Genocide: A tale of two Sundays and one Bishop

On Easter (April 20) 2025, one Bishop who shepherds a flock of nearly eight hundred thousand, voiced out his pains and frustration in his homily. He is the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Most Reverend Godfrey I. Onah. That day, Bishop Onah touched raw nerves. To put it biblically, Bishop Onah made his own lamentations, decrying killings in the country, particularly of Christians and how these incidents have been handled by the government and its concerned agencies.

Onah was not in any way flustered. He chose his words and these words were indeed measured. He went as far as asking the politicians in government not to wish Christians a happy Easter but to simply do their job. What is that primary job of government again?

Bishop Ona said: “A number of things Christians have suffered in this country can be compared to the crucifixion of the Lord. Do we talk about the taking over of all Christian schools by the Nigerian government? They took over those schools, destroyed them; turned our educational institutions into houses of formation of criminals and mediocre; people who can’t write simple letters, who can’t speak any language correctly, who can’t solve their own problems and won’t pass any exams without cheating. And that is like crucifying because that is like a house, the school is the house of formation of character. They have taken the body away, they have removed all signs of His death.

“Since after the takeover of schools, who has a correct statistics of the number of churches that have been burnt down in this country? Who knows how many Christians have been killed in this country because they are Christians, some right inside the church? Some will tell you these are criminals, they are not just targetting Christians. Take it easy: How many of those perpetrating these crimes have been arrested and prosecuted? How many of them are in jail? How many of them have faced the death penalty? The Catholic Church is against the death penalty, I’m talking about the Nigerian law.

“But we know that if anything happens to some of those who perpetrate this crime – either in self-defense or in resistance, the government stands up. There is outrage everywhere in all levels of government. This selective outrage of government, this selective outrage of the police of the army of the security agencies when innocent citizens are massacred; when criminals are repelled and in repelling they die, this selective outrage is not like they have killed him, they have taken his body away.

“They want to wipe out every trace, and some Christians are being provoked legitimately to react. Any time any of them reacts, they are said to be taking the laws into their hands. But all those who trample the law with their feet, trample upon the law – they kill, they rape, they maim, they sack farmers, they harvest crops of farmers and feed it to their cattle, and when you say ‘no why are you doing this?’ it is death. And when they do that they record it and post it to government to see. If you ask them questions, you are killed. If you chase them away and while running away they die, you will be condemned to death.

“This, permit me to say, is pure, sheer provocation. But this is Easter, Christians still have to be told to embrace the path of peace and forgiveness. But in one of the readings (yesterday) in the book of Exodus, the people were crying to Moses. They were stranded in the desert. The sea was there. Moses turned to God: What do we do, we are stranded here in the desert? God told him why are you crying to me, tell the people to move and you raise your staff. We as Nigerians, as Christians, like the Israelites escaping from slavery, must learn to do certain things now differently. We cannot continue in our selfish indifference. We have to bring the values of the gospel into our individual and collective lives. That is the only hope we have for survival.

“Today, many of them will go to the television; their official social media handles to wish Nigerians, especially Christians happy Easter. Oga, keep your wish. Don’t wish me happy Easter, protect my life. Don’t wish me happy Easter, do your job, because this cloud that is gathering, this darkness that is gathering, if it is allowed to extinguish the light of faith of Christians, this country will be plunged into total darkness. And successive governments that have stood idly by while this is happening should only blame themselves and not any other person if anything like that happens. But today is Easter.”

Lamentations, the type of Bishop Onah’s is a common refrain in parts of the country – North, South, East and West. This is a common knowledge around the country except for those who have chosen to hide behind a finger. We hear leaders, especially Christian and community leaders routinely decry killings, especially of Christians, while it has remained a mystery why it is not so common to hear Islamic leaders on the same subject even in their respective areas of authority. Yet, they have a leader to emulate too because in November 2020, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar III did lament that bandits with sophisticated weapons strolled in and out of markets in towns and villages in the North, while government does nothing about it. The communities harbouring these terrorists are the ones who work hard to save money for the bandits’ insatiable demand for ransom. So, the cry of Bishop Onah is not isolated. It is a pointer to a present danger and a sad reality in the life of Nigeria and Nigerians.

The Bishop’s submission reminds one of the travails of two Sundays. One is from the South and the other is from the North. Sunday Adeyemo from Oyo State,who is popularly referred to as Sunday Igboho, is currently in limbo. He miraculously escaped from his home in Ibadan when the operatives of the DSS stormed there at midnight to ‘arrest’ him. During that operation, one of his aides known as Saheed Adisa, popularly known as Adogan, lost his life. Since that incident in July 2021, Sunday Igboho has been neither here nor there, regardless of who is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the country today.

One of the questions that could help us in properly situating the Sunday Igboho scenario is: What led Nigerians to the knowledge of the man Sunday Igboho? What was he out to achieve? The DSS said Igboho was stockpiling arms, and it is proper that we have one less problem to tackle. But what was Sunday Igboho’s prompt in the South West? What spurred his sudden agitation in Ibarapa and Oke Ogun areas of Oyo State among others? Do we still remember the travails of Ondo State people and their late Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, as the state made to establish Amotekun Corps? Do we remember that Oba Israel Adegoke Adeusi, Olufon of Ifon was murdered by alleged herdsmen? Let’s just leave the sad story of Mrs. Lola Olakunrin, daughter of Pa Rueben Fasoranti.

The Amotekun later said they arrested suspects in the murder of Olufon Adeusi. What happened afterwards? Where are the suspects being tried? Who are the suspects? Is Bishop Onah, therefore, not right when we compare the Olufon murder suspects’ matter to the killers of monarchs in Ekiti State? Answering these questions would refer us back to the Lamentations of Bishop Onah.

The other Sunday is Sunday Jackson. He is from Adamawa State in Northern Nigeria. A lot of commentators still hold that his death sentence was unfair, and that he suffered that fate because he is a Christian and his adversary was Fulani. But he had argued up to the Supreme Court, which upheld his sentence. Law does not act on emotion and (or) sentiment and, as such Sunday Jackson’s case is now in the hands of the Ultimate Judge. The human judges did not agree with his alibi of self-defense. It didn’t sway them and it reminds one of the sentiments expressed by Bishop Onah.

That is my tale of two Sundays and a Bishop. Those who are helping us to further complicate this matter with the United States cannot competently deny that killings are a routine occurrence in Nigeria. The Christian leaders have proven to the US that the killing is genocide, hence the current diplomatic and sundry upheaval.  There has been a major shift in focus from the things the government should do to end the killings, which is at the root of this, to why it is not in America’s place to tell us about it.

Those who have chosen to end the ringworm and leave the leprosy to thrive and fester know what they are doing. Donald Trump and his America too know what they are doing. Whatever happens, we can say that there is now an awakening in Nigeria which, we hope, would nourish our country. Meanwhile, we await the result of President Tinubu’s diplomatic maneuvres while we entertain ourselves with orisirisi potpourri of reactions to Trump’s threat on terrorism in Nigeria.