By Padre Mike Umoh, CSN, Abuja
The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins, in a recent press release on October 27, has charged all Nigerians to desist from circulating video clips with negative contents; particularly such that promote religious and ethnic bigotry.
The prelate observes that “we have seen people making social media postings trying to incite ethnic and religious sentiments in order to shift focus away from a noble cause spearheaded by the young”.
The Archbishop decried the unfortunate development where “political jobbers” wickedly “hijack the peaceful protests that our young people had been embarking on” in order to play “the ethnic and religious cards to derail initiatives which they know are capable of jeopardizing their class interest”.
Against the false narrative attempted from these official quarters, the Archbishop argues that “the issues at stake are neither tribal nor religious and those behind this sort of contrived narratives cannot mean well for our country”.
Thus he urged all well meaning Nigerians to be wary of falling prey to such divisive efforts and avoid giving such people the “platforms on which to thrive” because such consequences can be “too grave and the price to pay …too high”.
He lauds “some State Governors as well as many eminent Nigerians and respected groups” who have publicly denounced such divisive messages.
The dynamic and committed Archbishop of Lagos has been very prompt and consistent in calling on the Government at all levels to dialogue with the youth and live up to their responsibilities to the citizens. Two days before the ugly Tuesday night shooting of young protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, Archbishop Martins had released a statement cautioning those in authority to dialogue with the youth rather than hurt them.
Archbishop Martins therefore condemned the killings of young, peaceful and armless protesters and the wanton destruction and looting of “both public and private properties and businesses not only in the Lagos but also in other parts of our country”.
The Archbishop, a great lover of youths, exhorts all “Young people from all over our country and indeed, the entire people of Nigeria” to “be wise in their discernment of messages that employ ethnicity or religion in a way that exclude rather than bind people together”. He cautions that “the country needs peace and a chance to heal from the wounds that we are all nursing at present, so everyone should endeavor to “speak words of peace and reconciliation so that we can begin to heal as a country and overcome the present setback in the march to a new Nigeria”.
