This is following the burial of two Catholic priests and 17 other worshippers who were killed by suspected herdsmen in Gwer local government area of Benue state.
![The supermarket was under lock and key when officials of the FCCPC visited the supermarket [Peoples Gazette]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "The supermarket was under lock and key when officials of the FCCPC visited the supermarket [Peoples Gazette]")
The mass burial took place on Tuesday, May 22, 2018.
While commiserating with the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), CAN accused the government of folding its hands while killers turn Nigeria upside down.
The priests and their parishioners were killed in an attackwhich occurred in the early hours of April 24, 2018.
Trying times
Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, the Special Assistant on media to CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Olasupo Ayokunle also said that the Church in Nigeria is going through trying times.
Oladeji urged Nigerians to join the peaceful protest against the killings organised by the Catholic Church.
He also called on the security agencies to rise up to their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties.
Boko Haram
Oladeji said the President should work towards securing the release of Leah Sharibu, the school girl from Dapchi that Boko Haram refused to release for not converting to Islam.
He said “CAN asks President Buhari to suspend his re-election bid until he restores sanity to the country while ensuring the release of Leah Sharibu, the remaining Chibok girls and other abductees from the captivity of the Boko Haram terrorists”.
“CAN calls on President Muhammadu Buhari not to forget his 2015 campaign promises including fighting insecurity and keeping Nigeria united and upon which Nigerians overwhelmingly voted for him.
“Buhari’s government should not fold arms and watch misguided Nigerians, mostly Boko Haram and herdsmen promote killing as a past time in the name of politics and ethnics while solution appears very elusive.
“CAN is disheartening to note that criminal Fulani herdsmen, bandits, kidnappers and other hoodlums have reduced Nigeria to a Banana Republic.
“This development is unacceptable and we call on all well meaning people anywhere in the world to join hands in praying for the deliverance, freedom and liberty from this self inflicted bondage,” he added.
Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured the people of Benue that the killers of the two catholic priests and 17 others will not go unpunished.
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