The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN, has called for the resignation of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The call followed the incessant killings in the country and the refusal of the government, through the security agencies, to stem the tide.
The bishops said with the continued killings, it had become apparent that the president could no longer be trusted to ensure peace and security of the nation.
The call is contained in a statement signed by the president of the CBCN and Catholic Arch-Bishop of Benin, Augustine Akubeze.
“If the President cannot keep our country safe, then he automatically loses the trust of the citizens. He should no longer continue to preside over the killing fields and mass graveyard that our country has become,” the statement reads.
The bishops who condemned the killing of two Catholic priests and some worshippers in Benue said it had become obvious that the havoc was being carried out with the connivance of the president, going by the insensitivity with which he had been handling the matter.
They also attributed the security lapse on the fact that all the heads of the security outfits are from a particular region.
The statement reads in part: “We have received with deep shock, sorrow and utter horror, the gruesome, grisly and dastardly murder of two Catholic priests along with fifteen of their parishioners in the early hours of the morning of Tuesday 24 April 2018. These innocent souls met their untimely death in the hands of a wicked and inhuman gang of the rampaging and murderous terrorists, who have turned the vast lands of the Middle belt and other parts of Nigeria into a massive graveyard. Their unrestrained mayhem has become a metaphor for the untimely death that is now the fate of many of our fellow citizens today.
“That our two priests, Fr Joseph Gor and Fr Felix Tyolaha, along with their parishioners were waylaid in the course of the celebration of the Holy Mass early in the morning, suggests very clearly that their murder was carefully planned. This wicked act cannot be said to be a revenge attack (as is often claimed), for whom have these priests attacked?
“Indeed we have just discovered that on January 3 this year, Fr Gor tweeted: “We are living in fear. The Fulanis are still around here in Mbalom (where they were killed). They refuse to go. They still go grazing around. No weapons to defend ourselves.” Their desperate cries for security and help went unheeded by those who should have heard them. They could have fled, but, true to their vocation, they remained to continue to serve their people right unto death.
“Since the President who appointed the Heads of the nation’s Security Agencies has refused to call them to order, even in the face of the chaos and barbarity into which our country has been plunged, we are left with no choice but to conclude that they are acting a script that he approves of.
“If the President cannot keep our country safe, then he automatically loses the trust of the citizens. He should no longer continue to preside over the killing fields and mass graveyard that our country has become.”
The Conference said it had on different occasions called on the president to review the security structure of the country to no avail.
It said with the current situation in the country, Nigerians do not have a choice but to defend themselves.
The conference also warned the government against disarming the people so that they could defend themselves since the government had failed.
