Catholic Bishop Godfrey Onah of the Diocese of Nsukka has drawn parallels between the persecution of Christians in Nigeria and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, asserting that the lack of arrests and prosecution implies the government was shielding killer herdsmen and other criminal elements involved.
“A number of things Christians have suffered in this country can be compared to the crucifixion of the Lord,” said the bishop on Sunday, accusing the government of running down missionary schools after their takeover.
In a fiery sermon at the Catholic church on Sunday, Onah said the Christian faithful were being targeted for attacks and that the government was complicit.
He said security agencies, which appeared to turn a blind eye to documented instances of Christian persecution, are always on alert and ready to enforce the death penalty when Christians defend themselves against their attackers.
“But we know that if anything happens to some of those who perpetrate these crimes either in self-defence or in resistance, the government stands up,” the bishop said.
The Nigerian government, according to the clergyman, engaged in “selective outrage”, choosing to react only when victims attacked their attackers and slammed them with charges of “taking law into their hands” without arresting the instigators. He likened the outrage to the crucifixion of Christ and an attempt to exterminate Christians.
“This selective outrage of government of the police, the army, the security agencies when innocent citizens are massacred and when criminals are repelled and in the repelling, they die,” the bishop asserted. “This selective outrage is not only that they have killed him (Christ), it’s that they have taken the body away. They want to wipe off every trace.”
He said Christians were being provoked, given how herdsmen raped and killed women, looting their farms for crops to feed cattle. He said that many killer herdsmen go as far as posting videos of their crimes online to taunt the Christian faithful without fear of arrest,let alone prosecution.
“Anytime they react, they are said to be taking the law into their hands, but all those who trample the law with their feet,” Onah pointed out. “They kill, they rape, they sack farmers, they harvest crops of farmers and feed them to their cattle, and when you say no, it is death.”
The bishop queried people who downplayed the violence as not necessarily Christian-targeted, asking why none of the killers had been apprehended for Nigeria’s death penalty.”
“Some will tell you these are criminals; they are not just targeting Christians. Take it easy. How many of those who perpetuate these crimes have been arrested and prosecuted? How many of them have faced the death penalty?” said the bishop.
“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, by running away, they die, you will be condemned to death.”
Christian student, Deborah Samuel, was stoned and burnt to death in 2022 after she complained that Muslim students inundated her class WhatsApp group with Islamic sermons. She was accused of blasphemy, and the perpetrators who captured the carnage on camera were never prosecuted.
The Supreme Court in March 2025 upheld the conviction and death penalty on Adamawa Christian farmer, Sunday Jackson, for defending himself against a killer herdsman.
Prominent voices have continued to emerge since President Donald Trump threatened to invade Nigeria with the U.S. military over the alleged Christian genocide in Northern Nigeria.
Leave a Reply