Jalingo Seminary attack, fullscale war on Christians – Cleric

Catholic bishop of Awka Diocese, His Lordship, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, has condemned the recent attack on the priests and students of Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, Jalingo, Taraba state, by Fulani herders. He insisted that it was an indication that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government was insensitive to plights of the hapless Nigerian Christians. “Some people somewhere have declared a full-scale war against Nigerian Christians. We have to be vigilant. It is obvious we are no longer needed here. We have to find a way to safeguard lives. We must defend ourselves. We’ll not allow these bloodsucking demons to continue to kill and maim us like chickens,” he said. Speaking at St. Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Awka, shortly the news of the Seminary’s attack fi ltered in, the visibly disturbed cleric challenged the federal government to “come out clean by putting a stop to the mindless killing and maiming of Nigerian Christians.” It would be reported that suspected Fulani herdsmen in the early hours of yesterday, attacked the priests and students of Sacred Heart Minor Seminary, Jalingo. According to the report, the assailants shot sporadically at the Rector’s residence, broke window glasses in the process, shattered windscreen of one of the vehicles belonging to one of the priests, shot and injured one of the priests, Rev. Fr. Cornelius Pobah, in the leg, and beat up Fr. Stephen Bakari. “From their conversations, we were able to understand that their grievance against us is that the security men in the Seminary have been challenging their decision to graze right inside the Seminary: around the classes, football fi eld, laundry, etc. They said even inside the church if they see grass their cows will graze. “Two of our students who were showing them the way to the Father’s house suff ered injuries from the sticks of the herdsmen,” they were quoted to have boated