Catholic bishops urge FG to work with Oyo govt on insecurity

The Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province have called on the Federal Government to exert its might on insecurity and to work with the Oyo State government to speedily secure a return to normalcy in the state and in the country.

The Bishops, who addressed a press conference on armed bandits’ attacks on three schools in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State on Monday, also appealed to the Federal Government and the National Assembly to fast-track the process of approving state police.

They said, “Too much time has passed since the kidnappers struck the schools at Oriire Local Government,” and charged the government to ensure the release of the abducted people without further delay as they had waited long enough for this.

“Despite a barrage of reassurances, speeches and visits by Federal and State governments all over Nigeria, Nigerians seem no further than where we were ten years ago with security of lives and property.

“Violent kidnapping is becoming normal news, farmlands and villages are regularly ravaged and seized. Policemen and soldiers are attacked and murdered and now schools are under attack. In fact, across the South West of Nigeria in the last six years, no less than 11 traditional rulers have either been killed or abducted while many more are reportedly abandoning their palaces out of fear. Who can be blamed for asking if anyone is still in charge in Nigeria?” the clerics regretted.

The Bishops from the Province, including Ibadan Archdiocese; and Oyo, Ilorin, Akure, Ekiti and Osogbo dioceses, were represented by Archbishop Gabriel Leke Abegunrin of Ibadan Archdiocese, Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo Diocese and Bishop Anselm Lawani of Ilorin Diocese at the press conference held at the Pastoral Institute, Bodija, Ibadan.

The clerics said the Federal Government and the National Assembly should not only approve state police speedily, they should also put policy and legislation in place to prevent its misapplication while also equipping grassroots communities to be able to defend themselves.

They said, “It is time to decisively police our forests and enhance intelligence gathering and security at the grassroots by equipping grassroots communities to be able to defend themselves from attacks as well as adopting technology to enhance overall security and order. Nigeria, simply can take no more of this evolving tragedy!”

The decried “the ongoing reintegration of so-called ‘repentant bandits’ into the security agencies and society, while treating victims of crime and their relatives with neglect or outright disdain”, saying this “rubs dirt on the face of justice” and “does not augur well for the healing of the national psyche or for national integration”.

According to the clerics, such injustice was “just a strand of the corruption that has bedeviled the social contract between the government and the governed in Nigeria” and added that “justice, transparency and accountability demand that bandits and kidnappers be made to face the full force of the law firmly and swiftly, lest others be encouraged to take up arms against the State and Nigerians as is being currently experienced.”

The clerics argued that without results, they could not say that the government was doing enough to tackle insecurity in the country, saying it is not a problem of Christians or Muslims, because “the fear a Christian feels when he travels on the road is the same fear a Muslim feels when he goes on the road.”