Nigeria’s leading prelate, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, celebrated Mass on January 19 for the release of Father Gabriel Oyaka, who was kidnapped a year ago.
“This is a tragedy that has overtaken our land and the name keeps on recurring that Fulani herdsmen are behind all these killings, kidnappings and destructions of lives and property in the country,” he said at a press conference following the Mass, according to a Nigerian media report.
“We are faced with national emergency and the whole country should come together to find out ways to end this militancy,” he continued. “If it is a matter of declaring war, let us declare war against the perpetrators of all these evils.”