Archbishop Nicholas Okoh urges Fulani to end their war against farmers in Nigeria
The Primate of Nigeria has appealed for an end to the violence and terrorism waged by Fulani tribesmen across the country. In a sermon delivered on 1 July 2018 in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State in the southwest of the country near the Benin border, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh said the nomadic pastoralists must be disarmed to end the violence between farmers and ranchers.
“These people ought to be disarmed because a situation where a section of the country will be armed and the rest don’t having anything, we cannot move forward,” he told the congregation. Over 200 villagers have been killed by the Muslim pastoralists over the past four weeks. Amnesty International reported 549 farmers across 14 states were murdered last year and several thousand driven from their homes.
On 30 June 2018 the Archbishop of Jos and General Secretary of the GAFCON movement, the Most Rev. Benjamin Kwashi reported that his farm had been attacked by nomadic tribesmen, who killed one of his neighbors. Writing on Facebook, Archbishop Kwashi said:
Adamu Dung. A simple driver of a [Church of Christ in Nigeria] chairman. Has a family a wife and children, living in an uncompleted house of his own. The doors and widows waiting to be bought to be fixed. He had hopes of finishing his house and living peacefully with his family. The story changed last night. He was shot through the head because he flashed his light when he heard footsteps of cattle being rustled.
The cows were mine..Adamu was killed. He is no threat. He is an ordinary citizen struggling with life and doing every honest job to make ends meet. When I saw the widow and the house I could not help myself, my tears flowed freely and my heart shattered! I still carry the image of the house, the widow and the children. And Adamu died, killed by rustlers in front of his house!!! Many blood blood blood blood …..
In his sermon, Archbishop Okoh called for the marauding gangs to stop. “This appeal goes to those who steal cows, if you are one of them or you know such people, tell them to stop stealing cows. For you to take a cow and pay with your life is not worth it. It’s not a good exchange.”
The archbishop also appealed for halt in the violence. “To those who kill human beings … stop killing Nigerians for whatever reason because if this killing does not stop, it is a bad thing that will bear no good fruit.”
