Some Catholic priests, early yesterday, embarked on a peaceful protest in Akure, Ondo State, against the disheartening killings in the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria, insisting “Every Soul Matters”, and calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to take responsibility for the carnage and vacate office.
The demonstration comes days after suspected herdsmen stormed St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Ukpor-Mbalom Parish, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State, killing two Catholic priests and 17 parishioners.
The deceased were members of the parish who were in the church to attend the 5:30am Mass and burial ceremony.
Meanwhile, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to resign.
The CBCN urged President Buhari to choose the part of honour by “stepping aside to save the nation from total collapse.”
The CBCN made the call in a communique signed by its President, Most Rev. Augustine Akubeze, and Secretary, Most Rev. Camillus Umoh, last Thursday.
The bishops, in the communique titled, “When will this barbarism end?” condemned the incessant attacks by the suspected herdsmen, whom they said had turned the country into a massive graveyard.
They also noted that the rate of insecurity in Nigeria had become an embarrassment in the international community while describing the killing of the priests in the Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State, last Tuesday, as being “carefully planned.”
The communique read: “That our two priests, Fr. Joseph Gor and Fr. Felix Tyolaha, along with their parishioners were waylaid in the course of the celebration of the Holy Mass early in the morning, suggests very clearly that their murder was carefully planned. This wicked act cannot be said to be a revenge attack (as is often claimed).
“Whom have these priests attacked? Indeed, we have just discovered that on January 3, this year, Fr. Gor tweeted, ‘We are living in fear. The Fulani are still around here in Mbalom (where they (priests) were killed). They refuse to go. They still go grazing around. No weapons to defend ourselves.’
“Their desperate cries for security and help went unheeded by those who should have heard them. They could have fled but, true to their vocation, they remained to continue to serve their God unto death.
“We are sad. We are angry. We feel totally exposed and most vulnerable. Faced with these dark clouds of fear and anxiety, our people are daily being told by some to defend themselves.
“But defend themselves with what? The Federal Government, whose primary responsibility it is to protect lives, for its part alleges that those who ask the people to defend themselves are inciting them to take the laws into their own hands. But how can the Federal Government stand back while its security agencies deliberately turn a blind eye to the cries and wailing of helpless and harmless citizens who remain sitting ducks in their homes, farms, highway and now, even in sacred places of worship?
“In spite of several calls on the President in the last two years to reconfigure his security apparatus and strategy, which the President has deliberately placed in the hands of the adherents of only one religion and the lack of confidence expressed by the CBCN in the security agencies, the bloodletting and destruction of homes and farmlands had increased with intensity and brutality.
“We are sad and fear that the clock is ticking. The bomb must be defused quickly before it explodes.
“Since the President, who appointed the heads of the nation’s security agencies has refused to caution them even in the face of the chaos and barbarity into which our country has been plunged, we are left with no choice but to conclude that they are acting a script that he approves of. 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 fields and mass graveyard that our country has become. Repeated calls from us and many other Nigerians on the President to take very drastic and urgent steps to reverse this ugly tragedy that threatens the foundation of our collective existence and unity as a nation have fallen on deaf ears.
“It is clear to the nation that he has failed in his primary duty of protecting the lives of the Nigerian citizens. Whether this failure is due to inability to perform or lack of political will, it is time for him to choose the part of honour and consider stepping aside to save the nation from total collapse.
“Government should encourage and empower citizens to secure themselves and their environments. This is not the time to disarm people with legally procured weapons of self defence.
In Markudi,the Christian Association of Nigerian, CAN, has called for the immediate resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari over his inability to tackle the ceaseless herdsmen killings and security challenges confronting the country.
The association also appealed to the international community to intervene in the crisis to save the country from relapsing into a religious crisis stressing that the attack on the Church in Benue was a jihad that should be stopped.
Speaking at a peaceful procession organised by the Benue State chapter of CAN, Chairman of the chapter, Rev. Akpen Leva who led the procession, which had participants baring placards with several inscriptions including, “President Buhari resign now”, “enough of the genocide in Benue, “arrest the leadership of Miyetti Allah” and “Benue State” and “self defence is the answer” noted that killings had become a source of physical and mental agony for the people of the state.
Rev. Leva said, “the barbaric mindless and well planned massacre of Benue people has no doubt brought tears running down the chicks of everybody in Benue State.
