The immediate past Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman in Benue State, Rev Augustine Leva, yesterday bemoaned continuous killings in the state by armed gangs.

Leva, speaking with journalists in Makurdi, said over 300 Christians, including pastors, were gruesomely killed by herdsmen. According to him, mass burials are now held more frequently than weddings in the violent-prone state.

The cleric said: “In Benue State, we, the clergy, conduct funeral services, mass burials more than we conduct wedding ceremonies. “This is because our people are being killed every day, our parents cannot go to the farm and when they go, they often don’t come back.

“On Good Friday, over 300 of our people were murdered in the Ukum and Logo local government areas, and a majority of them were members of the church – the Universal Reformed Christian Church (URCC) aka NKST. “Our pastors were sent away from their consistories and parishes, their pastorium destroyed.

Many people are suffering in the IDPs and others have taken shelter with their loved ones scattered all over Benue and Nigeria in general.”

The former CAN chair urged President Bola Tinubu and Governor Hyacinth Alia to rise up to their responsibilities of protecting life and property.

He said: “Let them do more to save the lives of millions of people that are suffering and dying in Nigeria; because Nigeria has become a theatre of war, a theatre of blood.

“Blood is flowing in the country as if a river is flowing. “Militia herdsmen have surrounded the state, you cannot leave your house just a kilometre to go from one local government area to another, so we are afraid that one day they will wake up and kill everybody in Benue.”