Bishop condemns ‘stupor’ of Nigerian government amid jihadist attacks

‘Those who are supposed to have stopped this from happening will continue their lives. There will be verbal condemnations, faint and veiled threats that are merely routine.’

A Nigerian bishop pleaded with the government to end militia attacks that continue to claim the lives of unarmed civilians, after a recent attack killed more than 50 people. 

Ahead of Holy Week, Bishop Mathew Kukah of Sokoto issued a statement lamenting the continued exposure of civilians to jihadist violence, noting that “this is Nigeria, no amount of blood is ever enough to make us pause”.

“Neither the brutality, bestiality, primitivism, nor the callousness, viciousness, wickedness, barbarity, or cruelty if the murderers on the rampage can stir us from our stupor,” Bishop Kukah said on 15 April.

His plea came after more than 100 people were killed within a fortnight in central Nigeria. Despite persistent protests at the lack of adequate government security to stem the violent attacks, clergy and other Christians have faced continued threats, kidnappings and murders. 

“Those who are supposed to have stopped this from happening will continue their lives. There will be verbal condemnations, faint and veiled threats that are merely routine,” Bishop Kukah said, in reference to the government.

“In other parts of the country. The bandits continue their dances of evil, encircling the landscape, capturing, torturing and inflicting the harshest form of human treatment on our people,” he added.

As clergy continue to speak out against the government’s poor response to jihadist violence, a United States congressman said he was “appalled” by reports that priests were receiving threats from government sources and affiliated organisations.

The Republican Congressman Chris Smith raised these concerns earlier this month after a Nigerian bishop and a priest gave testimony before Congress detailing violence targeting Christians across the country.

Nigeria’s human rights and religious freedom record has reached the US Congress, with testimonies from Catholic clergy in March this year painting a grim picture.

The Nigerian foreign ministry dismissed the priests’ testimony as “misinformation” but Congressman Smith insisted that “this thuggery not only undermines human rights, but it also violates US criminal law”.

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