Catholic Bishop Onaga Laments: “We’re Killing Ourselves in South-East, Claiming to Fight Oppressors”
December 19, 2024
By Ayinde Adeleke
The Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Reverend Callistus Onaga, has condemned the pervasive killings and criminality in the South-East, labelling it as “self-destruction.”
Onaga expressed concerns that the people of the South-East had become cowards of their own actions, allowing a few individuals to profit from their destruction.
“Why will we sit down and plan our own destruction and few people will be profiting with that?” Onaga questioned.
He noted that the region has been plagued by violence since 2021, with locals killing each other under the guise of fighting against their oppressors.
“Here in the South East we started killing ourselves saying that we are killing those who are supposed to be killing us. We are destroying ourselves. We have done it for the past three years since 2021.
We have become cowards of our own actions here in the South East.”
Onaga emphasized the need for forgiveness and an end to the cycle of violence.
He also drew attention to the alarming ethnic cleansing in the North East and North Central Nigeria, where locals are being killed and their properties destroyed by both state and non-state actors.
“We are doing a little bit of ethnic cleansing in some areas and then we are blaming the foreigners. No, we are the ones doing it,” Onaga insisted.
Onaga appealed to the political elites to prioritize the welfare and well-being of the people. “Can our politicians think otherwise and begin to make things easier? Will our politicians begin really to believe that we the led have some measure of intelligence?”
He prayed for the country to overcome all the challenges impeding development through the coming of Christ and Christ celebration in this Christmas.
“My dear fellow Nigerians, let us not add to the sufferings that are coming onto us by making things more difficult. At Christmas, celebrate with everybody, bring down your prices, bring down whatever you are doing.”