Gilbert Ekezie and Gloria Ikegbule
Members of the Knights of Saint Mulumba, Nigeria, Lagos Metropolitan Council Region 2, have condemned deliberate acts of terminating human lives.
In a three-hour pro-life rally tagged “Walk for Life,” held in the Gbagada area of Lagos State recently, the group noted that life was sacred and advocated the need to protect and preserved it.
The rally, which started at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Ifako Gbagada, and ended at St. Gerald’s Catholic Church, Gbagada, had the theme “Keeping Wholly the Tri-unity of Our Humanity.” The group emphasised that abortion was the biggest worry to society. During the Holy Mass to mark the event, the assistant parish priest of St. Gerald’s Catholic Church, Rev. Fr. Martins Onyebuchi, described abortion as a deliberate attempt to terminate life.
“Abortion is a grave sin and must stop. If our mothers had aborted us, we would not be alive today. Life starts at conception, and anything that attacks life is evil,” he said.
Onyebuchi stressed the need for all to choose and cherish life. He admonished members of the public to promote life and say no to evil.
In his address, the Worthy Metropolitan Grand Knight, Sir Williams Adebisi, also stated that life is sacred and called on Nigerians to protect it.
He explained that the Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba (KSM) was established in Nigeria on June 14, 1953, by the late Rev.Fr. Abraham Anselm Ojefua, a monk, pointing out that the group, with a membership strength of 22,000, aims to bring Catholics together in fraternal association for the good and progress of the church, welfare of its clergy, wellbeing of members of the order in particular and Nigeria in general.
He said the purpose of the rally was to draw attention to the sacredness of human life and condemn all anti-life activities such as abortion, trafficking in human life, drug trafficking, child abuse, homosexuality, gay marriage, euthanasia, slavery, kidnapping, terrorism and extra-judicial killings in society.
He said, “As Catholics, it is our collective responsibility and moral obligation to stamp these ills out of our society. We, the Knights of St. Mulumba, are opposed to all forms of suicide, assisted or not, because of self-evident truth that life is an inalienable right. No individual has the right to terminate his life or that of another person. It is only God who created that human that has that authority.
Some people do not believe that the question of life is important to the abortion issue. We believe every life is valuable. Join us for this cause and make your voice heard. Let us work together to end today’s slave trade and end the evil inherent in abortion.”
In a lecture titled “Contraception: Skeleton in the Cupboard of Many,” director-general, Project for Human Development, Mr. Jerry Okwuosa, said that contraception was huge and much more destructive than abortion.
He explained that most people who use contraceptives because they cannot afford to have a baby have problems with their relationships: “They want to avoid single parenthood, not ready for the responsibility, have all the children they want and are concerned how another child would change their lives. These are exactly the same reasons people commit abortion.”
Okwuosa stated that the violence of abortion would never end until the underlying causes, the contraceptive mentality, and the foundation for the entire sexual revolution is eradicated.
Secretary of Maryland sub-council of the Ladies of St. Mulumba, Lagos Metro, Lady Fidelia Inogbo, said women should discourage the option to abort as their lives are involved.
Inogbo, with 38 years’ experience as a nurse, said, statistically, most women who have committed abortion may end up having infertility problems, systematic infection, severe lower abdominal pain or virginal discharge with foul smell.
“Economic reason is one of the main reasons for embracing abortion, but a wife should help her husband realise that God who gave the baby will also make provision for the upkeep,” she said.