Five days after they accused the Buhari administration of poor handling of the degenerating security situation in Nigeria, Catholic Bishops on Sunday protested on the street of the country’s capital, Abuja against the increasing attacks and killings of Nigerians by Boko Haram terrorists.
The clergymen under the aegis of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), had during their meeting last week decried the Buhari administration’s poor response to the killings, saying it had not shown sufficient willingness to end it.
The bishops, who were joined by Catholic faithful, all dressed in black during the protest on Sunday, marched peacefully from the Ecumenical Centre to the Our Lady Queen of Nigeria in Area 3, Garki District of Abuja.
They said they were protesting and seeking God’s intervention on behalf of over the 50 million Catholics and over 100 million Christians in the country.
Archbishop Augustine Akubueze, who heads the CBCN, said the Federal Government of Nigeria, was not sensitive to the plights of victims and terrorism and insurgency.
He faulted the repeated claims by the government that it had technically defeated Boko Haram.
“The Killing of God’s children is evil; the failure to protect innocent people from the relentless attacks is evil; the lack of prosecution of terrorists is evil; our government’s response to terrorist attack is, for the better words, far below average,” Akubueze said.
“There have been too many mass burials, too many kidnappings of school children, travellers, invasion of people’s homes, invasion of sacred places like churches, mosques, seminaries.
“We sometimes hear or read of our government sending condolence message to western countries when there is a terrorist attack which has led to the death of one or two persons.
“We commend the federal government for doing this, but we are surprised that in Nigeria, the federal government will not even send a condolence message to families that have suffered fatalities in the hands of Boko Haram. Our president rarely visits or speak to Nigerians when there are terrorists’ attacks.
“Your silence is sowing and breeding seeds of mistrust and the longer it stays this way, the more you lose those who could have given you the benefit of the doubt. As things stand now, it appears only a few Nigerians can defend you with reasons, only a few Nigerians can argue that you silence is not an endorsement of the barbaric actions of the terrorists and criminals.
“We cannot understand why the government’s reaction to the beheading of Rev. Lawan Andimi (CAN Chairman in Michika) has not shown that there is going to be any consequences for those responsible.
“Nigerians are tired of reading of such killings as that of an orphan seminarian who was just 18 years old and of a young wife and mother. Nigerians are tired of hearing of the inexcusable actions of the government in their response to these and many other sad cases.
“As we march, pray and protest today, we want all Catholics in Nigeria not to be hopeless; we want Catholics and other well-meaning patriotic Nigerians to stand together and fight this terrorism.”
