Elias Bejjani Condemns the Nigerian Church Massacre

Elias Bejjani Condemns the Nigerian Church Massacre


Matthew 05/11-12: ""Happy are you when people insult you and persecute you and tell all kinds of evil lies against you because you are my followers. Be happy and glad, for a great reward is kept for you in heaven. This is how the prophets who lived before you were persecuted."

In my capacity as a Canadian - Lebanese Human Rights Activist and political commentator, I strongly and with the harshest terms condemn the barbaric and terrorist attack that viciously targeted a Nigerian Church in the town of Otite, Kogi State, on Monday August 07/12, killing 19 innocent worshippers and injuring many others while conducting a night service.

Canada and the free world countries, as well the Muslim and Arab nations are required urgently to take all needed measures via the UN or through any other available means and ways to put an end to this on going, evil and bloody war against Christians in Nigeria.

What is sad and shocking at the same time is that the Boko Haram terrorist Islamic fanatic organization that is waging this religious war against the Nigerian Christians is not yet put on the Terrorist lists in many Western countries.

Meanwhile the Nigerian government, the UN and all the global human Rights bodies have an obligation to intervene and stop these blood thirsty murderers and put them on trial to pay for their crimes of hatred and savagism.

My deepest sympathies are extended to the families and friends of those killed in these attacks, and I wish a speedy recovery to all the injured.

May the souls of these innocent victims rest in peace.

*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Elias Bejjani's Face Book site http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=602442765#!/


Back ground
Nigeria church attacked, 19 killed
Associated Press : Abuja, Wed Aug 08 2012/Gunmen fired on a worship service in a church in central Nigeria, killing at least 19 people, including the pastor, and wounding others in a nation often divided by religion, the military said Tuesday. The attack targeted a Deeper Life church in the town of Otite in Kogi state, about 250 km southwest of Nigeria’s capital Abuja. Blood stained the floors of the church as police and soldiers surrounded it Tuesday morning, witnesses said. It was unclear how many people were wounded in the attack Monday night. The gunmen surrounded the church in the middle of a worship service and opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles, military spokesman Lt. Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi said. The church’s pastor was among the dead. Soldiers searched for gunmen through the night, but had made no arrests as of Tuesday morning, Olorunyomi said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Kogi State police spokesman Simon Ile declined to comment Tuesday about the attack. National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib said his agency had dispatched rescuers to the area Tuesday. The attack comes as Nigeria faces continuing attacks from a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege’’ in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s Muslim north, has attacked churches in the past, though never as far as south. However, Boko Haram likely carried out a February prison break in the town of Koton-Karifi in Kogi state that freed 119 inmates. That attack mirrored a massive prison break in the northeastern city of Bauchi in September 2010 when Boko Haram freed about 700 inmates.