Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, on Monday said it was
not convinced that the Federal Government was earnest in seeking way to
end the wanton killings by Fulani militia in the Middle-Belt region.
The Bishops said the recent killings of over 100 persons in Plateau
showed the government has been paying deaf ears to the repeated calls
by well-meaning individuals and groups for an end to the spate of
violence by armed herdsmen.
In a statement by the CBCN President, Archbishop Augustine Akubueze,
and the Secretary, Bishop Camillus Umon, security agencies were also
accused of applying double standards in the handling of the crisis
between herders and farmers.
They said the police react swiftly whenever herdsmen were attacked and killed.
The statement read: “The latest horrendous massacre of scores of
innocent Nigerians, especially children and women, including pregnant
women, in Plateau State, by the same rampaging and murderous terrorists
who now seem to be operating without any hindrance in the Middle Belt
and other parts of Nigeria, shows that our last statement, like all the
others before, has been completely ignored by those, whose primary
responsibility it is to protect the lives and property of Nigerians.
“Again, the country is likely to witness another mass burial of
innocent Nigerians as a result of the serial murderous activities of a
group who clearly seem to be above the law in our country and who, by
their actions and words, have insisted that human lives are worth less
than the lives of cattle. This shameful inversion of values portrays our
country as barbaric and our society as brutish.
“We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria are devastated by these acts of
insensitivity and disrespect for the dignity of human life. We are
equally sad that the Federal Government continues to find it difficult
to proactively address the issue of these wanton killings.
“We have said it before and it bears repeating that it can no longer
be regarded as mere coincidence that the suspected perpetrators of these
heinous crimes are of the same religion as all those who control the
security apparatus of our country, including the President himself.
“Words are no longer enough for the President and his service chiefs
to convince the rest of the citizens that these killings are not part of
a larger religious project.
“While we vehemently condemn any shedding of human blood and ask the
Police to speedily arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of these
crimes, we must point out the double standards applied by the same
Police any time the herdsmen are attacked and killed. In this latter
case they react very swiftly and the law promptly takes its course.
Would that the same swiftness be applied to all cases!”