One Killing Too Many: A Time for a New Paradigm Shift –By Matthew Ma

“If you are a writer, write. If you are a preacher, preach. If you are an actor, act. If you are a musician, make music. Let us do whatever we can do best to encourage people to vote. The message must be clear. Ring out your voices and keep screaming till people hear. It is better to speak the truth and die in the process than not talk and still die anyway. It is time to take back our country in a civilized manner. It is time to take back what belongs to us.”

As a writer, I am tired of writing about murder every time. As a cleric, the matter is worse when I have to attend the funeral of a fellow brother gruesomely murdered. Last year, precisely in May 2022, I wrote an article titled: IS ANYTHING SACRED IN NIGERIA ANYMORE? My point in that article was to decry the rising spate of insecurity, the unceasing destruction of the holy temple, and the killings and abduction of priests and other religious leaders. In the article, I condemned the killing of Fr. Clement Ugwu in Enugu state. Fr. Ugwu was on his way to his church when bandits trailing him for about a week abducted him. Members of his community came out of their houses to rescue him. Unfortunately, they met heavy gunshots and ran for their safety.A few days later, they found Ugwu’s body nearby. Six months later, Fr. Paul Offu was attacked and killed by armed men suspected of being cattle ranchers. Reports had it that Ugwu and Offu’s killers never demanded ransoms. In late June, bandits killed two priests in separate kidnappings. Fr. Vitus Borogo, a priest serving in the Archdiocese of Kaduna, was killed in Kujama, along Kaduna-Kachia Road, after a raid on the farm by Terrorists. Sources say the incident happened after bandits raided his farm. I also mentioned the abduction and killing of Fr. Christopher Odia at his parish at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Uzairue, Edo state. In all of these, I asked if the killings were a ransom demand, religiously motivated, or an attempt to silence the only church that has remained vocal recently.

Rather than get better, our situation has increasingly gotten worse. In that write-up, I tried to chronicle the sad event of people getting murdered in Nigeria. The list is by no means exhaustive, as I did my best to limit it to the most recent. In May 2022, NIGERIANS woke up to watch a horrific video of the stoning to death and burning of a female student of Shehu Shagari College of Education in Sokoto over alleged blasphemy. The female student, identified as Ms. Deborah Samuel, was accused of uttering unflattering comments about Prophet Mohammed on campus. What began as the slightest provocation soon became a premeditated murder case that will continue to haunt us for a long time. In 2019, a Catholic priest in Anambra state, Fr. Edmond Nwagbala, was burnt to death in a fire incident in Nnewi Anambra state. The incident is understood to have started in the morning at St. Peter Claver Catholic Parish Ichi, Nnewi North LGA, Anambra State. The deceased was the priest in charge of the parish at the time of the incident. He was sleeping in the Parish House when the fire started. Police spokesman, Haruna Mohammed, said the inferno, whose cause could not be ascertained, affected a part of the residential building of the church. As a result, the parish priest, Fr. Nwagbala, was burnt beyond recognition inside his room on the same premises. The victim was rushed to the hospital for medical attention but was certified dead on arrival by the medical doctor. Just a few days into the new year, another Catholic priest was burnt alive and another shot and injured as he tried to escape from a building. The motive behind the attack remains unknown, but it casts a shadow on security a month before scheduled elections. How did this incident occur? The news is that bandits failed to access the residence of Fr. Isaac Achi of Kafin-Koro, Niger State. After a failed break-in to the house, the unidentified assailants set his home ablaze. The attackers shot and wounded another priest (Fr. Collins) as he tried to escape the building. They later recovered the lifeless body of Fr. Isaac while they rushed Father Collins to the hospital for treatment.

I met Fr. Achi between 1996/1997 when I lived with my godfather, Fr. Anthony Akaatenger in the same parish Fr. Achi was killed. Fr. Akaatenger was the assistant parish priest to the late Fr. Amakob before returning to the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi. An Indigenous priest from the area ordained in 1995, Fr. Achi, until his death, was the priest in charge of Ss. Peter and Paul’s Catholic Church Kafin-Koro, in the Diocese of Minna, Nigeria. He was also the chairman of his local branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). The late Fr. Achi was said to have survived several attacks. According to a family source, 11 years ago, Father Achi was abducted in Madalla, Niger state. He spent days in captivity until his church members paid some ransom before he regained freedom. Still, in Madalla, the priest was shot in his jaw when he went to bless a child during a naming ceremony. The assailants were said to have invaded the house and started attacking persons when the priest, said to be giant statured, stood up to them. They flew him abroad for medical treatment, yet the marks on his body are still visible. Then came the Christmas Day bombing that caught global attention. A Boko Haram suicide bomber attacked the Catholic Church of St. Theresa in Madalla, Niger state, killing 44 people, many of whom were his parishioners. Several others were also injured. When Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), paid a condolence visit to the church, the late Achi told him that seven hospitalized victims of the Christmas Day bombing had gone blind.

