'A failure of security', governor says at funeral for Nigerian church massacre victims

Holding back tears, the state governor told the grieving relatives of victims of a Catholic church massacre in Nigeria that he accepted a failure of security was to blame for their deaths. Gunmen wielding AK-47 rifles and explosives attacked St Francis Catholic Church in Owo town on June 5, killing 40 people.

Holding back tears, the state governor told the grieving relatives of victims of a Catholic church massacre in Nigeria that he accepted a failure of security was to blame for their deaths.

Gunmen wielding AK-47 rifles and explosives attacked St Francis Catholic Church in Owo town on June 5, killing 40 people. The government suspect insurgent group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). At the funeral mass for 22 of the victims, a visibly emotional Ondo state governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said: "I am here before you to accept a failure of security. We have failed to defend these people, not because we have not tried, but the forces on the other side are evil."

Some relatives cried as they followed the mass and speeches inside a large hall in Owo. Flowers decorated the coffins, with one draped in the national colours of Nigeria and a pair of boots on top. It belonged to a policeman.

It was the first and only large commemoration of the victims, with some families already having buried their loved ones. While some of the victims were buried immediately after the mass, other families were planning to take their relatives to their home states. Benedict Ogbu said he would bury his wife in Ebonyi state, some 470 km away.

Akeredolu, who is regularly outspoken over security and policing issues, and the governor of neighbouring Ekiti state Kayode Fayemi have expressed doubt over the government's assertion that ISWAP was responsible for the attack. No group has claimed responsibility. Security experts have said the lack of a claim breaks with ISWAP's usual pattern.

Like most of Nigeria, Ondo state frequently experiences violence, including farmer-herder clashes and gunmen who kidnap for ransom, but the Owo attack stood out for its high casualty count, security experts said. Jude Arogundade, Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Ondo, said the church attack was the work of cowards and that government's promise to find the killers was empty promise.

"We know the leaders that failed us and we continue to hold them accountable," he said. (Writing and additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos; Editing by Alison Williams)

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