You must protect lives at all costs - Catholic bishops send another strong message to FG

16.02.2018 07:23

The Catholic Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province have urged the federal government to protect all human lives at all costs to avoid disintegration and destruction of the Nigerian society. They made the call in Ibadan.

- The federal government has been urged by Catholic bishops, to protect lives at all costs

- The clerics pointed out that every human life that is lost represents blood crying out to God for vengeance; and stated that this can mean the destruction of a society

- They called on people of goodwill to shun any practice against human life; noting that in today’s world, people have forgotten that life belongs to God

The bishops speaking through their representative, Bishop Emmanuel Badejo, made this call at a public presentation of two books on Thursday, February 15, at the John Paul II Centre, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.

The books are entitled: “A Catechism on Human Life: From Conception to Natural Death and A Catechism on Marriage and The Family: The Teachings of the Catholic Church”.

NAIJ.com gathers that the province comprises of Ibadan Archdiocese, Osogbo, Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo and Illorin Dioceses.

Bishop Badejo of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo said that where basic human lives were concerned, the government should be accountable by protecting them.

He added that government had the responsibility to protect lives irrespective of ethnicity, religion and ideology.

“The government is supposed to serve the people and everything done by the government must be of benefit to the people, which includes protecting their lives.

“Government must do this not to favour anybody, any institution or personality at the expense of people’s lives.

“Every human life that is lost is blood crying out to God for vengeance and this can mean the destruction of a society.

“We suffer from daily sights of killings of adults, babies and pregnant women.

“Human life is becoming less valuable and any society that tolerates that is on the death row. In Nigeria we don’t want to be on the death row.

“The basic duty of government is to protect human lives, all other things fade into insignificance,” he said.

Badejo also advised the government to have respect for the traditional institution of marriage and shun laws that seek to abolish it.

“The three main pillars of humanity in Africa are: the protection of human lives, marriage and the protection of the family.

“What we have now are so many wayward teachings.

“If the family system and marriage institution are not protected, eventually society will disintegrate.

“That is why God made it possible for only man and woman to procreate,” he said.

In his remarks, Archbishop Gabriel Abegunrin of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan said the traditional institution of family and marriage was being challenged by ideological and economic motives.

“There are a lot of false teachings, misconceptions about human lives.

“It has become pertinent for the church to speak as eloquently as possible in a world where misguided emphasis is laid on mundane and material things.

“There is no doubt that the world today needs restoration through education and social mobilisation.

“Marriage institution still has values and worth and if you want to help the nation, you have to help the family take care of the children,” he said.

Abegunrin urged every citizen to have complete respect for the dignity and the sanctity of human life.

“In this age, people have forgotten that life belongs to God and have lost the conscience that God alone has right over human lives and no man should take it.

“We are calling on people of goodwill to shun any practice against human life.

“We are talking about development of the society. Human life is sacred, no other human being has the right to terminate another’s,” he said.

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Meanwhile, NAIJ.com previously reported that President Muhammadu Buhari was informed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), that due to what they described as ‘failure on the part of government’, his goodwill was depleting.

The comments were made by the CBCN president, Ignatius Kaigama, on Thursday, February 8, as he led his delegation to meet with the president at Aso Rock Villa.

Kaigama stated that the bishops had a moral responsibility to tell Buhari the truth, as they were spiritual leaders. He said that they had first-hand information about what people were going through, because they work with people at the grass-root level.

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