The world is determined to look away from a horrific campaign of killings being perpetrated in Africa under the name of Islam
Michael Nnadi was the kind of Nigerian whose face projected a nearly supernatural joy. His pronounced features made him look both older and younger than his 18 years. His skin was dark, aglow with a smooth radiance that reflected the sun. An ever-present smile consumed his entire face, easily lighting up a room.
Michael was one of 270 students studying at the Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna State on the main highway to Abuja. On the evening of January 8, 2020, his world was upended when an armed gang, disguised in military fatigues, breached the gate of the school. They snagged four seminarians, including Michael, and made their escape.
The straightforward words of the seminary’s registrar, Rev. Joel Usman, belied his anguish. “After [taking] the headcount of the students with security agents, four Seminarians have been declared missing. Kindly say a prayer for their release,” Reverend Usman pleaded.
By the end of the month, three of the four boys had been freed, but not Michael. A few days later he was found dead, his body dumped on the side of a road, massacred by his kidnappers. Local authorities attributed the kidnappings to criminal activity by bandits whose interest was in whatever they could extort from the Catholic church or the relatives of the four seminarians.
At Michael’s funeral, the esteemed Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto denounced the injustice of his murder, trying to use the power of his words to awaken the conscience of a nation: “This is for us the moment of decision. This is the moment that separates darkness from light, good from evil. Our nation is like a ship stranded on the high seas, rudderless and with broken navigational aids … Nigeria is on the crossroads, and its future stands precariously in a balance.”
Michael’s twin brother, Raphael, spoke to the Nigerian press the week he and his brother would have turned 19. He saluted the path of spirituality, faith, and service that his brother had selected. “Michael was so much committed and loved the things of G-d, that his choice to become a priest did not surprise many people who knew him. My consolation is that he did not die in vain, pursuing things of the world, but rather he died in the service to G-d, training for the priesthood.”
It remained a mystery to Raphael, his family, and the seminary as to why Michael had been killed while the others had been freed. The same negotiators had been working on behalf of all four abductees. Some Nigerians, as well as local and international authorities, thought that he may have been disposed of as a negotiating tool to increase the ransom for the others, but no one knew for sure—until April 30, 2020.
That’s the day the murderer, Mustapha Mohammed, was interviewed in prison by Nigeria’s Daily Sun newspaper. The jailed gang leader detailed to the reporter that his gang took five days to survey the property, which was already familiar to one gang member who lived nearby. Then they attacked.
Mohammed spoke openly about Michael’s fate, saying, “He did not allow me any peace; he just kept preaching to me his gospel.”
So why did Mohammed kill Michael?
“I did not like the confidence he displayed [in his faith], and I decided to send him to an early grave,” said Mohammed. This terrorist murderer is 26 years old and not a member of Boko Haram or ISIS in West Africa. He is a local Fulani Muslim and one of the 45 members of a gang that has been working this area for years, brazenly kidnapping, extorting, and murdering the innocent.
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We only wish that academic residents safely ensconced in their ivory towers would take the time to come face-to-face with the victims. Let those scholars then debate what those armed militants were thinking before they barged into another Christian town yelling, “Allahu Akbar!” with their AK-47s firing. Are those thugs really thinking, I want their land because climate change has taken mine?
Whether the Fulani are violent criminals or jihadi terrorists—or both—there is one indisputable fact here: The Nigerian government is failing to stop the bloodshed, and the determined apathy of the international community is aiding and abetting their indifference.
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