Again, Catholic Bishops lambast Buhari, accuses of derailing Nigeria’s Democracy

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has launched a fresh wave criticism of the Buhari lead government as it over the weekend alleged that the government lacks accountability and transparency.

The Bishops who last year called for the resignation President Muhammadu Buhari also accused him of derailing the country’s democracy.

In a communiqué signed by Augustine Obiora Akubeze and Camillus Raymond Umoh, president and secretary of CBCN respectively, at the end of their second plenary meeting held between September 11-20 in Abeokuta, Ogun state, they also urged all Nigerians to live out the values of their faith for the common good.

The communique read, “While praying for solutions to our problems, we must endeavour to be just in our dealings with others, work hard in fulfilling our duties, and collaborate with others in the social transformation of our country.”

“We observe that our democracy is derailing from what it should be. The qualities of accountability, transparency, independence of the judiciary, respect for fundamental rights, observance of the rule of law, and fair and credible electoral process, to mention only these, are still lacking. We, therefore, urge all politicians, businessmen, religious leaders, public servants and indeed all citizens to live out the values of their faith for the common good.

“There are, unfortunately, still many instances of killings as a result of banditry, kidnapping, assassination, armed robbery, reckless use of force by security agencies and lynching. Lately, too, there is an upsurge in the cases of suicide, even among our youths. Furthermore, the clashes between herdsmen and communities, and the activities of Boko Haram insurgents have continued, in which many innocent people lose their lives.

“These make living in Nigeria very precarious. We recognise the efforts being made by the government to fight insecurity in the land. However, we emphasise that a lot more still needs to be done in this regard.”

“We urge especially the federal government, to ensure that it does not allow ethnic or religious hegemony to prevail in our multi-religious and secular state. No one religion should be favoured over another. There should be fairness, justice and neutrality in relation to all religions and ethnic groups, for where there is no justice, there can be no peace, unity and development.”

The clergies called for proper decentralisation of government institutions for effective results.