Nigeria Killings: Group Petition Pope Francis and US President

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has voted to petition the Vatican City in Rome, President of the United States of America (USA) in the White House to ask the two global leaders to compel the Kaduna state governor Mallam Nassir El-Rufai, and President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the siege and systematic genocidal killings of Christians in the Christian dominated heartland of southern Kaduna state.

In a media statement issued to newsmen  on Tuesday and jointly signed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, said that HURIWA has decided to call the attention of Pope Francis and President Donald Trump concerning the spate of well-coordinated armed invasions of churches and Christian dormitories by suspected armed Islamists and bandits who have made Kaduna state the epicenter of these extensively coordinated attacks against Christians.

The Rights group said it has told the world leaders that both the Kaduna state political authority and the Presidency of Nigeria are treating with levity the grave threats of extinctions and genocide that Christians are subjected to in Kaduna state.

The Rights group also stated that the gross disrespect for Federal character principle in Kaduna state which culminated in the emergence of a governor; deputy governor and State House of Assembly speaker of Kaduna who are all Moslems thereby consigning millions of Christians to the inglorious position of second class citizens is the cannon fodder for the spiraling armed attacks by armed Islamists masquerading as herdsmen, kidnappers and bandits.

The group added that “On the last count virtually all major Christian denominations in Kaduna State have witnessed dozens of attacks just as dozens of pastors have died in the cause of these targeted armed invasions and kidnapping. We are not accusing the Kaduna state government of involvements but we are worried about the conspiratorial silence to these series of attacks.

“We have consistently asked the politicians of Kaduna state to respect section 14(3) of the constitution which obliges the appointments of all ethno-religious community members into strategic offices but in 2019 election, the governor made sure only Moslems are railroaded into the offices of governor, deputy and even the office of speaker of the Kaduna state House of Assembly is occupied by a Moslem.

“This is the fuel that has ignited widespread mistreatment of Christians. The incessant attacks by armed Islamists targeting only pastors; Christian schools and clerics of Christian denomination have become a national emergency.

“Since Nigerian State and the Kaduna state government are not treating these threats as a national emergency we have decided to let the world know the true state of things and we are happy that some organizations have made similar findings.

“Section 14(3) (4) of the Constitution provides thus: ‘The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few State or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.’

“’The composition of the Government of a State, a local government council, or any of the agencies of such Government or council, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or council or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation.’

“Sadly, the Kaduna state government and the office of the Nigerian President are deeply entrenched in the selective appointments of mostly Moslems as holders of virtually all strategic positions thus neglecting the other key constituents who are Christians and atheists including worshippers of African traditional religion. The recent kidnapping of senior seminarians of the Catholic Church in Kaduna state is one of such widespread well-coordinated attacks.

“The Four seminarians, between the ages of 18 and 23, were abducted Wednesday night recently from their seminary in Kaduna, in northwestern Nigeria.

“Pius Kanwai, 19; Peter Umenukor, 23; Stephen Amos, 23; and Michael Nnadi, 18, were taken from Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna, around 10:30 pm on Jan. 8 by gunmen. Police are searching for the four young men.

“HURIWA is hereby endorsing the position that the security situation in Nigeria is appalling. Thomas as was observed by Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN International, who reportedly correctly that Criminal gangs are further exploiting the chaotic situation and making matters still worse.

“HURIWA accepts the comparison he drew about the situation in Nigeria to that of Iraq prior to the Islamic State’s invasion: this scholar stated that already at that stage, Christians were being abducted, robbed and murdered because there was no protection by the state. This must not be allowed to happen to the Christians of Nigeria. The government must act now, before it is too late.

“HURIWA lamented that since the gunmen, disguised in military camouflage, broke through the fence surrounding the seminarians’ living quarters and began shooting sporadically.

“They stole laptops and phones before kidnapping the four young men. But the nation’s heads of security forces have yet to make concerted efforts to retrieve these Senior Seminarians from their kidnappers who are armed Islamists.”