The Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has been attacked for accusing Christian leaders of using the killings of Southern Kaduna natives by Fulani herdsmen to get aids from churches abroad.
Fiery Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, lampooned the governor during a funeral mass for the Bishop of Kafanchang Diocese, Most Reverend Joseph Bagobiri.
Mr. El-Rufai had during an interview with Channels Television in 2016, said some clergymen from the state were profiteering from the killings of their members.
But in homily at the New Kafanchang Stadium which was attended by eminent Nigerians, including representative of former President Goodluck Jonathan, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, Bishop Kukah said El-Rufai had indicted himself in the Southern Kaduna killings.
“Today is a special day for Southern Kaduna people and the people of Kaduna State. It is a day of reckoning. It is as much a day of sowing as a day of reaping,” Bishop Kukah began.
“It is day of promise and a day of hope. The mix of the gathering suggests very clearly that this is not an ordinary funeral ceremony.
“Certain burials make certain demands. They set the records straight. They create urgency now and no one should expect that the burial of someone like Bishop Joseph Bagobiri should be a simple ceremony of burying a bishop.”
Bishop Kukah said Southern Kaduna people have been visited not only with unprecedented violence but also what he described as “judicial terrorism,” which saw many people incarcerated for standing up to defend their communities.
He praised the late Bishop Bagobiri for using what he called “undiplomatic way,” to kick against the violence and injustice that engulfed Southern Kaduna, especially under the present government.
Making reference to Mr. El-Rufai, the Catholic priest said, “In a programme on Channels Television, the governor of Kaduna State levelled two accusations against religious leaders whom he accused of selling a narrative of called ‘policy of exclusion.’
“These religious leaders wanted only a people of a particular indigenous or religious groups to live in parts of Southern Kaduna,” Bishop Kukah quoted Mr. El-Rufai to have said.
Continuing, he said, “Secondly, he said some church leaders had collected money from missionaries abroad to bury their deads and to rebuild thousands of churches that had been destroyed.
“I am not sure which religious leaders he was talking about but at least the two most prominent religious leaders in Southern Kaduna would be Bishop Bagobiri and the Emir of Jemaa.
“It was interesting that when the interviewer pressed the governor for evidence on the damaging allegations he had made against Christian leaders, he seemed rattled and simply said, ‘the security agencies are gathering the information and that people would soon be prosecuted.’ Elections are coming and still we have not commenced prosecution.”
Bishop Kukah said his encounter with both the Emir Jemaa and late Bishop Bagobiri led to a different conclusion.
In a telephone conversation a day after Bishop Bagobiri passed on, he said the monarch shocked him when he spoke of the loss of a dear brother, a good man and father, instead of consoling him.
He said, “I was shocked by the fact that rather console me, he spoke of the loss of our dear brother, a good man, father and so on. It was a common love for us. Southern Kaduna has been tensed and volatile, but I do not know that both men had worked closely and were pained at the unnecessary loss of lives, violence and destruction. They deserve commendation, and not condemnation
“By his own admission, the governor says that a thousand churches have been destroyed in Southern Kaduna and that people had lost their lives. His one grouse was that these leaders were collecting money from well-wishers from abroad to bury their people.
“This was a clear case of self-indictment by the governor. First, did he expect that people of Southern Kaduna would wait for him to come and supervise the mass burial of their people after burying the Shiite in mass graves?
“By casting aspersion on missionary assistance, the governor betrayed a troubling ignorance of the cause of the crisis.
“The work of the missionary maybe a problem for him today, but for the people of Southern Kaduna, the message of Christ is steeped in their blood. Without the missionaries, they would be no better than slaves; mere beasts of burden.
“Without the missionaries, the history of Northern Nigeria would be pathetic and the region would still be in the dark ages. We in Southern Kaduna are proud of our Christian heritage.
“We will live by it, die for it if need be. But we are going nowhere. We are free citizens and not in bondage to anyone or institution.
“We are proud of the freedom they gave us. They gave us a message of liberation, voice, and the promise of a new life. The people of Southern Kaduna have embraced this gospel with its promise of a full life.
“There is neither retreat nor surrender because it is the faith of our fathers. It is giving us the tools, the courage and the confidence we require to take our rightful place in our society,” Bishop Kukah thundered.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Barnabas Bantex, said the deceased had completed his race.
“Bishop Bagobiri has done his best and he has done his race. It is everyone’s hope that his work should be a proud reminder of his life,” he said.
“I have listened carefully what Bishop Kukha has said. I hope one day we shall sit on a round table and proffer solutions.”
The President of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Musa Solomon, who spoke on behalf of the 54 aboriginal tribes of Southern Kaduna said, “When our leaders where playing the ostrich, trying to be politically correct, Bishop Bagobiri became the lone voice that stood with his people.
“He was brave and courageous and spoke truth to power not only for Southern Kaduna, but the oppressed people of Nigeria.”
The mass ended around 2 pm, and the remains of Bishop Bagobiri were interred at the St. Peters Clavers Cathedral, Kafachan.
The funeral ceremonies were attended by the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Supo Oyekunle, the General Secretary, Musa Asake and no fewer than 50 Catholic Bishops, hundreds of clergymen and Nigerians from all walks of life.