By Adedotun Ajayi
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On Sunday, June 5, 2022, Father Andrew Abayomi was in the sanctuary at the St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State, towards the end of the morning mass when he heard unusual noises. At first, he thought someone or a pew fell, until he heard it the second time, then he realized it was a gunshot. Some unknown gunmen had come to attack the church. According to him, he did not see their faces.
Narrating his experience, he said, “The only thing I saw was that some of our members took the courage to close the door. There was a place behind the sanctuary where we were able to hide. It was later I gathered that the side door, the choir stand was not locked.
‘The men shot sporadically at worshippers after throwing dynamites that blew up in different directions inside the church. It was a day that perfectly fit the ominous Yoruba saying, ‘ojó burúkú èṣù gbomi mu’,
Neither adults nor children were spared in the mass shooting that occurred that day at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church. According to official reports, the gunmen killed at least 40 worshippers, while others were left injured.
The carnage lasted about 20 minutes. By the time the last of the masked men walked out of the church, the shooters had left behind bodies punctured with bullets and victims who barely clung to life.
It was a shocking experience which the people of Ondo State could not forget in a hurry.
The Governor of the state, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, had visited the scene to commiserate with the church and the entire town. It was a very emotional moment as many betrayed emotions on seeing the wanton killing
Relief materials and funds were donated to the victims and their families by the government and kind-hearted individuals.
In March 2023, Akeredolu disclosed that the construction of a memorial park in honour of the victims of the attack had begun.
Two months ago, the church reopened for Easter service amid tight security. Security was provided by men of the Nigeria Police Force, the military, hunters and the security arm of the church, code-named Men of Order and Discipline, MOD.
They were drafted to strategic places to secure the church which was filled to the brim.
The Catholic Bishop of Ondo Diocese, Bishop Jude Arogundade, while addressing the congregation who wore a mournful look, lamented the inability of the federal government to nip incessant crimes and criminality bedeviling the country in the bud.
Arogundade, while expressing dismay over the attack on the church last year, lambasted government for failing in its core responsibility to protect lives and property.
The cleric added that government also failed to apologise to Nigerians over the unprovoked attack, which claimed lives and injured unsuspecting worshippers.
He said: “We have to call ourselves back to the greater understanding of what is happening in our society today. I have never seen a nation so comfortable watching the killings of its citizens on daily basis in hundreds and nothing has been done for the past 15 years”
An elderly woman, Mrs. Ezibo, whose daughter was a victim of the attack, said some of the victims who recovered from their injuries had resumed their normal business activities but many still felt the trauma of the incident.
“Some have gone back to their normal businesses, some are still managing themselves while some still have fear in them. That is why we need to go back to that church. Some people may be afraid to come back to the church, as a human being that is normal,” she said.
Mrs Ezibo also expressed readiness to resume mass with her relatives.
“I am personally happy because if we do not enter that church we cannot know that we are healed, because as a health worker I have seen accidents. It is like I am seeing it as a usual occurrence. It can happen at any time.
“I am happy entering the church again because if I do not enter, the God that saved me, I am making Him (God) a liar. Definitely, I am going back to the church with my family.” She said.
The catechist of the church, Jonathan Awolo, told newsmen that the church was not reopening permanently yet because the reconstruction works were still ongoing.
“We are not opening finally because we are still building something there. It is just that the church wants to bless the place so that they will start mass there. It is not officially opening but we want to be having masses there. That is why the Bishop would come and bless the place so that we will be able to start,” he said.
“They have finished everything but the one they are building, the monument for the remembrance of those people, we are still building that one. It is not yet completed. Probably, the final opening will be by June,” he added.
Last year, Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said that his government would not fail residents of the state again, following the terrorist attack in Owo
In a bid to nip the ugly incident in the bud, Akeredolu also donated 50 fitted patrol vehicles to all the security agencies in the state as part of the commitment of his administration to further strengthen the security of lives and property in the state.
He said that his administration places premium on the dignity of human lives and vowed to smoke out all criminals in the State from their hidings, while making the state uncomfortable for them.
Akeredolu handed-over the fitted patrol vehicles to heads of the security agencies in the state, including the Army; Navy, Nigeria Police, the Civil Defense Corps, Department of the State Services (DSS) and the Amotekun Corps.
