Minna, 18 January, 2023 / 11:20 am (ACI Africa).
Nigeria has permitted violence to take root and to spread across the country, with vulnerable communities bearing the brunt, the leadership of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has said.
In a Monday, January 16 report, CSW leadership highlights recent cases of insecurity targeting Christians in Nigeria, the latest one being the January 15 attack on Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish of Nigeria’s Minna Diocese that resulted in the killing of the Parish Priest, Fr. Isaac Achi.
“Unfortunately, Nigerian authorities past and present repeatedly failed vulnerable communities in the country’s central states, allowing this violence to metastasize and take root across the nation,” the report quotes CSW Founder President, Thomas Mervyn, as saying.
Mr. Mervyn calls on the Federal and State authorities of the West African nation “to re-strategize in order to address the threat posed by terrorist groups decisively before it renders the nation ungovernable.”
The Catholic Diocese of Minna announced the killing of Fr. Achi in a message that ACI Africa obtained on January 15. The message indicated that Fr. Achi’s Assistant, Fr. Collins Omeh, had survived the attack, and had been hospitalized “in critical condition”.