Three years after a devastating attack on St Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, bandits have threatened to mount a fresh attack on the church.
The attackers, who remained anonymous, threatened the church with an attack “soon,” although they did not specify when this attack would occur.
As a result of the danger, the historic community is on edge; its members are still recovering from the Pentecost Sunday assault on June 5, 2022, when assailants entered the church and murdered 41 worshippers while wounding 69.
Residents of Owo are still haunted by the tragedy, which ranks among the worst acts of violence against a religious institution in Nigeria. Many of them live in constant terror due to the ongoing instability in the state and country.
The community, headed by Oba Ajibade Ogunoye, the traditional monarch of Owo and a source of great concern about the development, called a security summit to discuss the growing threat of violence in the region.
“Securing Owo and its Environs: Strategies for Community Safety and Resilience” will be the focus of next week’s inaugural Owo Security Summit, according to Mr. Bosun Oladimeji, the summit’s media secretary.
Oladimeji insisted that the summit will do the following: create a Security Trust Fund to back long-term projects; decrease crime; increase cooperation between police and people; and bring attention to the importance of community security.