The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has said that the government whose responsibility is to protect lives and properties is helpless in the face of the ravaging Insecurity in the country.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the second plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria in Imo State, the CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh called on Christians to seize the opportunity presented at the 2023 general elections to elect candidates that would turnaround the fortune of the country.
The CAN president further stated that the spate of kidnapping for ransom in the country is growing, hence, making kidnapping a lucrative criminal enterprise.
“The unprecedented spate of insecurity in our nation today, calls for serious concern. We have come to a point in our national history where the value of human life has diminished abysmally.
“Hardly a day passes without a report or reports of needless killings, decapitation or mutilation of human bodies. Thousands of civilians and even members of law enforcement agencies have been kidnapped, abused and murdered in cold blood.
“As I speak now, thousands of our fellow citizens have been held for several months and even years in one terrorist camp or another in the bush. Kidnapping for ransom has become a very lucrative criminal enterprise and it is an aberration.
“As I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, children were not allowed to see dead bodies but now even the sensibilities of the children are no longer protected. All kinds of crime and wickedness are available almost for free on social media,” he said.
Okoh said that Nigeria now ranks high as one of the most terrorized nations in the world. This practice according to him has progressively evolved over time and it has drastically reduced Nigeria’s pride among the comity of nations.
“It is sad to note that those whose duty it is to guarantee the safety of our lives and properties appear to be helpless in the face of real threat and advancing forces of darkness eclipsing the land,” he noted.
The CAN President said the country’s bane over the years has been a lack of patriotic, visionary and committed leadership. He said this has become manifest in the brazen embezzlement of public funds, entrenchment of bribery and corruption in almost every aspect of public life, falling economic fortunes and joblessness among the youths that now confront the country on a daily basis.
“Impunity, executive recklessness and political brigandage are tearing our nation apart. As a result of the long closure of our Federal Universities, our nation suffers another bout of brain drain that is unprecedented. Nigerian lecturers are being absorbed at a high rate by Ivy League universities in the western nations.”
He, therefore, said “in all these, we shall not lose hope. The 2023 general election is one valid chance that we have to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria for good.
“I urge you my dear revered fathers in the Lord to continue to support the election monitoring team set up by the Christian Association of Nigeria to do a good job.
“I also request that you continue to use your highly-revered positions as Bishops and Clergymen to remind your parishioners and indeed all Christians in Nigeria of the danger of not participating actively in partisan politics as this is where all the decisions that affect our life, choice of worship and economy are decided.
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