Achi’s death comes amid a spate of violence in Nigeria, where hundreds of Christians have been killed or abducted by Boko Haram and other Islamic sects. On the same day bandits killed Achi, 25 worshippers were kidnapped from a Protestant service in northwestern Nigeria when their prayers were reportedly interrupted by a gang of men riding motorcycles. And on January 14, the Diocese of Ekiti announced that Fr. Michael Olubunmi Olofinlade was abducted on his way to the parish after a pastoral visit. As of last Sunday, the kidnappers had not yet contacted the diocese with a list of demands. Shortly before Christmas, more than 40 people were killed in a terror attack in central Nigeria – the youngest victim was two years old baby. In that same attack, children died in their homes as terrorists set them ablaze. Priests have frequently faced violence as terrorism continues unabated. According to reports, more than 18 priests have been abducted in Nigeria since 2022. The statistics suggest that although most were released unhurt, others were not lucky.

Of course, this epidemic of attacks on the Catholic Church in Nigeria cannot be a mere coincidence. They are well-coordinated and deliberate. Most of the priests were abducted right from their parish rectory. So, the terrorists knew who they wanted and where to get them. But there is still a puzzle. Why would anyone kill Catholic priests – who give up everything to serve God and fellow human beings? Are priests persecuted by unknown evil forces we do not know? How come many are killed mysteriously without a ransom?

These abductions and killings are happening because the government and security agencies are compromised. The government and the security forces know those behind these killings and where they are. Yet, our security system has become fraught and weak under the Buhari administration. The murder of Fr. Achi is one killing too many that proves one thing: the Nigerian state is not prepared to protect the Christian community. With this government, terrorists seem to be in safe hands. Today, criminals have become so emboldened they can abduct a busload of people in broad daylight without fear of being apprehended. Just last week, for example, a large group of bandits armed with AK-47s broke into a train station in Igueben Edo State, abducting passengers and staff and taking them to a nearby forest. Some of those who managed to flee sustained bullet wounds. A woman with a baby reportedly escaped and found her way to a nearby community, where people rescued her. According to the BBC, the kidnappers also released two children as people believed that they felt the children would slow down their movements. In December 2022, a rail service linking the capital, Abuja, with the northern city of Kaduna resumed operation nine months after at least nine passengers died during a gun attack on the train line. Many others were taken away as hostages. They released the last hostage in October. Today, we all have become sitting ducks, each waiting for his turn and helplessly looking on as bandits unleashed mayhem on us. Some people have argued it is time to bear arms and redeem our nation. But this issue would only make matters worse. To go this route is to make Nigeria another Somalia with different warlords calling the shots in their vaunted territory.

What must we do? The clock is ticking loudly and counting toward a new dawn for Nigeria as we head into the general election. As the security situation continues to worsen ahead of the election, we continue to urge Nigerians to use the power of the ballot to change the looming leadership trajectory that has continued to remain mute amid distressed Nigeria. As we all reflect on the ongoing political process and discourse ahead of the general election in 2023, it is time for a new paradigm shift. I am optimistic that millions of Nigerians are earnestly yearning for a new chapter of life and a Nigeria that works. Some of us in the diaspora are as concerned as Nigerians at home. For once we seek the common good because we have family members in Nigeria who continue to suffer decades of poor economic management, collapsed security architecture, separatist agitations, high-level flagrant looting, high inflation, mass unemployment, and other endless litanies of national woes caused by clueless power mongers. If we have not had enough of these woes, we are out of touch with reality. Good security is significant for every Nigerian irrespective of tribe, state, or religion. Constant electricity and a good road network are vital for the Ibo man as it is for the Hausa man. Affordable cost of living serves the Fulani as it serves the interest of the Idoma people. A smooth university calendar is as sweet to the Kanuri man from Borno as it is to the Birom man from Plateau. Affordable and available petroleum product enables the Tiv woman to travel around to sell her foodstuff as it is to the Yoruba woman in Oyo State. We could go on and on to demonstrate how our common goods serve our collective interests.

