By Akinsanmi Akinyemi
Boluwatife Adetiba, a Sickle Cell patient and church drummer,has shared his chilling account of surviving the Owo Massacre, in which terrorists attacked St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State. Speaking to our reporter in a shaky voice, Boluwatife confirmed that many worshippers, including children and the elderly, were killed, while several others sustained injuries on Sunday, June 5, 2022.
“We were inside the church when they ( Terrorists) started shooting from the outside. People at the back started running towards the altar. Some jumped fence, our priest escaped through the sacristy with the help of our catechist.
By the time I ran towards the Sacristy door, it was already locked by members who were able to reach there before me. One of the attackers who had with him an AK-47 rifle in his hand met me at the Sacristy door instead of shooting me , beat me with the butt of the rifle on the head , my stomach and part of my chest .Before he left me, . He shot our choir master right in front of me near the Sacristy door. He looked around, when he didn’t see anybody or sound, thinking that i was dead after hitting me , he went away. He was on mask with the rifle still in his hand
Managing with blood stains , a swollen face and with a broken ribs, I had to crawl and managed to hide myself under the cupboard inside the choir room
Note that the distance between the heavily loaded gunman and me was like kitchen to dinning. Our Pianist who was hiding with us was shot on his chest before he ran into the room with us. ”
Another eyewitness, Emmanuel Onimisi, the church trumpet player, expressed his uncertainty about attending church services in the near future. According to him, the incident was a test of faith, and witnessing many being shot dead was a horrible experience.
“They killed children, youths and elderly. We’ve recorded almost 100 death and still counting..I came out alive and escaped through the fence that demarcated our church from the Palace of Olowo of Owo Kingdom and ran to the palace for the fear of the unknown. ”
Survivor Leo Okafor declared that their faith in Christ remains unshaken, and they will continue to worship Him, ascribing their survival to divine intervention. On the other hand, Testimony Ojo presented a divergent perspective, arguing that the government’s failure has made practising Christianity in Nigeria perilous, and they are perpetually apprehensive about potential attacks. For security reasons, some individuals chose to remain anonymous.
Prior to the attack, Owo, an ancient town in Yoruba land, was its tranquil self with the residents going about their normal businesses on a daily basis. That fateful Sunday, many of them who are Christians had gone to the church situated few metres away from the palace of the Olowo of Owo, Oba Gbadegesin Ogunoye, to worship their God. But they ended in the mortuary, as terrorists laid ambush on the church as the Service was going on, opened fire on the worshipers towards the end and killed about 40 persons in cold blood while many others were seriously injured. Bodies of both the old and young, mostly women and children, sprawled on the ground when they left. Some bodies were dismembered and their internal organs gushed out. The gory sight of these bodies and the blood of the innocent, which painted the ground red, broke the hearts of many, including that of the state Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, who profusely shed tears when he got to the scene of the incident. Since the attackers left, residents of Owo have been in pains, sorrow and fear
With the revelation by the National Security Council that Islamist terrorists perpetrated the Owo attack, Nigerians are expecting the government to go beyond rhetoric and take urgent steps that would forestall further bloodshed in the country.
