The Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev Dr Callistus Chukwuma Onaga, has expressed grave concerns over the state of security of the country.
He made this known in an interview with The Sun published on Sunday.
According to him, Nigeria is “sitting on a keg of gunpowder” which may come everyone if not immediately and properly addressed.
Recall that two Catholic priests and 15 parishioners were killed in in Gwer East LGA of Borno in April.
Onaga lamented herdsmen killings in Benue, Taraba and other parts of the country, adding that he no longer feels safe conducting mass in Enugu since anywhere in the country could be attacked next.
He said, “In Nigerian politics, we are mixing up a lot of things. Can we come up with a sincere discussion on it? That lives are being lost in Benue and we must not forget that there are many people from the North here in Enugu and there are many people from the East there in the North. We have been living together as brothers and sisters since amalgamation, even before the amalgamation in 1914. We have been together. But what I see now is that we joke with everything in Nigeria. We are playing with lives, joking with lives. So my first plea is for every Nigerian not only the leadership, but also those being led as well to take seriously the issue of life being lost in this country. I don’t see why a governor should sit-down in the state and people are robbing people passing through the state and you keep quiet. You are the chief security of the state, you are supposed to do something to secure lives and property and yet you expect allegiance from the same citizens that are not free. The same thing with the president and then ourselves who are being led. We should as well make effort to look at these issues very well because it is affecting everybody.
If I am celebrating the Holy Mass today, I am no more as relaxed as it used to be, even here in the South-east because anybody can fake anything and come in. Truly, some of the security agencies send us policemen. So, it is a problem, first of all as a man of God who believes in faith that every security comes from God, that God will provide us security, but he expects us to do something as human beings first of all. I would want the nation state, Nigeria to show some kind of concern for security. You cannot tell me if you have say 100 criminals trying to destroy a state and that 1000 policemen and members of the military joined together cannot confront them if we are not really joking. There was a time it was reported a whole street was robbed in one part of this country and the police when they were asked said ‘there are so many of them,’ in a state where you have over 1000 policemen, you have army in the same state. So, you cannot collect yourselves together and begin to confront 100 persons. What kind of ammunition have they? That is why I do not want to push the blame to one side. All of us are involved in it. I think we are cheating ourselves as far as our security is concerned. We are telling ourselves lies. Why wouldn’t I profess information to the police and the police if you are given information, why don’t you use it well. Why do you use it to sabotage somebody?