Nigerian pastors lament over insecurity, demand urgent action

A wave of outrage is sweeping through Nigeria’s Christian community as prominent pastors express frustration over the country’s unending violence, following fresh attacks in several parts of the country.

The latest, an attack on a branch of the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke Isegun during a Tuesday evening service in Eruku town, Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State .

The over five minutes video from the CAC Church captured the final moments before the terrorists struck and the rampaging action of the terrorists in the church has been circulating on the social media.

Pastor Jerry Eze, founder of Streams of Joy International, was among the first to react, declaring: “About time. GOD OF JUDGEMENT SPARE NO ENEMY OF NIGERIA AND THEIR SPONSORS IN JESUS NAME. Enough is Enough of this Banditry, Terrorism and Wickedness. FIRE ”

Gospel singer and minister Dunsin Oyekan also voiced his shock, posting: “And we have a government oooo…… Haba! This is too much…”

Pastor Emmanuel Iren, Lead Pastor of Celebration Church International, criticized the burden placed on citizens who already cater for their own basic needs.
He wrote: “For a Country where most people already provide their own water, electricity and everything, we shouldn’t have to also provide our own security. We have a government. This monstrosity cannot continue.”

Their reactions came just as the founder of Kingsway International Christian Centre, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, publicly questioned the Federal Government’s inability to end terrorism in Nigeria for more than 15 years, describing the country’s insecurity as a “multi-headed crisis.”

Speaking at a press conference ahead of his Chris Compassion to the Rural World crusade, Ashimolowo said the insecurity problem had taken the shape of “a snake with five heads or more.”

He noted that despite years of killings, displacement and attacks across Nigeria, the root causes of violence have been left to fester.

Ashimolowo anchored his concerns not only on current events but on decades of lived experience.

“Let me give my background. I was born in Zaria. I was born in the military barracks and I grew up in Zaria… So my answer does not come out of just newspaper but with experience,” he said.

He recalled witnessing the Zaria riots, where people were killed based on ethnic identity.
According to him: “I was there during the Zaria riots when your crime was that you were Igbo… People were being killed right before my eyes.”

Ashimolowo listed banditry, terrorism, land-grabbing armed invaders, kidnappings and the displacement of farming communities as the “heads” of Nigeria’s security crisis.

He said some past extremist teachings and attacks on Christian communities amounted to clear attempts at religious cleansing.

Citing several incidents—including the killings in Southern Kaduna, the murder of evangelist Eunice in Abuja, and the killing of Deborah Samuel—he repeatedly questioned whether Nigeria was confronting what he described as a coordinated pattern of violence.

He also referenced claims by late Dr Obadiah Mailafia that security agents often arrived only after attackers had fled, adding concerns over alleged “mysterious helicopters” supplying weapons.

Ashimolowo warned that downplaying the crisis only emboldens perpetrators.