Owerri, 12 August, 2022 / 9:16 pm (ACI Africa).
The Catholic Bishops of Nigeria’s Owerri Ecclesiastical Province in the territory of Imo State are concerned with persistent insecurity in their Episcopal Sees, and have said that with violent entities “on the rampage”, the West African nation “is in trouble” and that “no one appears to be safe”.
In a Wednesday, August 10 statement, members of the Owerri Ecclesiastical Province (OWEP) who include Local Ordinaries of Owerri Archdiocese, and the Dioceses of Aba, Ahiara, Okigwe, Umuahia, and Orlu say, “Great misery and pessimism have enveloped our country Nigeria.”
“Our society is in trouble. No one appears to be safe; not even those in power. Violent groups are on the rampage – bandits, kidnappers, assassins, trigger-happy security forces, illegal security entities and paramilitary groups. Innocent lives are being lost,” OWEP members say in their statement titled, “Averting the Gathering Storm”.
The Catholic Bishops in the Nigerian Metropolitan See express their concern about the fact of “great fear and anxiety in our states, along with socio-economic dislocations”.
“We cannot continue in this path,” they say in their collective statement signed by Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri Archdiocese, and add, “Our society has bled so much.”