Dear Jesus, it’s letters galore

Your letters came in from everywhere like flood, weeping for the four students killed in Aluu community, near Port Harcourt.  Ever since I started writing a column, no single topic has touched readers like the piece ‘Dear Jesus’ published in the wake of the Aluu brutal killings of those four boys.  I wish I could publish all your letters but it is not possible.  Here are a few of  them:

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They were too young to face such cruelty.  They were yet to know their left from right, even though they were in the university.  This is one cruelty too many.  It’s enough to put a nation under a curse.  My heart really aches.  Please, God, forgive us. Njideka Maduka

Our children at school should concentrate on their studies and shun crime, no matter how minor and other extra school curricular activities that may lead to the unfortunate incident of the death of the four students and its reprisal consequences.  Evangelist Benson A. Onwuchuruba

Dear Mike, what should the parents of these ill-treated vibrant young boys pray for now as Christians?  Revenge, justice or “forgive the killers, for they know what they did?”  God will help Nigeria.    zeefather@yahoo.com.

I was shocked that in your article, you failed to recognise the ability and capacity of every human being to commit evil, no matter his religion or race.  The Christian terrorists who did this are just like Boko Haram.  Tunde Salihu

Your piece, Dear Jesus brought tears to my eyes.  We pray to St. Jude, patron of the impossible for the people who do not know Jesus.  The Lord is with us and the people in Nigeria, we must take courage and continue to stand for what we know to be right.  Stephen Lucas

May the souls of the students killed in Port Harcourt and Mubi rest in peace.  Gordon Chika Nnorom

Even the rivers heard the cries for men’s wickedness in the country.  May they rest in peace.  Omeje S, Enugu

Thanks for your empathy with those murdered boys in Aluu.  The question now is, what was their offence?  Sunday, Calabar

I think we are in the last moments of the last day.  Guns do not kill.  People kill people.  These people are demon-possessed.  Nwachukwu Augustine, Awka

The Aluu people should know that the blood of these young Nigerians cries unto God from the ground.  Kantiok Habu Ishaya, Kafanchan

The boys should have reported their debtor to the police instead of hiring a cultist.  08033937059

My son in Ago Iwoye showed me the video.  After watching this video clip, I remembered President Obasanjo.  He would have levelled Aluu like Odi.  Goddey Ejerebe, Ikorodu

This is a barbaric country where life has no meaning.  How can Nigeria move forward when everywhere is flooded with innocent blood?  Okechukwu Nwakolam, Lagos

It took four hours before those boys were set ablaze.  Where were the police?  Joseph Kingsley, University of Uyo.

Mike, you spoilt my day with that horrible picture of one of the victims’ head being clubbed with a huge plank.  Gosh!  What heartlessness!   No one has the right to treat even a goat in that manner.  Bonie, 08033073536

I have one word for all those that carried out that evil act on those four students: they will never see anything good in their lives.  C.A.N. Osondu, Owerri

I have never, ever heard of such macabre killings—not even in the horrors of the holocaust.  08037502192

Something must be done to properly police every nook and cranny of this country, to guarantee law and order.  Nigeria is under-policed.  There should be more police formations like community police or state police or even massive recruitment in the Nigerian Police.  One man’s right begins where another man’s right stops.  These students’ rights to life were brutally denied by their fellow humans without their consent, without fair hearing, without due process, without help and clemency.  God forgive and accept the souls of these students.  Sonny, Owerri, 07036849175

I am sure there are kidnappers and armed robbers among those who burnt these students.  May God be the judge.  08036708138

Who gave birth to that animal in human skin in that picture?  Definitely, it is not his first time of doing that.  Olumide Soyemi, Bariga

Aluu in Igbo language means abomination and Aluu people have lived to their name.  Kevin, Lagos, 08034056344

I sympathise with the families and know that the wicked will never go unpunished.  Paul Nwosu, Abuja

My wife was crying after reading your ‘Dear Jesus’ article and was raining curses.  How can people be so cruel and heartless?  I will never be a party to those campaigning for the abolition of death penalty.  Do these perpetrators of this heinous act deserve to live?  Henry Diwe, Abuja

Please, prepare another sermon for the bloodthirsty vampires in our midst and let them know the grisly fate that awaits them.  Remind them of the Bible verse that says: “He who kills by the sword dies by it.”  It is high time Nigerians stopped butchering fellow Nigerians for fun as if killing is a sport.  Okoro Benjamin, Calabar

Cry, the beloved country!  That’s all I can say about the tragedies engulfing us. Yen Ekpoudom

God will surely bless you, guide you, reward you and grant your heart’s desires for that masterpiece on Aluu 4 massacre.  The parents and Nigerians will be consoled after going through your write-up.  Mrs. J. Akin.

The people of Aluu are not human. It beats my imagination to think that people could stand and watch this inhuman, cannibalistic act. Santus

Those who spill innocent blood for whatever reason will have destruction waiting for them.  It’s the law of karma.  Kate Onu Egwunwoke

Nigeria is now the exact replica of hell. Sylva Onuegbu, Enugu

Even animals have semblance of respect for each other.  The killers and the crowd were worse than beasts.  If they had died out of flood, accident or any natural disaster, the cry should not have been like this.

Dr. Ade Ojeyemi

The jungle justice meted out to those boys sums up everything that is wrong with us and the way we are.  May God have mercy on us. Idowu Lanre Alabi

The only devil that exists is man.  Bidemi Bright, Lagos