Blame church, not govt for ritual killings, says Clergyman

The Bishop of the Anglican Communion, Egba (Abeokuta) Diocese, Rt. Reverend Emmanuel Adekunle yesterday blamed Nigerian Churches for what he called alarming rate ritual killings, fraud among youths who are hellbent on “getting rich at all cost.”

Adekunle who spoke on Friday at the opening ceremony of the 15th Synod of in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, maintained that the Church and not the government should be blamed.

He argued that the Church’s failure to condemn peoples’ questionable sources of income had given rise to ritual killings and “diabolical means of acquiring wealth by members of the public, especially Christians.”

According to him, the Church had failed woefully in preaching against the evil in the society but instead “Praise singing the fraudulent members that would donate a big amount of money towards projects in the Church.”

“We cannot pass the buck of these evil practices to the government again but they are signs of our failure in the Church, the erosion of right family virtues and the degradation in the society morals and values, ” he said.

The Cleric who lamented that, despite the efforts of the government and the law enforcement agencies in arresting the situation, ritual killings, fraud and diabolical means of getting rich are now increasing more than ever before because “They (youths) have graduated from advanced fraud into ritual and occultic acts.”

He charged both parents and Churches to query the sources of income of their children instead of celebrating them, saying “The society is no blind to wickedness and corruption around, our kings and chiefs are awarding chieftaincy titles to people of shady characters as long as they offer good money.”

Declaring the Synod open, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, charged the Church to wake up from its slumber, lamenting that the Church had forgotten its mandate which according to him was to preach the Gospel to all nations. The first class monarch said

“The Church seems to have forgotten what we are called for. As Christians, we are to reach out to all nations, sharing the Gospel and to nurture disciples to maturity and never leave them uncared for.”