Leave If You Can’t Secure Lives, Archbishop Onaiyekan Tells FG

Leave If You Can’t Secure Lives, Onaiyekan Tells FG
Archbishop John Onaiyekan
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The former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese, Archbishop John Onaiyekan has asked the current administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari to vacate power if it has run out of ideas on how to protect lives and property.

The celebrated Archbishop stated this while speaking with journalists in Minna, Niger State capital, after the ordination of the Auxiliary Bishop of Minna Diocese, the Cleric lamented the high rate of crime in the country.

Onaiyekan, who rejected the idea of negotiating with bandits, asked those in government to ‘stop pretending‘ that they are in charge, saying non-state actors are making attempts to take over the country.

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The fact remains that we are not where we should be. We should not be living in a country where we are always with our hearts in our mouths when we are moving from one place to another. We should not be living in a country where the children cannot study in schools and where bandits can come and cart away students and their teachers into the bush and sit there and boast for dialogue.

‘And government agencies are talking about reaching out to them. It is not the right thing to do. It is about time we had a government that takes care of its people. Sadly, we have people who claim to be our leaders, who during elections forced us, begged us, and cajoled us to put them in power. Now you are in power, do your work for goodness sake.

‘This has nothing to do with APC or PDP. It is not political and we have also seen that it has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity, not even with our ethical differences. We have a gang of criminals that are almost taking over our country and the government should either do it or allow others to do it.

‘If the government cannot secure the lives of the people, they should call for a kind of national cohesion. They should stop pretending that they are the ones ruling. In some countries when these incidents happen, it gets to a stage where the government will call for national unity where everyone comes on board to proffer solutions.

‘If the government continues this way, it will get to a stage where non-state actors will take over,’ he said.

The Archbishop concluded by reiterating that the government has no excuse for what is currently happening in the country.

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK

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