07/07/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – Earlier this week, Fulani militants killed a Catholic priest in Nigeria’s Kaduna state. Steven Kefas, a journalist from Kaduna said, “Yesterday, Rev Fr. Vitus Bogoro, the Chaplain of Kaduna Polytechnic Catholic community, was killed by terrorists at the Prison Farm, Kurama. The militants didn’t kidnap the priest and ask for ransom. They just murdered him.” said Kefas. He is heartbroken that the priest, a man whose humility is second to none, had to die in such a manner.
Rev. Fr. Vitus Borogo was killed on Monday when the farm he was staying at was attacked by radicalized Fulani militants. Fr. Vitus was the Chaplain of the Catholic Community of the Kaduna State Polytechnic, and the Chairman of the Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA), Kaduna Chapter.
Recently, another priest was also killed by Fulani militants. Rev. Fr. Christopher Odia was killed by his abductors after being kidnapped on the morning of June 26. The priest was leaving his home to head to Sunday Mass at St. Michael Catholic Church Ikabigbo, Uzairue, Edo State, when he was sized. Fr. Odia was the administrator of St Michael Catholic Church, Ikabigbo, and the principal of St. Philip Catholic Secondary School Jattu. He was aged 41. May his soul rest in peace.
“The killing of Bogoro is painful,” said Rev. John Joseph Hayab, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Kaduna State, said that the killing of Rev. Borogo was condemnable and a serious call on the church, Christian leaders, and any community that is vulnerable in Nigeria to be on the ready to defend themselves against such attacks.
Rev. Hayab said that, despite all their efforts, the government had done nothing to stop the killings in the region. He urged Christians to be vigilant.
Last year, Nigeria earned the distinction of being the country with the world’s worst persecution in ICC’s Persecutor of the Year Awards. Radicalized and armed Islamist Fulani have killed tens of thousands of Christians and left more than three million homeless in a 20-year genocide against them.
“Christian communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria have effectively suffered a twenty-year-long genocide,” said ICC President Jeff King. “Where is any action? The Nigerian government gives these attacks lip service without any meaningful response. Where is the outcry? Where is effective action? In Nigeria, the military, the police, and the intelligence agencies are all controlled by Muslims. This, coupled with a twenty-year lack of response by these agencies, should naturally lead to deeper questioning by the world community. Simply put, the time for cheap talk and platitudes is over. The world is waking up and starting to ask, ‘Is the Nigerian government complicit in these attacks?’ Time will tell, but for this long-time watcher, the decision is in.”
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