Togolese priest killed in Cameroon in front of gate at religious congregation's residence

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (OSV News) -- Father Christophe Komla Badjougou, a priest of the Diocese of Yagoua in northern Cameroon, was in Yaoundé to get his visa to Italy, when he was killed Oct. 7, waiting for the gate to be opened at the residence of a religious congregation where he was staying.

A leading Catholic cleric in Cameroon has narrated the harrowing details of how a Togolese priest was murdered.

"It was about 7 p.m. when he arrived. While waiting for the night watchman to come and open (the gate), he was shot by two men on a bike," Msgr. Paul Nyaga told OSV News.

Father Komla Badjougou was supposed to spend the night at the Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, according to Msgr. Nyaga, secretary general of Cameroon's bishops' conference.

"He was terribly shot, because there were eight holes in his body, which means that he was shot several times -- on his hands, feet, heart, everywhere," he said, adding that it was still too early to say who shot the priest, and why," Msgr. Nyaga said.

"Maybe they (the killers) were just ordinary, common thieves because they took away his little bag where he certainly had some money, and his phone, but his traveling bag remained," he added.

Archbishop Jean Mbarga of Yaoundé expressed "deep sorrow" following the murder of the priest in his Oct. 8 statement, as well as solidarity and spiritual closeness with Bishop Barthélemy Yaouda Hourgo and the people of God in the priest's home Diocese of Yagoua.

"On this sorrowful occasion, the Archdiocese of Yaoundé offers its heartfelt condolences to the family of Father Christophe, to his friends, and to the faithful of the Diocese of Yagoua," Archbishop Mbarga said.

"The Archdiocese of Yaoundé strongly condemns all forms of aggression, violence, and murder, and reminds the public that all human life is sacred and inviolable," he added.

He asked for prayers for the priest and said his murder is being investigated.

In a statement sent to OSV News, Bishop Hourgo of Yagoua said the priest was "gunned down in a despicable manner by malicious, faithless and as yet unidentified individuals."

"Shocked and pained by this news, we join the biological family of the deceased, his friends and his brothers to implore the Most High to grant him eternal rest," the bishop said.

He called on public authorities to carry out "a thorough and transparent investigation to elucidate the circumstances and motives behind this cruelty."

In comments to OSV News, Msgr. Nyaga said the most recent killing further illustrates the fact that there is "no respect for the sacredness of life in this country any longer."

"We have been going through this for years now," the priest said, without giving details, but the recent killing adds to a rather long list of the killing of Catholic priests and bishops in Cameroon, some of them targeted killings.

That list includes Father Alexandre Sob Nougi, pastor of the Parish of the Sacred Heart in Bomaka, in the Diocese of Buea, who was killed in 2018, the same year Kenyan Father Cosmas Omboto Ondari, a Mill Hill Missionary, lost his life.

A year earlier, 58-year-old Bishop Jean-Marie Benoît Balla of Bafia was brutally murdered.
"There is a lot of violence," Msgr. Nyaga told OSV News, saying that the complete lack of respect for human life and dignity in the country was baffling.

"Yes, we are facing difficulties just as people face difficulties everywhere in the world, but to reach this level of lack of respect for human life or human dignity is troubling," he told OSV News.

He said the killing of Father Komla Badjougou is a reminder that "the proclamation of the Gospel goes along with suffering, with hatred, with persecution."

"What should we do? Keep mourning from morning to the evening?" the priest asked. "No, I think we should continue to carry out our mission. The proclamation of the Gospel goes along with suffering, with hatred, with persecution."

"This is what our Lord Jesus told us. I believe as Jesus said that the world doesn't like the light. And the Gospel message the church proclaims is the message of light, of truth, brotherhood, fraternity, whereas the world proclaims hatred, division, selfishness, and that’s why light and darkness are always in battle," he said.

"So I don’t think those priests and bishops who have been killed are the first, nor will they be the last. It’s a list that is open."

"Who knows, I may be the next," the priest concluded.