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Bishops Declare Day of Prayer Protest

Catholic bishops have directed that the faithful stage a protest march against the level of insecurity in the country on February 26.

The message to the church has been conveyed by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria this Monday. A circular signed by Rev. Fr. Zacharia Nyantiso Samjumi, secretary-general, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, Abuja, reads in part:

“I have been directed by the Administrative Board of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria to communicate to you that, in the face of the current security situation, the Church needs to speak out in word and action against the level of insecurity in the country.

“The Board is directing that on Ash Wednesday, 26 February 2020, all Catholics, in solidarity with the many kidnapped and killed persons, stage a protest wearing black. Every Diocese is to, please, organise the Prayer Protest.

“The Board will, in due course, send a brief message to be read in all our churches prior to the procession.”

Terrorists operating mainly in the northeastern part of the country recently murdered a leader of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), a calculated attempt by their sponsors to plunge Nigeria into a religious war. But the leaders of Islam and Christianity in the country have urged restraint and understanding, as there was a foreign conspiracy to dismember Nigeria.

Boko Haram has killed upwards of 30, 000 innocent people, Christians and Muslims, and displaced at least three million from their homes since the insurgency started in 2009.

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