“We as CAN, wrote to the federal Government of Nigeria on the matter no answer or response was received. It is a fact that the silence and the indecision of the federal government is rather an encouragement to the militant herdsmen to perpetrate all these evil upon the people of Benue State.
“We are convinced that the Federal Government is acting the script of Miyetti Allah.
The President, Christian Association of Nigeria, Rev. Dr. Samson Ayokunle, had, last Wednesday, directed all Christians in Nigeria to embark on nationwide protest over the murder of the priests and 17 worshippers.
The Christian body also declared Sunday (yesterday) a National Day of Protest against what it described as “unending killings in the country,” urging Christians in Nigeria to hold peaceful protests within their church premises.
At the Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Wadata, most of the parishioners, especially women, neither wore necklaces nor earrings as a sign of anger and grief
The Kogi State chapter of CAN staged a peaceful protest as ordered by the national body.
The protests, carried out in various church premises, were aimed at drawing the attention of the Federal Government to the need to step up actions against the incessant killings going on in parts of the country.
The placard-carrying protesters with various inscriptions called for concerted efforts to stop the spate of killings before people start to take up arms to defend themselves.
Kogi State Chairman of CAN, Bishop John Ibenu, who spoke with newsmen after the protest at his Chapel of Freedom Church in Lokoja, said the protests were peaceful in the state.
He called on the Federal Government to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission over the menace of herdsmen attacks in the country.
Ibenu said, “It is a national day of prayer and protest, Christians don’t protest; if we have to, that means the issues have reached the peak.
“We spend time to pray for the nation and Kogi State and also for the future.
“Kogi State CAN, in obedience to the directive of national CAN, observed the day in our church premises.
But, Imo State chapter of CAN boycotted the order to protest the killing of the two Catholic priests.
All the churches that one of our correspondents visited yesterday in the state capital observed their normal church services without any protest, as reportedly directed by the national leadership of CAN.
Speaking to our correspondent, the CAN Chairman in the state, Apostle Godson Ibeji, said that the chapter was not formally informed via any means of communication.
The CAN chairman said that apart from newspaper publications, there was no correspondent from the CAN national secretariat informing them to march round the city in protest against the killing of Christians in North Central of the country.
Ibeji said, “There was no official communication or correspondent asking Imo CAN to march round the city in protest against the killing of two Catholic priests and other Christians in Benue State.
Meanwhile, the Methodist Diocese of Ereko has called on the Federal Government to redouble efforts to halt massive killings in Benue, Taraba and other parts of the country.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the 2nd synod of Methodist Diocese of Ereko held at the Wesley Church, Ikoyi, in Lagos and signed by Rt. Rev. Olukayode Adeogun, Bishop of Ereko and Lay President, Mr .Gori Ogunyemi.
The communique viewed with grave concern the state of affairs in Kaduna, Benue, Taraba, Yobe, Kogi Adamawa states and other parts of the country, saying it was saddened at shortcoming in the fight against insurgency which had not shown any signs of abating.
It, therefore, called on the Federal Government to redouble efforts to secure the release of the remaining 113 Chibok girls and Miss Leah Haribu, who was one of the girls kidnapped from Government Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State who is yet to be released by her captors on the reason that she refused to be converted to Islam.
The Synod also asked God-fearing and committed Christians to contest for offices at all levels in 2019 while also encouraging every Christian to ensure that they register and collect their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) in fulfillment of their civic responsibilities.
The synod with the theme: “Strive for Peace and Holiness,” a gathering of ministerial and lay leaders of the church urged all Christians to live a life that reflect the virtue of peace and holiness which Jesus came to this world in human form to exhibit and thereby restored to humanity the glory which was lost in the Garden of Eden.
The Synod also lent its voice to the several calls for restructuring of the nation, believing that if attended to, it would take the wind out of the sails of the various insurgencies in the country.
The Synod frowns at lack of accountability and double standards at various levels of governance, hate speeches and the influx of illegal arms which were threatening the stability of the country.
The Synod commended the Lagos State Government for the opening of a mobile cancer centre for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, signing of the preservation and promotion of Yoruba language bill as a bold step in re-emphasizing cultural values, but noted that the present Cleaner Lagos Initiative had not met with the expectations of waste disposal in Lagos.
It called on the state government to address the obvious inadequacies to avoid the outbreak of cholera and other communicable diseases.
The synod said while promising not to cease to fulfill its role as the prophetic voice and vanguard of truth and righteousness in the nation, it would commit itself to continue to pray for peace and progress of the country.