By Florencemary Nwabueze
A Nigerian Catholic priest and lecturer at Saint Joseph Major Seminary Ikot- Ekpene, Rev. Fr. Augustine Abiagom, CM, has broken his silence over what he calls the “daily deteriorating state of the Nigerian nation,” condemning the recent beheading of a school teacher in Oyo State and the nation’s spiraling security and economic crises.
In a strongly worded personal remark publish on Facebook, Fr. Abiagom questioned whether Nigeria truly has leaders at the helm or merely “caretakers seeking self-aggrandizement” and “blow pipes whose tunes are dictated by some other ruling powers in the world.”
The priest, who disclosed that he spent nearly ₦500,000 on fuel in two months while traveling across five southern states, described the country’s economic situation as “alarming,” with inflation widening the gulf between rich and poor.
Expressing sorrow over the killing of a civil servant—a teacher, mr. Oyedokun who was kidnapped alongside 6 other teachers and 39 students/pupils during coordinated attacks by armed assailants on three schools: Community High School, Ahoro-Esinele; Yawota Baptist Nursery and Primary School; and L.A. Primary School, in Oriire Local Government Area of Oyo State, which has push the cleric over the edge.
"The victim was abducted, beheaded, and her murderers later uploaded the video of the atrocity online”, Fr. Abiagom noted with anguish.
“Amidst the aforementioned anomalies and lots more not cited here, election matters take preponderance instead of the declaration of a state of emergency and war against the enemies of peace,” he said, citing Mali as an example of a nation that took decisive action.
The priest accused Islamic terrorists disguised as bandits of occupying Nigeria’s mineral-rich lands in places like Sambisa Forest, mining gold, uranium, and limestone with what he alleged was clandestine support from national and international powers.
He warned that the terrorists are “already expanding territories in the Yoruba axis,” while the North is already on fire, and questioned how safe the East remains.
Fr. Abiagom, who is a member of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), recalled that separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu had earlier warned about the current trajectory.
“Many civilians have died in their numbers, killed by terrorists in religious garments without protection from the government,” he lamented. “Should our hands remain folded, eyes closed and ears blocked as though nothing is happening?”
He urged for a change of heart and insisted that only leaders with “the collective objective intentions of the people at heart” can stop the rolling of heads.