EGN NEWS DESK
A terror assault on a church in south-west Nigeria has not dampened the religion of its congregation as worshippers proceed to fill the pews two years on.
Forty-one worshippers had been killed and over 70 injured within the assault on St Francis Xavier’s Catholic Church, Owo, throughout a Pentecost Sunday mass on 5 June 2022.
The anniversary is being marked right this moment with a particular mass and a chat on martyrdom. Despite the trauma of the assault, attendance on the church has not been affected.
Margaret Attah, a nurse who turned wheelchair-bound after shedding each legs and an eye fixed within the assault, instructed Aid to the Church in Need that there was quite a lot of worry locally due to the continued menace of assaults and kidnappings, and that many Christians are “afraid to go away their houses”.
“There isn’t any peace of thoughts. We can not sleep with our two eyes closed. We can not even journey quick distances with out worry,” she mentioned.
Despite this, she continues to thank God and says that “the church is at all times full on Sundays – to God be the glory”.
Fr Michael Abugan, parish priest of St Francis Xavier, praised survivors of the assault for being “very resolute, very dedicated, very resilient of their follow of religion”.
ACN is financially supporting survivors, together with funding for prosthetic legs for Mrs Attah.
Despite her life-changing accidents, Mrs Attah mentioned she had forgiven her attackers: “I pray to God to forgive me my very own sins, so likewise I’ve to forgive others.”
She mentioned that the one hope for Nigeria was prayer and that she was trusting God with the way forward for the nation.
“We must proceed to wish to God that his Kingdom ought to come,” she mentioned.
“It is barely God’s Kingdom that may reign in Nigeria – that’s the solely approach we are able to have peace.”
