Don Zerai (Abeshia): “There is a risk of war between religions in Nigeria”

Behind the attack on the church in southern Nigeria “there can be anything. There is also the risk of fomenting a war between religions. The state should intervene but it is too weak and therefore blackmailable”. This is the point of view of Fr Mussie Zerai, founder of the NGO Habeshia ‘lifesaver of immigrants’ and a profound connoisseur of the Nigerian reality. Don Zerai, at the Adnkronos, in denouncing “the umpteenth attack on Christians for which they are now increasingly targeting the Catholic Church”, does not exclude that “those who are carrying out these attacks on places of worship want to foment a war of religion. The risk there is a war of religion, it is important not to respond to these provocations “. “The state should intervene, which should prevent the attacks from continuing but the state seems weak in the face of these attacks by groups, militias that also use the Islamic religion ‘for’. They use faith as a tool,” he says. Could Boko Haram be behind the attack? In reality – Father Zerai observes – these assaults hide many realities; in the north there was Boko Haram, now in the other areas there are militias that each claim their own and also criminal groups that kidnap with the aim of ransom. There is everything: in the galaxy of various criminal groups it is difficult to identify who is doing what “. Southern Nigeria, Don Zerai observes,” is tempting to many because there are oil fields and the agricultural area of ​​the country. Here is the area that produces the most, so it is tempting for those who can use the strategy of tension to steal the attention of the population from the economic-political and other crises. It may also be someone interested in making better use of the country’s wealth by unleashing these terrors. “At the moment no claims.” But why attack a church where there are people who are praying? It is clear – says Father Mussie Zerai – that we are faced with gratuitous violence but it is also a message to the Church itself that seeks to recall values, urging them to fight against corruption, an endemic evil in the country “.