New Telegraph

Owo Massacre: The Church should fight back with PVCs

J une 5, 2022, was a black Sunday. The peace of Nigerians was more interrupted with the goriest sights in modern times. Owo, a town in Ondo State was painted red with the blood of innocent worshippers right inside the sanctuary of God. A gang of armed terrorists had invaded St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo; mowed down about fifty congregants ranging from children to adults; and injured scores who had come to commune with their creator. The horrific development, which was just one of several attacks on Christian worship centres on that particular day, has attracted condemnations from far and near. The Nigeria Police Force after preliminary investigations said that AK- 47 guns and improvised explosive devices were used by the attackers who allegedly escaped through Owo/Ute road in a snatched Nissan Sunny car.

The rate at which bandits, terrorists and other criminals operate across the length and breadth of Nigeria killing innocent citizens and destroying valuable properties leaves one to wonder what happened to proactive security management in Nigeria. Nigerian security operatives seem to have become reactive, leaving criminals with the latitude to set the agenda in the security sector of the country. Positive security approaches like intelligence-gathering, crime prevention, rapid response seem to have been abandoned in Nigeria. Security agencies’ new crime routine seems to constitute visits to crime scenes and post-crime investigations which often do not yield any results. The Nigerian security situation is parlous and reminds one of the warnings of a former Chief of Army Staff, General T.Y. Danjuma (rtd) at the convocation ground of the Taraba State University in March 2018. Danjuma had alleged that security agencies collude with bandits who kill Nigerians!

According to the former army chief: “The armed forces are not neutral. They collude with the armed bandits that kill Nigerians. They facilitate their movements. They cover them. If you are depending on the armed forces to end the killings, you will all die, one by one.” Followers of developments in the Nigerian security sector, especially the spate of killings cannot fault General Danjuma’s allegations. Security agencies find alibis in words like “unknown gunmen” to whom all attacks and killings like that of St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo are always credited. Security flashpoints where kidnappings always take place like Ore – Benin Expressway, Isuochi area of Enugu Port Harcourt Expressway, Abuja – Kaduna Expressway, etc., have been left without adequate patrols. Danjuma’s prophecy that Nigerians who depend “on the armed forces to end the killings will all die” seems to be true”.

In Taraba, Owerri, Kaduna, Anambra, Kano, Sokoto, Abuja, Katsina, Asaba, Benin etc., Nigerians die daily. Nigerian security agencies seem to have lost grip of the security situation in the country. The criminals seem to be in greater charge as some state governors negotiate with them and pay ransoms to them. There has also been the story of the soldier who was nabbed for allegedly aiding terrorists in one of the theatres of operation of the armed forces. As bad as the security situation is, it is not completely hopeless. The forthcoming 2023 general election offers an opportunity for fundamental remedy and the church in Nigeria should seize that opportunity.

It is time for the body of Christ in Nigeria to get involved in elections in Nigeria, vote and be voted for. It is time for Christians in Nigeria to bring their respective creeds to bear on the Nigerian polity. This is why I am worried over the stance of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi on the political ambitions of Rev. Fr. Alia.

Nigeria needs her men of scruples to save her from collapse; and the church in Nigeria must encourage her own to get involved either directly as Rev. Father Alia is has done or indirectly by ensuring that every church member gets his permanent voter’s card (PVC) and spends time to vote and wait for the votes to be counted and results announced. It will be wrong to allow those alleged to have sympathy for the marauding bandits and terrorists to continue to be in charge of our country and our security system while we pray and wallow in self-pity.

It is said that: “To pray is to work”; but I dare to say that the most effective way to pray for a better country is to vote for good leaders! Christians must get involved in Nigerian politics and fight insecurity, corruption, bad governance etc. not with guns, but with the active use of the PVC beginning from the 2023 general election. The church should preach the gospel alongside the need to discharge the civic responsibility of obtaining the voter’s card and going out to vote in every election. The church should make eligibility to vote or possession of PVC one of the qualifications for participating in the sacraments; and voting the eighth corporal work of mercy.

Yes, because if patriotic leaders are voted into power in Nigeria, law and order would prevail and killings like that of Owo will not happen. The body of Christ in Nigeria should fight insecurity and jihadists, not with AK-47 guns, but with their PVCs.

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