22/11/2025
BEING A COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND CONFERENCE OF THE LAITY COUNCIL OF THE CATHOLIC ARCHDIOCESE OF KADUNA ON SATURDAY 22ND NOVEMBER, 2025.
A Nation Under the Shadow of the Cross: A Demand for Action
My brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow citizens, representatives of the State, and all people of goodwill gathered here today.
We stand together not just as members of a Council, but as a family—a family that is grieving, a family that is wounded, and a family that is utterly and completely weary of burying its own.
Our hearts are not merely heavy; they are shattered. They are shattered by the unrelenting, brutal wave of violence that has claimed the lives of our spiritual fathers—our priests—and the steadfast pillars of our community—our lay faithful.
The Litany of Loss and the Latest Outrage
When a priest is kidnapped, it is not just one man taken; it is a community rendered shepherd-less. It is the Sacrament denied, the comfort withheld, the voice of Christ silenced in that village. When a lay faithful—a catechist, a mother, a father, a breadwinner—is murdered, it is not just a life lost; it is a cornerstone ripped from the foundation of the Church, leaving children orphaned and families desolate.
And the horror continues. We are here, our spirits crushed, because just days ago, the violence struck with a heartbreaking intimacy:
We mourn the kidnapping of yet another beloved priest, a man who served tirelessly. We grieve the cold-blooded murder of his own brother—a life extinguished in a brutal act of defiance against humanity itself. And perhaps most agonizingly, we stand here with the sound of children's prayers suddenly replaced by the terror of silence, as innocent children were seized from the sanctuary of a Catholic school. This is not a distant tragedy; it is unfolding in real-time, right now, in the heart of our community.
In recent years, the names of our fallen priests and faithful have become a tragic, recurring litany. How many more graves must we dig before the conscience of this nation is stirred? How many more ransom demands must be met before our government acknowledges that a dedicated servant of God should not be marked for death merely for answering his vocation?
This is not a political crisis; it is a moral catastrophe.
The Demand for Accountability
We are not here today to beg for security. We are here to demand the fundamental right granted to every citizen under our Constitution: the right to life, and the right to practice faith without fear.
To the government of this nation, we ask you directly: Are the lives of our priests, our faithful, and our children valued? We see the robust protection afforded to political figures and economic assets. Yet, our churches, our seminaries, and the roads our priests travel to minister to the poorest are left unguarded, effectively transforming our places of worship into targets and our missions into hunting grounds.
The time for condolences is over. The time for endless committees and task forces that yield no visible results is past. We demand concrete, immediate, and visible action:
1. Swift, Transparent Justice:
We demand that the killers and kidnappers of our clergy, their families, and our faithful be hunted down, prosecuted, and that justice, which has been too long deferred, is finally delivered.
2. Protection of Infrastructure:
We demand specific, actionable plans to secure known routes leading to high-risk areas and to protect critical church infrastructure, especially the schools where we entrust our children, and the hospitals that serve all citizens, regardless of creed.
3. A Clear Security Doctrine:
We demand a comprehensive national security doctrine that recognizes and aggressively counters the specific threats aimed at religious leaders and institutions, which often serve the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
Our Unbroken Resolve
Let the criminal elements and those who sponsor them understand this: You may persecute the messenger, but you will never silence the message.
The Catholic Church is founded not on sand, but on the Rock of Peter. For two millennia, we have survived empires, persecutions, and tyrants. Each time you kill a priest, you do not extinguish the flame; you only create a martyr, whose sacrifice ignites the faith of a thousand more. We will not abandon our posts. We will not cease our work among the poor, the sick, and the children. We will continue to build schools where darkness reigns and hospitals where hope has fled.
But while our faith remains unwavering, our patience with inaction has reached its limit.
The eyes of the world, and more importantly, the eyes of God, are watching. A government that cannot protect those who serve the community, who teach the young, and who heal the sick, is a government that has fundamentally failed its people.
We look to you, leaders of the State, to restore the dignity of life and the sanctity of service. Act now, before the shadow of the cross we bear becomes a permanent darkness over our nation.
May God bless us, and may He grant us the courage to seek justice and peace. Amen.
Engr. Joachim Daudu, PhD, FNSE.
President
Kaduna Catholic Archdiocesan Laity Council
