The apex Igbo Socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has condemned the unprovoked attack on St. Francis Catholic Church, Owa-luwa street, Ondo State, describing it as evil.

The group said the worrisome aspect of the attack was that the relevant authorities appeared unconcerned.

Ohanaeze’s spokesman, Alex Ogbonnia, who spoke to The PUNCH while reacting to the horrific attack on the church, advised the Amotekun Corps to buckle up and defend their people, noting that if they wait for federal security their land would be overrun by Fulani terrorists.

Ogbonnia said, “I know one woman from Ihiala Anambra State and her grandchild were shot and they are already dead. I just finished speaking with their relative and you called. It has become a daily occurrence in Nigeria, the Fulani menace, and it doesn’t appear as if the relevant authorities are in any way prepared to checkmate their atrocities.

“The other day we finished with the Prelate of the Methodist Church. He narrated his experiences. My neighbour here in Enugu was kidnapped and taken to the bush by same Fulani herdsmen and his experiences are very horrific. They have spread all over the South.

“So it is very unfortunate that this kind of thing is allowed to continue happening every day. Today we talk about Fulani herdsmen, you talk about kidnappers, unknown gunmen, you talk about bandits, so how can the country grow?

“How can we have sustainable national development with all these kinds of violence here and there? With the instability of all kinds how can we grow?” he queried, adding that no right thinking person would not condemn the Fulani herdsmen menace in the country.Ohanaeze condemns the mass killing of worshippers in a Catholic Church in Ondo state. We regret that this has become a daily occurrence. It is also very unfortunate that the relevant authorities have not been able to overcome this kind of atrocities.Just as it happened in Ondo, every other day in the South-East we have been encountering similar problems.

“Finally, we still ask the Chief Security Officer of the nation, the president to buckle down, rise to the occasion and also to ask Amotekun to buckle down too; because if you wait on Federal police and other federal security agencies, they cannot help us.

“In the same way, we are calling on the South-East governors to buckle down, like what Ohanaeze has been telling them about the South-East Security Network (Ebube-Agu). There’s need for us to increase security consciousness across the South-East, and the entire South. We cannot wait until we are subdued; no, we cannot wait.

“There is this saying that somebody surrounded by enemy is always vigilant – it is another way of telling the South-East, South-South that they have to improve on their security consciousness because security, as they say, is a collective responsibility. That responsibility is a product of consciousness.”