杏MAP导航

Vatican News.

杏MAP导航 Leo XIV offered prayers for the victims of a devastating massacre in Benue State, Nigeria, where approximately 200 people鈥攎ostly internally displaced persons sheltering at a local Catholic mission鈥攚ere brutally killed in a midnight attack between the 13 and 14 June. The 杏MAP导航 spoke out about the killings during his Sunday Angelus prayer, last Sunday.

The food supply chain is threatened

The violence in Benue State is now also affecting Nigeria鈥檚 food supply chain, and Catholic Secretariat authorities wonder why the violence and killings are not given the attention that they deserve. They ask: 鈥淭he question now is not just 鈥榃ho are the killers?鈥� but 鈥榃hy is the government refusing to name and confront them?鈥� Is it fear of losing political capital? Is it complicity? Is ethnic solidarity outweighing constitutional duty?鈥�

鈥淏enue, the 鈥楩ood Basket of the Nation,鈥� now reaps harvests of death. Sadly, the Ministry of Agriculture, in responding to the acute food deficit in the country, would rather call for prayer and fasting than address the factors that keep farmers away from their farms and their ancestral lands.鈥� the editorial states.

Nigerians are tired of the violence

The Church authors chronicle several atrocities that have occurred in recent years.

鈥淭he scale of (the violence and) devastation defies reason. Over the last decade, the death toll in Benue State alone is estimated to have exceeded 5,000 with over 1.5 million persons internally displaced, according to reports by Amnesty International and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).鈥�

Amnesty International Nigeria has also condemned the recent violence, urging the Nigerian government to 鈥渋mmediately end the almost daily bloodshed in Benue State and bring the actual perpetrators to justice.鈥�

The recent incident in Benue State is part of a larger crisis in Nigeria鈥檚 Middle Belt region, where attacks on farming communities have led to significant displacement and loss of life.

The silencing of critical voices

Nigerian Church authorities further criticise what they call the silencing of those who dare to speak out against killings in Nigeria.

鈥淭he situation is further worsened because some voices that have dared to cry out for justice have been hounded and intimidated. Bishop Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi has become a thorn in the conscience of the nation鈥攏ot because he lies, but because he dares to tell the truth. He has persistently raised the alarm, documented the horror, and exposed the government鈥檚 silence. For his courage, he has received threats. But his voice echoes the long-suffering cry of his people. He has publicly declared that the killings are not random but part of an orchestrated attempt to exterminate the indigenous people of Benue from their ancestral lands. He is not alone.鈥