Aug. 5, 2019 | War Desk News By Reuben Buhari
(Kasuwan Magani, Nigeria) Terrorists armed with assault rifles attempted to assassinate a popular Catholic priest here but were beaten back by local residents firing hunting rifles and using bows, according to Rev. Fr. Joseph Kato Kwasau, who narrowly escaped death Thursday morning. His house security guard, Samuel Jerome, 38, was killed by the band of 15 terrorists.
Later that day in the state of Enugu in South-Eastern Nigeria, another Roman Catholic Priest wasn’t as lucky. Father Paul Offu, the parish priest of St. James the Greater Parish, Ugbawka, reportedly was shot and killed by suspected armed herdsmen along Ihe -Agbudu Road in Awgu Local Government Area of the state.
Fr. Kwasau, 59, known affectionately as “Big Joe,” is the head of St Luke Catholic Church in Kasuwan Magani, a troubled town in the infamous murder zone of Kajuru local government area of Kaduna state. He said he was awakened to the sounds of shots from AK 47 rifles and banging on his front door at 12:22 am on 1st August, 2019.
“I heard the barking of my dog, followed by sporadic shooting around my parish house and heard my security man shouting for help and saying thieves had invaded the house,” he said from a safe house on Saturday morning. I was all alone in the house on Thursday when the noise started, then it was followed by furious banging on my front door, but it didn’t yield to their attempt, despite using axes and bullets on it,” he said. “They later moved to one of my windows and broke it but couldn’t get in because of the iron fortification. All the while they continued shooting into the air to keep away locals that I knew would be attracted by the noise.”
“I tried calling the local security commanders stationed close to my house without success. I also called some of my parishioners, but the armed assailants had stationed others around my house.
During this attack local residents were prepared with some weapons for self-defense after 11 terrorist assaults in the region since February of 2019 that have claimed as many as 400 lives.