Tears, impassioned speeches as Benue buries murdered Catholic priests, parishioners

It was a day of mourning as Benue State committed murdered Catholic priests and parishioners to mother earth on Tuesday.

Speaking at the burial ceremony, Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue state, revealed that suspected herdsmen had killed 492 people in the state in 2018 alone.

The Catholic priests – Felix Tyolaha and Joseph Gor – and 17 parishioners were killed by gunmen during a raid on Saint Ignatius Parish, Mbalom, Benue State.

The governor regretted the attacks on the church, wondering, “these people were in the church and not on their farms; by this act, they gave moved their narrative to include other motives”.

He called on the federal government to arrest the killer-herdsmen, saying ” we know our killers but they are not arrested or invited for interrogation; they have stated at several fora that they would reclaim their land.”

The governor said the anti-open grazing law passed by the state assembly and accented by him, was the best way in curbing incessant clashes between herdsmen and farmers in the country.

Also speaking, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo who attended the service said the killers will not go unpunished.

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The vice-president, who was accompanied on the trip by ministers and other top ranking politicians, expressed the government’s commitment to ending the attacks.

He said the perpetrators of such dastardly and heinous crimes do not deserve to live among decent people and prayed for the conversion of their souls.

Osinbajo said, “We can ensure justice… by apprehending & punishing their assailants. We must rebuild places that have been damaged & heal wounds that have been caused.”

The bishops who spoke at the burial called on the government to ensure the killers were brought to book.

A team representing the Catholic Church in West Africa was also at the burial.

The corpses of the Mbalom church attack were laid to rest at a small hilltop village situated on the outskirts of Ikpayongo, in Gwer East Local Government council around 2:45pm.

 

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