NIGERIA: Thousands of Nigerians attend the mass burial of unidentified victims of the Madalla Christmas Day bomb blast

Record ID: 235477

  • Title: NIGERIA: Thousands of Nigerians attend the mass burial of unidentified victims of the Madalla Christmas Day bomb blast
  • Date: 2nd February 2012
  • Summary: PRIESTS ARRIVING FOR THE MASS WOMAN CRYING CASKET BEING BROUGHT IN FOR THE MASS CASKET BEING LAID DOWN PARISHIONERS CRYING MORE PARISHIONERS IN TEARS
  • Embargoed: 17th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Nigeria, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GIH20V61M4EYFQGSTE2DRWX
  • Story Text: Security was tight as thousands of people attended the mass burial of unidentified victims of the Madalla Christmas day bomb blast on Wednesday (February 1) at the the St. Theresa Catholic church on the outskirts of Abuja.
    Catholic priests, relatives and well-wishers from both within and outside the country were in attendance.
    The decision by church clerics to bury about 20 victims in its premises was taken as they could not be claimed by relatives because of their unrecognizable state.
    The Bishop of Sokoto (northern state) diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah said Nigeria's government had the responsibility of ensuring that the lives of its people were protected.
    "The reasons why governments exist is to guarantee the lives and security of the people who live under them so the primary responsibility of government has to be the protection of the people of Nigeria. And unfortunately, as it is, the government has been over-stretched, security agencies have been greatly over-stretched but under no circumstances should citizens be encouraged to take responsibility for their own safety because another word for that is anarchy," he said.
    Archbishop of Abuja diocese, John Onaikan blamed underdevelopment in the country forpoor security.
    "We should not isolate the security of Nigeria from all other aspects of Nigerian life. Is there any aspect of Nigerian life that is being handled in a way that everybody is happy with? And I think we should put our security problem in that general context; a political environment that is completely disorganized, corruption all over the place, health care nobody bothers too much, education in disarray. In such a situation you can't have good security," he said.
    The atmosphere at the mass burial was somber as relatives and well wishes paid their last respects to the victims.
    St. Theresa's Catholic Church in Madalla, an Abuja satellite town about 40 kilometers from the centre of the capital, was packed out when the powerful bomb exploded during a Christmas service.
    The deadly attack killed at least 27 people in the church and devastated surrounding buildings and cars.
    Blasts were reported at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church in the central, ethnically and religiously mixed town of Jos, and at a church in northern Yobe state at the town of Gadaka.
    The Boko Haram Islamist sect, which aims to impose sharia, Islamic law, across Africa's most populous country, claimed responsibility for three church bombings, the second Christmas in a row it has caused carnage at Christian houses of worship.
    Boko Haram which in the Hausa language spoken in northern Nigeria means "Western education is sinful" is loosely modelled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan.
    The sect killed more than 500 people last year and more than 250 in the first weeks of 2012 in gun and bomb attacks in Africa's top oil producer, Human Rights Watch said last week.
    Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan has challenged the violent Islamist Boko Haram sect to identify themselves and state clearly their demands as a basis for talks, while acknowledging that military confrontation alone will not end their insurgency.
    END
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