The tears promise to flow freely today Friday as the Ondo State Government and Owo folks commit to the earth the bodies of 40 worshippers of the Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church killed two Sundays ago by gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as mourner-in-chief will lead sorrowing indigenes and sympathisers, expected to throng the mass graves dug in a purpose-built graveyard.
Built by the state, the new graveyard will remain an eternal monument of the coldblooded killing of the victims by murderers who are still on the run.
The Ondo Catholic Diocese’s Director of Social Communication, Rev. Fr. Augustine Ikwu, told reporters on Monday that the mass burial of the victims had been slated for the new cemetery provided on Emure Road in the ancient town in South-West Nigeria.
While 40 people died immediately and after the attack, several others continue to battle various degrees of injuries.
Most of those injured are still receiving treatment at the government-owned Federal Medical Centre, Owo, as well as a couple of private hospitals in the town.
The killings have received wide condemnation from world leaders, including the Pontiff of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis.
