The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has
called for the arrest of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, for allegedly inciting violence against
Matthew Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Archdiocese.
HURIWA said Shehu’s statement was a direct incitement of
violence against Kukah.
The rights group wondered why neither the Department of
State Services, DSS, or the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, has not arrested Shehu
and the lead signatory of the direct threat on the life of Bishop Kukah, one
professor Isa Muhammedu Maishenu of the Muslim Solidarity Forum Sokoto.
Recall that the Muslim Solidarity Forum had asked Bishop
Kukah to apologise or leave Sokoto over his message allegedly against Muslims.
Kukah, however, promised to apologise if he is shown
evidence of why inciting violence against Muslim.
Reacting, Shehu said Bishop Kukah should be allowed to
practice his faith.
A statement by the National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko
and the National Media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf said the decision to
“pamper individuals inciting violence such as the duo is the reason Nigeria is
overwhelmingly violent and the lives of citizens are wasted even as the
perpetrators of violence and their sponsors are left to walk free.”
The Rights group said the Country may not survive for too
long should heads of security forces be picking and choosing who to arrest or
not no matter their levels of lawlessness and threats to public peace.
HURIWA said the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese has done nothing
wrong other than to exercise his fundamental human rights by criticising
failings of government.
The statement reads: “It was inconceivable that a
Presidential spokesman can descend to the arena of religious extremism by
ascribing wrong meanings and interpretation to statement made by the Catholic
Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.
“Why is the Spokesperson of the Nigerian President directly
asserting that the constructive criticism of some bad policies of the Federal
government as made in the exercise of his fundamental Human Rights by Bishop
Kukah, amounts to an insult against a respected Islamic religion, Is Garba
Shehu implying that President Muhammedu Buhari is the chief Imam of Nigeria or
is he above criticism?
“The irrational, insensitive, senseless and pathetic
statement in the media credited to Garba Shehu amounts to a call on religious
fundamentalists to attack the person of Bishop Bukah and this is definitely a
clear incitement to violence which should attract the attention of security
services unless these security services have also been transformed into Islamic
religious security forces. We call on the relevant heads of the security forces
to immediately arrest, investigate and prosecute Garba Shehu and one professor
Maishanu inter-religious conflicts in Nigeria”.
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