Catholic churches hit by increasing armed robbery.                                                     These are signs that Nigeria is sick.

    FOR christendom and Catholic Church in Nigeria particularly, these have been odd times. First, a priest, Godwin Okwesili was killed at St. Dominic’s in Yaba, followed by another attack by armed robbers at St. Leo’s in Ikeja. In under three weeks, there was a third attack on another Catholic Church, St. Dominic’s at Oko-Oba in Agege all in Lagos State. Few days after, men of the underworld stormed yet another Catholic Church in Obudu, Cross River State.

Without doubt, these attacks sent tongues wagging. Were these incidents coincidental or pre-determined? Why have armed thieves decided to make such places of worship their targets? What are the implications for the larger society?



Indeed, nobody in the Catholic community was better placed to speak on these ugly events than the Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, a man who has a reputation for saying it as it is. Thus, when he granted Saturday Vanguard audience, he did not mince words in heaping the blames where they ought to be. Cardinal Okogie blames the attacks and other ones outside the Catholic circle on insecurity and joblessness. Plus lots more. Excerpts.

In the past few weeks, no less than four parishes of the

Catholic Church and Convent were attacked by armed robbers. In your view, why have the Catholic Churches become so attractive to these men of the underworld?

It’s very unfortunate that the Catholic Church has been at the receiving end of armed robbers in the recent times. I won’t say the Church is deliberately targeted by robbers. The one that happened to Reverend Godwin Okwesili at St. Dominic was unfortunate. Nobody expected it. It can happen to anybody at anytime, even in Aso Rock. Anybody can walk in under the pretence of looking for somebody and cause havoc.

The one of the Reverend Sisters too is the same thing. It can happen to anybody. It’s just unfortunate that the Convent was the target. The other one at Oke-Oba was a case of tipping off the robbers. It was after the harvest and money was realised. Obviously, someone must have informed the robbers that there was money in the coffers of the church. So, based on a tip-off, the robbers came to the church and collected the money realised. Again, this could happen to anybody.

All I know is that Nigeria as a whole is not secured. Look at the city at night. How many streetlights are working? Then, look at the joblessness in the country. Look at those that are supposed to be security agents, what are they doing? At times, they leave their posts and go around in their vehicles doing what they want to do. You find some of them in pub houses. Others look for places where Owambe (party) is going on. Is that how to keep peace in the country? Is that how to secure a country? So, what are we talking about?

One thing I know is that we have to ask the three tiers of government to wake up to their responsibilities. There is a lot of joblessness. The other day, the Director-General of Directorate of Employment said that the ban and embargo on employment has been lifted. Can you beat that? Why put ban on employment in the first place? Why are we doing things like this? Are we afraid of IMF or what? We don’t have to do things to please anybody. America can tell you the number of people that would be employed from 2006 to 2007 and they keep to that.

In Nigeria, it’s a different story. People don’t get employed. Amongst the employed, more and more people are retired. The employed are rendered jobless to join the unemployed. What do they want the jobless to be doing? How do they survive? This shows you the kind of government that we have.

So, there is no deliberate plan to attack Catholic Churches. From our studies, it’s something that can happen to anybody. It is not like, let’s keep these churches in view. The robbers could have acted on a tip-off. Yes, someone may just say, ‘come, something is happening there. There is a fund raising, a certain amount is being sourced’ and off they go. You know how hoodlums operate. Once they hear an Owambe is taking place somewhere, whether they are invited or not, they go there. Some go to eat. Some are pick-pockets. Some go to beg.

How far have the police authorities gone in fishing out the brains behind some of these robberies?

My sister, are you asking me? That is left for the police. People who got killed in the robberies had been killed. The police cannot bring them back. Nobody can. Or don’t you know the way of the Nigeria Police? What came out of the Okija shrine saga? These robberies are minor things when compared to the Okija saga. Nothing came out of police investigation and Okija saga is still happening. Where is the security in this country? They know when these things happen but they are afraid to come out.

You heard the time the Abacha man, Al-Mustapha was taken. We heard the accusations against him when he was bundled into prison. We are hearing less and less of these accusations now. I remember I challenged the police to publish the Okija shrine register, the original one. Did they? Yet, the Okija episodes are still taking place all over Nigeria. What kind of people are we? If one day you hear they have bundled Okogie, you’d know the expression on people’s faces. Everyone would be wondering, what has he done? He’s taken away and nothing else is heard about the offence he committed. That is the way they do things in this country. They don’t reckon with God. They forget He is a God of vengeance.

