The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has
castigated President Muhammadu Buhari, accusing him of bringing Nigeria to the
brink, with his nepotism and clannishness, supremacist and divisive policies.
The outspoken bishop, famous for saying truth to power from
the pulpit, spoke in Kaduna today, at the funeral mass of slain Seminarian
Michael Nnadi at Good Shepherd Seminary, Kaduna.
Bishop Kukah told the congregation: “We have gathered around
the remains of Michael in supplication but also as solemn witnesses to the
penetrating darkness that hovers over our country.”
“The immediate family of Michael and the Church lived
through the torments of the brutal, harsh and senseless haranguing of the
kidnappers who are totally empty of any show of human emotions.
“This is a solemn moment for the body of Christ. This is for
us the moment of decision. This is the moment that separates darkness from
light, good from evil.”
Kukah’s message reverberated in Aso Rock Abuja, where
President Buhari runs the affairs of the nation. The Sokoto bishop is not
impressed by the retired general’s stewardship, after almost five years.
“Nigeria is on the crossroads and its future hangs
precariously in a balance. It is time to confront and dispel the clouds of evil
that hover over us,” Kukah said as he moaned over the insecurity that confronts
Nigeria.
Kukah recalled that Buhari was voted into office in 2015 on
the grounds of his promises to rout Boko Haram.
“In an address at the prestigious Policy Think Tank, Chatham
House in London, just before the elections, Buhari told his audience: ‘I as a
retired General and a former Head of State have always known about our
soldiers. They are capable and they are well trained, patriotic, brave and
always ready to do their duty.
‘If I am elected President, the world will have no reason to
worry about Nigeria. Nigeria will return to its stabilizing role in West
Africa. We will pay sufficient attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and
out of service. We will develop adequate and modern arms and ammunition.
‘We will improve intelligence gathering and border patrols
to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels. We will be tough on
terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic
development and promoting infrastructural development…we will always act on
time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester. And I, Muhammadu Buhari,
will always lead from the front.’”
Kukah said: “There is no need to make any further comments
on this claim. No one in that hall or anywhere in Nigeria doubted the President
who ran his campaign on a tank supposedly full of the fuel of integrity and
moral probity.
“This President has displayed the greatest degree of
insensitivity in managing our country’s rich diversity. He has subordinated the
larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his
co-religionists and clansmen and women. The impression created now is that, to
hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be
a northern Muslim than a Nigerian.”
But the Sokoto Bishop lamented what Buhari has been doing as
Nigeria’s leader.
“No one could have imagined that in winning the Presidency,
General Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the
ancillary security agencies, that his government would be marked by supremacist
and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink.
“This President has displayed the greatest degree of
insensitivity in managing our country’s rich diversity. He has subordinated the
larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his
co-religionists and clansmen and women. The impression created now is that, to
hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be
a northern Muslim than a Nigerian.”
“No one could have imagined that in winning the Presidency,
General Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the
ancillary security agencies, that his government would be marked by supremacist
and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink.
“Today, in Nigeria, the noble religion of Islam has
convulsed. It has become associated with some of worst fears among our people.
Muslim scholars, traditional rulers and intellectuals have continued to cry out
helplessly, asking for their religion and region to be freed from this
chokehold.
“This is because, in all of this, neither Islam nor the
north can identify any real benefits from these years that have been consumed
by the locusts that this government has unleashed on our country. The Fulani,
his innocent kinsmen, have become the subject of opprobrium, ridicule,
defamation, calumny and obloquy. His north has become one large grave yard, a
valley of dry bones, the nastiest and the most brutish part of our dear
country.
“Why have the gods rejected this offering? Despite running
the most nepotistic and narcissistic government in known history, there are no
answers to the millions of young children on the streets in northern Nigeria,
the north still has the worst indices of poverty, insecurity, stunting, squalor
and destitution.”
Bishop Kukah noted that the Sultan of Sokoto, and the Emir
of Kano are the two most powerful traditional and moral leaders in Islam today.
The Fulani, his innocent kinsmen, have become the subject of
opprobrium, ridicule, defamation, calumny and obloquy. His north has become one
large grave yard, a valley of dry bones, the nastiest and the most brutish part
of our dear country.
“None of them is happy and they have said so loud and clear.
The Sultan recently lamented the tragic consequences of power being in the
wrong hands. Every day, Muslim clerics are posting tales of lamentation about
their fate. Now, the Northern Elders, who in 2015 believed that General Buhari
had come to redeem the north have now turned against the President,” he added.
He lamented that citizens of some countries were willing to
risk their lives for their nations but such is not the case in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is at a point where we must call for a verdict.
There must be something that a man, nay, a nation should be ready to die for.
“Sadly, or even tragically, today, Nigeria, does not possess
that set of goals or values for which any sane citizen is prepared to die for
her.
“Perhaps, I should correct myself and say that the average
officeholder is ready to die to protect his office but not for the nation that
has given him or her that office.”
He decried that consistent efforts to build Nigeria had
failed.
“The Yorubas say that if it takes you 25 years to practice
madness, how much time would you have to put it into real life? We have
practised madness for too long.
“Our attempt to build a nation has become like the agony of
Sisyphus who angered the gods and had to endure the frustration of rolling a
stone up the mountain. Each time he got near the top, the gods would tip the
stone back and he would go back to start all over again. What has befallen our
nation?”
On the persecution of Christians in the north, Bishop Kukah
explained, “The persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria is as old as the
modern Nigerian state. Their experiences and fears of northern, Islamic
domination are documented in the Willinks Commission Report way back in 1956.
“It was also the reason they formed a political platform
called, the Non-Muslim League. All of us must confess in all honesty that in
the years that have passed, the northern Muslim elite has not developed a moral
basis for adequate power sharing with their Christian co-regionalists.
“We deny at our own expense. By denying Christians lands for
places of worship across most of the northern states, ignoring the systematic
destruction of churches all these years, denying Christians adequate
recruitment, representation and promotions in the State civil services, denying
their indigenous children scholarships, marrying Christian women or converting
Christians while threatening Muslim women and prospective converts with death,
they make building a harmonious community impossible.
“Nation building cannot happen without adequate
representation and a deliberate effort at creating for all members a sense, a
feeling, of belonging, and freedom to make their contributions. This is the
window that the killers of Boko Haram have exploited and turned into a door to
death. It is why killing Christians and destroying Christianity is seen as one
of their key missions.”
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