NO fewer than 12 worshippers were killed in Potiskum, Yobe State and Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on Monday when gunmen suspected to be members of Islamic sect, Boko Haram, attacked two churches in the Northern Nigeria towns, police said.
CNN quoted the police to have said one assault occurred at the Church of Christ in Nations, Potiskum.
The gunmen were said to have attacked worshipers during prayer, killing six people, including the pastor, and setting the building on fire.
Worshipers were also attacked at the First Baptist Church in Maiduguri, where a deacon and five church members were killed.
They were the latest strikes against Christians in the region. More than 30 people died in a wave of Christmas Day attacks in the North in 2011.
“Suspected members of the group have bombed or opened fire on worshipers in at least 18 churches across eight Northern and central states since 2010.
“In Maiduguri, the group also forced Christian men to convert to Islam on penalty of death,” Human Rights Watch said in an October report.
It was not immediately known if the group was behind the latest attacks.
The Christmas Day attacks came as families, whose kin died in last year’s killings, delivered graveside prayers for a peaceful holiday period.
The head of the Network for Justice, a human rights group, Zakari Adamu, told the BBC that the gunmen also attacked the homes of Christians following the attack during the midnight mass service.
Military spokesman Eli Lazarus told Reuters that six people were killed in the violence which happened when “unknown gunmen attempted to attack Potiskum but were repelled by troops”.
“While they were fleeing, they attacked a church in a village,” he said.
The head of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Yobe, Idi Garba, told AFP that many worshippers at ECWA “are still missing”.
“I have been informed that six bodies have been recovered,” Garba said.
He said some worshippers who lived near the church “fled their homes during the attack and it is assumed that they are still hiding in the bush”.
CAN, however, on Tuesday condemned the invasion of the churches.
CAN President, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, described the incident as a “bestial act against a people exercising their rights to worship”.
He said, “It is highly disturbing and very barbaric; it is archaic. It is totally against God and anything that has to do with Him. You wonder how people will go to this extent in the name of God.
“Let us not continue to deny that there are jihadists, extremists and Islamists in this country. They are here. Let us agree that it is time for us to take certain steps to bring this madness to an end.”
He urged the worshippers in the area not to succumb to evil perpetrators by absconding their ancestral homes, stressing that doing so would be tantamount to cowardice.
Oritsejafor explained that even though he was not cut out to disparage adherent of other faith, the truth must be told.
He said, “Let me again say that I have high respect and regard for my Muslim friends and brothers. I’m not against Muslims. We need their help. We have been saying it and we will continue to say it. Not only do we appeal to them to condemn it, we are asking that they must help us take this message to the grassroots.
“We (Christians) are not their enemies. The clerics that preach in the mosques, they should help us spread this news. With this goodwill, they will be able to flush out those people from among them.”
The CAN President added, “These people are not really helping them. They are destroying their economy. When things like these happen, many (northern leaders) come out to condemn these acts. Condemning it as it is now is not enough. They must go a step further. They must condemn these acts. Nigeria belongs all of us and we must join hands together to make this nation what it is supposed to be.”
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