Catholic Priests in Benue State have recently come under attacks of armed robbers.
The bandits used to carry out the attacks after thanksgiving services in honour of politicians.
The most recent incident was at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Naka, Gwer West Local Government Area.
The thanksgiving service was organized in honour of Governor Gabriel Suswam, who on behalf of the Government donated the sum of N3million cash for the building of a church.
The Nigerian Compass gathered that the robbers broke into the parish Father’s house where Rev. Fr. Thomas Orhena was attacked alongside his servants. Luckily for the parish, the robbers could not get the N3million realised at the service, because the parish priest was said to have taken the money for safe keeping.
An anonymous source told the Nigerian Compass that the robbers raided the church for over three hours, shooting sporadically into the air. Even though they could not get their hands on the much desired money, they refused to leave the parish empty handed, thus they carted away valuable items worth millions of naira.
The Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed, confirmed the attack, adding that similar incidents had taken place at Gboko and Buruku towns, where robbers attacked churches after thanksgiving, intimating that his men had since arrested some of the robbers who will soon appear in court.
Mohammed said his men were on top of the incident in forestalling incessant attacks by armed robbers on churches, after political thanksgiving services in the state. He urged members of the public to avail the police of useful information on the movement of youths after such thanksgiving services to assist the police track down the robbers.
“There is no cause for alarm as the police are on top of the situation. We have arrested six of such robbers and they would be arraigned in court for prosecution,” said Mohammed.
Director of Communications, Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Reverend Father Gabriel Wankar, who spoke in a telephone interview with the Nigerian Compass, described the attack on Saint Theresa’s Parish, Naka and other churches by robbers as unfortunate, and called on law enforcement agencies to beef up security around churches.
Comments