By Nwafor Sunday

The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has strongly condemned the killing of two Catholic priests with their parishioners on Tuesday in Benue state and urged  Nigerians to stand up for their right.

In a statement jointly signed and sent by the association’s President, Most Rev. Augustine Akubeze and the Secretary, Most Rev. Camillus Umoh, CBCN advised President Muhammadu Buhari to consider stepping aside to save the nation from total collapse.

“It is clear to the nation that he has failed in his primary duty of protecting the lives of the Nigerian citizens. Whether this failure is due to inability to perform or lack of political will, it is time for him to choose the part of honour and consider stepping aside to save the nation from total collapse”, part of the statement read.

The association further accused the federal government of its silence despite calls from late Fr Gor to tighten security in Mbalom.

“We are living in fear. The Fulanis are still around here in Mbalom (where they were killed). They refuse to go. They still go grazing around. No weapons to defend ourselves”, Fr. Gor’s tweet.

Reacting to the above tweet, CBCN said that, “Their desperate cries for security and help went unheeded by those who should have heard them. They could have fled, but, true to their vocation, they remained to continue to serve their people right unto death.

“We are sad. We are angry. We feel totally exposed and most vulnerable. Faced with these dark clouds of fear and anxiety, our people are daily being told by some to defend themselves. But defend themselves with what?

“The Federal Government, whose primary responsibility it is to protect lives, for its part alleges that those who ask the people to defend themselves are inciting them to take the laws into their hands.

“If the President cannot keep our country safe, then he automatically loses the trust of the citizens. He should no longer continue to preside over the killing fields and mass graveyard that our country has become.

“Repeated calls from us and many other Nigerians on the President to take very drastic and urgent steps to reverse this ugly tragedy that threatens the foundation of our collective existence and unity as a nation, have fallen on deaf ears.

“It is clear to the nation that he has failed in his primary duty of protecting the lives of the Nigerian citizens.”