Gunmen on Monday invaded the Deeper Life Church at Otite area in Okene, killing 16 worshippers and leaving many others wounded NAN reports.
The Commander of the Joint Military Task Force in Lokoja, Lt-Col. Gabriel Olorunyomi, confirmed the incident.
He said 15 worshippers died instantly in the attack while another died on the way to the hospital.
The commander said many injured persons were rushed to hospitals in Lokoja, a distance of 40 minutes driving on the road from Okene.
He said the casualty figure might rise considering that some sustained heavy injuries.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as yet.
Meanwhile, a Niger Delta-based activist, Mr. Oghenejabor Ikimi, has said Nigeria has become a laughing stock among comity of nations following constant attacks on her security formations by the Boko Haram sect.
Ikimi, in a statement on Monday, said it was shameful that the Nigerian Police had remained ill-funded, ill-trained and ill-equipped in the face of terrorism.
He noted that the police lacked the capacity to deliver on their constitutional mandate of protecting life and property, citing cases where police stations were sacked and some of them killed by terrorists in northern part of the country.
“An ill-equipped, ill-trained and ill-funded police organisation like the Nigeria Police cannot protect itself talk less of protecting the Nigerian Populace,” he said.
He condemned the frequent excuse by the government that it lacked funds to adequately equip the police adding that the clamour for the creation of state police by some governors would not solve the problem.
Ikimi, who is the convener of the Forum for Justice and Human Rights Defence, asked the Federal Government to reappraise its priorities by cutting down on its financial excesses.
He said, “The situation does not speak well of us as a country in security terms before the comity of nations hence I am calling on the Federal Government to properly equip, re-train and fund the Nigeria Police so that it can discharge effectively its constitutional and statutory duties of protecting lives and properties of the citizenry.
“I believe that a proactive and vibrant police organisation would always, as a matter of fact, be able to protect its personnel and equipment first and foremost before it can protect the life and property of its citizenry.”
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