Gov Bello: ‘We Are All Not Safe’
BANDITS, in the early hours of Sunday, January 15, killed a Catholic priest in an attack on Kafin Koro Community in Paikoro Local Council of Niger State when they burnt the building where he was living.
The bandits burnt Reverend Father Isaac Achi of Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church to death when they invaded the community around 1 am and began shooting sporadically as they heading to his uphill residence.
According to a resident of the community, the bandits divided themselves into two groups, with on e group going to the Catholic priest’s official residence, while other stayed in the town, shooting to wade off any intervention or resistance.
The source said when the bandits couldn’t gain access to the late priest’s residence after several attempts, they set the building ablaze, with Achi inside, and waited until it burnt to ashes.
The Divisional Police Officer was said to have been reached almost immediately, but he couldn’t get to Achi before he died.
Achi’s body was found among the charred parish building, according to the Catholic Diocese of Minna.
Another priest at the rectory, Rev. Father Collins Omeh, escaped the building, but sustained gunshot wounds and was being treated in a hospital.
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fcyon.minnadiocese.7%2Fposts%2Fpfbid036yc66fiwaPf74bnYkPdBnwopbeFoDt5dQw2d7xuee5V6W531GfPDbL6g2pC759Uxl&show_text=true&width=500 In his reaction, Governor Sani Bello Abubakar, described the attack as “ungodly and inhumane,” lamented that nobody was now safe in the state.
He noted that targeting a religious centre is the worst form of attack perpetrated by terrorists and directed security agencies to pursue the attackers and bring them to account, adding that the country was unsafe for everyone if a priest could be killed in such a manner.
Bello, in a statement, said: “This is a sad moment, for a priest to be killed in such a manner means that we are not all safe. These terrorists have lost it and drastic action is needed to end this ongoing carnage.”
The governor, while condoling with the Christian community and Catholic Church over the death of the priest, assured that government would intensify efforts to ensure the terrorists were apprehended.
He prayed for the quick recovery of the other priest who sustained an injury, adding that security operatives would adopt new strategies to avert such attacks.
