What could be the motivation for the gruesome murder of a Catholic priest? A catholic priest is relatively poor, does not own a business, and is never in contention for a contract, or advancement in critical sectors of the economy. A priest mainly dresses drab in his cassock, is unmarried and never in contention for the hottest bevies in town, and do not contend for titles. He owns no farm or pasture. So, why have priests become targets for herdsmen in Enugu State?
Last week, Rev. Fr. Paul Offu, the parish priest of St. James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka in Nkanu West Local Government Area, in Enugu State was gruesomely murdered by the herdsmen. A picture of the priest lying in a pool of his blood in an open truck should break the heart of any human being. A disconsolate Catholic Bishop of Enugu, Most Rev. Dr. Callistus Onaga, lamented: “if there are crop of bad herdsmen in the state they should be fished out and we will continue to live in peace with the good ones.”
Why would the bad herdsmen be allowed to give bad name to all Fulani herdsmen in the country? Nearly two weeks to the murder of Father Offu, another Priest Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo escaped assassination in the same axis of the state, in the hands of the same bad herdsmen. To show their discontentment, over 200 priests in the Enugu diocese marched on the street, demanding that the murderers be apprehended to face the law.
A bewildered Catholic Bishop of Enugu wondered: “why we get worried when our priests are attacked is that it shows the level of insecurity other Nigerians face daily.” He went on: “our priests are very much respected and honoured by the people (locals); so if these things can happen to them, what happens to the flock.” No doubt, the priests are revered by the locals in that part of the country even though occasionally you see cases of intransigence by a few. But to contemplate murdering a priest is an ignominious and unpardonable abomination.
So, why would herdsmen whose primary business should be to tend cows, turn to gun-toting men, targeting those who they have nothing in contention with? As bad as it is, one can situate herdsmen attack on farmers, which is a war waged by bad herdsmen to forcefully gain access to food for their cattle. But how can one situate the gung-ho attacks by these bandits on helpless priests who own no farms, fields or any form of pasture that could be the target of a herdsman?
Same last week, five persons travelling on the Benin-Sagamu expressway to Lagos to join their brethren at a conference of RCCG ministers were captured in a commando style, by the bad herdsmen. It was on the same route that the daughter of Afenifere leader was gruesomely murdered recently, leading to a national uproar. As I said on this page following that mindless killing that rattled the federal government, criminality is a regular feature on that unfortunate national artery.
One wonders the motivation for herdsmen to bust onto a national highway, to shoot travellers or kidnap them? Ransom perhaps for the kidnap; but what is the motivation for the mindless killing of those who are not contending anything with the killers? I can hear readers saying, just to terrorise them. Well, yes, such acts of criminality fit into the definition of terrorism; but terrorism to achieve what purpose? Could it be to drive home a point that the terrorizers are ruthless and should be allowed their way elsewhere?
While we ponder these queries, governments at all levels, especially the federal government which has control over the national security apparatus must wake up to confront these bad herdsmen and other criminals making life unbearable for Nigerians. As the General Overseer of the RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, whose pastor and church members were kidnapped asked: “As a father, how do you think I should feel to hear that five of my children have been kidnapped while on their way to attend the ministers’ conference?”
Luckily, the police in Ogun State have reportedly found out the den of the kidnappers in the forest, and have rescued the victims. Also, it was reported that some suspects have been arrested. I hope they expose the sponsors and their gang. The named victims Chidozie Eluwa, Chiemela Iroha, Okor Ohowukwe and Ibeleji Chidinma are lucky to gain their freedom, perhaps because of the pressure from the highly influential Pastor Adeboye of RCCG and the vice president, who is a pastor of the church, on the security agencies to free the victims.
In Enugu State, where Father Offu was killed by the bad herdsmen, as I write, the federal government is yet to apprehend the murderers. With the vice president barely settling down from the trips he made in the south-west after the killing of Mrs Olakunri, who will the president send to appease the people of the state and the zone? Or is the death of Rev. Fr. Offu not enough to arouse an upheaval? Perhaps, like Stalin, the authorities may ask: “The Bishop! How many divisions has he got?”
But the Reverend Father is a priest of the most High God, and the wrath of his father is a consuming fire. As the Bible said, ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.’ The bad herdsmen who have made priests in Enugu State an easy target are digging their graves, and would soon meet their comeuppance. In the meantime, the federal government must also deploy the drones to the south-east to expose the criminals giving President Muhammadu Buhari’s ethnic group a terrible profiling.
The order by the president for the killers to be fished out must be carried out by the security agencies. No excuse should be acceptable to the people of Enugu State. The bandits who killed Rev. Fr. Paul Offu and those who shot at Rev. Fr. Ikechukwu Ilo must be fished out by the security agencies quickly, so that they can face the law. To delay is to expose the good herdsmen to the anger of the people, and the good herdsmen deserve to be separated from the bad ones, just like the grains from the chaff.
The governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s promise to fish out the killers is reassuring. He should give a matching order to the leadership of Miyetti Allah in the state to fish out the culprits and hand them over to the police. They should know that failure to solve the dastardly murder of Rev. Fr. Paul Offu would do grievous damage to the relative peace in the state.
Leave a Reply