The Christian Association of Nigeria is still mourning the death of a female Christian preacher, Eunice Elisha, who was murdered on Saturday by suspected Islamic fanatics.
Elisha, a pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, was hacked to death at the Gbazango area of Kubwa, Abuja, while conducting an early morning preaching.
In recent times, there have been cases of attacks by Fulani herdsmen on various Christian communities, across the nation. In the Southeast and in the South South zones, there have been gruesome attacks on IPOB members and on Christian communities in the Niger Delta.
CAN, responding to the murder of Elisha, said the attack was another religiouslymotivated gruesome murder that was growing under the Muhammadu Buhari- led administration.
The statement, signed by the General Secretary, CAN, Rev. Dr. Musa Asake, read, “The National leadership and the entire members of Christian Association of Nigeria have received with rude shock and disbelief, the report of yet another religiously-motivated murder of a dedicated 42-yearold Christian mother of seven children, Mrs. Eunice Elisha, who on Saturday 9th July, 2016, was brutally killed while doing Christian evangelism.”
Asake stated that Elisha’s neck was slashed and she was also stabbed in the stomach, adding that it was not the first time the body would suffer such an attack.
He lamented: “About a month ago in Kano, Mrs. Bridget Agbaheme, a 74-yearold Christian was murdered at Wambai market due to an altercation with a Muslim man who came to the front of her shop to perform ablution. Her offence was that she objected to the Islamic washing rite in front of her shop.
“Just last week a clergyman of the Evangelical Church Winning All, Reverend Zakariya was killed by attackers suspected to be Fulani Herdsmen in Obi LGA of Nasarawa State. They attacked him on his farm, cut off his arms and legs, then they chopped his head with a machete. Another fresh but sad news reaching us is that of the Fulani herdsmen militia is back on rampage, killing 81 people in multiple attacks in Logo and Ukum local government areas of Benue state in central Nigeria.”
He, however, commiserated with the families affected by the increased deaths as well as with the entire Christian community in Nigeria.
“We pray that God in His mercy shall comfort and strengthen the families of all the Nigerians affected in these unwarranted murders unleashed upon the nation by religious extremists. The discrimination against non-Muslims in Nigeria under the Buhari Administration is assuming a dangerous dimension that should not be left to the vagaries of time and circumstance to resolve…”
Before the situation goes bad, Asake said CAN had called on authorities both at the states and federal to do everything possible to bring the perpetrators to justice if the confidence of Christians in this government must be maintained.
“The unprovoked attacks on Christians and the authority’s inaction is becoming unbearable and may not be tolerated anymore, in as much as we will continue to call on Christians to remain tolerant and law abiding, it is becoming inevitable to also call on them to buckle up and be ready to defend themselves against these incessant, unprovoked and mindless attacks.”.0*