We can achieve the desired change for a better Nigeria in 2023. The power to change Nigeria for the better is right in our hands. I once saw a billboard that INEC does not count your prayer points but counts your vote. Go and get your PVC. This notion is true because as religious people, many of us are having night vigils of prayer for God to raise good leaders for us in 2023. We prayed the same prayers before the last general election but what did we get? The answer to our prayers is in our hands. God does not owe Nigerians any explanation for our endless prayers of lamentation. God is waiting for us to start and effect the change we desire in our beloved nation with the collective power of our voting mind. With our PVC in our hands, we will change and begin afresh on the path of Nigeria toward peace, security, prosperity, and development. But there are consequences to achieving this. One of the consequences is the obligatory sacrifice we all must make for a better Nigeria. These consequences involve not selling our votes to satisfy our immediate needs but sacrificing our momentary gratification for lasting gratification. In August 2022, I watched with dismay the recent party primaries and saw how the high and mighty bought the so-called delegates with dollars. We are living with the outcome of the “make it rain” syndrome, where the dollar is the answer to our needs. Political delegates played their politics, but we as Nigerians have a good chance ahead to correct the wrongs by acting right, rejecting any material, tribal, religious, and political influence on who we vote to the office of president. The life, values, discipline, law and order, strength, growth, development, economy, peace, security, national cohesion, and reputation of Nigeria depend on the quality of leadership we elect at all levels and the federal level.

To recycle an old generational politician who still parades our political terrain as our savior is to accelerate Nigeria’s transition from a frying pan to a burning fire. Whom we vote for in 2023 must then be someone who can inject fresh impetus, confidence, and vigor into the Nigeria project. Nigeria has suffered enough setbacks over the past years because of poor leadership. It is self-deceiving to recycle people struggling with the terminal condition to vibrantly lead the nation out of the dungeon of colossal disorder. It is worthless to imagine that we can fulfill our great potential under the management of tribal lords and corrupt associates. Who is this person, and how can we identify him? I do not have a definitive answer on the identity of this person. However, my conscience has the identity and details of those politicians who are not fit to rescue Nigeria from the grip of wolves. When our conscience eliminates the names of those who do not fit in the Nigeria project, we will get to the one who it is that will turn our oceans of lamentation into oceans of prosperity. That is why we cannot afford to waste another eight years sinking ourselves into the abyss of failed states by voting politicians with their shameless loots to buy the votes of suffering Nigerians and perpetuate their maladministration to the detriment of Nigeria and Nigerians.

The time has come for a new paradigm shift, and it is now for us to save Nigeria. The philosophy and theology of this clarion call are right here and now. If, as a priest, I could dedicate my time to writing and encouraging you from afar, you too must be capable enough to do the needful. Get your PVC to SAVE NIGERIA, not for the man who pays you to vote for him or gives you foodstuff or clothes, but for the man who has what it takes to take this country in the right direction. Such a person may not have stolen money to throw around, but that person is the man for the job. Let us sacrifice momentarily to vote for leaders who will build a Nigeria that works for us and our unborn generations. I passionately appeal to all Nigerians to vote wisely and conscientiously to rescue and save Nigeria from the grips of political and economic capitalists. The person we vote for in 2023 will have implications beyond their first and second term in office. How? If we play the same old game, the person will plant his anointed godson to follow his paths. That is, handing over to himself in the form of another person (godson). The political implication of an anointed godson will enslave Nigeria for at least the next sixteen years: eight years for the recycled one and another eight years for his anointed son. If we could all shine our eyes and boycott the “popular bad eggs” of the old generation and embrace the new unpopular good egg on the ballot, we could be locking the old gate against the old system that has brought us to where we painfully are today. Hence, opening a new door to a new system will take us where we desire and deserve to be. Sometimes, it takes doing something differently to get the change we want. We cannot continue to do the same thing over and over again and expect to have a different result. It is time for us to vote differently for the change we desire in every sector of our national life.

We have a month to the general election: what are we supposed to do? How can we overcome this imbroglio? If you are a writer, write. If you are a preacher, preach. If you are an actor, act. If you are a musician, make music. Let us do whatever we can do best to encourage people to vote. The message must be clear. Ring out your voices and keep screaming till people hear. It is better to speak the truth and die in the process than not talk and still die anyway. It is time to take back our country in a civilized manner. It is time to take back what belongs to us. I conclude by praying for those who have died. May the soul of Fr. Isaac Achi and the souls of all who have died rest in peace. Amen!

Rev. Ma, S.J, is a Jesuit Catholic priest and PhD candidate in public and social policy at St. Louis University in the state of Missouri, USA.