and two other people in an attack on Ebebe by an armed group, who were possibly Fulani

One of the survivors, who was injured, says that the attack was not provoked, as there had never been any form of misunderstanding between the members of the community and the Fulani shepherds who lived in the area.

Elsewhere, news has broken that Lawan Andimi, a local leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria, who was kidnapped in early January by Boko Haram in the Michika Local Government Area in the State of Adamawa in northeastern Nigeria, has also been killed.

In a statement, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari spoke of the "cruel, inhuman and deliberately provocative" murder, and assured that those responsible "will pay dearly for their actions."

On 8 January, four seminarians were kidnapped in the Good Shepherd Major Seminary of Kakau along the Kaduna-Abuja highway. The Archbishop of Kaduna, Mgr Matthew Man-oso Ndagoso, said: "No other Country will tolerate this type of insecurity without calling for mass protests. Definitely our country is under siege"

"This is the third time kidnapping is happening directly in our diocese. I can't sleep at the thought of the conditions that the four students are experiencing."

He added: "People can no longer sleep with two eyes closed, yet our leaders have the courage to say that there is security in the Country.. I think people now seem to have given up on the security situation because there is nothing they can do, they just resigned to fate."

The Archbishop said he wondered why security could not be restored in the area because "with the technologically developed security gadgets in the 21st century, there is nowhere in the world, even underwater that criminals cannot be traced or tracked. But security agencies keep on saying that they are on top of the situation."

After saying that "security measures were strengthened in the seminary" in order to protect other students," Archbishop Ndagoso concludes saying that "we will continue to pray for the kidnapped seminarians, until they are freed. We keep hoping that God will expose those behind the insecurity in this Country."