African Church Condemns Murder of Iniubong Umoren
…Recommends Community Vigilante as Panacea for tackling Insecurity
Florence Essien
The African Church has condemned the murder of Miss Iniubong Umoren, a graduate of Faculty of Arts, University of Uyo, and recommended the establishment of community vigilante to tackle insecurity in the States across the Country.
The Primate of the African Church, His Eminence, Dr. Emmanuel Udofia, made the assertion during a press conference to mark the Biennial Conference held on Thursday, May 6, 2021, at St. Stephen’s Cathedral; 25, Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital.
He said “Let me start with the gruesome murder of the young graduate, Iniubong Umoren whose unfortunate story has spread like wildfire,..I condemn this totally and join the voice of thousands of women to ask that full justice prevails without any form of cover-up.
The Primate while speaking on the state of the nation recommended the establishment of community vigilante groups to tackle insecurity situation in the country.
“I strongly recommend the establishment of remedial security agencies and vigilante groups in each community/state,. This is to prevent the daily invasion of our communities by “unknown” assailants and gunmen some of whom are disguised as men of the Police Force or the Nigerian Army,” he submitted.
He further bewailed the current condition of the Country, praying the sacrifices of heroes past not to be in vain.
“…Nigeria has retrogressed perhaps to an irredeemable extent where prayer and a total change of attitude and action in the positive, seems to be the only viable panacea. It is no longer news that we have been noted globally and rated as the country with the worse case of insurgency, kidnap and victimization in the history of West Africa and our school children abduction story makes our matter even worse than has been recorded in recent times. Even more, the spate of military killings, farmer-herdsmen clashes resulting in the gruesome deaths of our productive population; religious intolerance leading to unending cold murder of Christian leaders in the northeast have all risen to the roof of our necks with unbearable painful distaste especially as our leaders continue to keep a deafening silence”.
“It was this silence which led to the staging of the #EndSARS protest last year against the brutality of the Police which sadly led to the death of innocent Nigerians whose only crime was the demand for a fair Nigeria.
We recall painfully that the agitation which was later hijacked by hoodlums led to the death of one of our beloved members from Uyo Central Diocese who was returning from a meeting of the Church, Hon. Iniobong Lyons whom we’re still grieving yet, we have not moved even an inch from where we were; our graduates are still littering the streets in search of menial jobs, men of the force are still victimizing those they are supposed to protect and governance has only turned worse. Recently, the tables seem to have turned; Police Stations are now being burnt down, officers murdered without a care while vandalism takes the centre stage. We now live in perpetual fear of the unknown as no one knows what would happen next. Our government must be awake to ensure that the labours of our heroes past are not in vain”, he implored.
On Education, the cleric observed a decline, leading to poor result.
“Our Education system has rather than improved, declined alarmingly in quality, moral instruction and result.”
The Primate Lauded the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom for his youth empowerment drives, stating that testimonies of the programmes are everywhere.
Similarly, the Clergyman spoke on the state of nation concerning Agriculture, Poverty, and Health.
The Primate applauded Governor Udom Emmanuel for being enterprising, towards the economic pressure on farmers and consumers, calling for more efforts at food sufficiency.
The Clergyman informed newsmen during the briefing the current State of the Church, stating it is devoid of crisis that almost tore them apart in the year 2019.
“We recall that God never promised that the race would be problem-free, but He did promise to be with us even till the end of time… This we know, is going to be possible with God” he reiterated.
Adding that being the incumbent Primate of the Church, he will retire at the age of 65 years as provided in the current Constitution, warning against divisive tendencies in or within the Church.
Conclusively, the Primate advised Nigerians to be more security conscious, refrain from inhuman acts and social vices, be more observant, smart and always prayerful, for themselves, everyone, and mist importantly, for Nigeria.
