The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), an umbrella body for Catholic Bishops in Nigeria has again urged President Muhammadu Buhari to as a matter of urgency save Nigeria from further pain and avoidable chaos, anarchy and doom, reiterating its earlier call on the president that, “If the president cannot keep our country safe, then he automatically loses the trust of the citizens. He should no longer continue to preside over the killing field and mass graveyard that our country has become.”
The CBCN in a statement jointly signed by Augustine Akubeze, President, CBCN and Camillus Umoh, Secretary, CBCN, and made available to BDSUNDAY said it vehemently condemns any shedding of human blood and asked the police to speedily arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes across the country.
“We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria are devastated by these acts of insensitivity and disrespect for dignity of human life. We are equally sad that the Federal Government continues to find it difficult to proactively address the issue of these wanton killings. We have said it before and it bears repeating that it can no longer be regarded as were coincidence that the suspected perpetrators of these heinous crimes are of the same religion as all those who control the security apparatus of our country, including the president himself. Words are no longer enough for the president and his service chiefs to convince the rest of the citizens that these killings are not part of a larger religious project,” part of the statement said.
The CBCN who made a similar statement two months ago after the gruesome murder of two of its priests along with 17 other parishioners in Benue State on 24 April, therefore expresses its grave concerns about the spate of violence in Nigeria and the inability of the Federal Government to deal with the situation.
“The latest horrendous massacre of scores of innocent Nigerians, especially children and women, including pregnant women, in Plateau State, by the same rampaging and murderous terrorists who now seem to be operating without any hindrance in the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria shows that our last statement, like all others before, has been completely ignored by those, whose primary responsibility it is to protect the lives and property of Nigerians.
“Again, the country is likely to witness another mass burial of innocent Nigerians as a result of the serial murderous activities of a group who clearly seem to be above the law in our country and who, by their actions and words, have insisted that human lives are worth less than the lives of cattle. This shameful inversion of values portrays our country as barbaric and our society as brutish,” said the CBCN.
The statement also pointed out what it called the double standard approach to tackling the insecurity in the country by the police whenever herders are attacked in parts of the country. “We must point out the double standards applied by the same police any time the herdsmen are attacked and killed. In this latter case they react very swiftly and the law promptly takes its course. Would that the same swiftness be applied to all cases; we feel the pains of all those who have lost dear ones and extend our sincere condolences to them.”
The group however calls on men and women of goodwill to join hands and continue to pray for peace and harmony in Nigeria. “As Nigerians prepare yet again for another mass burial of innocent citizens, we pray for the repose of the dead and for the consolation of the bereaved,” said CBCN in a statement.
