The Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri, in southern Nigeria, has declared a week of prayer in reparation following the disturbing desecration of the Adoration Chapel at St. Mulumba Parish, where unknown assailants stole a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament.
Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji condemned the act as a grave irreverence. The perpetrators broke through the roof during rainy weather in the early hours of April 29.
“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the desecration of the Chapel of Adoration of St. Mulumba Parish, Wetheral Road, Owerri,” the Archbishop said in a statement.
“As reported by the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Raymond Madu, unknown persons opened parts of the roof, gained access through the ceiling, and made away with the monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament.”
Archbishop Ugorji directed all parishioners of St. Mulumba Parish to observe a one-week prayer of reparation from Friday, May 1, to Friday, May 8, 2026, between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily.
Father Humphrey Tatah Mbuy, a prominent Cameroonian priest, told CWR that a prayer of reparation is “a liturgical rite and spiritual act performed to make amends for the sacrilege committed against God and to restore the sacred character of the building.”
He explained that when a church is desecrated either through vandalism, theft of the Eucharist, satanic rituals, or other serious profanations, it is no longer considered a holy place fit for worship.”
He said that when that happens, the said Church or house of worship must be ‘repaired’ not just physically, like fixing broken windows or doors, but also spiritually through prayer.
“The prayer is a way for the Church to apologize to God for the offense committed against His house,” the priest said.
Archbishop Gorji urged vigilance in preserving the Blessed Sacrament.
“All priests in the Owerri Archdiocese are reminded to strictly adhere to the norms and directives regarding the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and adoration to avoid any recurrence,” he stated. “We emphasize that exposition is to take place only when a fitting attendance of the faithful is assured (cf. Can. 942). The Blessed Sacrament must never be left unattended during exposition.”
The incident comes amid a surge of violent attacks targeting not only Christians but also their places of worship across Nigeria.
On May 8, 2026, Fulani ethnic militias stormed Ngbra-Zongo village in the Kwall District, northwest of the Plateau State capital, Jos, killing at least 13 Christians, including a pregnant woman. The attackers reportedly took advantage of the rainy night, striking around 12:20 a.m. while residents slept. They moved from house to house, shooting and hacking residents to death.
Just weeks earlier, on April 22, gunmen shot and killed Anglican priest Rev. Emmanuel Ezeokwe at his home in Jos at approximately 12:48 a.m.
While exact figures are difficult to verify, NGOs and Church groups estimate that attacks on churches and the number of Christians killed run into the thousands. According to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List, Nigeria experienced the highest number of Christian killings globally from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. Of the 4,849 Christians murdered worldwide for their faith, 3,490—72% of the total—were in Nigeria. This marks an increase from the 3,100 deaths recorded the previous year. Despite these staggering figures, Nigeria ranked seventh on the list of the 50 most dangerous countries for Christians.
The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), a Catholic-inspired NGO tracking Christian killings in Nigeria, reports that nearly 20,000 churches were attacked, burned, or destroyed between 2009 and 2023. Over 125,000 Christians were killed within the same period. Additionally, more than 1,100 Christian communities were seized and occupied by jihadist forces allegedly backed or protected by the government.
On average, at least 4,000 Christians are killed each year in Nigeria, according to Global Christian Relief, which describes the country as “the world’s center of Christian martyrs.”
On May 8, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemned the incessant attacks in a white paper titled “Nonstate Violators of Religious Freedom in Nigeria: Fulani Militants.”
“In recent years, armed actors from a Fulani ethnic background have perpetrated some of the most notorious, visible, and deadly attacks on religious communities in Nigeria—often but not exclusively against Christians,” the USCIRF document stated.
Fulani ethnic militias are only the latest terrorist organization to join the roster of terror groups, making life increasingly untenable for Nigerian Christians to freely practice their faith. Boko Haram was the first, beginning attacks in 2009 with the stated goal of creating a caliphate across the Sahel. Intersociety reports that there are currently about 22 terrorist groups operating in Nigeria.
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Director of Intersociety, along with many other Church leaders, has frequently framed the attacks as a “genocide” against Christians.
“The intention is to wipe out Christianity, and we have reason to believe that if nothing is done, Christianity will be wiped out from Nigeria by 2075,” he told CWR.
However, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, who lives with the daily realities of terrorist attacks in the northern Nigerian state of Sokoto, offers a more nuanced interpretation of the prevailing violence in Africa’s most populous country. The cleric refuses to view Nigeria’s conflict through the binary lens through which many African conflicts are presented.
“All our conflicts are either framed as tribal, ethnic, or religious,” Bishop Kukah told CWR. “We lose the nuances and context of these conflicts; we are unable to grasp the historical, and sometimes internal and external dynamics, that produce these conflicts. As you know, no two conflicts are ever the same.”
“The notion that Christians and Muslims are always fighting in Nigeria has gained traction over time and has become a popular myth that hides the fraud that masquerades as leadership in most parts of Africa, and especially Nigeria,” he added.
He argued that to effectively fight terrorism, Nigeria must seriously address its other devils: corruption, bad governance, and the paying of allegiance to tribal loyalties. He urged the government to rein in the perpetrators of violence.
“The government has a constitutional and statutory duty to protect human rights and secure basic justice for all,” Bishop Kukah said. “The role of government is to guarantee the minimum conditions that make human rights and justice possible. The failure to protect the people is put squarely at the doorstep of the Federal Government, which has lost the capacity to rein in the perpetrators of violence who now terrorize the people in different parts of the country at will.”
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