Muslim Rights Activist Have Ask Bishop Kukah To Resign After He Criticized Buhari Government

Professor Ishaq Akintola director of the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has asked Bishop Matthew Kukah to resign from the National Peace Committee. Bishop Kukah criticized Buhari government and ask him to resign from politics. Bishop Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto had in his Christmas message to Nigerians stated that President Muhammadu Buhari’s government owes Nigerians an explanation over the killings of innocent people in the country.

In the message titled; “A Nation in Search of Vindication” Kukah also accused President Buhari of nepotism, saying Nigeria would have witnessed a coup if a non-northern Muslim president does a fraction of what Buhari did including institutionalising northern hegemony by “reducing others in public life to second-class status”.

The cleric stated that every honest Nigerian knows that there is 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.

According to his words; “There would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have been at war. The President may have concluded that Christians will do nothing and will live with these actions. He may be right and we Christians cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to draw from or threaten our country. However, God does not sleep. We can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North.”

Reacting to these statements, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) asked the cleric to denounce himself from the Abdul Salaam-led Peace Committee, arguing that Bishop Kukah’s pronouncements are inconsistent with the Bishop’s status particularly as the secretary of Nigeria’s Peace Committee.

According their words; “How did such a belligerent combatant emerge as the secretary of Nigeria’s Peace Committee? What good can come from a man who is filled with hate and bias for a large section of the country? He calls for a coup against a democratically elected government. He stigmatized Islam as a violent religion. He derides the North. We demand that Kukah should honorably denounce himself from the Peace Committee. Failure to do so will have a devastating effect of discrediting that committee. It will mean that the committee was set up in the first place for a partisan purpose.

“This is because many see Bishop Kukah as the de facto leader of the Committee. The Peace Committee must clarify some issues surrounding its formation and modus operandi. Whose idea was the whole thing from the beginning? Where is the committee’s secretariat? Is it true that the whole committee was Kukah’s initiative? Is it also true that its secretariat is headed and managed by the director of the Kukah Center? If that is so, General Abdulsalam must have been persuaded to come on board and serve as the chairman just to give legitimacy and credibility to the idea.

“This Peace Committee has a credibility crisis on its hands unless it can remove Kukah as secretary and as a member if the bishop fails to denounce himself. Nigerian Muslims no longer have any confidence in the Peace Committee. It may as well disband while the members go home to sleep.

“This is the honourable thing for the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese to do in view of the humongous allegation leveled against him. A national peace committee needs wide acceptance from the general populace in order to function effectively. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the true situation on the ground at present.

 

“There is no gainsaying the fact that the secretary of any organization is its livewire. He keeps their records and writes their reports. A man who is heavily biased against one faith cannot be trusted to prepare a fair report on interfaith issues. That position is too sensitive to be left in the office of a firebrand missionary known for his emotional outbursts.

“The silence of the Peace Committee since the Kukah controversy began is also disturbing. A peace committee whose secretary comes out with blazing guns firing from all cylinders at a section of the country and calls for a coup while its members keep mute gives cause for concern. It gives the impression that the secretary is holding members of the committee to ransom. He calls the shots. After all, any statement to be issued by the committee is expected to be prepared by the same secretary. Here comes the hard nut.

“Nigerian Muslims have no confidence in the Peace Committee as long as Kukah remains its secretary and member. He has failed to remain neutral. His bias against Muslims has been openly displayed. Rev. Fr. Kukah should denounce himself; otherwise, the committee has to disband.

“This has become necessary in view of the position taken by the Catholic mission yesterday in an official statement. Nigerian Catholics declared their full backing of the preposterous pronouncements of Bishop Kukah. In that situation, it is no longer acceptable to leave the destiny of the Peace Committee in the hands of the Catholic Bishop.

“The question must be asked: who is the secretary of the Peace Committee? Kukah or the Catholic Diocese? A situation whereby Kukah issues a highly combustible statement and the Nigerian Catholic Mission backs him.

“Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) suggests an immediate review of the composition and operation of the Peace Committee. The secretariat of the Peace Committee must be moved out of the Kukah Centre. A neutral place must be found. In addition, a neutral person who is not head or official of any religious group or a person known for making volatile statements must be made head of its secretariat. The Peace Committee may also consider co-opting a co-chairman who must be a Christian since the current chairman is a Muslim. This will engender balance.

“We call on the Chairman and members of the Peace Committee to take these suggestions seriously in order to retain the respect it currently enjoys. A stitch in time saves nine. Immediate consultations and proper advice will save the committee from any embarrassment in future” Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) stated.

Following some brash reactions to his Christmas message to Nigerians, Bishop Kukah has denied calling for a coup. He made this known on Monday night during a press conference at St Bakhita Secretariat in Sokoto.

According to his words; “It is unfair for a journalist or news medium to report that I called for a coup while expressing my personal view about Nigeria,” he said.

“I am pained and very sad that my emergency critics never see that many innocent lives are being lost on a daily basis. The loss of lives in the last ten years, even before the advent of this administration, calls for concern.

“The reactions are a reflection of every citizen that makes up Nigeria. It is sad that when you drop something in Nigeria, everybody goes back to their enclave and abandons the larger picture. I am someone who never takes offense to what people say about me.”

Speaking further, Bishop Kukah said it is only feeble minds that would misconstrue his statements as an indication of the intention to go into party politics.

While noting that everyone has the right to hold political views, he said nothing stops him as a priest and conscience of society from speaking truth to power.

“To make it more interesting, a retired General from the North-West who is a Muslim has also released a statement on his handle to say all that I said is true.

“I have no plan and will never play partisan politics for any reason. Those who link me to partisan politics because of my statement are only playing into the gallery,” he added.

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