Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of
Sokoto diocese, has tackled Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, over the
crisis rocking the state.
Speaking at the burial of Joseph
Bagobiri, former Catholic bishop of Kafanchan diocese, Kukah accused the
governor of betraying ignorance on the causes of the insecurity in the state.
From kidnapping to sectarian
crisis, Kaduna has recorded different acts of violence in recent times.
Kukah recalled that he sought the
intervention of the National Peace Commission led by Abdusalam Abubakar, former
head of state, during which they met with el-Rufai.
“We wanted to hear from the
governor… Essentially, the thrust of his comment was the fact that he was
determined to end impunity and that for years, people had got away with so
much,” he said.
“I was taken aback by his
(el-Rufai’s) combative mood and worried if he really and truly understood the
issues.
“By his own admission, the
governor said a thousand churches had been destroyed in Southern Kaduna and
that people had lost their lives. His one grouse was that these leaders were
collecting money from good wishers abroad to bury their people.
“This was a clear case of
self-indictment by the governor. First, did he expect that the people of
Southern Kaduna would wait for him to come and supervise the mass burials of
their people after burying the Shiites in mass graves?
By casting aspersion on
missionary assistance, the governor betrays a troubling ignorance of the causes
of the crises we have faced.”
Kukah said one year after the
peace commission submitted its report on the crisis to the state government,
they are yet to get any official response.
He said the governor accused
religious leaders of promoting “a policy of exclusion” on the issue while
speaking on a live TV programme.
“I am not sure which religious
leaders he was speaking of, but at least the two most prominent religious
leaders in southern Kaduna would be Bishop Bagobiri and the emir of Jema’a,” he
said.
“It is interesting that when the
interviewer pressed the governor for evidence on the grave and damaging
allegations he had made against these leaders, he seemed rattled and simply
said the security agencies were gathering the information and that people will
soon be prosecuted. Elections are coming and still we have not commenced
prosecution.”
The cleric said the people of
southern Kaduna have been neglected by the government both at federal and state
levels.
“We do not ask for pity or
sympathy from anyone. We have come so far, not through the state but in spite
of the state in northern Nigeria,” he said.
“That is why, as you leave this
stadium (in Kafanchan), whether you are going to Abuja, Jos, or Kaduna, please
look left and right and note if you will see one single federal or major state
government structure on the high way. All the structures you see as you drive
along are the result of the sweat from the brow of our people. The federal and
state governments are absent… Bishop Bagobiri was in the middle of all this.
“The work of missionaries may be
a problem for them today, but for the people of southern Kaduna the message of
Christ is steeped in their blood. Without the missionaries, they would be no
better than slaves, mere beasts of burden. Without the missionaries, the
history of northern Nigeria would pathetic and the region would still be in the
dark ages… there is neither retreat nor surrender because this is the faith of
our fathers. It is given us the tools, the courage and the confidence we
require to take our rightful place in our society.”
He, however, commended the
administrations of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the former governor
of Kaduna state, Ahmed Makarfi for developing southern Kaduna and for
appointing “qualified” indigenes into positions of authority.
He also accused northern Muslim
elite of using religion to hold on to power.
Kukah said the north is still the
“poorest part of the country” despite many Nigerian leaders coming from there.
“It is sad that the northern
Muslim elite has used religion to hold on to power to the detriment of even
their own people and the larger society,” he said.
“For despite holding power for
all these years, the north is still the poorest part of the country. Nearly 15
million Muslim children are on the streets with no future in sight.
“We are, as the governor of Borno
would say, the poster child of poverty… death, destruction and destitution have
become our lot and nowhere is this more expressed than in northern Nigeria.
Today, Boko Haram and the herdsmen and farmers clashes are phenomena that are
peculiar to the north and Islam… we cannot run away from this.”
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