The Catholic Diocese of Osogbo has urged the police, the Department of State Security and other agencies in Osun State to beef up security ahead of the installation of a new bishop of the diocese, Monsignor John Oyejola.
Worried by the series of abduction of reverend fathers and nuns, the Vicar General, Mike Okodua, said this in Osogbo on Friday at a press conference to herald the ordination of Oyejola coming up next Thursday at the St. Benedict Cathedral.
Okodua said the Birch had visited the police, the DSS, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, as well as the Federal Road Safety Corps to ensure a hitch-free vehicular movement.
The cleric said 50 bishops, imams, monarchs and other dignitaries had been invited to witness the ordination.
He said, “We are all aware of the security challenges in the country and the church is leaving no stone unturned regarding this. We have informed the police, the FRSC for vehicular movement, the NSCDC and the DSS of this programme.
“They have all assured us that there the ordination of the new bishop will be hitch-free.
“Abduction is a challenge and we will overcome it. Nobody is immune from this; if priests and nuns could be abducted, then who is safe? We need to pray because there is no mountain prayer cannot move.
“Security agencies also should be forthright with their duties. We should be security conscious and be our brothers’ keepers. We need prayers, we prayers we can change all this.”
He also stated that Oyejola, who was appointed as the new bishop of Osogbo Diocese on April 2, 2016, became the second bishop of the diocese since its creation in 1995.
He succeeded Archbisop Gabriel Abegunrin, who was elevated and transferred to the archdiocese of Ibadan in October 2013.
