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Catholic priest burned alive in Nigeria

 


Reverend Isaac Achi, a Catholic priest, was burnt alive on Sunday in a bungled home invasion at his residence in Kaffin Koro parish in Nigeria’s Niger state, according to a police official.

 

When the armed would-be thieves were unable to gain inside, they chose to set fire to the property, leaving the priest to perish while his aide, Father Collins, nearly escaped with his life, suffering a gunshot to the shoulder as he ran.

 

Nigerian officials indicated that terrorist organizations are increasingly targeting rural populations in the country’s north and center as a result of the country’s limited and under-equipped security forces. While these “bandits” are said to have killed thousands and kidnapped others for ransom, oftentimes targeting religious dignitaries for added fear, they appear to be seldom apprehended.

 

 "These terrorists have lost it, and serious action is required to halt this continuous bloodshed,” Niger Governor Abubakar Sani Bello said in a statement released on Sunday by his press secretary. He ordered security services to devise new ways for combatting extremist organizations, but advised the populace to be calm as his administration continued to “do its utmost to safeguard the people’s lives and livelihoods.”

 

The Christian Association of Nigeria’s (YOWICAN) youth wing described the incident as an act of terrorism intended at annihilating the Nigerian Christian community.

 

“It is concerning that Christian priests are being abducted and killed on a regular basis in Nigeria. At all costs, this ought to be stopped. Amb. Belusochukwu Enwere, the chairman, urged the Christian community to unite and stand up to put an end to this, calling for the guilty parties to be “brought to justice.””

 

Nigeria is turning into a slaughterhouse where people are treated like animals.

 

The police have further verified that on Sunday, armed individuals raided a Christian church in Katsina state, abducted 25 attendees and left the pastor behind with wounds, including a gunshot wound to the hand. Rev. John Mark Chietnum, another priest, was abducted and killed only last July in Kaduna state, in the northwest.

 

Source:  EU Times

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