Gunmen burn church,schools, kill pastor, eight others

DESPITE the assurances of safety by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Yobe State, violence erupted again as gunmen suspected to beBoko Haram members attacked the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) at Piri village near Potiskum. They torched the church and killed the pastor, Yohana Sini (50)and five other worshipers in the early hours of Tuesday. Piri is two kilometres west of Potiskum town, which is the epicentre of Boko Haram. The gunmen, according to an eyewitness, Ibrahim Audu, killed Sini and Daniel Edi, by slitting their throats, while four other residents were shot dead before their wives and children at about 1.45 a.m. Audu said: “We were woken up and terrified with the sporadic gunshots and multiple explosions at this church at about 1.00 a.m., when the gunmen set ablaze 21 houses in the village in their three-hour attacks and killings in Piri village. They also killed our pastor, Mallam Yohana Sini, in the glare of his wife and children by slitting his throat at about 1.36a.m. of that tragic night.” The Guardian also learnt that eight hours after the attacks, the emir of Fika, Alhaji Muhammadu Idrissa Ibn Abali Mohammed Idrissa visited the village, and pledged that more soldiers and policemen would be deployed to prevent further attacks and killings. The four villagers that were killedin the attacks, according to Audu,included Adamau Garba, Ishaku Garba, Solomon Saleh and Haruna Lawal. Confirming the incident on Tuesday, the Yobe State Police Command spokesman, Salisu Adamu said that at about midnight of Tuesday, suspected gunmen attacked one of the villages near Potiskum and burnt down one church and over a dozen houses. He said the pastor of the church was also feared killed along with some residents of the village. He said no arrests were made yetby either the police or JTF. Violence also broke out on Tuesday in Gubio, Barawa and a village in Dikwa of Borno State, asgunmen suspected to be Boko Haram members set ablaze the official residence of the council chairman and lodge, a palace, two primary schools and several houses in Bulabulin ward of Gubio. They killed three residents at Barawa in the early hours of Tuesday, Gubio and Barawa, a border town with Cameroun. The attacks in Dikwa village, according to an eyewitness, Saina Modu, led to the torching of six houses and the residence of a village head with no single life lost in the attacks at 1.35 a.m. A Gubio resident and an eyewitness, Alhaji Mali Gubio, toldThe Guardian on telephone yesterday: “The gunmen struck this town at about midnight with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petrol-bombs, and burnt down many public buildings, including our district head’s palace, the council lodge and official residence of our chairman before the gunmen went to torch two of our primary schools. We were terrified and shocked with the sporadic gunshots and explosion that rocked this town for about two hours.” The children in Bulabulin ward, he added, could not sleep, as several houses were also set ablaze by the suspected gunmen,and fled towards the Gubio-Damasak road. He however noted that the attacks on public buildings, including the palace of the districthead and official residence of thecouncil chairman, were “politicallymotivated,” querying why did the gunmen only target public buildings in their multiple attacks,without killing even a single resident of Gubio.” At Barawa, a border town with Cameroun, suspected gunmen in separate attacks also killed three residents in their respective houses at about 1.45 a.m. on Tuesday. An eyewitness and neighbour to one of the victims said: “Five gunmen came on three unmarked motorcycles and attacked three houses after midnight. They chanted, ‘God is great!’ before tying the hands of the victims behind their backs andslitting the throats of my neighbours. “What have they done to the gunmen to warrant these killings?” asked the neighbour in the telephone interview. Confirming the separate incidentsyesterday, the spokesman of Borno State Police Command, Gideon Jibrin, said that there wereattacks in northern and southern senatorial districts of Borno State,where many public buildings weredestroyed by the suspected armed hoodlums at Gubio, Barawa and a village in Dikwa council area of Borno State. He said in the Barawa border town, three people were feared killed, after the gunmen attacked three houses at about 1.35 a.m., adding that the number of the casualties in the Dikwa village wasyet to be sent in by the area police commander. But despite the cost in human lives and property incurred by theChristian community in the North as a result of the insurgency, the Bishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Man’oso Ndagoso said that all Catholic faithful had in the spirit of the Christmas forgiven Boko Haram for bombing its churches and killing its members in the state. Besides, the Kaduna State Governor, Muhktar Ramalan Yero, has urged all Christians andthe entire people of Kaduna State to be committed to religious and understanding of one another. In a message to the Catholic community in the state, Ndagoso pointed out that forgiving Boko Haram was in line with the forgiveness Jesus Christ exhibited when he was betrayed and crucified by his enemies, urging all Christians to show love even to their enemies. He said the act of forgiveness wasalso necessary since Jesus was born on Christmas day as a peacemaker and joy to the wholeworld, stressing that it would amount to dishonouring Jesus to celebrate His birthday with rancour, malice and revenge. He reminded Christians that violence, political and social upheaval were witnessed during the time of Christ on earth, sayingthat whatever evil that was being perpetrated in modern days by Boko Haram should not be a thing of surprise to anybody, and that Christians should restrain theurge to retaliate as Jesus did to His attackers. Ndagoso expressed gratitude to the state government, corporate organisations and individuals whostood by the archdiocese during the bombing and killing periods. The cleric also used the opportunity to restate his sympathies for flood victims in thestate during the rainy season when some parts of the state were submerged by flood, leading to destruction of human lives, houses, farmlands, crops and roads. He expressed the fear that there might be food scarcity next year as a result of the negative impact of the flood on farmlands and crops, and appealed to farmers, particularly in the remote rural areas that were not affected by flood not to seize the opportunityto increase prices of their farm produce. Also, Mr. Usman Gwary, the Commissioner of Police in Zamfara, has assured the people that the police command is on top of the crime situation in the state, regardless of the recent killings in some areas. He gave the assurance in Gusau at a news conference held on Tuesday over the spate of killings by gunmen in some parts of the state. Gwary stressed that the commandhad been working to ensure that normalcy returned to the affected areas, where gunmen killed 10 vigilantes. “We have been strategising and putting our intelligence gathering together but you know we cannot make some of our plans public so as not to jeopardise ouroperations,” he said. “Just two days ago, I deployed three pick-up vans with heavily-armed mobile and regular policemen in the troubled area on Zurmi-Katsina Road; they will continue to mount surveillance there until we are certain that there is no more problem,” he, however, added. “We are hopeful that the gunmen, who attacked and killed10 members of the vigilance group, will soon be arrested and this is based on our intelligence gathering.” The police chief appealed to the people to assist the police with useful information about suspected movements of criminalseven before they perpetrated their crime “so that the police canquickly move in and tackle the situation.” Gwary, however, lamented that some criminal hideouts in the state were difficult to penetrate by the police because of the dearth of access roads and communications network in such areas. “It will be suicidal to insist that the police should go and make arrests in such hideouts when they do not know the areas and the way the criminals do,” he added. Besides, security chiefs in Plateau State have called on communitiesin Riyom Local Council Area to work together for peace to return to the area. They made the call on Christmas day when they visited Bagad village in the council where a woman died in an attack on Sunday. Another woman was injured in an attack during which unknown persons set 10 thatch houses on fire. Maj.-Gen. Henry Ayoola, the Commander of the Special Task Force in Plateau who led other security chiefs on the visit, said peace would return to the area ifthe Berom and Fulani forgave each other and worked for peace. Ayoola said they were in Bagad tocondole with the people and share in their grief, adding that the perpetrators of the crimes would be brought to book. “We are here to let you know that we are concerned about what happened and to share in your feelings. We will do everything possible to arrest the perpetrators,” he said. Ayoola said the security agencies would protect all law-abiding citizens irrespective of tribe and faith. “We are only enemies of those who make themselves enemies ofpeace and we will hunt them until they change their ways,” he said. Mr. Chris Olakpe, the Commissioner of Police in Plateau, threatened to arrest community leaders where attacks occurred persistently. “I would hold the chiefs responsible. They are the leaders of people and should have proper knowledge of happenings of their communities,” he said. He noted that no religion preached violence or encouragedkilling and warned that law enforcement agents would deal with anyone who killed in the name of religion. Olakpe advised the youths not to allow themselves to be used by wicked leaders to perpetrate evil.