Bishop Kukah blasts President Buhari over lopsided appointments, nepotism

The Catholic Bishop made the allegation in a Christmas message released on Friday December 25.

Kukah who accused Buhari of institutionalising “northern hegemony by reducing others in public life to second-class status,” alleged that there would have been a coup if a non-northern Muslim president does a fraction of what Buhari has done.

The statement read;

“This government owes the nation an explanation as to where it is headed as we seem to journey into darkness.

“The spilling of this blood must be related to a more sinister plot that is beyond our comprehension. Are we going to remain hogtied by these evil men or are they gradually becoming part of a larger plot to seal the fate of our country?

“President Buhari deliberately sacrificed the dreams of those who voted for him to what seemed like a programme to stratify and institutionalise northern hegemony. He has pursued this self-defeating and alienating policy at the expense of greater national cohesion.

“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.

“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.”

‘Stop stoking the embers of hatred’ — Lai replies Kukah

Lai Mohammed, minister of information, has asked Mathew Kukah, bishop of Sokoto Catholic diocese, to refrain from stoking the embers of hatred.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the minister said a religious leader who has never supported President Muhammadu Buhari should not used disproved allegations against him.

Although the minister did not mention the name of Kukah, but it was clear that he was referring to the bishop, who sent a strongly worded to Buhari on Christmas day.

He said;

“The Federal Government has urged religious leaders in the country to refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity, warning that resorting to scorched-earth rhetoric at this time could trigger unintended consequences,”

“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.

“Instigating regime change outside the ballot box is not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.

“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.