A group over the weekend in Jos, Plateau State is calling on Pope Francis leader of the Catholic church to strip Gov. Simon Bako Lalong with his medal as a Knight of St. Gregory (KSGG) .

Recall that Gov. Lalong alongside Edward Pwojok (SAN) Danladi Atu ( SSG) was honoured by the Pope with the medals of st. Gregory in 2019.

The group is accusing the governor of acting in opposition to the belief and principle of the worthy knight and the church, given their reason the group insist that the pope should act fast because :

We are constrained to make this an open letter to you for a number of reasons. One,  the current situation and consequent possible outcome to the catholic faith in plateau state-Nigeria,  as dictated by the actions of  Simon Bako Lalong ( the Governor of Plateau State) whom you elevated to the worthy  Knight of St. Gregory.   Two, everything must be done to guard,  protect and defend the catholic faith including exposing wolves that appear in sheep clothing to destroy the sanctity of the faith and expose the church to shame. Thirdly, because St. Paul admonishes, encouraged and rebuked the church of the Corinthians through letters like ours.

Your holiness, we are reporting a desperate public servant, whom we supported with our prayers and resources to emerging as the governor of one of the Thirty-six states in Nigeria Africa. But will later be suppressed and intimidate the poor people that stood by him.

They alleged that: For the purposes of clarity, about 800 poor people who wanted to serve at the grassroots i.e wards paid the sum of #400,000.00 for councillorship forms and about 34 people paid  #700,000.00 for Local government Chairmanship forms in the party (APC) with a knight as the head but, were all not only denied the right to participate in the elections but monies not refund till date. We found this to be oppression of the highest order and as poor people, we cannot afford to execute a case against the powerful in government. Sir, it is also on record that many now could not afford to survive as the trauma is affecting the faith and families of many. Like the bible admonishes us in Luke 19:1-10 we hope one day Hon Simon Bako Lalong will repent like the tax collector and say “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

“stressing that the knighthood should be a symbol of the faith, the group is pleading that the Pope should reconsider the medal bestowed on Gov lalong. We pray that the medal of the worthy Knight of St Gregory the Great (KSGG) by His Holiness Pope Francis announced and decorated by the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja and Provincial Administrator of Jos Archdiocese, His Lordship Dr. Ignatius Ayau Kaigama on  Simon Bako Lalong be withdrawn because one can not carries an emblem that he does not preach. We shall nevertheless continue to commit him in our prayers for God to also fight for us.” the group writes.

The concerned Catholic youths stressed that they are neither political nor ethnic rather the protection of the good name of the church. this will be the first time a group will write to the pope on this issue, what is left is to see if the pope will respond.

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Strip Lalong of KSGG group tells Pope Francis