TheCable

The Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) says the federal government should ensure that Nigerians are protected against marauding bandits and kidnappers across the country.

Michael Umoh, CSN national director of social communications, spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during a media parley. 

He said the situation in the country has deteriorated beyond description, citing the abduction and killing of a nursing woman, her kid and her mother who were executed while the infant was spared in Abuja.

“Our country is in a very distasteful situation at the moment. And it is not a time for politics, religion or tribe. The issue is between evil and good, it’s just between darkness and light,” Umoh said.

“So if a few months old baby could be abducted with the mother and grandmother. We have heard of schoolchildren kidnapped. And nothing was really done. We didn’t see the government come out in full force to condemn this distasteful situation.

“When children are going to school and they are kidnapped, it is just the continuation of that evil and that is very unfortunate.” 

Speaking earlier, Michael Banjo, assistant secretary-general of CSN, said the government must provide security of life and property in the country.

“As we know the number one duty of every government is protection and once it fails this duty, we can largely say it has failed. We are all afflicted. The question of whether we are bothered by it shouldn’t arise at all,” Banjo said.

“You noted that reverend fathers are being kidnapped, not only being kidnapped but being killed. So, we are all in the same situation.”

He said the role of the church is the “formation of the conscience”, adding that priests also appeal to consciences when they preach.

“We appeal to the government to rise to its duties. In the last few years, there is no time bishops issued communique without appealing to the government to rise to the situation,” he said