Nigerian archbishops say government is failing to protect its citizens

(May 02, 2012) The leader of the Catholic Church in Nigeria has criticized his government for allegedly failing to protect Christians in the north of the country from attack by Islamist terrorists. Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, said he could not understand why the government appeared powerless to prevent the killings of Christians. Speaking on Monday, a day after 21 people were killed and 20 others injured in coordinated attacks on Sunday services at a university campus in Kano and a Protestant chapel in Maiduguri, the archbishop said the incidents showed that government security is not working. "The government is not able to cope with the security situation, and we feel quite apprehensive as a result," Archbishop Kaigama told the British section of “Aid to the Church in Need,” a pontifical foundation that helps persecuted Christians. "Why the government cannot identify the people involved baffles the imagination," said the archbishop. "We pay tax money and we have a right to know what is being done about the problem. Those young people killed at the university represented the hope of our country," he added. His sentiments were echoed by Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja.
No one has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks, but the Islamist group Boko Haram -- whose name means "Western education is forbidden" is suspected to be behind them because it is already responsible for the deaths of at least 450 people in 2012 alone, according to Aid to the Church in Need.