“We no longer believe that the current government has the capacity to restore security,” said Bishop Peter Nworie Chukwu of Abakaliki, the capital of Ebonyi State (map), in reference to the rule of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in office since 2015.

“We have lost so many priests in the North, in the Middle Belt and also in the Southeast,” the prelate continued. “The persecutions show that what priests stand for and what we preach reaches the consciences of those who attack us, but instead of repenting, they choose to respond with murder, kidnapping, torture and the destruction of our churches.”