- Hundreds of houses and farmlands were razed during the onslaught which has sparked outrage across the world.
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, has unequivocally condemned the recent nerve-wracking spate of killings in Plateau state.
The vociferous cleric said the violent attacks and the resulting carnage were beyond herder-farmer clashes, adding that something sinister and disturbing was at play.
Recall that rampaging terrorists believed to be armed Fulani expansionists killed over 200 persons in deadly christmas eve attacks on communities in the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of the middle belt state.
Hundreds of houses and farmlands were razed during the onslaught which has sparked outrage across the world.
In a statement on Sunday, Kukah said the murderers wanted to take over Nigeria and foist their ideology on the country and its people.
He implored the government to resist the agenda of the marauders and protect Nigerians.
Kukah tagged the marauders as “sons of Satan” who “opted to extinguish and snatch the light of the joy of Christmas from thousands of people on the Plateau”.
“There is a method to this madness,” he said in the pensive statement sent to our correspondent by his spokesman, Chris Omotosho. “The choice of location, communities, timings, the seeming hooded identities of the killers mask a fact: we may not know who they are, but someone wants something from the Middle Belt. Stretch your imagination from the emergence of the modern Nigerian state and connect the dots”.
‘A War Is Being Waged Against Nigeria’
According to the fiery cleric, a war is being waged against Nigeria by the enemies of the country.
“We may pretend that we are not at war, but truly, a war is being waged against the Nigerian state and its people. God forbid, but we could snap anytime, anywhere and for any reason,” he said.
“By the banks of the Niger river, on the hills of the Plateau, across the lush savannah of the middle belt, we have sat down and wept.
“We have questions crying for answers: Who are these killers? Where are they coming from? Who is sponsoring them? What are their grouses and against whom? What do they want? Whom do they want? Who are they working for? When will it all end? Why are they invincible and invisible? Who is offering them cover?” he lamented.
Kukah further bemoaned why the north has become “the incubator of all that is destructive? Boko Haram, Banditry and shades of terrorism all live in our region”.
“Can we continue to believe that there is no long-term plan to take over the reins of power of the Nigerian state? These people want power. They want it on their own terms. They want their own kind of Nigeria according to their ideology.
“These killings are just a preface. These killings are no longer acts by herders and farmers over grazing fields. No, there is more and we as a nation will do well to face this threat before it is sunset. No evil lasts forever. The world defeated Slavery, Apartheid, Nazism, Racism, and forms of extremism,” he said
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