The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Reverend Father Matthew Kukah has urged members of the Christian community to assume full responsibility and unite against security threats.
Kukah, who was the keynote speaker at the Catholic Men’s Guild Conference in Lagos on Saturday, also urged Nigerians to identify the root cause of the religious crisis in the nation and take up the challenge of protecting one another.
“The notion that we are living in the country that Christians are on one side and Muslims on the other side and that ethnicity is such a major factor is to miss the point. We must locate our conflict and crisis in a completely different context.
“Human agency may be important but the reason why the state exists is because people organise to ensure the security of one another. So, the question is how did we get to the point where the guns that are purchased with our resources have been turned against us.
“It is not so much the government’s position, it is that we are entering public life not dressed as Christians. It is not by our crosses. The Catholic church must take full responsibility for our inability to recruit men and women into public life,” he said.
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Others that the conference also emphasised the importance of Christians to take up the challenge of protecting one another.
The security threat to the church, according to clerics and speakers at the conference is largely contributed by denominational and ethnic division, as well as the inability of Christians in public leadership to question systems that are inimical to the Christian faith.
Renowned economist, Pat Utomi, at the conference, however, discouraged Christians from picking up arms.
“If you pick up arms, all you do is just descend into a vortex. But the pen, organizing can be much more mightier than the sword.”
