Pope Benedict XVI. Photo:REUETERS
Pope Benedict XVI has advised the Nigerian government to take decisive steps to stop the human carnage and violence in Jos, Plateau State.
He made the call through his Apostolic Nuncio, Augustine Kasujja, a reverend, yesterday, when he visited the Senate president, David Mark, in Abuja.
Mr. Kasujja said that “the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, is worried about the incessant killings in Jos and wants the crisis put to an end.”
He also expressed the Pope’s request that Nigeria should consider sending an envoy to the Vatican saying, “Nigeria is too big not to have an Ambassador in the Vatican.”
Under consideration
Mr. Mark promised that the country would consider the Pope’s request to deploy an ambassador to the Vatican City, Rome.
At the moment, Nigeria’s ambassador to Spain oversees the affairs of the mission in the Vatican. However, the Senate president said sending an ambassador to Rome would facilitate and improve the bilateral relationship between both countries.
He reiterated that Nigeria is a secular state where freedom of worship is encouraged.
“We practice freedom of worship in Nigeria. There is no extremism. We inter marry across religious lines and we live in harmony between and among religious groups. That is why Nigeria is a unique country in Africa,” he said.
Mr. Kasujja also counselled that Nigeria should conduct its affairs in a manner that would engender peace, progress and unity among the people. The Apostolic Nuncio, however, expressed optimism that Nigeria has the abundant human and economic potentials to lead Africa out of the economic doldrums.
The Senate president pledged that Nigeria will continue to play a leading role in Africa. He added that President Goodluck Jonathan, as chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is leading the efforts towards finding a solution to the political impasse in Cote d’ Ivoire.
Concurrent envoy
However, the spokesperson for the foreign affairs ministry, Tony Ozonwobu, confirmed to NEXT that the nation’s envoy in Spain is concurrently accredited to the Vatican.
He noted that “it is not for any other reason than the diplomatic distinction between the resident ambassador to Italy and the Vatican, which is a different state within the same state of Italy. The ambassador to Italy has his own remit which is the Republic of Italy, while the envoy to Spain is the one concurrently accredited to the Vatican.”
“When a diplomat is accredited to a state, whether resident or not is of no consequence; our ties and diplomatic relations are still engaging,” Mr. Ozonwobu said.
He stated that he was yet to get the message from the Pope and declined to comment any further.
On what benefit this relation will have for Nigeria, Gabriel Osu, the director of social communication with the Archdiocese of Lagos, stated that establishing the new embassy will save cost for Nigeria.
“It will in effect be easier and smoother for us to run our diplomatic relationship with the Vatican at a lesser cost.”
Monsignor Osu wondered why the nation’s embassy in Spain is the embassy overseeing relations with the Vatican while there is a resident ambassador in Rome. He noted that most Arab countries all have their embassies in the Vatican.
On how the Vatican can help deal with religious crises, Mr. Osu stated that it “can only appeal to the moral conscience and persuasions to the leaders of the country who have refused to take decisive actions on the lingering crises, particularly the one in Plateau State.”
Abdulfattah Adeyemi, an Abuja based Islamic scholar, welcomes the idea of sending an ambassador to the Vatican.
“It is part of where Christians go to for pilgrimage; it will be a very good thing that there should be a Nigerian ambassador there.”
He appealed to the government to go out of the box in selecting the envoy, saying that whoever should represent Nigeria in the Vatican should be someone who can represent all sects of Christians, and the entire country’s image with sound administrative qualities.
He also supported the Pope’s call for a decisive action on Jos. He said the crises is a national issue which cannot wait and that it should be handled with the same manner the Niger Delta issue was resolved.
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