In the June 5 attack in southwestern Nigeria, gunmen reportedly fired at Catholic worshipers attending Pentecost celebrations and detonated explosives, according to CNA’s African news partner, ACI Africa.
Reuters reported that the gunmen, whose identity remains unclear, killed at least 50 people, according to a local doctor. State police have yet to announce the total number of casualties.
ACN noted that until now southwestern Nigeria had not been as affected by insecurity and violence as Nigeria’s northern and Middle Belt regions.
Archbishop Lucius Ugorji, the president of the Nigerian Catholic bishops’ conference, said: “Nowhere seems to be safe again in our country; not even the sacred precincts of a Church.”
The archbishop of Owerri condemned “in the strongest terms the spilling of innocent blood in the House of God.”
“We call on the government to hunt them down and bring them to book. If the government fails to act decisively on such a grave matter, it would be encouraging the descent of anarchy on our nation,” he said.
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