The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah has criticised President Muhammadu Buhari over his administration’s inability to tackle insecurity and corruption in Nigeria.
The Nation reports his Easter message last year irked the presidency, which accused him of distorting facts about the insurgency and general insecurity.
But Kukah in his 2022 Easter message titled: ‘To mend a broken nation: The Easter metaphor’ said every aspect of life in Nigeria has been destroyed while corruption is enthroned.
He told Buhari that Nigerians no longer recognise their country which has been battered and buffeted by men and women from the dark womb of time.
According to him, the greatest challenge for Nigeria is not even the 2023 elections but the prospects for the reconciliation of Nigerians.
Here are the key takeaways from his Easter message to Buhari:
1. Corruption: Kukah pointed out that while corruption is thriving under Buhari, every aspect of life in Nigeria has been destroyed.
According to him: “it is no longer necessary to ask how we got here. The real challenge is how to find the slippery rungs on the ladder of ascent so we can climb out. Yet, we ask, ascend to where?
“With everything literally broken down, our country has become one big emergency national hospital with full occupancy.
“Our individual hearts are broken. Our family dreams are broken. Homes are broken. Churches, mosques and infrastructure are broken. Our educational system is broken.
“Our children’s lives and future are broken. Our politics is broken. Our economy is broken. Our energy system is broken. Our security system is broken. Our roads and rails are broken. Only corruption is alive and well.
“One would be tempted to ask what is there to say about our tragic situation today that has not been said? Who is there to speak that has not spoken? Like the friends of Job, we stare at an imponderable tragedy as the nation unravels from all sides.”
2. Religious leaders rising to the occasion: Bishop Kukah called on all religious leaders in Nigeria to urgently come to the country’s rescue.
“Here, leaders of religion, Christianity and Islam, need to truthfully face the role of religion in the survival of our country. The Nigerian Constitution has very clearly delineated the fine boundaries between religion and politics.
Yet many politicians continue to behave as if they are presiding over both the political and the spiritual realms in their states rather than governing in a democracy.
“Religious leaders must face the reality that here in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world, millions of people are leaving Christianity and Islam.
“While we are busy building walls of division with the blocks of prejudice, our members are becoming atheists but we prefer to pretend that we do not see this. We cannot pretend not to hear the footsteps of our faithful who are marching away into atheism and secularism. No threats can stop this, but dialogue can open our hearts,” he added.
3. Nigeria’s numerous challenges: Kukah said: “The greatest challenge for Nigeria is not even the 2023 elections. It is the prospect for the reconciliation of our people. Here, the Buhari administration sadly has divided our people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and region, in a way that we have never witnessed in our history.
This carefully choreographed agenda has made Nigerians vulnerable and ignited the most divisive form of identity consciousness among our people. Years of friendships, cultural exchange, and collaboration built over time have now come under serious pressure from stereotyping.”
4. Issues on banditry and kidnapping – Kukah faulted amnesty granted to terrorists by the Buhari administration.
He said, “We need to start thinking of a Nigeria beyond banditry and kidnapping and the endless circles of violence that have engulfed our communities and nation. We cannot continue to pretend that there are no religious undertones to the violence in the name of God that has given our religions a bad name.
“The way out is for the state to enforce the secular status of the Nigerian state so as to give citizens the necessary freedoms from the shackles of semi-feudal confusion over the status of religion and the state in a plural Democracy. We must be ready to embrace modernity and work out how to preserve our religions and cultures without turning religion into a tool for tyranny, exclusion, and oppression.
“I cannot be against a repentant sinner or criminals changing their ways. After all, the doors of forgiveness must always remain open. However, in this case, Nigerians have very little information as to the entire rehabilitation process.
Have these terrorists felt the heat or have they seen the light or, is their repentance a mere strategic and tactical repositioning? So far, we have no evidence that these terrorists have been able to confront their victims not to talk of seeking forgiveness from them. Something is wrong.
“We see these terrorists adorned in our national colours in their green and white kaftans, trousers, and looking like heroes of the state! Are we to assume that they have become acknowledged models for Nigerian youth? Perhaps the next graduating set might be treated to Presidential handshakes, receptions at the villa with full national colours!
5. Qualities next president should have: Kukah argued that the challenge of fixing the broken nation was enormous and requires joint efforts.
He listed the qualities to be possessed by anyone who would become Nigeria’s next president.
Mentioning the qualities, the cleric said Nigeria needs a person “with a heart, a sense of empathy and a soul on fire.”
“The challenge is whether we have learnt any lessons from the tragedy that has afflicted us in the last few years. The Presidency of Nigeria is not a human right based on ethnic, religious or regional sentiments. The next President of Nigeria must be a man or woman with a heart, a sense of empathy and a soul on fire that can set limits to what human indignities visited on citizens that he or she can tolerate.
“We have no need for any further empty messianic rhetoric laced with deceitful and grandiose religiosity. We need someone who can fix our broken nation, rid our people of the looming dangers of hunger and destitution. Our Presidential aspirants must show evidence from their legacies and antecedents that they know the country well enough and its severe wounds.
“Whoever wants to govern us must illustrate that he or she understands what has turned our nation into a national hospital and show us plans for our discharge from this horror. Support for INEC and its infrastructure is fundamental to a free and fair election and we condemn in very strong terms all those criminals who continue to threaten the society with violence. They should meet the full force of the law,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment