Nigerians Living “in a time of multiple needless deaths”: Catholic Archbishop

Abuja, 18 June, 2023 / 8:55 PM

The Archbishop of Nigeria’s Abuja Archdiocese has decried the increasing number of "needless deaths", evil, and hatred in the West African nation.

In his Sunday, June 11 homily at St. Augustine’s Parish of his Metropolitan See, Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama made reference to the June 7 murder of the Catholic Priest of Benin City Archdiocese who was to celebrate his first Priestly anniversary on August 13.

“We live in a time of multiple needless deaths, increasing evil and hatred. Again, the recent brutal murder of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Charles Onomhaele Igechi, of the Archdiocese of Benin City, is very disheartening,” Archbishop Kaigama said in his homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.

He added, “The authorities must ensure that Nigerians including Catholic Priests are not kidnapped or killed just because they are agents of peace, unity, equity, dignity of life.”

Amid atrocities in Africa’s most populous nation, the Nigerian Catholic Archbishop called for respect for human life, saying, “Christians must not discriminate and look down on others or promote our interest at the expense of others, but to create a community of love.”

Archbishop Kaigama said Christians, especially Catholics, "cannot be partaking of the Eucharist and be living in resentment towards other Nigerians.”

He went on to caution Nigerians against speaking “with reckless abandon and arrogant insensitivity”, adding that such behavior hinders development and growth in the country, especially when compared to more developed nations.

“Presently Nigeria is not lacking people with egocentric, megalomaniac and exclusive tendencies, unconcerned about dragging the country into anarchy or hostile inter-religious, political, or ethnic relationships by their unmeasured utterances and actions,” the Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in April 1995 as the Local Ordinary of Nigeria’s Jalingo Diocese said.

He also challenged Nigeria’s new President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, who was sworn in on May 29, to “find a way of taming Nigerians with paranoid dispositions who often blow the trumpet of disunity and hostility.”

“He should promote better religious harmony as he promised us, by being fair and just to all religious groups and their adherents,” Archbishop said, addressing himself to President Bola, and added, “the ball is in his court for now.”

In his Corpus Christi homily, Archbishop Kaigama reminded the Catholic faithful to receive the Holy Communion in the right way and “not as we take snacks or cookies.”

“We must make the necessary spiritual preparations (including sacramental confession) to receive Jesus. Catholics should cultivate the regular habit of visiting Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament for adoration and to attend benediction,” the 64-year-old Catholic Archbishop said.