By: Joy Odor/Abuja
The Catholic Bishops across the Federation and its faithful dress in black in their thousands have defiled the 1st 2020 rain for a prayer procession protest to express dissatisfaction on the situation of the country and to seek the intervention of the international bodies.
The Archbishop of Abuja, His Grace, Most Reverend Ignatius Kaigama lamented that the wanton kidnapping of citizens for ransom has taken a brutal and deadly turn with very grave and sickening consequences.
He stated this in his Homily at the Opening Mass of the 5-days 2020 first plenary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria in Abuja Sunday.
Archbishop Kaigama who was of the opinion that although those in authority continue to assure populace they are doing everything in their power to arrest the ugly trend, added that permanent solutions and peace will continue to elude the people if all do not repent, change their ways, turn to God for help and for healing.
“In contemporary Nigeria perhaps one of our biggest temptations is one of believing in our country against all odds. For quite a while now, it appears that it is our country’s destiny to always dance on the edge of the perilous precipice.
“Otherwise how does one explain the uninterrupted movement from one crisis to another? If it is not the murderous insurgents ravaging rural communities and lives in the North East, then it is the herdsmen laying waste towns and villages and leaving tales of death and destruction in their trail.
“We have the opportunity in this season of Lent to soberly examine our lives and to mend them by saying a categorical “yes” to God. To achieve this we must put on our spiritual armour to battle, like Jesus did in the desert, the evil one who with impunity tempts us to violate God’s orders.
“He poisons our cordial relationship with God; destabilizes our common humanity by creating tension and conflict and making us less sensitive to the sacredness of life and so, we are prepared to fight, kidnap, kill, and do abominable things to one another.
“We must acquire the moral strength and spiritual capacity to repel the forces of the evil one and his agents through the word of God. Happily, the theme of the CBCN conference this year is “The Word of God: A Lamp to my Feet and a Light to my Path”. This is in line with Pope Francis establishing the Sunday of the Word of God, devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God.
“As we embark on this Lenten spiritual journey of forty days, the desired results expected will be a growing in understanding of the riches hidden in Christ; succeeding in what St. John of the Cross refers to as progress from purgation to enlightenment and then to union with God” he urges.
The Archbishop of Abuja called on the Nigerian leaders to strive to bring all together and use all the resources it can muster to confront the country common challenges.
He also enjoined them to avoid any impression that suggests complacency or outright lack of interest in the plight of innocent victims, saying the trend of resorting to self-help is indicative of the distrust of the government and its security agencies who are seemingly overwhelmed by criminals.
“All these call for concerted and harmonious efforts from all leaders – political, traditional, religious to work together to pull our people away from the precipice.
“This is no time to play politics of division or to exaggerate fault lines of religion, ethnocentrism or region to further set one segment of the country against another. This is not the time to bicker about who could be the best president, the best minister or the best army chief. It is equally shameful to reduce our misfortunes into an argument about what faith has suffered more.
“Isn’t it shameful and regrettable enough that dozens die every day, regardless of whatever faith they belong to? When we allow such rhetoric’s of division to dominate the socio-political space in the face of a grave danger, then the terrorists and criminals carry the day.
“We cannot afford to give people without conscience the honour of dividing us further or determining our daily discourse. In normal climes, terrorism and violent criminality are very hard to root out. With disunity, distrust, fault-finding and finger-pointing, the hope for solutions is dead on arrival”.
Archbishop Kaigama therefore ended by saying that the multiplicity of pious religious activities in Nigeria and the ubiquity of religious houses are not enough to make Nigeria a paradise.
He called all and sundry to work honestly towards a change of mentality, be patriotically concerned about the nation and the common good rather than parochial ethnic, political or religious interests.
