YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – Following the kidnapping of two Catholic priests in Nigeria at the start of February, another leading prelate has said the increasingly dangerous climate, especially for Christians, in Africa’s most populous nation, is putting the country’s security apparatus “to shame”.
“Increased insecurity continues to haunt our nation,” said Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Abuja, the national capital. “Boko Haram insurgents, herdsmen militia, bandits, kidnappers and the so-called ‘unknown gunmen’ continue to unleash terror in different parts of the country.”
Kaigama, 65, put the blame for failing to protect the people squarely on the federal government – a government, Kaigama said, that “has lost the capacity to rein in the perpetrators of violence who now terrorize the people in different parts of the country at will.”
The most recent kidnapping of the two priests on 1 February is the latest in a long string of such incidents in Nigeria.
According to a 2 Feb. statement from the Congregation of Missionaries Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CMF), also known as Claretian Missionaries, Father Kenneth Kanwa and Father Jude Nwachukw were abducted the night before from the parish where they served in Nigeria’s Plateau State, which has long seen violent conflicts between largely Muslim herders and mostly Christian farmers.
Experts have described the phenomenon of kidnappings in Nigeria as “an epidemic”. Figures from a consortium of civil society organisations known as the Civil Society Joint Action Group reveal that 17,469 Nigerians have been abducted since 2019.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on 5 Feb. on behalf of the group, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, added that 2,423 persons have been killed, while 1,872 others had been abducted since the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu in May 2023.
Kaigama said the wave of kidnappings and killings is evidence of the systemic failure of the country’s security apparatus.
“Kidnappers in particular have put the Nigerian security establishment to shame,” he said. “They work at will, publicly demand ransoms, and even that does not ensure safety or the return of the kidnapped individuals.”
Kaigama said the current spike in kidnappings and banditry “seems to be pushing Nigerian brinkmanship to the breaking point.”
Archbishop of Abuja since 2019, Kaigama complained that rising insecurity is making it harder for Nigeria to grow as a country, because it “deters both domestic and foreign investment. Farmers are unable to visit their farms. In some regions of the nation, traveling requires a leap of faith. The security establishment is at its wit’s end, and needs all hands-on deck to deal with the issues as soon as possible.”
He said it is evident Tinubu’s administration “is yet to fully take the required actions to guarantee that terrorists are neutralised, criminals are arrested, bandits are vanquished, and kidnappers are pushed out of business.
“At the very least, this is what the people look to their leaders for. The proliferation of diverse ‘self-help’ security groups is a glaring sign that the public no longer have confidence in the authorities,” Kaigama said.
“It should be clear to the president that there is a serious need of building a robust security apparatus that can checkmate the onslaught of these terrorists and criminals.”
Addressing the root causes of the nation’s kidnappings and banditry is a critical issue, he noted, adding that this would require “a concerted effort and combination of tactics”.
Without such concerted action, the Abuja archbishop cautioned, Nigeria faces “a real and present risk of a collapse in public safety and order”.
Kaigama nonetheless expressed optimism that Nigeria can come back from the brink.
“We continue to insist that the government has a constitutional and statutory duty of protecting human rights and securing basic justice for all,” he said. “The role of government is to guarantee the minimum conditions that make human rights and justice possible.
He also told Nigerians to give the president “some leeway to work out his plans and initiatives as he has only recently taken office,” adding that “at this early point, it would not be appropriate to forecast doom and gloom or dire consequences for the country”.
The archbishop’s admonishing words about Nigeria’s situation follow those of the Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah. He recently issued a sweeping critique of President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the country’s multiple woes, calling out rampant killings, kidnappings, secessionist attempts and piracy, which have all conspired to threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of Nigerian citizens.
Kukah stated that the lack of political will to end rising insecurity in Nigeria “is turning our country into one wide funeral home”.
Photo: A police truck stationed outside the University of Abuja staff quarters gate where unknown gunmen kidnapped a group of people, including two of the university professors, lecturers and their family members, Abuja, Nigeria 2 November 2021. (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP) (Photo by KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images.)
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