Nigeria’s difficult security situation has put Nigerians into the perpetual yet unenviable positions of looking over their shoulders every hour of the day, from one month to another, all year round.
Because hardwired and heavily armed criminals have invaded the country, exposing the fragility of Nigeria’s security architecture and picking off Nigerians at will, Nigerians have been forced to adapt. Sleeping with one eye open and walking on eggshells have become national pastimes. In turn, these have drained the quality of life in the country.
While Nigerians in urban areas fear for their lives because of insecurity, the unpalatable situation they live in is nothing compared to the nightmare rural Nigerians live from day to day. In fact, for rural Nigerians who have to navigate grinding poverty and grating insecurity, the overwhelming feeling is that of resentment towards a country that has failed and continues to fail in its most basic tasks.
For religious leaders, especially those compelled by the nature of their missions and visions to live in rural areas, there is a lot of sense in the methods of targeting them. Because they rally people together at the lowest rungs of the society where hope is a scarce commodity, they are often found in proximity with the poorest of the poor.
That is why churches are found at the remotest parts of the grassroots giving hope and succor to people and, crucially, providing critical guidance and direction. When there is a church, there are sure to be pastors and priests, who minister to their flock as shepherds.
Being a shepherd in a country as shockingly insecure as Nigeria is a whole new level of risk. This risk has proven itself deadly again and again. All over the country, religious leaders have been attacked and killed often which chilling levels of cruelty and premeditation.
As terrorism and banditry have turned the North of the country into a killing field, Christians and those who shepherd them have faced enormous danger at the end of the knife.
Since 2009, when Boko Haram started its unprecedented assault on the Nigerian state, watering the grounds for bandits and other forms of terrorism to come in, many pastors, catholic priests, and imams have been killed. Terrorism may not have stated outrightly that it considers religion an enemy, but the way and manner it has carried out its operations has suggested that it considers some religions more dangerous than others.
On March 4, 2025, Rev. Fr. Sylvester Okechukwu of the Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan in Kaduna State was abducted. He was brutally killed the next day prompting a wave of condemnation and lamentation across the country. Fr. Okechukwu’s death has triggered memories of killings of Christians across the country in Southern Kaduna and other places.
What is most disheartening is that while it is widely known that security is insufficient especially in rural areas, the government seems unable and incapable of doing much about it.
As a result of these, many Nigerians who dwell in rural areas have to grapple with lack, poverty, and insecurity.
Residing in rural areas has become deadly, but as a country, Nigeria can surely do more.
Ike Willie-Nwobu
Ikewilly9@gmail.com
