WHEN SHEPHERDS SLEEP: THE CHURCH, THE SLAUGHTER, AND THE SILENCE THAT SCREAMS

By Bolaji O. Akinyemi

In a nation drowning in blood and silence, the Church can no longer afford to whisper. The fields of Benue and Plateau are soaked with the blood of the innocent crying for vengeance – many of them Christians – cut down in the dark by the swords of fundamentalists. At the same time, their supposed shepherds sleep in comfort or dine in calculated silence. What we are witnessing is not just insecurity; it is a coordinated, religiously tinted genocide against indigenous Christian communities.

The most dangerous enemy of the persecuted is not always the aggressor; sometimes, it is the silence of those who ought to speak – the complicity of the clergy and the betrayal of the brethren. It is deeply troubling that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), under its current Executive Council, has adopted a disgraceful posture of pacified irrelevance in the face of Christian bloodletting. When will this house of faith rise from its slumber?

Where Are the Watchmen?

The attacks are not isolated. From the Christmas Day bombings in Madala, near Abuja, in 2021 and that of Bokkos in Plateau State in 2023 that shook the soul of the nation; to the bloodbath in Owo Catholic Church, to the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Southern Kaduna, Benue, Plateau, and beyond – the handwriting is clear that Christians in Nigeria are under siege. Yet CAN continues with its Iftar (Ramadan break of fast) dinners and photo-op ecumenism, celebrating political proximity while pastoral graves accumulate.

There hasn’t been a direct attack on CAN headquarters – but must it come to that before the association stirs from its comfortable cocoon? Or is the silence a strategy, a pact of inaction signed for safety? Even if that were so, at what cost? If our fathers of faith are too safe to speak, they are too small to lead!

Denominational Dissonance Must End

No Christian denomination is immune from genocidal attacks by the jihadist’s fundamentalists. If you think the next attack won’t be your turn because you are Pentecostal, Baptist, or Catholic, remember that bombs and bullets don’t recognize ecclesiastical boundaries. Catholic Churches have bled. ECWA and TEKAN congregations have been burned. COCIN, with deep roots in Plateau, knows firsthand the genocide we now sanitize with semantics.

This is why denominations can no longer leave advocacy to CAN alone. If CAN will not roar, others must rise. Let the silence of CAN provoke the thunder of revival – one that speaks truth to power, that cries out for justice, that prays and protests with equal fire.

The Government Has Failed—The Church Must Not!

Nigeria’s government has failed in its most sacred constitutional duty: the protection of lives and property. But this failure cannot be met with the Church’s failure in its moral and prophetic duty. This is not the time for lukewarm diplomacy. This is the time for righteous agitation.

Fathers of faith across Nigeria must convene now – not to host politicians or partake in Ramadan feasts while our own are deprived, nay, fasting from life itself through death – but to demand that CAN return to its prophetic roots. Let there be an emergency convocation of Christian leaders, not for prayer breakfasts alone but for strategic security advocacy. Let us demand concrete, time-bound action from the government. Let us lobby, legislate, litigate, and if needed, lead peaceful protests.

CAN Must Repent or Be Replaced

If the current CAN leadership continues in this docile and defeatist posture, the Body of Christ must rise to either reform it from within or bypass it completely. The blood of the martyrs is not fertilizer for bureaucratic Christianity. We are not called to be chaplains of the status quo but prophets to the powers.

Let CAN either lead or get out of the way.

Conclusion:

Nigeria bleeds, and the Church must rise. The time for whispered prayers alone has passed. This is the time for bold advocacy, for united Christian resistance against evil in high places, and for righteous confrontation of a government that seems more committed to protecting political power than human lives.

The Vatican City is nowhere near Benue, but Abuja is a close-door neighbor in comparison.

5,000 km separates the Vatican from Benue but not the heart of Pope Francis from the cry of the Benue people. Abuja is just 350 kilometers from Makurdi the Capital of Benue State. But the heart of CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh is farther from the people of Benue than that of the Pope.

To a recent invasion of Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. Pope Leo XIV condemned the killings in Benue State, Nigeria, where around 200 people were reportedly killed in an attack on rural communities. He described the violence as a “terrible massacre” and prayed for security, justice, and peace in Nigeria. The Pope specifically mentioned the vulnerability of rural Christian communities in Benue State, who have been incessantly victimized by violence.

Silence, someone should tell Okoh, is no longer golden. The time to speak up is now!

May our silence not be our sin.

Dr. Akinyemi is an Apostle and nation-builder. He’s also President of Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table.

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