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“We want to be able to move freely,'' Bishops in Nigeria tell President Buhari

President Buhari with Catholic Bishops in Nigeria

The Catholic bishops in Nigeria have expressed their concerns about insecurity in their country, especially how this negatively affects their free movement and called on their president to act to remedy the unfortunate and protracted situation.

“We want to be able to move freely in the country,” the Bishops said Monday, September 16 during their second plenary Assembly and explained, “Every government that fails to protect the constitutional rights of her citizens has failed.”

“We are not asking the government for too much,” the Bishops remarked through the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Augustine Akubeze.

Addressing the Monday assembly where three governors and two ministers had joined the Bishops, the Nigeria Prelates appealed to their President, Muhammadu Buhari, to establish mechanisms for ending security challenges threatening the West African nation.

“Nigerians do not want to be faced with the daily tasks of looking for security persons to escort them to their farms,” the bishops said and added, “Nigerians do not want to be afraid when they go to the market to sell or buy; or when they go to church or mosque to pray.”

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The Bishops emphasized the need for justice and peace in their country saying, “Development does not take place during crisis. People do not build their economy during crisis. What leads to crisis in every part of the world is injustice. Injustice is the fertile ground for breeding violence, for creating war, for promoting generational prejudice.” 

Alluding to the wealth sharing in Nigeria, the Bishops cautioned that “where there is no fair share of wealth, there will be a crisis” and urged the President to a fair distribution of wealth among citizens regardless of political affiliations.

“He (President) uses the taxes from people who voted for him and those who did not vote for him,” the Bishops said and added, “Therefore, equity is expected in appointment of persons to federal agencies.”

CBCN was incorporated in 1958 and has been a veritable force for the unity, communion and solidarity of over 36 million Catholics spread across the 36 states of Nigeria, the Bishops confirmed in their collective statement.