Nigeria’s bishops call for processions to honor those killed in church attack

Father Thomas Oyode, the rector of the Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary of Nigeria’s Diocese of Auchi, was abducted on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, when gunmen attacked the seminary located in Edo State in the country’s embattled central southern … […]

Asmara, Eritrea, Jul 9, 2019 / 01:01 pm (CNA).- As the Eritrean government continues to seize and close Catholic healthcare sites throughout the country, the Church has denounced the intimidation used during the nationalization.

The government’s action began in June, and by July 9 as many as 29 Catholic hospitals, health centers, and clinics had been shuttered.

Agenzia Fides reported that a group of nuns who ran a health facility in southern Eritrea were asked to leave their residence July 4, and that in Zager (Zaghir), about 20 miles north of Asmara, police forced nuns away from their health facility and sealed its doors July 5.

“Though the Catholic bishops have expressed their opposition to this measure, they have not yet received any response from the State authorities,” read a recent statement from the Eritrean Catholic Church.

“While in some locations actions of force were involved, in other centres the staff were ordered to ‘get out of the way,’ the premises were sealed, and the staff was placed in a position where they were unable to attend to patients … Threatening words and bullying were spoken in various (health) centres,” the Church continued.

Eritrea’s bishops framed the problem as one of religious liberty, saying: “It is our firm belief that, with the recent requisition of our clinics, a specific right of our religion has been violated, which prescribes, ‘to love others and to do good to them.’ Any measure that prevents us from fulfilling … the obligations that come to us from the supreme commandment of brotherly love is and remains a violation of the fundamental right of religious freedom.”

Papal charity Aid to the Church in Need was told by a source in the Eritrean Catholic Church that “the staff at some of the clinics refused to hand over the keys so the soldiers broke into them.”

Archbishop Menghesteab Tesfamariam of the Eritrean Archeparchy of Asmara has called for the Church’s faithful to observe the Apostles’ Fast, which lasts through July 11, in response to the nationalization of the health facilities.

A letter from the Church to the health ministry after the seizure said that “the government can say it doesn’t want the services of the Church, but asking for the property is not right.” It added that the Church’s social services cannot be characterized as opposition to the government.

Eritrea is a one-party state whose human rights record has frequently been deplored.

It is believed the seizures are retaliatory, after the Church in April called for reforms to reduce emigration. The bishops had also called for national reconciliation.

Government seizure of Church property is not new, however.

A 1995 decree restricting social and welfare projects to the state has been used intermittently since then to seize or close ecclesial services.

In July 2018, an Eritrean Catholic priest helping immigrants and refugees in Italy told EWTN that authorities had recently shut down eight free Catholic-run medical clinics. He said authorities claimed the clinics were unnecessary because of the presence of state clinics.

Christian and Muslim schools have also been closed under the 1995 decree, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2019 annual report.

Eritrea has been designated a Country of Particular Concern since 2004 for its religious freedom abuses by the US Department of State.

Many Eritreans, especially youth, emigrate, due to a military conscription, and a lack of opportunities, freedom, education, and health care.

A July 2018 peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea, which ended a conflict over their mutual border, led to an open border which has allowed for easier emigration.

[…]

Abuja, Nigeria, Jan 18, 2018 / 09:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Nigeria’s bishops challenged government authorities Tuesday to resolve the country’s violent disputes, especially after recent attacks by Fulani herdsmen have resulted in over 100 deaths just this year.

A Jan. 16 statement from the Nigerian bishops’ conference focused on clashes between herdsmen and farmers; a spate of kidnappings; and the large number of internally displaced persons and refugees.

“The recent mass slaughter of unarmed citizens by these armed herdsmen in some communities in Benue, Adamawa, Kaduna and Taraba States has caused national shock, grief and outcry” read the statement.
 
“We believe that, if there is some degree of political will, our public authorities can take adequate steps to put an end to these human tragedies.”

Signed by Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos and Bishop William Avenya of Gboko, the president and secteary of the Nigerian bishops’ conference, respectively, the statement also urged officials to attend to increased kidnappings causing fear among citizens and humanitarian issues occurring in refugee camps.

On Jan. 11, thousands of Nigerians gathered in Makurdi, the capital of Benue State, to mourn the death of 73 people. The deaths were a result of suspected Fulani herdsman who have raided nearby farming communities with automatic rifles since the beginning of the year.

Additionally, at least 55 people were killed by the nomadic herdsman in the neighboring state of Taraba. However, the violence has not ended and the death toll is likely to rise.

Violence between Fulani herdsmen and farmers has increased in recent years since climate issues have pushed herders further south. The bishops understood the herdsmen’s concern “to save their livestock and economy” but condemned the “massacres of innocent people” that have resulted.

“Our perilous situation calls for more security consciousness,” the statement read, and the bishops urged authorities to take measures to disarm and unmask the criminals responsible for the attacks.  

They maintained that “a better alternative to open grazing should be sought rather than introducing ‘grazing colonies’ in the country. Government should rather encourage cattle owners to establish ranches in line with international best practice.”

“Farmers and herdsmen have a lot to contribute to the socio economic prosperity of our nation. A more enduring strategy must be worked out for their peaceful co-existence and mutual respect,” the bishops wrote.

Without government intervention, the bishops are worried the conflict would breed situations of long term violence, and that farmers would have to result to self-defense, creating a state of anarchy.

“This will, no doubt, lead to the complete breakdown of law and order in the country,” wrote the bishops. “It is wiser and easier to prevent a war than to stop it after it has broken out,” they later added.

The bishops, though, applauded the government’s successful efforts to remove one terrorist group, but were also saddened by the incidents of kidnapping and the lack of police efforts to prevent such widespread crimes.

“While thanking God and the federal government for the successes so far recorded in the fight against Boko Haram terrorists in the north east, we are appalled by the repeated occurrence of other ugly incidents,” read the message.

Recent kidnappings from have seeded fear among Nigeria’s citizens, the bishops said, noting that no individual “no matter how old, sacred or highly placed” has been safe from the humiliating attacks.  

An Italian priest, who had been missionary in Nigeria for three years, was kidnapped in October 2017. He was taken while driving in Benin City, the capital of Edo, a southern state of the country. Likewise, six religious women were taken last November from their convent near Benin City.

All the mentioned parties have been released, but the bishops expressed frustrations that “communities should be better policed” considering the monthly allowance set aside by the Federal Republican of Nigeria for security forces.

Two American and two Canadian citizens were kidnapped in Kaduna state Jan. 17. The kidnappers shot and killed two police escorts in the incident, according to the BBC.

The bishops also encouraged more policing of refugee camps, which have reportedly become hubs of sexual harassment.

Due to political unrest, Cameroonians have fled their country and taken residence in refugee camps within the states of Taraba and Banue. Many of these places are in need of basic necessities, sanitation, and medical supplies, the bishops wrote.

The government should provide additional support to the National Commission for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, they said, but also urged people to aid integration of these struggling communities.

In conclusion, the bishops called on all of Nigeria to participate in actions of peace, forgiveness, and mutual dialogue.

“We, therefore, urge all aggrieved parties to seek reconciliation through dialogue and mutual forgiveness. Above all, we passionately appeal to them to beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”

[…]