By Lateef Adegbite
Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has lent his voice to the condemnation of the St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo, home state of Olu Falae, a former Secretary to the government of the Federation, during, the Administration of former military President, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida,rtd, described as the worst of the country’s Leadership by President Muhammadu Buhari for annulling the June 12 general elections, won by Mushood .K. Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party, SDP.
An aggrieved Soyinka who had visited Rotimi Akeredolu , a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and governor of the state of awarenes, recently, had described the attack on the Owo Catholic Church, on Sunday, June 5, 2022, a day ahead of the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, three- day Special Convention at Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to elect the party Presidential Candidate for the 2023, general elections, had described the attack on the Catholic church as the criminal elements sendng a ‘’a message ‘’to the entire south west’’ in order to tighten up security in region which appears to be under siege for now.
The Nobel Laureate, who could not hide his feelings had said that the killer gang may have targeted the governor who in the recent times has been very vocal that power must shift to the south, meaning that the APC, Presidential Candidate for the 2023, general elections must come from the region, since President Muhammadu, a northerner is expected to complete his second term in May 29, 2023.
An aggrieved Soyinka had told the Ondo state governor that’’ it is sad that he was selected as a medium to send the message to the people of the south west to prepare for the real war .’’We have received the message, we understand it and we will respond’’, he had said. This is like a dagger drawn in our heart and an assault on our psyche, he further remarked.
Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun state and now minister of Interior, had said after the National Security Council, NSC, meeting, in Abuja, on Thursday, June 9, 2022, a day after Asiwaju Bola Ahmed, a former governor of Lagos state, emerged as the Presidential Candidate of the ruling APC, that the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, a 20 15, breakaway faction of the Islamic Fundamentalist Group, BokoHaram, had master-minded the attack on the Catholic Church. The question on the lips of most people was: how did the NSC members knew that ISWAP carried out the attack on the Owo Catholic church.
The minister had reechoed what Akeredolu, the Ondo state governor had said that 40 worshipers were killed during the attack while 61 others were wounded and are still in various hospitals in the state receiving treatment, noting that the attack has ‘’no ethnic –religious connection’’.
Prior to the attack on the Owo Catholic Church, the residents of Birnin Gwari, in Birnin Gwari, local government Area of Kaduna state which had been under siege over the last seven years had raised alarm last May, over the activities of the Ansaru terrorists , a faction of BokoHaram and ISWAP, who are moving from the north east to the north west to destroy the region and subsequently move to move to other parts of the country to cause havoc.
Samuel Aruwan, the Kaduna state Commissioner for Internal Security, may have confirmed the claims of the residents of Birnin Gwari when he sent a message to the people of the state that members of the Ansaru, ISWAP and BokoHaram terrorists, have penetrated some parts of Birnin Gwari and Giwa local government areas, urging the people to be on the red alert. The Commissioner had said that no fewer than 360 people have been killed in the two Local government areas by the suspected Ansaru terrorists in the two local government areas and other parts of the state between January and April 2022.
Many believe that the Ansaru terrorists may have mixed up with the Fulani herdsmen in the forest to move to the south where they have been wreaking havoc before coming out to attack the St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo. The Ogun state born Professor may have sent a message to ‘’the characters calling themselves Boko Haram, ISWAP, Ansaru, including those who are opportunists , the herdsmen , that they have made a mistake for attacking the Owo Catholic Church’’. He noted that ‘’this invasion of the south west state may have been on the mindset of these Fulani herdsmen who are staying in the forest, across the region but nobody knew about it.
He had said that when violent attacks initially crept into the region , people had suspected the BokoHaram Group to having penetrated the region. He averred that the Owo incident had exposed ’’the armed Fulani herdsmen of capitalisng on the Islamic Fundmentalist insurgency and brutality in the north east states of Borno and Yobe, to spread the attack to southern Nigeria’’.Accorging to him, the attack on the St. Francis Catholic Church, owo, was a‘’nexus of operation between ISWAP, Bokoharam and Fulani herdsmen’’, stating that ‘’they work singularly, individually and collectively’’.
This may have informed why Akeredolu, the Ondo state governor, had lambasted the Federal government for being too much in a haste to blame ISWAP, for attacking the Owo Catholic church.’’I take their conclusion with a pinch of salt, ISWAP don’t hide their attacks, the governor had told the Swiss –based Christian Human Rights Organisation, and the Christian Solidarity International ,CSI, at Akure, the state Capital on Friday, June 10, 2022.
He hinted that if ISWAP or BokoHaram, had carried out the attack on the Owo Catholic Church, the groups would have owned up to it ‘’. We are yet to know their identity and the Department of State Security, DSS and the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, are said to be on trail.
Usman Alkali Baba, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, may have gladdened the mind of the Cristian community, when he revealed that ‘’the imprints of the perpetrators of the Owo Catholic Church killings have been identified but no arrests were said to have been made’’. He had said that ‘’the security agencies personnel are ‘’zeroing in on them’’.
In a related development, an Akure High Court, had sentenced three persons to death by hanging for allegedly kidnapping and killing one Olufunke Olakurin, the daughter of Reuben Fasoranti, an Afenifere a Yoruba socio-political Organisation Leader. Recall that four persons, Lawal Mazaje, Adamu Adamu, Mohammed Usman and Auwal Abubakar, who were arraigned in an Akure Magistrate Court in April , 2020, over alleged killing the Afenifere Leader’s daughter.
She was said to have been shot dead on July 12, 2019, while travelling between Kajola and Ore, along the Ondo-Ore Highway. The abduction and killing of the Afenifere’s daughter by terrorists, who may have mixed up with the Fulani herdsmen in the forest was a clear message to the Yorubas that they have entered their land and no going back.
Many believe that the people should have read the handwriting on the wall that the Anasaru, BokoHaram and ISWAP, terrorists, parading as Fulani herdsmen have found their way to the region, that it was a matter of time before they start unleashing mayhem on the people of the region: attack churches to kill worshippers.
Perhaps to gladden the heart of Nigerians, that the government is not resting on its oars in dealing with the criminal elements across the country, the Nigerian President had said in his June 12, 2022, broadcast that the government have ‘’reformed some of its security structures’’, stressing that some of the nation’s defense assets that was procured three years ago which have already arrived the country have been deployed for operations.
He noted that ‘’the country’s cyber and surveillance systems are being upgraded to track and trace criminal elements’’, adding that ‘’the security and intelligence agencies have also been given approval to recruit new personnel who are being trained, to strengthen the country’s overall security’’. He had declared that ‘’ the country will be victorious against these agents of terror and destruction across Nigeria soon’’.
