St. John’s Grammar School Old Boys’ Association (SJOBA) of Ile-Ife, Osun State, is mourning the victims of the June 5 killings at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

A statement by SJOBA President, Dr. Festus Oshoba, expressed the association’s sadness over the killing of the worshippers, including Adesina Ajanaku and his wife.

Ajanaku, an Ile-Ife prince, attended the school between 1969 and 1973.

The couple will be buried today along with the other 38 victims of the massacre.

Oshoba described the late Ajanaku as an illustrious old boy of St. John’s whose sudden passing would be felt within the ranks of SJOBA and the entire Otutu Ruling House of Ile-Ife, Osun State.

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Ajanaku was the Assistant Senior Prefect in his final year and later attended the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife for his first degree.

“Ajanaku, who served as an ‘Altar Boy’ at the weekly holy mass celebrated in the school hall, imbibed all the teachings of our late founder and was nicknamed ‘Father John’ for his piety and dedication to the service of God.

“He did not depart from his holy ways as he became a Catholic Church leader as a Knight of Saint Mulumba in 2017,” the statement said.

The SJOBA president noted that the massacre was a strong message to the governors of the Southwest on the need to step up the region’s security arrangement in the face of rising insecurity in the land.

Oshoba said SJOBA urged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediate take steps to eliminate terrorism, banditry and kidnapping bedevilling the country to prevent another civil war, which “will be a child’s play compared to the Rwandan pogrom”.

He added: “We take solace in the fact that (John) Adesina (KSM) was killed so that Nigeria may realise the need to protect her citizens adequately, remaining one indissoluble nation, to God and to humanity.”