Kwashi’s violated ranch
The premises of the Archbishop of Jos was breached overnight by suspected Fulani herdsmen days after he was appointed General Secretary of GAFCON for the Anglican Church worldwide.
Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi who was named General Secretary just this week after a meeting in Israel attended by hundreds of Anglican leaders from around the world is believed to have recently returned to Nigeria only for this attack to occur.
The esteemed clergyman posted on his Facebook page decrying attacks and insecurity inspite of a curfew announced following last weekend’s massacre of at least 238 people, “There is CURFEW…My ranch…The walls was broken into…During curfew…My cows…For the third time in my home, we were raided last night and cows taken away….And there was curfew!!!
We are NOT safe in homes…
I am raising an alarm today if the government will listen…
We are NOT safe!!!
Is the curfew for some and NOT others?
Lord in your mercy…”
Archbishop Kwashi also lamented the death of a driver during last night’s attack”…Ayuba Dung..
A simple driver of a COCIN chairman…Has a family a wife and children, living in an uncompleted house of his own. The doors and widows waiting to be bought to be fixed. He had hopes of finishing his house and living peacefully with his family.
The story changed last night…He was shot through the head because he flashed his light when he heard footsteps of cattle being rustled…The cows were mine..
Ayuba was killed…
He is no threat…
He is an ordinary citizen struggling with life and doing every honest job to make ends meet.
When I saw the widow and the house I could not help myself, my tears flowed freely and my heart shattered! I still carry the image of the house, the widow and the children…
And Ayuba died…killed by rustlers in front of his house!!!”
Archbishop Kwashi is beloved in the Plateau community where he runs orphanages for hundreds of orphans of the various attacks in Nigeria.
In previous years he and his family were attacked and his wife Gloria shot in the head miraculously surviving and recovering well since.
Ironically just the day before, during the UK House of Lords debate on Nigeria, Baroness Cox had quoted Archbishop Kwashi saying, “Archbishop Benjamin Kwashi, who had taken custody of a baby whose mother was killed, said:“I am in tears because I have taken a child whose mother was shot dead. A family of four killed, another two young men shot dead and so on … Where are those who will protect the poor? Where is the leadership? It is a week and three days now with daily killings of poor unarmed and unprotected citizens of Plateau State”.
Little did he expect that the attack would come his way within hours.
We denounce the attack on the Archbishop which could likely have been worse had his neighbor Ayuba not intercepted the rustlers and been killed in the process thus causing them to flee.
In addition to massacres, the Killer herdsmen have been widely responsible for brigandage, abductions and rustling in the Middle Belt area.
The daughter of a local chief and a political party leader are among those abducted for ransom by herdsmen in Plateau this year.