“Today, my heart is heavy, not because I have lost a piece of property alone, but because something that carries the history, sacrifices, sweat, and memories of generations before me is being taken away right before our eyes.
“Terrorists have seized my inherited farmland and divided the plots among themselves as if they have each proper to take what doesn’t belong to them. They have shared our inheritance among themselves whereas the rightful homeowners are left helpless, frightened, and unsure concerning the future.
“Do you understand what this means? This is the land our fathers laboured on. This is the land that carries our family history. This is the inheritance that should have been passed from one generation to another. It is the land where our children should have been able to stand tomorrow and say, “This is the place our fathers got here from.”
“But at this time, strangers have taken possession of it. What sort of nation permits harmless individuals to lose their ancestral inheritance to violence and intimidation? Must we watch every part our fathers labored for disappear just because we refuse to give up to worry?
“I have buried members of my congregation. I have stood at mass graves and wept over the bodies of people whose only crime was wanting to live in peace. I have watched families become widows and orphans. I have seen children grow up without fathers and mothers. And now, even the land our ancestors left behind is being taken away.
“If they take our individuals, we mourn. If they burn our church buildings, we pray. If they destroy our properties, we cry and attempt to rebuild.
“If they seize our farms, where shall we go? If they take our inheritance, what will our children inherit?
“Are we going to develop into strangers on the very land the place our fathers had been born, raised their youngsters, buried their family members, and lived their total lives?
“I am a servant of God, but I am also a human being. I feel pain. I have a family. I have people who depend on me. I have memories connected to the land my ancestors left behind. I cannot pretend that everything is well when injustice continues to swallow the future of innocent people.
“To those that proceed to ask why we hold talking concerning the struggling in Nigeria, this is likely one of the causes. We are usually not solely preventing to protect lives; we’re additionally crying for the safety of our properties, our farms, our communities, our church buildings, and the inheritance of generations but unborn.
“But what happens when the inheritance a father leaves for his children is seized by armed men? What happens when the children of tomorrow have nothing to return to because everything has been taken through violence?
“I’m asking the Nigerian authorities, the worldwide group, human rights organisations, and everybody who believes in justice to listen to our cries.
“We are not asking for another person’s land. We are asking for protection of what rightfully belongs to us. We are asking for justice. We are asking to live without fear. We are asking for the freedom to return to our farms and cultivate the land that sustains our families.”
