Christian Clerics, Endangered Species?

Three years ago, a female pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, and mother of seven, Mrs. Eunice Elisha Olawale, was killed. She died while preaching around the Gbazango-West area of Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory.
A lady of remarkable courage and strength, late Pastor Eunice was said to have been brutally hacked to death in the early hours of July 9, 2016 in our nation’s capital by suspected northern Muslim extremists. According to media reports, her throat was slit, with her head rested on the Bible she used for preaching while her two legs were cut off.
The gruesome killing of the forty-two-year-old Eunice Olawale, an indigene of Ekiti State by suspected Muslim fanatics, while evangelizing in the Federal capital city of Abuja, failed to send any ‘danger’ signal probably because such incident may not have been recorded so closely.
However, recent happenings in the country tend to recall to mind the event of July 9, 2016. There are thus insinuations that it may not have just been a mere coincidence, but a bold step towards actualizing a calculated mission against Christian icons.
Such reasoning in a way lays credence to the inundation of the media with news of either abduction, maiming or outright killing of notable Christian clerics in the country in recent time by Islamic extremists in herdsmen’s clothing,
It is on record that from the killing of the female pastor till date, hundreds of clerics from different churches and denominations have been murdered by the same people and their Fulani terrorists.
No wonder, the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), Kaduna State chapter, Reverend Dr. Joseph Hayab, described it as a ‘deliberate effort to attack pastors in churches, their homes, highways and on the roads’.
Barely a week ago, five Redeemed Christian Church of God pastors, (though finally released), the wife of a Living Faith Church pastor, and many undocumented number of church leaders were abducted. Their abductors demand as much as twenty million naira ransom for their release.
The killings of Rev. Father Paul Offu, Catholic priest in Enugu and the pastor in charge of Living Faith Church, Ungwan Romi, Kaduna, Jeremiah Omilewa, along Kaduna-Abuja highway by the so-called Fulani terrorists, simply explain how unsafe the custodians of the Christian religious faith have become.
Father Paul Offu has become the third priest murdered in the area over the past five months, a situation that has kept people wondering if the net is now turned on the Christian clerics. Could the rising cases of kidnapping and killing of pastors and other Christian leaders across the country be interpreted to mean that Christian clerics have actually been declared endangered species?
According to a report recently submitted to the International Criminal Court, by the Jubilee Campaign, a body which advocates for religious freedom worldwide, the Fulani assaults on Christian farming communities in Nigeria, between January and June 2019, have met the international standard for a “genocide.”
A Nigerian-based civil society group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, asserts that about 2,400 Christians were killed by the Fulani in 2018 alone.
From the slaughter of Mrs. Elisha Olawale in Abuja, the butchering of the Catholic priest, Rev. Father Paul Offu, in Enugu and countless other killings and abductions of Christian leaders across the country by the Fulani herdsmen, the barbaric and homicidal disposition of the later is made obvious. But for how long shall this last?
It is no gainsaying that Nigeria has largely been spared a larger eruption in part because of the leadership of Christian clergy, who generally preach non-violent resistance. It’s unclear, however, how much longer that philosophy can hold up if the violence continues unabated and the perception is that government authorities are unable to do anything about it.
Therefore, as an emerging African superpower, as well as the largest oil producer in Africa, to say that the consequences of our mistake and negligence of the right attitude will definitely not be confined to Nigeria’s borders, is an understatement. It could spark economic, military and cultural upheaval around the world.
Thus, in thinking about the future of Nigeria’s Christian population, especially those on the front lines of the Fulani militancy, we must not rule out the fact that though their fate may certainly be a human rights issue, it is also a major global security concern and so must not be treated with levity.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi