Nairobi, Kenya
Security officers are protecting churches and mosques in Nigeria during services to ensure that worshippers are safe, a month after gunmen attacked a Catholic church in the Nigerian town of Owo, leaving more than 50 dead and injuring dozens of people.
Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, of the Archdiocese of Owerri in southern Nigeria, said the attack on St Francis Xavier Church, where parishioners had gathered for Mass on the feast of Pentecost on 5th June, had shocked everyone and made the majority of Christians feel unsafe attending church services.
Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, of Nigeria’s Owerri Archdiocese, in southern Nigeria. PICTURE: Catholic Broadcast Commission, Nigeria.
“No-where seems to be safe again in our country, not even the sacred precincts of a church,” said Archbishop Ugorji. “It’s very unfortunate that criminals can attack places of worship and shed the innocent blood of worshippers. God is watching us, and the government should act to protect its citizens and apprehend criminal gangs.”
The government said it was protecting Christians as they attended church services on Sundays and Muslims attended mosques on Fridays to ensure they were safe amid threats of attacks.
The West African nation of more than 200 million people is divided roughly in half between Muslims living mostly in the north and Christians living mostly in the south. The country has for years experienced several attacks on churches and Christians living in the northern and southern parts of the country.
At church and mosque entrances, security officers, including police and the army, ask worshippers to produce their identity cards and allow their bags to be screened before entering their places of worship.
In Lagos, for example, police have always been seen on the streets and around places of worship every Friday and Sunday, patrolling in readiness for any attempted attacks on churches or mosques.
Benjamin Hundeyin, the spokesman Lagos State police spokesman, said he had mobilised different police units to patrol and ensure all citizens living in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, are safe and can worship without any fear of being attacked by terrorists.
“I challenge you to go to the mosques and churches on Fridays and Sunday and see if our officers are not deployed there for security purposes,” he said. “We are taking the security of our people very seriously following the recent attack. We need people to feel secure and worship peacefully in their various churches and mosques.”
The Catholic Church, in an effort to protect its churches from future attacks, has issued identification cards to its members in different parishes across the country and deployed security officers to protect its congregants.
Bishop Martin Udoh, of the Pentecostal church in Lagos, said his more than 50 churches across the country are employing private security officers to protect them since the police cannot be everywhere and in every church on Sundays.
He said most of his congregants have recently not been attending church services for fear of being attacked, prompting him to seek the services of a private security company. He said the security officers screen everyone entering the church and monitors worshippers moving in and out of the church.
“We have directed the security officers to keep records of everyone coming to worship and raise the alarm in case there’s any suspicious movement of unknown people,” he said. “We want to ensure our worshippers are confident and can attend the services every week.”
“We will protect ourselves during the church services because we don’t trust anyone near our churches,” he added.
