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Paper short abstract:

Before June 2022, southwestern Nigeria had never witnessed a gruesome attack until it happened in a church in Owo on June 5, 2022. This study examined the Owo massacre, the rituality of security, and reactivation of informal mechanisms for vengeance, protection, and peacebuilding in Owo community.

Paper long abstract:

Since 2009, when Bokoharam terrorists began their violence in northern Nigeria, many innocent lives have been massacred in their communities, with no records of such in southwest Nigeria. In a twist of fate, about 50 church members were massacred on Sunday, June 5, 2022, during the feast of a Pentecost in a Catholic church in Owo, Ondo State, Nigeria. In this paper, I interrogate the Owo massacre and community responses through the reactivation of traditional peacebuilding structures in Owo, Ondo State. I show how experiences of attacks reinforce collective beliefs and the activation of traditional social control and peacebuilding structures by the church and community in response to the gruesome attack on Owo community. The study adopted Social Bond theory and deployed explorative research designs. Qualitative methods (IDI, KII, and non-participant observation) were used for data collection. This method allowed for holistic and valuable insights through subjective narratives through qualitative primary and secondary sources. Primary data was extracted through interviews with the Olowo, council chiefs, priests of the violated church, Orisa devotees, informal security personnel, and members of the community. Also, the non-participant observation was done by the researcher to observe the community responses, which involve the invocation of Ogun (the community ancestral deity) to arrest the attackers, take vengeance, and for peacebuilding. Data was thematised and subjected to deductive content and thematic analysis. Findings show that mourning reactivates beliefs in informal social control, stirs up collective conscience, and elevates conversation around issues of security and safety.