PRIEST SHOOTING

Priest shooting: We can’t search our members, says Catholic Church



The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, on Saturday, condemned the shooting of the Parish Priest of St. Thomas Catholic Church, Onilekere, Ikeja, Lagos, Daniel Nwankwo.

The gunmen reportedly posed as parishioners to attend the morning mass on Friday before carrying out the shooting.

The Director of Social Communications, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Monsignor Gabriel Osu, revealed that the church had resorted to prayers for protection since the incident was reported.

He said, “The government must wake up to its responsibility and give us protection. The police should be on its toes in averting crime and ensuring justice.

“The government should provide employment because an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Most of the criminals don’t work so they resort to robbery and other crimes. The government should step up its security system too. The surest way is to provide jobs. If people are busy, they won’t take to crime.

“We have been advised to step up our security too as a church. But we cannot begin a routine search of people to gain entrance into churches. If people will be searched, it’s no longer a church. God protects. But the task of securing our environment is a collective responsibility. We hope the government would do something tangible.”

The Catholic priest said it was unfortunate that the perpetrators of the shootings had not been arrested.

Osu noted that the Federal Government had not lived up to the promise it made to secure religious places in the country after the Ozubulu church attack.

He called on the new Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Edgar Imohimi, to arrest those responsible for the Lagos shooting.

He said, “God is the ultimate one who can protect human beings. We try as much as we can. I doubt if the Federal Government can deploy soldiers or police in churches. We are praying that God should expose the evil doers.

“The police should swing into action. Life has become so cheap in Nigeria and it is disturbing. If our security is good enough, the criminals should have been fished out by now. They must be people from that neighbourhood, people will know them. We hope they get arrested. When they are fished out, they must face the wrath of the law.”