Owo massacre: self defence not against Christian doctrine ---Oluoma - NEWS FRONTIER DAILY

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Monday, June 6, 2022

Owo massacre: self defence not against Christian doctrine ---Oluoma


... Nigeria needs to be restructured, security architecture needs urgent change

By Our Correspondent




A Catholic Priest of Abuja Archdiocese, Rev. Fr. Chinenye Oluoma has called on Catholic Churches across the country to empower its knighthood to be able to protect the church against any form of attack.

Reacting to the St. Francis Catholic Church massacre in Owo where more than 50 were killed, Oluoma said that it’s practically impossible for the government to deploy security operatives to all churches, “so Knights of the church need to empower to complement government efforts.

“Knighthood was established to protect the church, if I'm not mistaken, from external aggression. It's time to up the game. I plead, appeal, and suggest that knights in the church should organise and get licensed guns.

“Drop the ceremonial swords for now,  get government-licensed guns, get some members trained and carry the guns concealed for eventualities like Owo massacre. Self defence is not against Christian and Catholic doctrine.

“Parishes that are too poor to have government licensed automatic guns should be assisted by the rich ones. If we have to dedicate the bazaar of one year to achieve this let it be. Let's help government to ward off killers from worship centers.

Oluoma who made the suggestion through his Facebook said that churches should not think that such an incident will not happen again, “This is not the first,  who says it will be the last? It is safe to say other churches and our Muslim brethren can do the same. The government needs help to secure Nigerians.

“If you die for or because of your faith in Christ Jesus, it's martyrdom, "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church". If you die for your country, it's patriotism.

However,  I don't know what to call those who die for just being Nigerians,  individuals ruthlessly hacked to death and roasted in fire by rampaging blood-thirsty religious fanatics in a country that says it is secular with rule of law.

What do I call those massacred in St Francis Catholic Church by terrorists that seem to be enabled by some criminal elements in the country? If they were told to renounce their faith in Christ Jesus and they refused and got killed, I could call them martyrs without hesitation. They were killed because they were unfortunate to be in Nigeria where killing is now as easy as ABC everywhere. Let's leave nomenclature for now.

You all know that Nigeria needs to be restructured, and our security architecture needs to be urgently redesigned for reasons beyond comprehension, I don't know why you guys don't make it a priority. You are more intent on getting your party slots for one elective position or the other, you are more concerned with getting your party to win one election or the other,  you have refused to tackle the fundamental issues within the country.

“Please, eschew personal and partisan interest and make the interest of Nigeria your priority. Pursue the restructuring of Nigeria from the constitutional point of view to governance levels vigorously. Stop playing the ostrich.”

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