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The Archbishop, Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Bishop Emmanuel Chukwuma has condemned Adamawa court order sentencing five Christians to death by hanging for allegedly killing Fulani herdsmen.
Chukwuma made the condemnation while speaking to journalists at the Akanu Ibiam International airport shortly on arrival from the 2018 Global Anglican Fellowship Conference, GAFCON held in Jerusalem.
Recall that Justice Abdul-Azeez Waziri sentenced Alex Amos, Alheri Phanuel, Holy Boniface, Jerry Gideon and Jari Sabagi to death for culpable homicide.
The convicts were said to have on June 1, 2017, at Kadamun village in Demsa local government area willfully and intentionally conspired and attacked three herdsmen rearing cattle, killing one of them, Adamu Buba, whose body they threw into a river and also maimed several cattle.
But reacting to the development, Archbishop Chukwuma noted that till date, no herdsman has been reprimanded or jailed for killing unarmed and innocent farmers across the country and wondered why Nigerian authorities were treating herdsmen as sacred cow.
He described the court judgment as selective which he said could amount to a perversion of justice and call on President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse it.
“We are also using this opportunity to condemn the judgment against some people whom they said killed some Fulani herdsmen and cattle and have been sentenced to death by hanging. This is absolutely condemned by all of us. We cannot tolerate it at all and we are calling on President Buhari to reverse the judgment. If he did not reverse it, they are calling on war in Nigeria”.
“ I don’t know why herdsmen should be spared as sacred cow or is the life of a cow more sacred than human life. Anything that is going to cause selective negligence for which the judgment is perverted, we Christians have been asked to stand against it. Buhari wants this country to be at war and he must be very careful. So we totally condemned that judgment”.
Chukwuma also condemned the alleged alteration of the 2018 budget which resulted to reduction of budgetary allocation to critical projects in the south-east and called on the National Assembly to ensure equity.
“We heard that some of the things in the budget are not favourable. So we also call on the National Assembly to please look into it again and see to it that whatever has been allocated to the airport in Enugu and what has been allocated for the Niger bridge should be given the due attention as it ought to be, not slashing the budget to make things difficult”.
On the Global Anglican Fellowship Conference which said was attended by over 2000 bishops across the world, the Anglican Archbishop said the conference resolution affirmed the Biblical authority of marital union between man and woman against what is being promoted by some Western countries.
Chukwuma praised America for moving its Embassy to Jerusalem and called on other countries to emulate America by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“America has shifted its Embassy to Jerusalem and we pray that other countries will follow because no Jerusalem, no Israel and that is where our faith lies. But we Christians must be very careful. Christians are in minority in Jerusalem. It is unfortunate and we must try to pray for the Christians who are very few in Jerusalem”.
