By Amos Aar
THE NATIONAL Association of Catholic Lawyers (NACL), Makurdi Diocese, has launched a scathing attack on the Federal Government officials and Islamic groups for the brazen threats to arrest Bishop Wilfred Anagbe and Fr. Remigius Ihyula after their explosive testimony before the U.S. Congress on the alleged systematic killing of Christians in Nigeria.
At a fiery press conference in Makurdi on Friday, NACL President, Polycarp Aande, Esq., slammed the government’s “hypocritical outrage” over Bishop Anagbe’s March 12 testimony, which exposed the relentless jihad against Christians in Nigeria’s North and Middle Belt.
“The Bishop didn’t lie – he spoke the bloody truth!” Aande declared, dismissing accusations of “Islamophobia” as a desperate smokescreen.
“While the Foreign Affairs Ministry peddles fairy tales about ‘religious tolerance,’ our people are butchered in their homes and churches. Enough of this government’s complicity!”
A Trail of Blood and Burning Churches
Aande reeled off chilling statistics, stating that 15 Catholic parishes had been wiped out between 2018–2024; 124 priests kidnapped; hundreds of Christians massacred, including the Christmas Day 2024 Anwase massacre (with 47 dead) and thec Owo church bloodbath (with 40 killed), and the April 2025 attack near Makurdi in which 15 farmers were killed, and homes torched.
“This is ethnic cleansing, and the world must wake up!” Aande thundered.
Ande said government’s response was shameful and amounts to shooting the messenger.
He said instead of protecting citizens, top officials, including the Senate PresidentandHouse Speaker, joined Islamic groups like NSCIAandMPAC in vilifying Bishop Anagbe. “They want to arrest him for ‘hate speech’? No – they want to silence the truth!” Aande accused.
NACL warned that any move to detain Anagbe or Ihyula would be an all-out assault on free speech and religious freedom. “We will resist this tyranny!”Aande vowed, revealing that NSCIA and MPAC have directly threatened the Bishop.
“We Stand With Anagbe – or Watch Nigeria Burn”
Backing the Bishop, former NBA Makurdi Chairman, Justin Gbagir, blasted the government’s inaction: “Farmers can’t access their lands because armed Fulani herdsmen have taken over. If the government won’t act, people will defend themselves!”
The Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA) also raised alarms, confirming intelligence of a possible arrest warrant for Anagbe upon his return from the U.S. “Targeting the Bishop is targeting the truth,” they stated. “Since 2001, our people have been slaughtered while the government looks away.”
Final Warning
NACL demanded, among other things, the immediate security intervention to halt Fulani herdsmen’s rampage; full enforcement of Benue’s Open Grazing Prohibition Law; and, an end to the persecution of Christian leaders.
“The shepherd will not be silenced,” Aande declared. “If the government won’t stop the killers, we will.”
