Jos, 01 August, 2023 / 9:57 pm (ACI Africa).
Pam Babos was the last man standing at St. Augustine Catholic Church Rim, one of the seven outstations of St. Laurence Parish Riyom in Nigeria’s Archdiocese of Jos.
But two weeks ago, Babos too was brutally murdered by Fulani attackers who waylaid him when he was coming back from a security vigil.
Today, the church in Rim has a paltry attendance, all of them elderly women as Fulanis have killed all the men who attended the Catholic outstation in Plateau, one of the most hit states in the raging Fulani attacks in Nigeria.
The death of Babos has devastated Fr. George Barde, the Parish Priest of St. Laurence Catholic Church the most. In an interview with ACI Africa, Fr. Barde remembered Babos as having been “a pillar of strength” to the elderly women of Rim.
“Babos was the last of the men who attended the church in Rim. Every man in that outstation is now dead, mostly at the hands of Fulanis. Young men who were lucky enough have escaped with their lives. To the women in Rim, Babos was a source of strength,” Fr. Barde said.