Don’t play politics with life, rescue Dapchi girls – Catholic bishop

The Catholic Bishop of Bauchi Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Hilary Nanman Dachelem, has called on the government and security agencies to keep politics aside and rescue the 110 girls of the Government Girls Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State, abducted recently by the Boko Haram insurgents.


He made the call in an interview with newsmen at the closing ceremony of the 2018 2nd General Assembly of the Catholic Diocese of Bauchi.

The 2nd Assembly which had the theme: “Building a Sustainable Church in Bauchi Diocese: Challenges and Prospects,” brought together the Clergy and lay faithful of the Diocese comprising of Bauchi and Gombe States, to discuss religious and social issues from the standpoint of the Catholic Church and plan for ways to grow the Church.

Bishop Dachelem said that he believed life is sacred and must therefore be protected and respected adding that the best the government and security agencies could do now was to rescue the abducted girls alive.

“My call is for the government to leave politics aside and retrieve these girls, leave politics and protect lives. You don’t politicise life, for Christ’s sake.

“Buhari is governing us because he has life, if he doesn’t have life, how can he govern us? He is governing us because we have life, if we don’t have life, he can’t govern us. When we take that life, what we are doing is destroying the foundation that makes us what we are and that is why we don’t need to toy with life,” he said.

The Bishop added that “I don’t need to know who you are, political affiliation or religious beliefs, but all I know is that life is sacred and should be protected and respected by everybody. That is why it is a universal norm of morality that life is sacred and should be protected.”

The Spiritual father counselled politicians in the country to value and regard life with dignity as the 2019 general elections approach.