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Leadership not licence to loot treasury, say Catholic bishops

By Nkechi Onyedika-Ugoeze, Abuja
15 February 2016   |   5:36 am
Onaiyekan urges govt to diligently probe, prosecute past graft cases MAINTAINING that leadership is not a licence to abuse public trust, the President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama yesterday called on political office holders to avoid sharing the common wealth that could have been deployed to execute laudable projects. Kaigama…

Onaiyekan

Onaiyekan urges govt to diligently probe, prosecute past graft cases

MAINTAINING that leadership is not a licence to abuse public trust, the President, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama yesterday called on political office holders to avoid sharing the common wealth that could have been deployed to execute laudable projects.

Kaigama expressed regrets that a few Nigerians have amassed so much ill-gotten wealth that they cannot finish in their life times.

Also, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan has urged the Federal Government to continue with the commendable legal efforts to thoroughly investigate the crimes of the past, transparently prosecute those accused of corruption and hold the guilty accountable in accordance with the law of the land.

Onaiyekan said to restore the nation to a decent society, we need to go beyond the legal processes to a serious national moral and spiritual rebirth.

Speaking at the first plenary meeting of CBCN yesterday in Abuja, Kaigama said that Catholic Bishops align with the effort of President Muhammadu Buhari to purge the nation of moral dirt and to disinfect Nigerians from the quest for unhealthy material aggrandizement, which is unbridled acquisition of wealth, which has contributed to the poverty in the land.

He said: “These trillions of naira said to have been stolen for decades show how uncharitable some privileged Nigerians have been in the use of oil wealth, thus, giving birth to the humiliating poverty of most Nigerians, leading to crimes like kidnapping and armed robbery. Now that the goose that lays the golden egg is in trouble as the price of oil is tumbling, we should seriously explore other sources.”

According to him, a new Nigeria will be possible only if we change from doing things based on bad, immoral and greedy motives and start doing those things that are right, pure and praise worthy.

“We must work for the good of our children and the generation yet unborn. We need to correct imbalances in power and resource sharing and also avoid lopsided infrastructural development. Sentiments of region, tribe and religion have held us in bondage for decades, we have duty to form the conscience and hearts of Nigerians to transcend parochial interests,” he added.

Kaigama observed that we need to think positively about our nation and the Nigerian project and act in a manner that builds rather destroys as well as encourage the new administration in its effort to promote attitudinal change and infrastructural development through our patriotic conduct.
He urged the president to remain committed and resist being stampeded into taking decisions that contradict the rule of law.

In his speech, Onaiyekan noted that the nation is faced with two major challenges, corruption and insecurity and urged all Nigerians to support government in its war against corruption and insurgency in the country.

He added, “The war against corruption and insurgency cannot be won by government alone, we must do all we can to mobilize everybody, each person with whatever available weapon. We must not underestimate the importance of spiritual weapons since our challenges have deep moral roots.

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