The numbers are unending, the devastating effects of Boko Haram on the demography called Borno State in Nigeria. The churches and mosques were not spared in their spree for gallantry albeit borne by ignorance. The scares are there for all to see and the victims leak their wounds with little or no consolation. This is the faith of the Catholic Church presently in Borno State, Northeast Nigeria.
More than 5,000 Catholics have been killed by Boko Haram terrorists in a single Nigerian diocese, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports.
In the Maiduguri diocese, in northeastern Nigeria, at least 100,000 people have been driven from their homes because of the terrorist violence, and over 350 churches have been destroyed. In some cases, churches were destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again.
Boko Haram now controls most of the territory within the diocese, ACN reports. Of the 40 parishes and chaplaincies, 22 have been deserted, as have 32 of the 40 elementary schools and four of the five convents.
The Maiduguri diocese now includes about 7,000 widows and 10,000 orphans, the figures show. Father Gideon Obasogie, a spokesman for the diocese, tells ACN that “people are very scared and those who are able to return home find there is nothing left.”
Catholic culture.org
