The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has said that with the daily deaths all over the country, it was clear that the federal government no longer values the sacredness of human life.
In his Christmas message at the weekend, the clergyman noted that just like the authorities would take the extreme option of ordering Jesus’ crucifixion, all those who stand for the truth must be ready for persecution.
The bishop recently received serious flaks from various groups in the country, especially in the north for drawing attention to the killings, injustices and imbalances within the Nigerian nation.
Kukah maintained the times had not changed since the days of Jesus, pointing out that everywhere and every time that people holding power without authority hear the sound of truth, “they quiver and waiver.”
According to him, the price for holding on to what was true, could even include loss of life.
Kukah lamented that the country appearred to have moved on by ignoring the fate of its children in the custody of people he termed evil men, stressing that the moral scar of shame on Nigeria cannot be wished way.
“Nothing expresses the powerlessness of the families like the silence of state at the federal level. Today, after over seven years, our over one hundred Chibok girls are still marooned in the ocean of uncertainty.
“Over three years after, Leah Sharibu is still unaccounted for. Students of Federal Government College, Yauri, and children from Islamiyya School, Katsina, are still in captivity.
“This does not include hundreds of other children whose captures were less dramatic. We also have lost count of hundreds of individuals and families who have been kidnapped and live below the radar of publicity. We have before us a government totally oblivious to the cherished values of the sacredness of life,” he stated.
According to him the silence of the federal government was only feeding the “ugly beast of complicity” in the deeds of the evil people who have suspended the future of entire generations of Nigeria’s children.
The religious leader also recalled the case of Michael Nnadi, the murdered teenage Seminarian from Sokoto Diocese, Mrs. Bolanle Ataga, a Kaduna based housewife who who defied her captors from violating her and Lawan Andimi, leader of the Christian community in Michika, who was slaughtered by his abductors because of his faith.
Kukah stated that President Muhammadu Buhari owes parents and citizens answers as to where the children are and when they are coming home or when the abductions, kidnappings, brutal, senseless, and endless massacres of citizens will end.
He urged the president, governors and Nigeria’s security men and women, to develop a more honest, open, and robust strategy for “ending the humiliation of our people and restoring social order”, adding that “We have borne enough humiliation as communities and as a country.”
In addition, he called on the authorities to do everything to mitigate the environmental degradation in the Niger Delta, describing the situation as an existential crisis.
According to him, while the rest of the world struggles to preserve the future for its civilisations and citizens with a sense of urgency, Nigerians have continued to ignore the existential threats posed by the environmental disaster it faces.
He recalled that Nigeria established an ecological fund way back in 1981 while the Olusegun Obasanjo administration set up the ministry of environment in 1999, saying that since then, there have only been plans and huge budgets.
“Air and water pollution, waste management, deforestation, desertification, erosion, and flooding, continue to threaten agriculture, aquaculture, and the welfare of citizens despite all these grand plans. Over time, we have seen long, good promises caught in the web of bureaucratic fraud,” he argued.
The bishop maintained that there was an urgent need to reverse the effect of “our sins against the Niger Delta” and to quickly embark on local and national initiatives to ensure the future by full environmental restoration.
“We cannot afford to continue with the reckless pollution of our environment that is destroying aquatic, terrestrial, and human lives. The clock is ticking,” he noted.
On the ongoing debate over the electoral bill, he hinted that happily, the country was inching closer in its search for a viable and credible process and commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the National Assembly for injecting technological innovation into the country’s electoral process.
However, he urged the lawmakers to quickly take notice of the observations made by the president on the issues of direct or indirect primaries and return the bill to him for assent.
Kukah called on Nigerians, especially the youth, to seize the moment by coming out to register and be ready to vote, advising that the Endsars protests and the aftermath should be a mere punctuation mark in the sentences and chapters of their struggle for a better society.
Talking about the security crisis in the north, the clergyman stated that at about this time last year when he raised the alarm about the perilous state of affairs in northern Nigeria, all kinds of accusations were levelled against him, especially by his northern brethren.
In the same vein, he contended that when the Catholic Bishops protested openly against the killings of their people in March 2020, they were accused of acting against government with religious motives being imputed to their noble intentions.
“Now, we are fully in the grip of evil. Today, a feeling of vindication only saddens me as I have watched the north break into a cacophony of quarrelsome blame games over our tragic situation.
“A catalogue of unprecedented cruelty has been unleashed on innocent citizens across the northern states. In their sleep, on their farmlands, in their markets, or even on the highway, innocent citizens have been mowed down and turned into burnt offerings to gods of evil.
“Communities have been turned into gulags of misery, death, pain, and perfidy. We must move quickly before Arewa, our beloved Arewa, descends into Arewanistan!,” he warned.
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
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