Catholic Church to Tinubu: You’re complicit in slaughterhouse violence, Demands Action, says enough is enough

ABUJA, Feb. 8, 2026 – The Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) issued a blistering condemnation of the Federal Government on Friday, accusing it of silent complicity in the relentless violence turning the nation into a “slaughterhouse” and a “field of grief.”

In a press release titled “The Cry of the Innocent: Stop this Slaughterhouse in Nigeria!”, the Church’s national administrative body expressed “profound outrage and sorrow” at what it termed the government’s failure to fulfill its constitutional covenant to protect citizens.

The statement meticulously catalogued a “renewed cycle of mass violence” from late January into February, highlighting the coordinated killing of over 160 civilians in Woro, Kwara State, and repeated attacks in Niger, Katsina, Kaduna, and Borno states.

“This is not ‘instability’ but a massacre allowed by silence and a betrayal of every Nigerian’s right to live in peace,” the release stated.

The CSN directly challenged the moral authority of the government, asserting that “a government that struggles unsuccessfully to safeguard its people risks diminishing its moral authority to lead.” It further declared that official “silence in the face of such horror… can hardly escape being labelled as complicit.”

The Church laid out a four-point demand to the Federal Government:

1. Redeploy security forces from “ceremonial press centers” to actual frontlines.
2. Identify, expose, and prosecute the sponsors and enablers of terror, irrespective of status.
3. Arrest and punish every perpetrator of violence, ending impunity.
4. Provide urgent relief and compensation to victims and rebuild devastated communities.

The statement concluded with a stark warning that “Nigeria cannot afford to normalise bloodshed or treat mass killings as routine tragedies,” and called on all leaders to act to prevent mass graves from defining the national story.

The release was signed by Very Rev. Fr. Michael Banjo, Secretary General, and Very Rev. Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh, National Director of Social Communications for the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria.