Ash Wednesday: Catholics for Nigeria wear black to mourn victims of violence
Catholics for Nigeria use Ash Wednesday to mourn di victims of di violence wey dey hama di kontri.
Ash Wednesday na Christian holy day of prayer and fasting, di first day of Lent, six weeks of repentance before Easter. Di Arch Bishop of Lagos, Adewale Martins, tell BBC say, di Bishop conference of Nigeria dey concerned about di insecurity wey di kontri dey face. "E dey very sad and depressed say many Nigerians don undergo plenty violence from different pipo, Boko haram ISWAP, herdsmen and different kain of violent groups. So we decide say we go spend Ash Wednesday to pray for all di victims of violence and also to pray for di souls of pipo wey don die, we also tell pipo to wear black cloth, arm band, anything to show say we dey mourn" Di Bishop tok. Di Arch Bishop say dia action na also to call goment attention to di mata. "Na also our way to tell goment say belle no sweet us say goment never do so much to protect di lives and properties of pipo, inspite of all di money dem don put inside di palava, and all di assurance dem dey give us anytime any of dis violence happun to our pipo. "Beyond dat we also feel say e dey important for di international community to recognise say, Nigerians feel say dem dey under aggression and dem need to chook mouth to help us to take care of dis problem because e be like say di palava don over goment and di security institution of di kontri. Di Bishop say wetin dem dey do na with good intention to draw goment attention to di mata and not to go against goment. How pipo mark di day Some Catholic faithful comply with di directive to wear black. For di Church of Assumption, Falomo, Ikoyi Lagos, Pipo deck black go church. Some of dem tell BBC Pidgin why dem comply. "Black na sign of mourning, na way we dey show for wetin we dey feel, pain for our beloved brethrens, wey dem kill, wey dem caught short dia life for believing in God, through Christ Jesus. Make we also pray to God to grant dem peace wey dem no get for dis kontri, make God give it to dem." According to Rev Fr. Paul Okeregwu, for Corpus Christ Cathedral for Port Harcourt, dem wear black to protest di many kill-killi of Christians wey dey happen across Nigeria and di all di bad bad things wey dey shele like kidnapping, Armed robbery and oda crimes so dem fit draw goment attention to do something to stop am. Fr. Okeregwu say im sef don be victim of kidnapping as jaguda boys bin don kidnap am three years ago when im dey travel from Ndoni, Ogba Egbema Ndoni local goment for Rivers State dey come Port Harcourt for official work. Our reporter from Kano say many pipo also comply for di Catholic diocese for di state. For St Charles Catholic Church, many pipo wey attend morning mass wear black clothes. Kano dey among di states wey don suffer from Boko Haram attacks and kidnapping issues since di palava start.