You can speak truth to power, not truth wrapped in hatred, disunity and religious disharmony, Nigerian Govt hits back at Bishop Kukah

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

Barely 24 hours after Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, North West Nigeria, Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, hit President Muhammadu Buhari with a devastating accusation of nepotism, which he said had characterised his government and warned that although Christians will not fight back, but that “God does not sleep”, the Federal Government has hit back at the religious leader, warning him not to eschew message of disharmony.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this in a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday by Special Assistant to the President on Media, Office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, wherein he urged religious leaders in the country to refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity, even as it warned that resorting to scorched-earth rhetoric at this time could trigger unintended consequences.

The DEFENDER reports that Bishop Kukah, who made the claim in his 2020 Christmas message, said there could have been a coup or war in the country if a non-Northern Muslim becomes president and does some of the things Buhari has done.

But the Minister said: “While religious leaders have a responsibility to speak truth to power, such truth must not come wrapped in anger, hatred, disunity and religious disharmony.”

Alhaji Mohammed said it is particularly graceless and impious for any religious leader to use the period of Christmas, which is a season of peace, to stoke the embers of hatred, sectarian strife and national disunity.

”Calling for a violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government, no matter how disguised such a call is, and casting a particular religion as violent is not what any religious leader should engage in, and certainly not in a season of peace,” Alhaji Mohammed said, adding that instigating regime change outside the ballot box is not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.

He said while some religious leaders, being human, may not be able to disguise their national leadership preference, they should refrain from stigmatizing the leader they have never supported anyway, using well-worn and disproved allegations of nepotism or whatever.

The Minister said whatever challenges Nigeria may be going through at this moment can only be tackled when all leaders and indeed all Nigerians come together, not when some people arrogantly engage in name-calling and finger-pointing.

It noted that by bringing “Christians” and “non-Northern Muslim” into his no-longer new issue of acclaimed nepotism that he and some other elites have been raising against the President is, however, unclear if Kukah meant nepotism to be that the now second-term governing Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been favouring Muslims of the North against Christians of North, South as well as against Muslims of the South.

A source, however, said, as a man of God, the Bishop could be right on his claims though unstated, “But in honesty, the North and Muslims should complain neither Christians nor South as insinuated by him because, under Buhari, these two ethnic and religious groups of Nigerians have lost more souls and property to insecurity and have not been so favoured by presidential attention against Northernisation and Islamisation Agenda these politicians in the House of God are claiming.”

Bishop Kukah, who has been a member of the governing council of American University of Nigeria, owned by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 2019 Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, spoke few days after the Presidency, in a statement by Mr. Femi Adesina, alerted Nigerians and the world about plan by some political elements to start a smear media campaign using some “pliant online media” present President Buhari like he is not in charge of the country and then move to collapse his government.

Many Nigerian political, ethnic and religious leaders used the Christmas season as opportunity to give message if peace and unity to Nigerians, which saw to how this year 2020 festivity held with many Muslims joining their Christian compatriots in the celebrations as a mark of a people united by one nation and one destiny.

However, Bishop Kukah saw the need to use the opportunity, for religion to contribute to solving the artificial crisis in the country, as one to throw a soap on the President, which he did.

“Every honest Nigerian knows that there’s no way any non-Northern Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it.

“There would have been a military coup a long time ago or Nigeria would have been at war.

“The President may have concluded Christians will do nothing and will live with his actions.

“He may be right and Christians cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to draw from or threaten this country.

“However, God does not sleep. We can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North,” Kukah said.

Some of respondents, who spoke in the media report, described Kukah as acting the script of already exposed.

One of them (names withheld) said, “The level of bigotry of Kukah is unprecedented.”

Another respondent, who simply identified himself as Kunle Olu, said, “Bishop said Christians will not fight back but God does not sleep. He needs to have told us what President Buhari has done against Christians of Nigeria to warrant such sounding heavy but, in reality, weightless allegation he cannot reveal talk less to justify or prove. But our religious leaders must now know they have got to stop making nonexistent claims to heat up the polity of our great nation.”

Public affairs analyst, Ugo Egbujo, in his swift reply to the reverend father, said:

“He said there could have been a coup if Buhari were not the president. The idea is that Buhari’s sins and incompetence necessitate a military coup.

“Kukah is a bishop, otherwise, I would have said he is serpentine. Regardless of how well or badly Buhari might have functioned, the suggestion of the probability or propriety of a coup is mischievous.

“But Kukah is a bishop so I won’t say he is a trouble maker. Let’s just say he is mistaken.

“In 2018, Kukah resurrected Atiku and helped cleanse him of political leprosy. It was in desperation to unseat Buhari. Kukah and company lost woefully.

“Today, Kukah, the democrat, is talking about a coup. When the bible forbids certain things it says, let it not be heard amongst you,” Egbujo said.

Did Buhari betray Kukah’s demand not to probe Jonathan?

Our investigations revealed that, despite President Buhari, not reneging on his agreement not to probe President Goodluck Jonathan as strongly demanded by Bishop Matthew Kukah earlier in his first term, the religious leader has never spared the President from attacks.  This Christmas day message the latest.

Bishop Matthew Kukah had suffered a backlash from Nigerians for saying that President Muhammadu Buhari should not probe immediate past president, Goodluck Jonathan.  That backlash was still fresh when he visited the President, sensing to Nigerians that receiving him in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa on Thursday 27 August, 2015, despite the “unholy” demand, showed that he still had the ears of the President.

Nigerians, following the visit, vehemently kicked against Buhari associating with Kukah and the National Peace Committee headed by former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar for urging President Buhari to leave Jonathan and his former aides out of his anti-corruption drive.

Aside not probing Jonathan, the former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led President has been working in harmony with the sitting President representing Nigeria and the President on so many West African assignment, especially in Mali.