WE ARE SUFFERING- VICTIMS OF PLATEAU ATTACK
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Victims of the March 29 Palm Sunday attacks in Plateau State, which took over 30 lives, once again cried and showed deep sadness and pain on Tuesday as they told their stories to visiting former Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd.Justin Welby.They said they are still hurting and have many unanswered questions about what happened.
Welby visited victims in Jos and Bassa Local Government Area as part of his efforts to talk to religious leaders and communities affected by violence.
He met with families in Angwan Rukuba and other affected areas, expressed his sympathy, and shared a message of hope.
In Angwan Rukuba, two victims who lost their sons shared their pain.
Mrs.
Favour Ayuba lost her only son, Promise, and told her story.
“I want to thank God Almighty. This condition we find ourselves has not been easy, but we accept it in good faith. Since 29th March till date, I have been asking questions and I have not got any answers. And I know I am not alone. All of us who are victims who lost our children, husbands and sisters are asking the same questions.
“In fact, it has been so difficult that some of the widows who lost their husbands have also passed on. It has not been easy for us, but we thank God. I beg you to continue to put us in your prayers, because we really need it,” she pleaded to Welby.
Abdulbasit Abiodu, who also lost his first son, cried out:
“I welcome you in the name of Almighty God for His protection. On Sunday, 29th of March, I was with my firstborn, praying. We were moving together from the room to the parlour. Shortly after, his brother called me. I never knew that he too would die that day. Nobody knew. I never saw him alive again because he was shot dead by the attackers.”
In his response, Welby told the victims that they, not him, deserve thanks for their courage.
“It is not me who needs the thanks, it is you who need the thanks, because you have been courageous to come here.
You have been brave to keep your community together and to care for each other. To those of you who voiced out your loss, I am so grieved to hear of it,” he said.
The former Archbishop, while equally recounting his own loss to identify with the grieving families, noted: “A long time ago, when my wife and I were quite young, we had a baby who was killed. Our firstborn, she was seven months old. It is a much less loss than you have had, and yet, when I heard you speaking, I remembered again the pain of that loss. I know that not a day goes by without you remembering your departed children. Is that not the case? You wake up and you think of your son or your daughter. You go to bed and you think of your son or your daughter.”
Welby, who, meanwhile, admitted that there are no easy answers to the tragedy further remarked, “We often ask, why? I don’t know the answer. There are answers, but they are not good answers. Too often, the answers we give are cheap, easy answers. There are no easy answers to the terrible pain your community is going through.”
He commended the community for supporting one another, stressing, “In the way you are acting together, you are being Jesus to one another. When you comfort someone who is grieving, yours are the hands and the voice of Jesus. When you sit silently with someone because there is nothing to say, your presence is the presence of Jesus. So you are doing God’s work by just being with each other.”
I have spent many years working in areas of killing and violence – in this country, in South Sudan, in Sudan, in Yemen and many other places… What I have learnt is that if we sit in nice offices having meetings to make good plans, we forget that it is you who are important, not us.
“God sees the pain of your hearts and He says to those who can do something, act. So, I came to listen to you and to learn.”
He said his current role in Nigeria is to help Christian and Muslim leaders overcome the evil of those who kill.
“I’m here to say no, this is wrong. God holds it wrong and you will be judged by God for your evil actions.”
Welby added that he was exploring practical protection measures with local partners, including the Founder of El-Buba Outreach Ministries International, Prophet Isa El-Buba, who accompanied him:
“We are looking at various ways of acting. The Prophet whom I am so grateful to has shown some very good ways – local people who are trained to defend their community. That is good and right. Buildings that give security forces capacity to resist attack. That is good. Closed-circuit television and other technical measures.”
He also disclosed that he was looking at early-warning technology, the type in use in Ukraine:
According to the ex-Archbishop, “I have a friend in Ukraine where there is a huge war that has killed one-and-a-half-million people in four years. He has been working with a Ukrainian group that is developing technology to give people more warning of attacks. Perhaps it would work here, perhaps not.”
Welby, thus assured the victims of continued prayers and advocacy, but made no false promises:
“My role is to serve by helping people bring ideas. I am not rich. I was a pastor in England, that means you are not rich at all. I am not powerful, but I was Archbishop for 12 years. I know people who have some influence by the grace of God, and above all, I have prayed for you every day for many years, as I did this morning, and as I will do tomorrow and until I die… I wish I could hear all your stories… You give me strength to try and find ways for you to have better opportunities. I cannot promise I will succeed, I make no promises because I will not lie to you, but I promise I will try and do my best.
“My message is for many people who are longing to see the end of this carnage to truly see the arrival of a new dawn of peace.
“There are several people praying around the world for peace in your community like several others. They keep praying, keep working. So, I urge you to do likewise and keep vigilant and God will deliver you.”
During the visit, the paramount ruler of the Irigwe nation in Bassa LGA, His Royal Highness, Rt. Rev. Ronku Aka, disclosed that the community had lost more than 3,000 people in the past decade and thus, appealed for lasting solutions, noting that development remains impossible without peace.
Our correspondent reports that Welby was accompanied by the General Overseer of the Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministries International, EBOMI, Prophet Isa El-Buba; the Special Adviser on Religious Affairs to the Plateau State Governor; Rev. Steve Dangana; and the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Plateau State, Rev. Dr. Dunka Gomwalk among others
He also held strategic discussions with members of the Plateau State Inter-Religious Advisory Council, visited the Jos Central Mosque where he met with Muslim leaders, having earlier visited Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
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