CATHOLIC Priests in West Africa, CPWA, have expressed shock over the crumbling security situation in Nigeria and called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address the situation or tender his resignation letter as a statesman.
The group said that the rising killings, insecurity and mutual mistrust in almost all parts of Nigeria over the Miyetti-Allah-backed marauding herdsmen and their daily killings in communities across the country were no more acceptable, as the development was capable of destroying the unity of Nigeria. They wondered how and when what it called “high level of barbarism and wanton killings would end and demanded for tougher sanctions and punishment for the seeming elusive, yet ubiquitous killer herdsmen who have continued to terrorise communities in Nigeria. Addressing newsmen in tears, CPWA President, Rev Fr Martin Onukwuba, surrounded by some of his members said: “The citizens of Nigeria were known to love one another and had co-existed side by side all along, until recently” and asked rhetorically, “What happened? What went wrong? When will this barbarism end?” He continued: “The increasing attacks by the now notorious armed herdsmen had evidently not received commensurate reprimand or official condemnation or expected strong push from President Buhari, hence they have now turned the country into a massive graveyard. “We are sad. We are angry. We feel totally exposed and most vulnerable and faced with these dark clouds of fear and anxiety, our people are daily being told by some people to defend themselves.
The Nigerian President, who appointed the heads of the nation’s security agencies has refused to caution them even in the face of the chaos and barbarism into which the country has been plunged. “We are left with no choice but to conclude that they are acting a script that he approved of. If the president cannot keep Nigeria safe, then he automatically loses the trust of the citizens and all and therefore should resign, and no longer continue to preside over the killing fields and mass graveyard that the nation has become. “We note with grave concern the sudden turn of the negative attention of the killer herdsmen on priests and their congregation even when these clergies have been playing pivotal roles in ameliorating the pains and challenges of the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in all parts of the country. “While urging the restructuring of the nation’s security apparatus and leaderships, we condemn the killing of the young priests under the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi in Benue State of Nigeria. “We want to condemn this new height in Nigeria, where life has become brutish, nasty and short as a result of the activities of herdsmen.”
