Abuja: The Catholic Church in Nigeria has voiced profound appreciation for Pope Leo XIV's swift condemnation and prayers following the horrific massacre in Benue State, while simultaneously delivering a scathing indictment of Nigerian authorities for their perceived inaction and complicity in the escalating violence. An editorial from the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria in Abuja lauded the Pontiff's "prompt message, condemning the evil visited on the people and praying for their souls," acknowledging his "closeness to Nigeria" during these trying times.
The Pope's public prayers during his Sunday Angelus brought global attention to the devastating attack between June 13 and 14 in Benue State. Approximately 200 individuals, predominantly internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had sought refuge at a local Catholic mission, were brutally slaughtered in a midnight assault. This act of barbarity has sent shockwaves through a nation already grappling with persistent insecurity.
Beyond the immediate human toll, the editorial highlights a chilling consequence: the violence is now directly imperiling Nigeria's food security. Benue State, historically revered as the "Food Basket of the Nation," is tragically yielding "harvests of death" instead of sustenance. Church authorities lament the apparent disregard for this critical issue, posing pointed questions to the government: "The question now is not just ‘Who are the killers?’ but ‘Why is the government refusing to name and confront them?’ Is it fear of losing political capital? Is it complicity? Is ethnic solidarity outweighing constitutional duty?" The editorial critiques the Ministry of Agriculture's response to the acute food deficit, suggesting a reliance on "prayer and fasting" rather than addressing the root causes that force farmers from their ancestral lands.
The Church authors meticulously chronicle a distressing pattern of atrocities that have plagued the region for years. Over the last decade alone, the death toll in Benue State is estimated to have exceeded 5,000 lives, with over 1.5 million persons internally displaced, according to grim statistics from Amnesty International and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Amnesty International Nigeria has echoed the Church's condemnation, urgently pressing the Nigerian government to "immediately end the almost daily bloodshed in Benue State and bring the actual perpetrators to justice." This recent tragedy is framed as part of a wider, ongoing crisis afflicting farming communities across Nigeria’s Middle Belt region.
Adding another layer of grave concern, Nigerian Church authorities vehemently criticize what they term the "silencing of critical voices" that dare to speak against the carnage. Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi is cited as a poignant example, having become "a thorn in the conscience of the nation" not for falsehoods, but for his unwavering commitment to truth. The Bishop has persistently raised alarms, meticulously documented the horrors, and fearlessly exposed governmental silence, facing threats for his courage. His public declarations that the killings are "not random but part of an orchestrated attempt to exterminate the indigenous people of Benue from their ancestral lands" resonate as a profound indictment, amplifying the long-suffering cry of his people who feel abandoned in the face of relentless violence.