Look at all the ministers, governors and commissioners we have been having. All they do is carry briefcase to Abuja, looking for money. That’s why a good number of them would never want to leave power. They forget the welfare of the people they are supposed to represent their interest.

Now, we are hearing about another plan to hike the pump price of fuel, that means they are going to compound the hardship that the people are facing and these robberies would increase. I have spoken on this issue several times. A country like Nigeria has reached a stage where when it wants an increase in anything, the government has to make sure that the citizens are well taken care of either by flooding the markets with the commodities they know the people need or put in the amenities they haven’t got before or improve on the amenities.

In Nigeria, they should not even be mentioning the issue because there is so much poverty. The other day, I read in the papers where they were talking about subsidy of N300 million a day. Why not turn that money in providing good amenities for the people? How can they say they are subsidising oil for N300 million everyday? Now, multiply that amount by 365 days in a year, that is a waste. That money can go a long way to improve our roads, water supply, and put streetlights to aid the efforts to combat armed robbery.

It really amazes me because they are saying robbers are now going to church and nothing is being done about security of the nation. Very soon, armed robbers will start gaining access to Aso Rock, governors’ houses because it’s all a matter of disguise. All they need to do is disguise with a package to see the governor or an important person in government and before you know it, they are there. So, the security problem does not affect churches alone. It also affects everybody and with the way the government pays little or no attention to security matters, very soon the robbers would target Aso Rock. These robbery attacks (on churches) are signs of a sick nation. It’s so bad.





Ojo: We need serious prayers

Bishop Joseph Ojo is the national secretary of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN and also reacts to the attack on churches by robbers.

What do you say on these attacks on the churches?

Honestly, this calls for serious prayers. There is nothing else. All churches have to get into prayers. Today, it is the Roman Catholic Church. Tomorrow, it could be some other groups. It tells you that nowhere is safe in this country. We require prayers.

What are the churches doing to beef up security around them?

God has always been our protector."You know the bible says that except God watches over a city, the watchmen are awake in vain. We have to go into prayers and ask God to take charge of everything. There is nothing else to do. I have said that lack of job opportunities is responsible for these robberies. If these robbers are gainfully employed, they would utilise their time doing useful things. Government should provide job opportunities for the youth because lack of gainful employment is the cause of all these. An idle mind is the devil’s workshop and that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only God will help us.

Govt must arrest the situation now, says Okoduwa



MONSIGNOR Peter Okoduwa is the Lagos State chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. He lamentys that the future is, indeed, bleak with what have been happening of recent.

We are very concerned with the development. We are very worried. We don’t know what is happening. We don’t know why the focus on religious organisations. We don’t know why it has become a daily occurrence and I don’t think it’s something that government should keep quiet about.

We know the causes of all these are joblessness and frustrations. You cannot tackle the problem of armed robbery without getting to the root cause of it. There is also the quest for easy money. These are the issues that the authorities have to tackle so that peace will reign in this nation. There is too much tension, there is too much uncertainty, there is too much hopelessness.

The future is very bleak. People are jobless. Many are hungry. Those who robbed the church at Oke-Oba, one of the robbers is an unemployed graduate. He said he has been out of job and he has to survive and that was why he went into robbery. How many more are in the same boat? It is very unfortunate but that is the situation in Nigeria. It’s very unfortunate.

But we are hoping that intervention would come soon because as long as there are no jobs, these things may continue. Of course, robbery is not the answer. The fact that there are no jobs is not a reason to go into robbery. And targeting the church is really unfortunate. Those in the Catholic Church are not wealthy people. They depend on the charity of their parishioners. They don’t build houses and buy cars and all those things. I don’t know why these people should be attacking churches and convents. But that shows you the bad situation of the economy and we are appealing to those in authority to do something to revamp the economy.

Then, Nigeria needs the money it has to develop Nigeria, not those monies they stack outside. The government should build new industries so that these graduates that are unemployed should have gainful employment. The restiveness would reduce and threat to life would be reduced.

Source: Chioma Anyagafu , Vanguard