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Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have denounced the reported killings in the country’s Benue State and the humanitarian crises in both Benue and Niger States as a moral and constitutional failure on the part of governments and a letdown on defenceless members of the affected communities.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Friday, June 6, CBCN members call for an end to the atrocities. In the statement that the CBCN President, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, signed, Nigeria’s Catholic Bishops also express sadness over the deadly floods that struck Mokwa and surrounding areas in Niger State.

“With heavy hearts and deep anguish of soul, we, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), strongly condemn in the most unequivocal terms the utterly barbaric massacre of innocent citizens in Benue State,” they say in the statement dated June 6.

They add, “These cold-blooded attacks on defenceless communities where countless have been slaughtered, homes destroyed, and families left in anguish—are an affront to God, a stain on our shared humanity, and a terrifying reminder of the utter breakdown of security in our land.”

“There is no justification whatsoever for the continuous bloodletting that has become the daily reality of many in Benue State and across Nigeria. The relentless attacks on innocent and defenceless communities under the watch of civil authorities constitute a grave moral and constitutional failure. This carnage must end,” Nigeria’s Catholic Bishops emphasize.

While they acknowledge the infrastructural strides that Benue State government has made, including road construction and regular salary payments, CBCN member note that “no matter how well a government pays salaries or builds roads, its failure to protect human lives renders its achievements hollow.”

“The sanctity of human life is supreme. It is sacred. It is inviolable,” they emphasize, and add, “Any government that fails to make the safety and protection of its citizens and their property its foremost priority abdicates its fundamental responsibility and moral legitimacy.”

In their June 6 statement, the Catholic Church leaders call for immediate action, and urge both the State and Federal governments to “rise beyond mere rhetoric and take immediate, firm, and sustained action to secure lives and restore hope to our people.”

They demand that perpetrators be identified and prosecuted, emphasizing that “every Nigerian life matters,” and that “every single death in such circumstances is a national tragedy and a scandal against our common humanity.”

Several communities in Nigeria’s Benue State have been thrown into mourning following a new wave of attacks by suspected Fulani herders.

 Jude Atemanke

Abbé Paul DAH
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