The Catholic Bishops of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province comprising the Archdiocese of Onitsha, the Enugu Diocese, Abakiliki, Awka, Nsukka, Nnewi, Awgu, Ekwulobia, and Aguleri, rising from their second meeting for the year 2024 have taken a far-reaching decision on situation of things in Nigeria.
The Bishops who met at Bishop’s House, Enugu, July 30 said they had heard the cries and groans of the ordinary citizens of Nigeria as they suffered under excruciating pains caused by various forms of hardship.
They noted that in spite of the many promises of successive governments, hunger, insecurity, unemployment, uncontrollable inflation, dehumanizing poverty of the many had continued to increase. They said this had consequently made human life to become cheap in the country.
The Bishops said many Nigerians were fleeing to other countries of the world as if Nigeria was in a state of war. They said at the same time the leading political class continued to lead a life of affluence, apparently, insensitive to the suffocating hardship which the rest of the population is facing.
The Bishops argued that it was not surprising that some Nigerians had decided to mobilize the hungry, angry, and frustrated segment of the population to protest against the unbearable condition of living in a land that God had blessed so generously.
“We affirm that aggrieved persons have the right to express their grievance in a civil and peaceful manner. It would not only be unconstitutional, but also inhuman for those who hurt others so deeply by their conduct or misconduct to attempt to prevent them from expressing their pain. You cannot beat a child and prevent him or her from crying, as our people say. Rather than try to forcefully suppress peaceful protest, the government ought, as a matter of urgency, to publicly engage the citizenry, and immediately address its many complaints.
“We are, however, concerned that in the present circumstance, it may be close to impossible for the organizers of the planned national protest to keep it peaceful. Firstly, very many people are angry, and rightly so. It would be difficult to control large crowds of such angry people and get them to protest peacefully.
“Secondly, the security agencies in our country have in the past not been able to provide the needed protection for protesters. Rather, they often used excessive force, leading to the loss of lives. Furthermore, such protests provide opportunity to common criminals to destroy and loot the property of innocent citizens who are their fellow victims of misrule. In the end, there will only be increased hardship and suffering for the very people on account of whom the protest is being staged. The protests that had already been held in some parts of the country in the past few days were not all peaceful, and they are indicative of how the larger one could be, “the Bishops said.
They pleaded for caution on all sides. They urged President Bola Tinubu to address the nation and announce concrete steps to be taken immediately to assuage the concerns of the majority of the citizens, beyond mere palliatives.
The Bishops described palliatives as irritating distractions and avenues to corruption. They advised the organizers of the nationwide protest to weigh it properly and call it off if it would be counterproductive.
“We call on all to intensify their prayers and more dialogue for peace and stability in our country, “they concluded.
The signatories include the Metropolitan Archbishop of Onitsha, Most Rev Valerian Okeke, Chairman; Bishop of Abakiliki, Most Rev Peter Nworie Chukwu, Secretary, among others.
