Daily Independent Online.
*
Friday, August 13, 2004.
Group seeks release or prosecution
of detained priests
By Tokunbo Oloruntola,
News Editor,
Lagos
Centre for Religious and Cultural Rights (CECURR) has called
on the Nigeria Police to either prosecute the detained priests of Okija shrine
or release them.
In a statement by its Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran and
Secretary, Ade Ikoesan, the group said since the revelation at the shrine, none
of the arrested priests have been charged with murder, attempted murder or
related offences.
“They should therefore be treated with due respect,
dignity and deemed innocent until they are proven guilty in a competent court
of law after a fair trial,” it said.
The police, the group added, have no reason to desecrate and
destroy the ancestral community shrine.
“No people”, it said, “should be persecuted
or humiliated for practicing their chosen religion, culture or traditional
beliefs so long as they are not found to commit any offence known to the law of
the land in doing so”.
The priests and patrons of Okija shrine, the group said,
have the rights like other religious groups to perform ritual rites for
deceased members in the best way that suits them.
“Other religious groups also have their own way of
burying their dead colleagues whether by cremation, underground burial or
mummification.”
