Abuja, 11 September, 2023 / 5:42 pm (ACI Africa).
The Archbishop of Nigeria’s Abuja Archdiocese has urged the people of God in the West African nation to address the “real problems” they face, and cautioned against the use of religion to foster a culture of violence in the country.
In his Sunday, September 10 homily during the opening of the 2023 Second Plenary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama urged the country’s authorities to deal with religious leaders who make “inflammatory statements” on social media.
“I call on Nigerians to face the real problems that confront us and stop firing religious missiles, using religion as a weapon of violence, or even taking life at the slightest provocation,” Archbishop Kaigama said during the Eucharistic celebration held at Holy Trinity Church, Maitama in his Metropolitan See.
The Nigerian Catholic Archbishop added, “Those religious leaders who make inflammatory statements in videos on social media should be cautioned by the appropriate authorities.”
“Our Christian and Islamic bodies rather than engaging in offensive or defensive rhetorics or threats should always preach the need for holiness, peaceful coexistence, compassion, good neighborliness, rather than encouraging the use of verbal or physical violence,” he said.
