A spokeswoman for the church claims that on June 7, unidentified gunmen in southwest Nigeria shot and killed a priest who was a Roman Catholic. The Rev. Augustine Akubeze, the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Benin, issued a press release confirming that the Rev. Charles Onomhoale Igechi was killed while driving in the Ikhueniro neighborhood of Benin, Edo state. Igechi was a priest and the vice principal of St. Michael College in Ikhueniro. He had been ordained less than two years before, on August 13, 2022.
Igechi tragically suffered a shooting in his back, and his bullet-riddled body was discovered at Ikpoba Hill within the Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area in Edo state, according to what Akubeze reported. As per Akubeze's statement, unidentified gunmen were responsible for Igechi's death. His body was found only after the deadly incident.
Escalating Violence Against Christians in Nigeria: Militants Widen Their Scope
According to the article in Christian Headlines, 39 Catholic priests were killed, and 30 were abducted in Nigeria last year, according to a January report by the security firm SB Morgan Intelligence. According to the research, while initial worries pointed to the deliberate persecution of Christians, abductions now primarily involve financial considerations.
According to the 2023 World Watch List (WWL) report from Open Doors, Nigeria had 5,014 killings in 2022, making it the country with the highest number of Christians slain for their beliefs worldwide. The nation also reported the highest number of Christian abductions for about 4,726 sexual assaults or harassment, forced marriages, physical or mental torture, and attacks on houses and businesses for religiously motivated causes. Nigeria recorded the second-highest number of church attacks and internally displaced people for the second year in a row. Rev. Igechi's latest murder highlights Nigeria's worsening epidemic of violence against Christians.
According to World Watch List (WWL) research, militant organizations like the Fulani, Boko Haram, and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are increasing their brutality against Christian communities in Nigeria. Morning Star News stated that the study describes horrific atrocities that included rapes, deaths, maimings, and kidnappings for ransom or sexual servitude.
This year's report makes a big change by noting that the violence has spread to the nation's primarily Christian south. Despite the attacks' growing sectarian bent, the Nigerian government nevertheless disputes that they amount to religious persecution. This denial has made it possible for Christians' rights to be violated in an environment where they can go unpunished.
Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo urged "serious reflection on how far we are ready to go to protect human life and its dignity and sanctity as a nation" a year after the vicious attack that resulted in the murder of Rev. Charles Onomhoale Igechi.
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A Year After Brutal Attack, Calls for Justice and Reflection Intensify in Nigeria
Bishop Arogundade stressed the need to commemorate the anniversary of the massacre in his address to Aid to the Church in Need in order to raise awareness of the scourge of terrorism and its long-lasting repercussions on people. According to the Catholic Herald, he rejected the notion that "time heals" and warned against moving on too quickly for fear of erasing the remembrance of the victims.
The bishop is persistent in pressing people in positions of authority to take the necessary steps to avert similar catastrophes, notwithstanding the lack of progress in apprehending the assailants. His opinions are in line with the growing international demand for justice for the Nigerian Christians who have been the victims of violence.
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