Catholic Bishops of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province have expressed shock over the seeming lack of empathy being allegedly displayed by the president concerning the killings going on across the country, particularly Southern Kaduna. The Bishops made this known recently in a statement signed jointly by the chairman of the province and Archbishop of Kaduna Metropolitan, Most Rev. Matthew Ndagoso and secretary, Most Rev. John Niyiring, Bishop of Kano Diocese. The Bishops frowned at the relentless attacks and ransacking of entire communities by bandits in states such as Benue, Kebbi, Plateau, Kaduna, Katsina, Nasarawa, Sokoto and Zamfara.
They noted with sadness that the killings, together with the devastation caused by activities of the Boko Haram has not only reduced the country to the poverty capital of the world, but the most violent and unsafe place to be with the COVID-19 pandemic, the country, according to the Bishops has become “even more precarious and perilous.” The Bishops also lamented that there have been attempts at negotiating with the criminals by some governors where huge sums of money have been paid in some instances, but said it has watched with deep sorry and pain, the mindless slaughtering of innocent citizens in different communities across the province and beyond. “We are pained with the culture of death that has made life so cheap for the most vulnerable in our society.” The Bishops noted.
The statement by the Catholic Bishops of Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province asked the President to consider the security of the country over and above the narrow interest of some individuals, adding that it is saddened by the fact that Kaduna State has been consumed by violence particularly in areas such as Birnin Gwari, Kajuru and in Southern Kaduna. The Bishops appealed to the political class at all levels to come to terms with the fact that no matter the cause of the crisis, it is ultimately the business of the politicians to resolve the conflict. The Bishops called on traditional rulers and religious leaders to explore every avenue to ensure that peace returns to Southern Kaduna while they empathized with the women it said are the first in the line of suffering that the afflictions bring.
“You watch helplessly as your husbands and children are being brutally and gruesomely murdered.” They lamented. To the youth, the statement said the future is in their hands and to greater extent it is theirs to build rather than destroy. The Bishops also thanked the media who, it noted continues to report events in the troubled area but that they should exercise restraint in reporting what it described as the atrocities taking place in Kaduna South. They equally stressed that greater collaboration with relevant authorities is needed to survive the trauma.
