The Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Bishop Godfrey Onah, in a recent sermon, commented on the reported persecution of Christianity and its members in Nigeria, shedding more light on the topic and requesting an accurate date on the real scale of destruction going on in the country.
The Clergyman speaking to his congregation questioned the narrative of the perpetrators of violence against Christians in Nigeria being bandits and criminals with no religious motivation. He questioned the number of these bandits and criminals that have been arrested and made to face the law over the years. He also asked for accurate data on the number of churches that have been burnt down and Christians killed in the country.
Bishop Godfrey Onah described the development as a case of deliberate provocation while pointing out that any counterreaction from the oppressed party in the matter is perceived as extrajudicial and ordinary Nigerians taking the law into their own hands.
” Anytime any of them react, they are said to be taking the law into their hands. But all those who are trampling on the law with their feet. Trampling upon the law. They kill, they rape, they maim, they sack farmers, they harvest crops from the farmers, and feed them to their cattle. When they do this, they post it and record it for the government to see,” Onah stated
The sermon from the Bishop of Nsukka follows the growing trend of violence in the country, affecting the Christian community in Northern Nigeria. Other significant security developments include the kidnapping of 25 female students from a boarding school in Kebbi state and an attack in a church in Eruku, Kwara State.
The ongoing crisis in Nigeria has attracted international attention after the United States President, Donald Trump, commented on the issue, threatening to invade the country. American Rapper Nicki Minaj also lent her voice to the cause, calling for a lasting solution to the issues affecting Christians in the country.
The Nigerian Government, through its foreign minister, Ambassador Yussuf Tuggur, has maintained the narrative that the security issues ravaging the country are hydra-headed, accusing the international community of oversimplifying the issue.
