Nigeria dancing a 'macabre dance of death' under Buhari government, said Nigerian Christians

Chiqui Guyjoco Saturday, July 16, 2016

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) criticized President Muhammadu Buhari's administration for its "lukewarm" response to the string of unprovoked killings against non-Muslims after another pastor died July 9.

The latest murder of a non-Muslim religious individual triggered CAN to speak out against the Buhari administration while calling on Christians in the country to "buckle up and be ready to defend themselves."

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari attends the opening ceremony of the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, January 30, 2016. | REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI

In its first official statement released Tuesday, July 12, CAN said it received "with rude shock and disbelief" the killing of Eunice Elisha, pastor at Redeemed Christian Church of God in Abuja, who met her death one early morning as she went around the neighborhood to preach.

With Elisha's neck slashed and stomach stabbed, the eldest daughter wailed that the perpetrators killed her mother "like a chicken" and just left her for dead.

Elisha's death joins the list of what CAN referred to as a "religious hatred motivated gruesome murder" as the organization remembered recent killings of 74-year-old Christian woman Bridget Agbaheme in Kano and Reverend Zakariya, brutally murdered by machete-wielding Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Obi LGA.

Christian leaders and human rights groups already expressed their fears that the relentless attacks of the Fulani herdsmen, buoyed by Boko Haram, could send the nation in a state of civil war.

"The Christian Association of Nigeria commiserates with the families affected by these mindless orgies of death and destruction as well as with the entire Christian community in Nigeria," said a statement by CAN.

The organization lambasted the Buhari government for failing to prevent non-Muslims from "assuming a dangerous dimension."

"You will agree with me that with these happenings and the lukewarm attitude by the authorities concerned toward putting an end to it, Nigeria is dancing a macabre dance of death, both for the nation and for its citizens," it added.

Premium Times shared the full statement delivered by Rev. Dr. Musa Asake, general secretary for CAN, the umbrella organization for Christian denominations in the country.