OWERRI, Nigeria (LifeSiteNews) – A Nigerian bishop has condemned the recent violence and ongoing insecurity in his country
According to ACI Africa, Bishop Lucius Ugorji, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, spoke during Archbishop Anthony Obinna’s golden jubilee celebrations on June 10, 2022, in Owerri, the capital city of Nigeria’s Imo state.
“As we celebrate here today, my heart returns to the bloody scene at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, Ondo State, where many unarmed worshippers, including couples, women, little children and infants, were gruesomely murdered and many others brutally wounded on Pentecost Sunday,” Ugorji stated.
“We continue to pray for the happy repose of the dead, the quick recovery of the wounded, and the consolation of the bereaved,” he continued.
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In his heartfelt address, the bishop wondered aloud why civil authorities are not doing more to protect citizens.
“Nigeria is bleeding. Our land is soaked in blood, from north to south, east to west. Blood is flowing like a river,” Ugorji declared.
“Nigerians now live in fear and anxiety, as a dark cloud of uncertainty hangs over the nation. Nowhere is secure – our homes, our highways, our institutions of learning, and even our sacred precincts of worship centers are all unsafe,” he continued.
“Why has our country become so insecure while we have a government charged with the responsibility of defending the lives and property of one and all? Why has life become so cheap and short in Nigeria? Why must people who slaughter unarmed and law-abiding citizens in our communities be allowed to go scot-free?
The bishop condemned in the strongest terms the harassment and murder of Christians.
“The killing of innocent worshippers is outrageous, sacrilegious, condemnable, and totally unacceptable,” he stated.
“Recently, it was the kidnapping of the Prelate of the Methodist Church, Nigeria, who later disclosed that he and his two co-travelers were abducted by armed Fulani [a primarily Muslim ethnic group] with the active connivance of the military,” he continued.
“And last Sunday, the story was the bloody attack on the church in Owo.”
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According to ACI Africa, the bishop also condemned the murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu a Christian student at the College of Education in Sokoto State. Yakubu was murdered by Muslim fellow students who accused her of having blasphemed against the Islamic Prophet Mohammed.
Bishop Ugorji will be installed as the new Archbishop of Owerri on June 23, 2022.