Priest shooting: We can’t search our members, says Catholic Church



The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, on Saturday, condemned the shooting of the Parish Priest of St. Thomas Catholic Church, Onilekere, Ikeja, Lagos, Daniel Nwankwo.



The gunmen reportedly posed as parishioners to attend the morning mass on Friday before carrying out the shooting.

The Director of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Monsignor Gabriel Osu, revealed that the church had resorted to prayers for protection since the incident was reported.

He said, “The government must wake up to its responsibility and give us protection. The police should be on its toes in averting crime and ensuring justice.

“The government should provide employment because an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Most of the criminals don’t work so they resort to robbery and other crimes. The government should step up its security system too. The surest way is to provide jobs. If people are busy, they won’t take to crime.

“We have been advised to step up our security too as a church. But we cannot begin a routine search of people to gain entrance into churches. If people will be searched, it’s no longer a church. God protects. But the task of securing our environment is a collective responsibility. We hope the government would do something tangible.”

The Catholic priest said it was unfortunate that the perpetrators of the shootings had not been arrested.

Osu noted that the Federal Government had not lived up to the promise it made to secure religious places in the country after the Ozubulu church attack.

He called on the new Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Edgar Imohimi, to arrest those responsible for the Lagos shooting.

He said, “God is the ultimate one who can protect human beings. We try as much as we can. I doubt if the Federal Government can deploy soldiers or police in churches. We are praying that God should expose the evil doers.

“The police should swing into action. Life has become so cheap in Nigeria and it is disturbing. If our security is good enough, the criminals should have been fished out by now. They must be people from that neighbourhood, people will know them. We hope they get arrested. When they are fished out, they must face the wrath of the law.”
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  1. The world turned upside down!

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  2. That argument does not hold water. It's like saying that because God heals, there will be no need to take medical treatment. Even in the bible, baby Jesus,was hidden at a point from king Herod, that,does not mean God cannot protect. Wisdom is profitable to the wise. It's not everything that government will do. Take security measures to help your priests, as the wicked ones will never stop. My candid advice

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  3. Please I beg to say that statement- that Govt do not provide jobs that is why people will go to churches and start shooting people is a complete lie from the the devil.Give job to an armed rubber,he will rather do the job in the afternoon and go to rub in the night or he will not do the job at all because he prefer to go rubbery .Why will a reasonable man say that people are resulting to criminality because Govt could not provide jobs,that statement is annoying.Tell me how many unemployed young school leavers you have in your own family or your immediate family,why don't they result to criminality? Armed rubber is an armed rubber any day anywhere.Let not paint black to be white.I completely beg to disagree with that statement.There were years I was not working did I take to crime? Let our elders educate the younger generation who believe they will become millionaires without doing anything overnight.This is not the fault of the Govt,we need moral re-orientation.How can an elder blame Govt for not providing jobs as the reason why people are resulting to crimes,Nigeria where are we heading to?

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