A Nigerian bishop has reacted strongly to a suggestion by Irish President Michael Higgins that a June 5 massacre in a Nigerian Catholic church was one of “the consequences of climate change.”

Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo said that Higgins’ “reasons for this gruesome massacre are incorrect and far-fetched.” The suggestion that climate change was responsible for the bloodshed, he said, “is not only misleading but also exactly rubbing salt into the injuries of all who have suffered terrorism in Nigeria.”